u/ginopono's SOTDs for challenge 'Feats of Fragrance 2023'

2023-07-01 – Bonjour, Lather Games

• Brush: Vielong Horse #HORSESASS #COMPOSITE #TOLL #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Gold Dollar 208
• Lather: Grooming Dept - Jasmine & Civet
• Post Shave: Captain’s Choice - Venture
• Fragrance: Le Labo - Jasmin 17

I Smell Fantastic!

I get up early and the daily theme awaits me
I take a steamy show'r; I'm full of energy
I power on hard and I check the challenges
We already know today's challenge

I take my brush n' soap and start to lather
I swirl around a bit cuz I don't know how this one lathers
I get my phone and I check the challenges
How will I do the challenges

All I know is wet shaving is better during Lather Games
All I know is my face feels really smooth, my skin feels so very damn smooth

I smell fantastic!
And I never smelt as good as how I do right now
Except for maybe when I think of how I smelt that day
When I smelt the way that I did last year, last year

Games are anything but easy with themes
I tried to plan them out, my daily latherings
I can see the month unfold in front of me
So I take the blade get to work

The razor's a type that I've not used before
What was a routine's now sharp pain in my chin
So I take the styptic pen and just chill
And then it's time to shave again

All I know, shaving's easy when you don't stress out about Games themes
All I know is to do the challenges I always do the challenges

I smell fantastic!
And I never smelt as good as how I do right now
Except for maybe when I think of how I smelt that day
When I smelt the way that I did last year, last year

Sometimes I'd like to slow things down
Enjoy the aromas
But when I look the moment's gone

Shaving's over but I can't quite forget it
Got to snap a pic and write a thing for reddit
For the fine djudges that djudge for the Lather Games
Right in the r/wetshaving sub

Arrange some stuff to set a scene, like that
Some are better but this one has a cat
Now it's getting late and I need to post this thing
What will I do for tomorrow

All I know is the shave is smoother when you don't gotta fit it with Games themes
All I know is July is better when I'm in r/wetshaving's Lather Games

I smell fantastic!
And I never smelt as good as how I do right now
Except for maybe when I think of how I smelt that day
When I smelt the way that I did last year, last year, last year

Challenge

Challenge accepted! As noted for each below.
Side note, because there are probably those who are wondering why there are several posts already with revised song lyrics: u/merikus seems to have inadvertently (or intentionally, only he truly knows) established an unofficial tradition.
Bringing are really fucking bringing it already with those, so... meh, it's still early and I'm not really sure I can manage to put in the same effort I did last year, anyway.

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance

All fit daily theme. Common element: jasmine.

Razor

Oh, boy. I knew at some point I'd use one of these things. I also knew that it would be on the Games' "New to You" day.

This is my first time using a straight. It is not the first straight that I purchased; no, the first one I purchased was a super cheap one from a shady website where you can get questionable stuff from China. I will still (try to) use that, at which point I'll recount my efforts to get it sharpened and share the results of whether those efforts had any kind of success.

As for today, I clearly have no idea what I'm doing with this. It was purportedly shave-ready when I got it, but I have my doubts about what that ever even means, so I gave it what I believed to be a good stropping. I'm reasonably sure I didn't risk rolling the edge, but who knows, because it did not like to cut. I tried it on hair on my wrist to check if it would cut anything at all, and it seemed alright, but those are much finer hairs than on my face.
And I did see some hair bits in the lather on the blade a couple of times, but I also clearly have no idea what I'm doing with this.

Lather

A jasmine-forward soap is something that I've hoped to find for some time. In my efforts to find a jasmine-forward soap, I came across this one. It has jasmine in the name, of course, but I feel like it's way overpowered by the civet part. It is strong, and the reason why I've been reluctant to use this, my first Grooming Dept soap, before today.

What is civet, you ask? It's an animal, the musk of which is used in fragrances, including this one. Don't look into the coffee thing, though, which is fucking horrific. Don't say I didn't warn you.

And boy howdy, I do not vibe! It sure overpowers, and it is a special kind of stink that made the whole experience less-than-pleasant. Not only that, but the lather was really eager to fizzle out while I was trying to figure out the straight, making for an unfavorable combination, to say the least.

Even after the post-shave, I think the musk lingers heavily. It may be evening out, settling with the other scents (including my own), in which case I suppose I can see the argument for why it's common in perfumery, but that first impression is sticking with me.

Brush

I didn't manage to get last year's #TANGLED, but this one checks a couple boxes on the scavenger hunt (horse, of course, 60mm loft, wood+chrome, made in Spain), and fits with a couple days' themes, including this one.
One of the biggest things I've seen said about horse brushes is that they're floppy, and there is no better word to describe it. It probably doesn't help that this is a pretty narrow brush, at 21mm.
Being the first time using the brush, shedding–although probably not all that much–was a thing to deal with.
The fizzling lather may or may not have been in part due to the brush, but I'll need to use it again with a better soap to be sure–and I have that planned for later in the Games.

#FOF

Post Shave

I selected Venture to keep jasmine as a common element between all the things. Also, I don't believe I've ever used Captain's Choice before.

The trouble with jasmine is that it's pretty common as a component note in a lot of scents, but my nose is not nearly discerning enough to be able to identify components as such.
In that way, I don't think I'm able to pick the note out from Venture. Frankly, I'm not even sure what hit me most as I put it on. It was very likely the pineapple, come to think of it.

What I can say for certain is that, when following up the absolute stink of the soap, Venture was truly refreshing. That was the word that came to my mind, and that same word is used in the product description itself.
A very welcome relief from–I'll say it again–the absolute stink of the soap.

Fragrance

I pretty quickly followed it up with the Jasmin 17. Some months back, I got an inkling to poke around in search of a jasmine scent (probably around the same time I got the soap), come to think of it.
It was much easier to find a jasmine fragrance than a jasmine soap, for the simple and obvious fact that a variety of floral fragrances are more common, Target audiences and all.

There's no need for a discerning nose for a scent such as this, because it is exactly what it says on the tin: Jasmine.

After donning this, I Ventured into the kitchen to make myself some jasmine tea, which is one of my favorites and definitely a major reason why I want a jasmine soap.

#photocontest

Photo

Pets!
Okay, that part's obvious, but it's not just shoe-horned for the purpose of the photo contest. No, the cat represents a civet. Also, civets are evidently sometimes referred to as cats, and they have spotted sides, much like Artemis!

The plant behind her is Jasmine. I was hoping it would bloom before today, but I don't think it knows it's blooming time; I've been mostly keeping it inside, plus I just got it just like a week or so ago. Inside, it hasn't been getting much direct sunlight, but it has been protected from the devastating sun that instantly desiccates everything it can. The sun is the death-bringer. I have known jasmine to survive outside here, though ("here" being about 7 inches from the sun).

Shit, I forgot to put the fragrance there. That was the second time I set it up, too, because the first time I forgot the aftershave! And the tea! The little green things in front are jasmine pearl green tea. Delicious! There's a shot with the fragrance vial (though the label isn't evident) and a less-obscured plant.

2023-07-02 This is a ~~Cow~~ Bull-Man

• Brush: Omega 343178 Synthetic #FAUXFUR #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Micromatic Open Comb (MMOC) (1st Generation)
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Labyrinth
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - Labyrinth
• Fragrance: Southern Witchcrafts - Labyrinth

Challenge Accepted: I've called the MMOC a gentle giant before, a label I straight-up stole from u/EldrormR because it's accurate. I used this for last year's August MMOC challenge, during which time it served me well, and I am become fan.
I'm definitely out of practice, though; I think I can count on one hand, with a few fingers left over, the number of times I've used it since. At the very least my approach to today's shave was a bit cavalier. I realized this during, but did not correct it either enough or soon enough to save my skin. Then again, the mystery blade that's been sitting in the razor—out in the open for some indeterminate amount of time—probably didn't help.
Don't do that, kids; don't use a questionably-old blade.

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: Trickhole, plus relevant brush and bowl! I painted that bowl with a minotaur motif over 20 years ago, and never has it been more apt!

Free disclaimer: This Labyrinth set was bestowed upon me by u/phteven_j last year as a Lather Games reward. The news that he would not be involved in the Games or podcast this year was a surprise and disappointment to many, but I get it. The Games are exhausting enough as a participant, I can't imagine what orchestrating and running it would take.

Brush: I haven't been able to confirm whether that model number, 343178, is right, but that is what it purported to be when I bought it, and I haven't found any evidence to the contrary (and not for a lack of searching), so that's what I'm calling it. Also, I think I'm obligated to point out that I purchased it for the low price of $0.00. It wasn't gifted to me, it wasn't a PIF, it wasn't even a promo or freebie; rather, I purchased it from an online store for that listed price. Zero was the price that the brush cost, and the price of the payment was zero.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But also, it is a synthetic brush, making it fit right at home for today's theme!

#photocontest

Photo: Story/thematic

Okay, I gotta talk about the Minotaur for just a second. We all know the story represented in the photo: Theseus (pictured), with his boat of questionably-continuous indentity (not pictured), heroically slew the fearsome, half-man-half-bull~~-half-pig~~ Minotaur (pictured) in his labyrinth (pictured separately, with the bowl). But I recently came across this summary of the myth, and it is... something else! Here's my further-condensed version:

Poseidon gave a fancy bull to Minos of Crete to help Minos become king, under the condition that Minos would later sacrifice the bull back to him. Minos reneged on sacrificing the bull, so Poseidon had Aphrodite make Minos' wife, Pasiphaë, fall in love with the bull.

Right, so Pasiphaë is in love with a bull. That's weird, right?. What's weirder is that Pasiphaë then had Daedalus (you know Daedalus, father of Icarus, flying too close to the sun and all that) fabricate a hollow cow suit that she could wear in order to....

And then she gave birth to the Minotaur!

What the fuck, right? Then again, this is the same general body of mythology that brought us Leda and the Swan, i.e. a popular subject of porny Renaissance art in which Zeus and Leda conceive Castor and Pollux while Zeus is in the form of a swan. Yup.

#FOF

Lather/Post Shave/Fragrance: Where was I? Oh, Labyrinth.
Anyway, it was the description of "wet stone" that first piqued my interest in Labyrinth. I'm kind of fascinated by those "non-scent" descriptions, i.e. that refer to things that don't really have any true scent or don't generally have a smell associated with them. Granted, how well this falls into that category is dubious, because wet stone may very well have a smell, depending on such things as may be on the surface of the rock, or perhaps anything in the water. It follows, too, that any generic wet stone in one's geographic area—say, Tucker, GA—may be distinctly different than what I'm familiar with here in hrmnhmrmgbrn...

I can't say whether it smells like any damp rocks of Georgia, but I can see it. What it actually reminds me of, though, is Stirling's Ben Franklin. Granted, I may be pretty far off because it's been a few years since my nose has been exposed to that.

I feel like I might be grasping at straws to draw some kind of similarity from the ingredients, but you've got the myrrh of Labyrinth and the benzoin of Ben Franklin, both tree-based resins. There's a strong temptation to relate myrrh to Ben Franklin's frankincese, but I can't tell you if those have any olfactory similarities.
I never claimed to have a refined olfactory palate.

If it were a color, I'd say it would be a desaturated, medium-light brown. Wait, that sounds like a bad thing; I don't mean it to be!
I struggle with thinking of the kind of ~~occastion~~ occasion for which this scent would be well-suited. It is not a date scent. It does not strike me as something to be worn to any kind of formal event, or even to work at an office job.
...
It does actually seem like it would be appropriate for an archaeologist. Does that make sense? I don't know any archaeologists.
Or maybe in a dark library, or something like an alchemist's lab, perhaps some tome of cryptozoological anatomy...
Actually, in my mind, that sort of image may fit right in with Southern Witchcrafts' brand.

2023-07-03 Almond Us

• Brush: Zenith Chubby B27
• Razor: Goodfella's Smile Kamisori Shavette #KAMISORI
• Lather: Cella - Milano Crema Da Barba
• Post Shave: Proraso - Eucalyptus & Menthol (Green)
• Fragrance: Giorgio Armani - Acqua di Gio Profumo

Challenge Accepted:
My brain is an unreliable narrator, so forgive me if I'm misremembering anything. u/RedMosquitoMM's victory last year struck me as different than what I had come to expect from the Games, especially as regards what it takes to come out on top. I seem to recall it pointed out that he didn't do all of the things. Nor did he engage in outrageous shenanigans. What he did do, I recall, is be consistent.
And thoughtful. And long-winded.

I kid about that last point, but I think I remember it being pointed out that length was a consistent property of his posts, in particular in his approach to FOF.

Meanwhile, this year's rules seem to emphasize brevity. Is it to discourage imitation of Mosquito's reported verbosity? Is it motivated by regret over that one challenge that actually encouraged lengthy, rambly posts? Who knows (aside from those who wrote the rules, of course)?

So there's the dilemma: Maintain interest and capture the audience, but do it concisely (college papers and skirts, right?). That is a challenge, indeed! I am nothing if not long-winded, myself. Believe it or not, I've really been restraining myself from letting these get too long! Whether or not I'm successful is up to, well, the djudges.

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: Oops! All Italian!

Brush: It sure is Italian! Much like yesterday's MMOC, this brush saw me through last August. Oh, what a horrific month. Not because of the MMOC, mind you, or even really because of the brush. No, it was the face-lathering. Dear god, the face-lathering...
More on that later on in the Games, when that inevitable Challenge comes.

Razor: Ah, the Italian kamisori shavette. My original plan was to save this razor for a later day, but a) nothing precludes me from using any given piece of hardware on multiple days and b) it helps me have all of the stuff today be Italian!
I don't have such a bowl, though; that actually strikes me as oddly specific, but I concede that it's no less oddly specific than my bowl being Japanese, which it is.
I guess that's still a thematic connection, if not tenuous, linking the bowl and razor, eh?

In any case, it's a shavette and it shaves like a shavette. Read: unnecessarily hazardous. I think that a major benefit to the fixed handle vs. the folding style is that I find that a folding handle does little more than get in the way and limit maneuverability. The first time I used a shavette, which was of a folding type and during last year's Games, I quickly found that it was often helpful to extend the handle fully and hold it as though it were fixed, anyway. And sure, the scales protect the blade when it's folded, but that's less of a concern when it comes to shavettes, isn't it? And it's definitely not a factor while actually using the thing.

What's the saying? "Everyone with an opinion is an asshole"? Wait, no, it's "Keep your asshole to yourself." Or "Keep your asshole in your pants"? That's not right, either, is it? Am I getting warmer?
Oh, I got it:
"I'm just, like, an asshole, man!" Er, hmm...

#FOF

Lather: Ah, Cella. A clear classic with a classic almond scent.

If I'm being honest–and I have no recent not to be–I don't care for it. The lather is decent enough, but I don't really get the appeal of the almond scent. While it might be exaggerating to call it sickly-sweet or unpleasant, it borders on some level of sweetness and I don't see its general appeal as a scent. My understanding is that almond itself is a classic in Italian barbery, but I just can't imagine someone smelling it and thinking, "Yeah, I want to smell like that! Sexy!"

That said, I think it makes for an interesting starting point in the context and interest of #FOF.

You see, I don't oppose the maligned trickhole because I also hold the asshole that any given scent created by a perfumer is an oeuvre and should be appreciated as such. Howver, a mono-scented thing such as Cella is simplistic enough that we (or maybe just I, with my unrefined sniffer) can play perfumer-in-the-washroom for a monent.

Let's give it a try!

Post Shave: Off to a roaring start with the Proraso aftershave, which does not seem to share the eucalyptus prominence that is evident from its corresponding soap-in-a-bowl counterpart. It did go on the face with a subtle menthol-y whisper, that was nonetheless short-lived. Well, no one said the menthol of Proraso was particularly strong, anyway.

Verdict: I'm still smellin' like a miniature candy dairy farm.

Fragrance: Okay, moving on to the Acqua di Gio, Armami describes it as "a woody aromatic cologne combinging bergamot with rosemary essence and incense notes".

Side note; A few years ago, I happened to nab a spritz of this while walking through a department store with a friend. Said friend, who is generally quite apprehensive about fragrances due to the risk of overbearing scents, took quite a liking to the aroma that I had spontaneously acquired during that shopping trip.
So, good start for Acqua di Gio, and it smells every bit as promising out of the vial.

I am quickly discovering that a major challenge to properly assessing these combinations of scents is that I–as with people in general–am unable to get a proper sense of how the scents intermingle on my own self. As a result, I may have overcompensated with the amount of Acqua di Gio I used, in a desperate attempt to overpower the almond.

Verdict: Acqua di Gio seems to have overcome the almond, and hopefully I havent't doused myself in an off-putting amount of the stuff!
In seriousness, I don't think there's risk of that, but I have the impression that, while Acqua di Gio is staying, the almond is already fading, much to my pleasant relief, and the actual fragrance gets to be what it was meant to be.

#photocontest

Photo: Food.

Let's talk for a moment about the Cella Milano guy. As we all know, the Cella Milano guy is–incontrovertibly–Santa Claus. We also know that Santa Claus is a Lovecraftian horror.

What's that? You don't know this? Look at Babbo Natale's smiling face! Seriously, look at that face. Look at his jaw and chin and see that there is no humanly-conceivable way that that jaw and chin can have a form in this reality!

That smile is sinister and knowing! He is up to something beneath that sudsy veil! He may be reaching, from his chin, through and beneath our plane of existence, doing what only he knows! Reaching into the minds of the unsuspecting, insignificant beings of our universe, destroying their minds and lives for–is it amusement? Curiosity? A mere absent-minded fiddling?

The Cella Santa Claus man cannot exist, but he is there! Do you not see?!
Look and see that it is wrong!

2023-07-04 — It's July

• Brush: West Coast Shaving - Lantern Brush, Silvertip, Ivory
• Razor: QShave Adjustable #DIAL
• Lather: Extro Cosmesi - Liquirizia e Magnolia
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Obsidian (Glacial)
• Fragrance: Lulu & Bee - Magnolia & Orchid

Challenge Accepted: Science again! I said science again!
(I feel like I should disclaim that I am 100% pro-science. If at any point it sounds like I'm denigrating science, I am not. I also realize I'm very unlikely to be the only one to talk about this.)

Science is one of those things that people everywhere have very strong opinions about, though many—regardless of their stance—may not really be aware of what it is. So what is science?
"Why, surely it's the field of study that deals with hard facts and such, like physics and chemistry, yeah? That's why come our challenge today is all about precise measurements and such!"
Those are sciences, sure, but that's not what science is.

Science is a philosophy, a framework by which one can seek to better understand the nature of... nature. At its core is the Scientific Method, by which one forms hypotheses from observations, tests these hypotheses' predictions, thereby generating more observations, rinse and repeat. Ad infinitum (this part is pretty important).

Put another way, science says that, in order to best understand nature, we must first try to explain what we see, and then try to show that that explanation is wrong. In order for this to be possible, the explanation (theory) must be falsifiable. All scientific theories, by definition, can conceivably be shown to be false.

Enter pseudoscience, which is anything that purports to be science, but does not adhere to the scientific method. A common (but not exclusive) way that pseudosciences deviate from science is with regard to falsifiability.
It is common for pseudosciences to claim to be able to explain anything under their purview, but done in a "just-so" way. These explanations come after the fact; i.e. phenomena are shown to be explainable under the theory as those phenomena arise.
No predictions are made or tested. Why would they be? If the theory can explain everything, then there's nothing that can prove it wrong. If it can't be proven wrong, then it's not science.

Can you believe I actually pared that little rant down by at least 50%?
Oh shit, I'm actually supposed to do something sciency...

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: The lather's featured notes unite the distinct prominent scents of the otherwise disparate post-shave and fragrance.

Brush: I'm supposed to disclaim here that I paid $0.00 for this brush. Same story as yesterday: I was buying other stuff, saw that this brush was $0.00, and so I added it to my cart and paid $0.00. If they were trying to clear inventory, that's an effective way to do it.

Razor: This knockoff Futur not only checks off a hardware box, but I'm not convinced that the adjustments really do anything, so this also seems like a decent enough place to pretend to to some science. Hypothesis: if the adjustment settings do anything more than fuck-all, then I will be compelled to avoid a certain range of settings in favor of another. Not super precise, but I'm comfortable enough with the sciency-ness of it.

I'm relying on my subjective assessment of the shave, so I chose to start by going back and forth between extremes before moving to an intermediate setting, checking on those subjective assessments along the way.

Starting off with the lowest setting, it was immediately clear that that was awful. Hypothesis confirmed! The highest setting made for a bit too much blade, so I moved it around a bit from time to time and settled in around 3.5. Side note: I do not care for how much wider wider the head of the razor is beyond the length of the blade; it makes precision under the nostrils difficult.

Lather: I also went ahead and measured my soap usage, because why not. I've seen you guys with your little scales, so I followed suit: by comparing the weight of the jar before and after loading, I was able to determine that I used exactly 0.0 lbs of soap. Huh, I guess the jar's almost empty!

I love anise and licorice; in fact, Stirling's Obsidian was one of my first shave soaps. Fast forward to last year, when I saw this post by u/Marquis90, I knew I had to try Liquirizia e Magnolia.

#FOF

With both licorice and magnolia sharing the spotlight, this soap would be right at home on either Floral Day or Spice Day! I opted for the former, because I thought it best to err on the side of caution, just in case someone decided that licorice wasn't the right kind of spice (not that I'd expect that, especially if they'd tried the Amarelli licorice used in this soap; that is spicy and, speaking from experience, not unlike just chewing on licorice root).

The magnolia accord in this scent seems to envelop the licorice, serving to mellow out its spiciness. They interplay in a way that gives me the impression of an uneasy balance, like a cease-fire in which either one could easily overcome the other if it so chose. Either the magnolia smothers and suffocates the licorice, or the licorice breaks through and overwhelms the magnolia. But the balance rests in this uncertain push-and-pull.

Post Shave: Enter Obsidian, on the spicy side of the battle. Licorice and anise are not quite the same, and they seem interchangeable in my mind, but their subtle differences start to seem more apparent when side-by-side.
I find that Stirling's Obsidian tends to be a bit on the sweeter side (as determined by their supplier's harvest, as I understand), especially when faced with the bold spice of the Amarelli licorice. But they are on the same side of this war. (It's a war now)

Fragrance: Enter, uh... Grandma.

I don't know what I expected with this perfume (and it is a women's perfume), but all I get from it is "Grandma." It is the essence of a crocheted doily draped over a coffee table that is adjacent to a mauve recliner with... yup, some kind of crocheted doily thing on each arm. And the back. That's also where the bland colors of the brush fit in.

Now that I've put both of these on my skin, these two representative armies—the aftershave fighting for the glory of the spice vs the...knitting—continue to fight on my very person. I am really glad I don't have to be near people today; the anise is not winning.

#photocontest

Photo: Fruit
I was about to call this vegetable, considering that, botanically speaking, a vegetable is any edible part of a plant. And then I realized and confirmed that the star anise pods are the fruit of that plant. Science!

I'm compelled to science things up a bit more. The razor thing was in the interest of following the letter of the challenge, but this was my first idea. Forgive me for not formalizing a hypothesis here, but I am going to try to replicate the Ouzo Effect! If you're unfamiliar, anise-flavored liquors like ouzo, pastis, sambuca, and absinthe, when water is added, change from transparent to cloudy; this has to do with something from the anise being soluble in alcohol, but insoluble in water, so it separates from the alcohol when water is added.

First, I'm guessing I'm probably going to need some kind of anise extract, so under the assumption that I make that in the same way as vanilla extract, I'm going to need some of the purest vodka. I don't drink, so I'm just going to use non-alcoholic vodka. And to save time, I'm going to heat that up to boiling before adding the anise and letting it... extract for 5-10 minutes or so.

Behold our anise extract! As expected, it is transparent and non-cloudy. Now, when we add the water...
Horse shit! There you have it, people: I have disproven the Ouzo Effect! Yeah science!

2023-07-05 - Death Before Canned Goop

• Brush: Qshave Pure Badger #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS
• Razor: Baili BR179 / Rockwell R1 / CVS Goodline Grooming Safety Razor
• Lather: Proraso - Menthol and Eucalyptus
• Post Shave: Stetson - Original, After Shave
• Fragrance: Stetson - Original, Cologne

First off, I know I'm not alone in thinking that Drugstore Day is the worst (also, I apparently can't be arsed to remember the new names of the days). That said, I will play by to your rules, I will hit all the themes (including this one), but I will not use canned goop! I ditched the aerosol a year or more before I picked up DE razors and soap, and I will not go back!

I'm still not over—*choke*—Only a handful of weeks ago, I was stuck in the hospital for some silly "septic shock" or whatever. Psh. After some 5 or so days had passed (which is the longest I've gone without shaving since... I don't know, ever?), I gave in and decided to ask for a razor, hoping for one of those nifty hospital DEs. Instead, what they brought me was... NSFL WARNING
Never again!

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: These are both available at a local CVS! I also just realized that I need to disclaim that I got the Stetson aftershave and cologne for free. From my grandfather. Like 25 years ago.

Razor: The Baili BR179 is currently being sold at CVS under their Goodline brand. Some of you may also recognize this razor as the Rockwell R1. A few years ago, the R1 was being offered as a Christmas freebie with exorbitant shipping, which is how I— Ah, dammit, free disclaimer again. How many of those do I have?
Anyway, it does not make for a very good shave, imho. Is it on the aggressive side for a butterfly? Either way, it's chrome and therefore hideous, so the only logical conclusion is that it's also a bad shave? Honestly, though, my skin could be happier.

Much in the same way that the Baili is re-packaged under a store name, Personna blades are known to be underneath a lot of store branding. While I could have gone and paid 8 bucks for 10 blades, why? Especially when I already have what is surely the exact same blade at home!

Side note: store-bought ramekin instead of my fancy-schmancy suribachi bowl.

Lather: There's not much that I can say about Proraso that hasn't been said countless times, including that it appears in such bottom-tier department stores as Marshalls, which is where I— or was it Ross? TJ Maxx? Whatever. Those are all effectively the same, right? Whichever it was, it still counts for today's theme!

Proraso isn't anything to call home about, but it gets the job done without complaints. That's a lot more than I can say about canned goo. It's also a hell of a lot more I can say about Badger soap, which is far worse than the canned stuff. If anyone has Badger for today, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I applaud you for sticking to the theme without resorting to goop.

#FOF

If you don't know what Proraso Green smells like, it smells like eucalyptus. If you don't know what that smells like, I recommend what I did when I first learned what eucalyptus smells like: I got this soap!
It may seem a little artificial around the edges, but it's cool and inoffensive with a mild menthol sensation. And I don't think it lingers, which should be a win-win in anybody's book! If it doesn't linger, it means you're not tied to the scent just because you used the soap! That's not to suggest that I think it's bad when soaps' own scents do stick around; on the contrary, that's nice when you want to hang on to that scent. But a soap is easier to use if it doesn't, I feel.

Am I inadvertently taking an opposing position to #FOF here, or is the spirit of #FOF in experiencing the varieties of scents through the process of your shaving ritual? I feel like I can better get on board with that, rather than my potentially-erroneous understanding of it being a matter of playing perfumer-in-the-washroom. More on that below with the challenge, of course.

Post Shave/Fragrance: I'm in a position with Stetson where I'm not sure what it's supposed to smell like, which is a position that I prefer because I'm able to take in the whole of the scent without worrying about what I should be perceiving. But if I try, I think maybe there's some citrus on top, maybe tamed by a floral of come kind? I frankly kind of put off when I see "citrus," but I think I understand it plays an important role in how notes interact. Anyway, there's also something—maybe darker? yet smooth in my overall impression of the fragrance.
Let's check the answer key... Top notes of sage and citrus. Hey! I got one! Also vetiver, cedar, patchouli, musk, amber, etc. Okay, that all makes sense.

It's a supremely masculine sent without being too rugged. My brain also expects a kind of grandpa-ness to it, due simply to the fact that that's who I got it from, but it is decidedly non-grandpa-y. I don't think I really appreciated it when I was a young lad. It's quite good, if you can ignore the whole cowboy theme to the brand. Gross.

Challenge Accepted: Okay, what would I, with my lay-nose, come up with as my "perfect scent"? First, I want to know, perfect for what? Before I get too carried way on some tangent (I am holding back so hard you guys!), some scents that are favorites (in terms of having the smell on me) feature leather and tobacco (I'm already thinking of Mammoth's Tobacconist and Stirling's Oro Valley, two of the best scents I've ever encountered, recognizing that the latter is a dupe). They are for sure things on top of the "throw that shit in here!" list. Other scents that I enjoy smelling include anise, clove, and jasmine. Those are scents that I've sought out, with mixed success. How well would they go together?
Oro Valley has leather and jasmine, although I'm not sure how well my nose picks up the jasmine or if I even understand how or whether jasmine sambac is distinct.
Oaken Lab's Earth of Mankind combines tobacco and clove for a kretek scent, which frankly is exactly what I was after when searching for clove.
I feel like anise could be folded in reasonably well; however, I have the impression that, in scents containing an anise note that is not front-and-center, the anise must play some supporting role, because my nose tends not to pick up on it. That might be okay, because our fictional scent here might otherwise be doing too much.

Side note: this challenge really feels like a u/mammothben cheat sheet! If he's doing the same custom scent thing again, that is.

#photocontest

Photo: I have 4 of those little stand things, which are purportedly intended as store display stands, so they're conveniently relevant to today. They've really helped me organize my cabinet by allowing me to organize razors vertically and thus clearing shelf space, plus the fact that they're transparent reduces visual clutter.
Also pictured, but hard to tell because it's also transparent: that's air, bud.

2023-07-06 Honoring the Olfactory Oeuvre + Horology

• Brush: West Coast Shaving - Two Tone Synthetic 26mm #PREMIUMPLASTIC
• Razor: Clix E-Z-Flo #UNICORN
• Lather: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
• Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
• Blade: Personna Super (2)

Challenge Accepted:
Not only have I outdone myself this time, I think it's very clear I've even outdone u/Tonality!
Behold! Such expert, delicate, and unsuspicious stacking to put u/Tonality to shame! There is no trickery afoot, as the pocket watch clearly demonstrates the direction of gravity! A round bottle of aftershave on its side, mid-stack! The brush, bristles-down and without compromising the structural integrity of the bristles! See it close-up if you do not believe me! Can u/Tonality do that? I think not! Crown your new king of stacking!

(I wasn't too pleased with the photo quality, so I updated the SOTD pic, albeit with a much lamer stacking method. There is no masterful weaving of powerful invisible forces, no expert control of electric currents within the very air. Just the boring vertical-only gravitational force. The much more impressive version is still here, too, though.)

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: As required by the daily theme.
Also: black razor, black brush, and black watch to match Black Watch.

Brush:
Sure, it's not completely black, but that's beside the point, contrarian person I just made up! Its bristles are all black, which is remarkable enough, and I made up the rules for whether the brush counts for my points-less theming, and I say it counts! Plus, being that this brush is going for $34.00 after a 20% discount, it also gets the "pricey synthetic" badge.

#FOF

Lather/Post Shave/Fragrance:
As I attempt to document my experiences for #FOF day by day, I am slowly coming to realize that, as a collection, my ramblings may be tied together under a theme of The Haphazard Explorations of an Olfactory Rube. I'm okay with that, because I think there's value in such a perspective. There's no harm in appreciating a scent for what it is,

The human brain is a curious thing; it is very suggestible, and it will often confirm what it expects to be true, regardless of the reality. In my experience, this tends to be true when it comes to my perception of scents. That is, what one (read: I) perceives a scent to be is heavily influenced by what they are (I am) expecting it to be.
For example, Shawn Maher, today's spotlight and the creator of this scent, compares it by metaphor to a pair leather shoes, evoking the leather note of its base. As a result, my mind said, "Alright, we're smelling leather now! Smell that leather!" And it did.

There's of course more to this scent, and that becomes clear to me only through focus. I can be convinced that there is incense, oakmoss, and sandalwood tied in with the leather, although my nose reads it as "flavoring" the leather, if that makes sense.
There is definitely a fruitiness to it, which seems to be the plum; however, I do not believe I detect the jasmine that is said to accompany it. A shame, because I've evidently mentioned my fondness for jasmine a few times already these Games, though I do concede that too much jasmine might threaten Grandma territory.

Of course, this is all just me trying to decipher my own perception of the scent, a clumsy attempt to analyze it. All the while, I can't help but wonder if that's really necessary.

When I take the scent in as whole, and let the description of leather shoes and 1950s department stores form a context around the scent, an image forms in my mind right out of Mrs. Maisel (I stopped after the first or second season, after she ditched Zachary Levi's character for like, no reason). I imagine a particular kind of vintage classiness that "never feels dated but never goes out of style." And that's how I feel when I wear it.

Razor:
While this razor predates the image I described above, it's close enough for me, plus I think it fits well aesthetically (and I have an odd yet mild fascination with Bakelite, possibly just because the word inexplicably has three syllables). I haven't been able to find much about the razor aside from that these were made by one Conrad Razor Blade Company in the 1940s. What I can say about it is that it's a surprisingly good little shaver. It's the kind of thing that makes me think, "man, they really had razors nailed ~~60~~ ~~70~~ 80 years ago!"

#photocontest

Photo: Technology

Speaking of going out of style, it's a real bummer what happened to pocket watches, isn't it? I get it, though; technological advancements in horology allowed smaller wrist-watches to take over, and waistcoats fell out of style, too. But that doesn't stop me from wearing both; the relentless, merciless, all-eviscerating sun does!

2023-07-07 Spice it Up

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Rockwell 6S
• Lather: House of Mammoth - Damocles
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Z
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Damocles
• Blade: Personna Super (3)

Relevant Other stuff: Keeping it in-house. House of Mammoth, that is.
The razor so chosen because it is steel, thus matching a scent "note." I chose the metal-handled brush for a similar reason. The horse brush from the other day would have also been thematically relevant, but it doesn't really fit aesthetically and chrome is objectively hideous.

Lather/Fragrance:

#FOF

From the marketing description:
"You smell spices and wine up front, from the king's feast before you."

Hey, how'd you know? Actually, this one took me a while to figure out. My nose really couldn't decide what it was picking up, but my vague memory of the scent description led me to conclude that it was something fruity, as I imagined great bowls of fruit on a king's banquet. My nose apparently doesn't know the different between fruity and spicy, but I think that's because this literally comes through as a spicy fruitiness. Or a fruity spiciness. One of those. The incense/resin and violet, assuming that they're there, blend in subtly with the spice and wine (respectively). If I really focus, I can make out the leather underneath it all, unsure if I'm actually smelling it or if my brain tells me I am.

I don't mean to question the scent notes, by the way. This wonderful scent from the masterful creator of such favorites as Tobacconist, Santa Noir, and Shire stands strong alongside those. However I do mean to question the reliability of what my brain tells me I perceive. Senses cannot be trusted, because the brain quite simply makes shit up.

#photocontest

Photo: Royals

The fable/allegory/parable/apocryphon of Damocles is one that some may consider to be part of general knowledge, but at the same time I wouldn't hold it against anyone if they weren't familiar with it. If you are one of today's lucky 10,000, allow me to spin you a yarn while I ponder how clever it was to say "yarn" just now.

So Damocles was some dude sucking up to King Dionysius of Syracuse, going, "By golly, being a king sure must be swell! Your life is super peachy keen! And, bonus, no one ever secretly plots to kill you in your sleep!"
Dionysius, unimpressed, was like, "Try it out!" and set up Damocles as king for a day, with all the fruit bouquets and blowjobs he could ask for. Provided, anyway, that he enjoyed said fellatio and edible arrangements from his throne, above which was a badass and super-heavy sword just kinda hanging from the ceiling or something, suspended by a single horse hair.
Damocles, upon discovering the precarious sword (I leave it to the reader to decide how the enjoyment of his luxuries led him to tilt his head back to look directly upwards), said, "Fuck this shit!"

For the purposes of how Royals is represented, I'm calling the setup in this photo a model; I don't think that's a stretch, but it would be a stretch to go with image/drawing (what, the mammoth skull thing? Side note: purple is the color of royalty!). Or we could call the knight—which I might guess would be considered a part of the royal court—the model. Damn, too bad I didn't call upon u/sirkravsalot to be in the shot. Which brings me to...

Challenge Accepted: This challenge is literally calling upon us to talk about stuff, so I cannot be held responsible for the length that it contributes!

It still seems weird to me that we call this a hobby. I'm not saying it shouldn't be considered one, but I tend to think of a hobby as something that someone does to occupy much of their off-time, whereas shaving takes but a small amount of time. Unless you're a face-latherer, but the rest of us spend those extra 7 hours doing other things!

Time was when I wasn't really sure of how to answer the "hobby" question, anyway. Last year, though, I picked up something that I briefly dabbled in some 10 years prior and now do for no less than an hour/day 5-6 times per week: krav maga. If you're unfamiliar, it's a fighting system developed by the Israeli military that borrows from various martial arts.

The people at the studio/dojo/kravery that I go to are very disparate people, all with very different motivations for being there. Some want to learn how to defend themselves. Some want to become martial arts masters! Some just want to get into better shape. As for me, I like that it's a pretty fun (usually) way to stay active while programming some pretty nifty muscle memory, and it doesn't hurt that it helped me get into better shape than I've been in since I was like 20.

Do I ever expect to actually use anything I learn there? No. Absolutely not. Aside from just general vigilance/self-awareness kind of stuff. I am reminded of an interaction I had with one guy there while we were drilling a simple gun disarm. He was like, "Do you ever have to do this?" Not "Have you ever had to," or "Have you ever been in this situation," but "Is this something that you do?" No, man, I do not routinely find myself staring down the barrel of a gun wielded by someone so intent on murdering me that I have to RCAD that shit!
Redirect, control, attack, disarm/takeaway. There's a bit of jargon for ya.

2023-07-08 Magnificent Maggard

• Brush: Maggard Razors - Black Resin Handle Black and White Synthetic
• Razor: Maggard Razors - MR18 with V3
• Lather: Maggard Razors - London Barbershop
• Post Shave: Epsilon - Blue Mediterranean
• Fragrance: Lulu & Bee - Soleil Blanc "Inspired"
• Blade: Personna Super (4)

Relevant Other stuff: Uh... samples! These clean, bright scents are all samples! I have no doubt that Maggard surely does very well by supplying samples to shavers for the games, so it feels germane to today's theme. Cop-out? Maybe, but I also tie the scents together more below. Also, Maggard razor and brush.

#FOF

Lather: I first tried this scent two years ago for the Games, and I cannot stress enough just how fucking clean this smells! I'm not going to talk, for the moment, about the "Barbershop" label; that's literally a topic for another day. But holy shit, this is the freshest, cleanest scent I've ever encountered.

Now, I know what you're thinking: "What the hell does 'clean' mean, man? Next thing you'll tell me it smells like sunshine; say what you mean!" What? No, it doesn't smell like sunshine. Nothing smells like light; that's stupid.

I will say, though, that this could easily be called something like "Fresh Linen" if that wasn't marketing suicide; that's the kind of fresh clean-ness I mean. It is a bright scent, and the only reason I don't have a full tub of the stuff is because a) I have too much soap and already b) I have another barbershop tub I barely use because I have too much soap already. Plural reasons. Come to think of it, I should get one for August... No, bad! Too much soap!

Post Shave: Chosen for today after seeing it described as "a clean, light" scent, this is exactly that. Sure, it looks like you could pour it in a Barbicide jar and not know the difference (thus making it right at home alongside the Barbershop lather), this is also a surprisingly apt follow-up to the lather. It is fresh and clean, and I am feeling super clean and fresh after rubbing it on my face. That may have come across as sarcastic, but it is not!

Fragrance: (disclaimer: freebie with the awful Magnolia scent from the other day)
This smells like sunshine! If it were a color, it would be a pale yellow. This is purportedly a dupe of Tom Ford's Soleil Blanc, and while I don't' know what cardamom and ylang ylang smell like (apparently it shares the latter note with today's aftershave), but this is a lively, bright scent.
It's not something I'd choose to wear regularly (it's expressly unisex, but I feel like a cooler or darker scent personally suits me better), it makes me feel like spending the day outsi—OH GOD WHY DOES THE SUN COAT ALL OF EXISTENCE WITH PAIN AND DEATH

#photocontest

Photo: Urban/architecture, the built environment
I was originally planning on some setup with maple leaves to match today's theme, but that seems at odds with all this bright liveliness. Meanwhile, even though I had to get a ladder to clean the outside of that window, I forgot to do the same on the inside. ~~Oh, well.~~ Later, because the fancy struck me to start cleaning my kitchen, I thought I may as well drag the ladder back out to get the window and take the shot again, with improved results.

Challenge Accepted: Hold up, there's a DQ thread, as in a thread where all the Lather Games' disqualified posts go? A graveyard of latherlympic shame? So the djudges have made extra work for themselves to track down the questions. Guys, I'm trying like hell to make things better by cutting down my ramblings, and then you do this? Well, all the better, I suppose; it makes it much easier for me to avoid lengthy digressions, and I will take such opportunity; I think this is my briefest post yet!

While I am tempted, I will not go off on some tangent comparing today's challenge from compulsory discussion boards in online classes. Is that still a thing? I imagine online classes have evolved greatly since my time, especially after 2020. It was a nice idea, but utterly and consistently failed to drive engagement from the students—unless they were already engaged, of course.

That's not an issue for us today, because the Lather Games participants are highly engaged; so much so, that today's Daily Questions thread is going to be very much alive, albeit not with very many actual questions, but you knew that.

2023-07-09 "Kitchen," you say?

• Brush: Omega 11047 Mixed (43mm x 20mm) #MISTURA #SMOLL #RUNT
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech (J3: 1964) #JETSETTER
• Lather: Catie's Bubbles - Irish Coffee
• Post Shave: Epsilon - Scottish Spirit
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - 1904
• Blade: - Lord Platinum (1)

Well if it isn't my annual reminder to clean my kitchen! I'm kidding. I didn't clean my kitchen last year, either.

#photocontest

Photo: Drinks
Super original, I know. Yes, it's the same little bottle of whiskey I used last year. Yes, they're the same coffee beans. What can I say?

What is new, as of this morning, is the moka pot in the back, which the Games inspired me to finally spring for. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I am a fan of tea, and I've been known to enjoy the occasional straight espresso. That said, I don't handle caffeine all too well, so it wasn't great when I got this thing this morning and promptly made 2... batches? brews? witch's brew? I don't know, but I had already had too much caffeine this morning, so I was really fucking amped before I started drinking the third.

Challenge Accepted: I knew I wouldn't be alone in choosing a different kitchen than my own, considering it was hinted in the challenge description. I was hesitant to follow through with this, but super-wired with faux-expresso, my brain barely able to process reality, and my kitchen now more of a mess, I sought another kitchen.

I shaved in a kitchen, alright: Pei Wei Asian Kitchen.

As I waited in line to order, I scoped out the restaurant for a secluded place to accomplish my task. There was none. It's an open, casual-fast restaurant; there are no secluded booths, only one open space. Everyone in the restaurant was part of an audience.

After I selected a table, I realized I would need another bowl for water, so I asked the person working, who graciously brought me one. I began preparing, and it wasn't long before the food arrived.

After having a few bites, I commenced lathering. That was inconspicuous enough, but once I began applying the later to my face. there was no hiding.

Two things became clear: 1) People are generally focused on what they have going on and 2) as long as you're not bothering anyone, they don't care what you're up to. The people who did notice didn't gawk or stare. They just observed that there was some guy nonchalantly shaving in the middle of a restaurant, and carried on with their own food and conversation.

And so I was able to proceed with shaving (using my phone's camera as a mirror) with little concern for the other people there, much as they had little concern with me. I admit I was nonetheless a little rushed, so I hadn't gotten the lather as thick as I would have in my own kitchen, but I got it better for the second pass.

Once I was finished, I rinsed each bowl in the restroom, and reflected on the fact that a greater coward would have done the entire shave in there. Similarly, a greater coward would promptly leave, but I decided it was time to finish the food

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: Tied together as the main features of the lather: coffee and whiskey.

#FOF

Lather: Because this will undoubtedly be one of the most popular lathers today, there isn't going to be much that I can add. I will say that it's probably the most pleasant coffee soap I've tried. In contrast, Stirling's Iced Coffee (a bar of which I currently have in the shower) is strong on hazelnut. Storybook's Coffee Spoons smells like coffee-flavored ice cream. Catie's Bubbles, on the other hand, is mellow and smooth coffee, with no bitterness. I do not pick up mush "Irish" in it, but I admittedly don't know what I would be sniffing for in that regard. During today's shave, I admit I didn't pay much attention to the scent.

Post Shave: First off, I very much enjoy the wordplay in the name, Scottish Spirit. Secondly, this aftershave pairs astonishingly well with General Tso's Chicken! I had started eating again when I donned it, and the whiskeyness laid beautifully over the hot spices of the meal. I feel comfortable calling the aftershave woody and smoky, words that I think are not uncommon when describing whiskeys. By itself (i.e. not alongside the chicken), the clove note comes through pretty strong to my nose, which I don't mind at all; I'm a fan, even. Cinnamon also seems quite prominent, but I've never been much a fan of cinnamon anything, so I could do without that part, but it's not terrible.

Fragrance: Following up with 1904 brought back the coffee, which frankly interrupted the graceful chicken/whiskey dance, but that's not the fragrance's fault. 1904 is what I might expect as the general ambient scent of air in a coffee shop, just the background smell that reminds you that it is a place where coffee is made.

Speaking of the fragrance in isolation, I think that the coffee note is close enough to the neighborhood of sandalwood that it occupies the same nose-space, so I don't think I can pick it out.
I still don't know what cardamom is, but if I learned anything from yesterday's cardamom+ylangx2 fragrance, I expect it's a light one that works with the jasmine and lime notes to brighten the scent from the coffee and sandalwood (that is straight guesswork there). I think I can actually detect the jasmine here—definitely more so than the lime—which pleases me; as I keep saying for some reason, jasmine is something I cautiously wish was more prominent in more scents.

2023-07-10 Meedley meedley meedley waaaAAH

• Brush: Summer Break Soaps - Custom
• Razor: Gilette Milord (1947-1950) #REGUS
• Lather: Wholly Kaw - Rebelle
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Oud Sigma
• Fragrance: Colornoise - Rock N Roll
• Blade: - Personna Super (5)

Challenge Accepted: Alright, draw a soap label...
Draw a soap label?
Draw [on] a soap label!
*sigh* Draw a soap label. I really do better with geometric/minimal; shapes are easy. Forms are not. Faces? Fuhgedaboudit.

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Music and oud tie these together. The relevance of the "Rock N Roll" fragrance is obvious (I hope), but it also shares the oud note of the lather and post-shave. Oud Sigma is even relevant to the music theme, as well. If you're not familiar with the Ood from Doctor Who, they're a telepathically-linked species that was enslaved; after being freed they were free to sing. I think it's also worth mentioning that there is a musical intrument, the oud, named for and made of the wood, making the unifying scent note all the more appropriate.

Razor: I'm not a fan of this razor, but it doesn't have a date code and I only just got why the hashtag is "regus".

Brush: This beautiful brush is the creation of u/rocketk455, who bestowed it upon me after a month of scentless shaves last August. This would be my daily brush, because I love it, but it's not, because I don't want to wear it out. I'm also telling myself because the "rock" in u/rocketk455 is a tenuous link to music.

#FOF

Lather: Off the puck, sandalwood hits my nose prominently, and nothing else. Maybe oud comes through more than I think but gets mixed in with the sandalwood, but what I think oud is has only been informed by a couple of other scents.
During the shave, a dry, smoky scent reminiscent of Chiseled Face's Sherlock starts to come through. It is not a leafy tobacco, but a smoky, maybe even ashy one.

Post Shave: Oud takes ove with Oud Sigma, a product that I got very excited about when announced by Stirling, my being a fan of (much of) Doctor Who. It was a bit ofh a risk for me to jump on it so readily, especially considering that I'm not a fan of the only other oud scent I know: Razorock Tuscan Oud (boo Razorock). Oud Sigma is much softer, I feel, perhaps lightened by the pink pepper.

Fragrance: This brand, Colornoise, has a general synesthesia theme, and this fragrance boasts notes of smoldering incense, spicy oud, white woods, guitar riffs, and heart-thumping bass. Now, I don't know what anything after "oud" means, but I get ~~mostly~~ only incense out of this. Scent-wise, it's frankly more appropriate for hippy dippy, but it would have been ridiculous to not use it today. I think I also sprayed way too much of it on myself. I'm nose-blind to it now, but hopefully it's not overbearing.

#photocontest

Photo: Music
Okay, again, super surprising for today, I know. Now, I feel like Bowie alone would fit the theme, but just in case I also included my old iPod, a 5th-generation that I think I bought in 2006. It's a relic of a different time, isn't it?

2023-07-11 Summertime Madness

• Brush: Qshave Pure Badger #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS
• Razor: Bambaw Sea Green #RAINBOW
• Lather: Zingari Man - The Navigator
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Island Man
• Fragrance: Bath & Body Works - Mountain Frost
• Blade: - Feather (1)

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: As required by the challenge

Challenge Accepted: Oh, man, I dodged a bullet today. I was about to use Moon's Astoria, because it's an aquatic-woodsy scent and "a heavy-hitter for summer use", except it's also "sure to be popular in the cooler months" and thus explicitly marketed for multiple seasons. So I reverted to my plan A: Navigator. On the upside, this one makes for a more interesting palette of colors. Instead of a bunch of poorly-matched green, we have the blues and white of the sky and ocean water, the brown wood of the ship and the figurehead's hair, the green of her scales, and the gold of her compass.
(I promise the mermaid's scales are greener than it looks. In person, it matches the razor's "sea green" perfectly).

#FOF

I still don't really know what an aquatic scent is, but Navigator is explicitly identified as such in Zingari's description, so at least she did that work for me. I do feel confident saying (obviously influenced by the label's imagery) that the soap smells like salty ocean air.
Meanwhile, Island Man is too fruity for my taste. The glacial menthol of this bottle completely overwhelms the senses when putting it on, but the fruity comes back strong. (Update: I smelled it on myself long into the day, quite more so than the fragrance)

Finally, this bizarre ~~BBW~~ Bath & Body Works scent is a mystery. I've had this bottle for over 20 years, and I used it all the time in high school. A friend of mine was convinced it was "Cool Water for Men" (she seemed to like it, which is why I used it all the time). Well, I recently got some Davidoff Cool Water for Men so that I could compare, and I don't think it's close at all. Even so, her calling it that is why it represents the quintessential aquatic in my brain-space, even though I can't find any information about what this scent is supposed to be. I might still use it all the time, but it hasn't been available in forever so I don't want to use it up.

#photocontest

Photo: Masterpieces
Did someone say "vaguely-defined themes"? It may well be inevitable that I'll fail to come up with a way to cover one of the photo themes, but today is not that day. Today, I count myself under the category of "etc"! No, I'm not referring to the photo itself.
The conveniently-hued book upon which my shaving supplies for today rest contains the best version of what was quite literally my master piece, oh so many years ago.

2023-07-12 Coconut, my dear Watson

• Brush: Zenith Chubby B27
• Razor: Gillette Old Type
• Lather: Chiseled Face - Sherlock
• Post Shave: Chiseled Face - Sherlock
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Unconditional Surrender
• Blade: - Feather (2)

Although I'm sure Chiseled Face is going to be popular today, I'll still point out that it's number 3 on the label.

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Sticking with the same scent for the post-shave. As for the fragrance, it relates in two ways: 1) the tobacco note (and leather somewhat, as represented by the amber accord, according to u/hawns) and 2) also being inspired by a great man, i.e. Ulysses S. Grant (granted, one is fictional and the other is not).
"Why not Baker Street," you ask? Because I didn't think of it is why!

Challenge Accepted: Fuck.
It's no secret how I feel about face-lathering. If you do favor face-lathering, I implore you to seek vigorous therapy to explore why you hate yourself so much that you regard your own time with such little value! For today, I figured I might as well bring out my old face-lathering ~~friend~~ ~~companion~~ boar from last August, a single month in which I wasted ~~hours~~ ~~days~~ weeks spent face-lathering. And now I'm still stuck with this "face-lathering sucks" bit!

But it is awful. So awful. Behold the meager lather after only a mere 3 hours rubbing my face as my beautiful bowl sat dry. Nah, I didn't spend that long, but I did think—just for a moment during the first pass—that maybe it wasn't bad, maybe there's something to be said for fluffy coconut. Nope, terrible.

#FOF
This was one of my first soaps. When I was first getting started, I was intent on finding a perfect tobacco scent. I thought this one to be better than others I sampled at the time, despite some reviews claiming it to be akin to an ashtray. I didn't agree with that assessment, but when compared to the likes of Tobacconist from House of Mammoth (as close to a perfect tobacco scent as may be possible), it's certainly closer to ashtray than humidor.

As for the fragrance, I think it may have been my nose's first Maher scent, from the soap, and I was and am quite enamored. The tobacco isn't front and center, nor is it meant to be, so there's not a lot of room for direct comparison, and I don't think it's the most appropriate pairing. After about an hour, I'm still getting Sherlock rising to the top, but I'd prefer its unconditional surrender to Unconditional Surrender.

#photocontest

Photo: Literature
Pretty straightforward, this one was already decided before the contest was even announced, so that's convenient!

2023-07-13 Look out! Jive turkeys!

• Brush: Zenith B35 Moar Boar #CHONK #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Nameless Straight 3/4" #STR8SNOB #ALLNATURAL
• Lather: St. James of London - Mandarin & Patchouli
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - D503
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli

An ill-advised caffeine bender began last Sunday, and I think I'm finally back to normal.
Patchouli's right in the name of today's lather and there's the width of the razor.

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: This sample came with a matching pre-shave oil instead of aftershave (like most other scents in Maggard's St. James sampler), so I chose a citrusy aftershave to link to the mandarin of Mandarin & Patchouli. More importantly, though, the aftershave's label is also orange, like that of the cream's pouch thingy.
Also, the label for the fragrance is orange! At least, the label of the corresponding soap is orange...
Oh, hey, wouldja look at that, the label of the fragrance vial is, too! That definitely had nothing to do with the orange highlighter that I had lying around after the draw-a-label challenge, no sir. And yeah, sure, it shares the citrus and patchouli highlights.

I also felt like the straight was appropriate to today's theme, because... it's a hippie-y thing? Definitely a hipster thing, which I'm well aware is similar by name alone. I'm convinced, though, that there's a continuum with beatnik-hippie-hipster, which brings me to...

Challenge Accepted: Regina Spektor's early album 11:11 is full of what I think of as beatnik vibes. I'm not about to just plop the whole album here, nor am I going to present the standout track from the album, Pavlov's Daughter, because that's nearly 8 minutes long.
Instead, here's the much shorter Wasteside, which is strong with beatnikiness, with its string bass and the lyrically-painted picture of aimless characters. Bonus for the mention of barbershops, too.

#FOF
This list of scents and scent notes that make me say "I have no idea" is pretty long. All I really knew about patchouli is that Patton Oswalt is not a fan. So I bought a cheap few mL of patchouli oil to find out what all the fuss was about.

Frankly, I like it. I am a fan. I don't see what the problem is, or why I've seen it described here as "stanky" (which, by the way, seems like it should be more semantically narrow than "stink," and yet the usage seems to suggest it's nearly interchangeable. But I digress.

The patchouli is strong with this cream, so much so that I'm not sure why they even bothered to put "mandarin" in the name. By the end of the first pass, my opinion of patchouli completely changed. I am not a fan. I was glad to be free of the stank (a word that I've just now decided is 100% appropriate and indeed a subcategory of "stink") when it came time for the D-503, which provided a relatively subtle transition thanks to the otherwise-overpowered mandarin of the cream. The YRP at the top, being lighter on patchouli, made me feel like I was finally free of the stank.

#photocontest

Photo: Vegetables
That's right, a mandarin is a vegetable. I'm not even joking or trying any loopholes; it was made pretty clear that the fruit/vegatable themes aren't tied to particular definitions thereof, and vegetables include all edible plant matter, including [...] fruits. There sure is a bunch of plant-based photo themes!

2023-07-14 My nose is froze and my ears are froze...

• Brush: Summer Break Soaps - Custom
• Razor: Phantom Blue Open Comb Slant #RAINBOW
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps - Rope Swing
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented Menthol Witch Hazel
• Fragrance: Davidoff - Cool Water
• Blade: Feather (3)

Rope Swing features the synthetic cooling ingredient WS-23

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Keeping it frosty with Stirling's menthol witch hazel, because more menthol is always better—as long as you don't care about having feeling in your skin. Cool Water as today's fragrance keeps with the "cool" theme and matches the aquatic notes of the lather.

Obviously, I had to break out the beautiful SBS brush. u/rocketk455, everybody!
(also pointing out the hardware point; not sure if I should see it counted as such after the last use)

Challenge Accepted: I thought this razor might handle today's challenge well, and its color fits well in the photo. I've only used this razor a couple of times. I find it to be much better than the only other slant I've tried, and it doesn't have the alignment problems that I hear are so common. Let's, uh, let's not talk about where this razor comes from. K? Cool.

I wasn't worried about my neck with this challenge, but it'll be a cold day in hell that I go ATG over my philtrum, which I never do even under normal circumstances (on the other hand, I can grow a mean moustache). So I didn't ATG there or the corresponding area below the lower lip for the same reason.

All else was only ATG for each pass (3?). I don't often think about what the first WTG pass does, but it is evident that clearing that bulk of hair is quite helpful. Add on top of that that I'm not very familiar with how the slant handles, so a pass of alum was called for. Alum even looks like ice, doesn't it?

#FOF
If I'm being honest, the SBS branding theme doesn't land for me. Thankfully, though, last year's Games compelled me to try them, and I am incredibly glad for it! I grabbed Valedictorian and Rope Swing, and they both blew me out of the water. With Rope Swing, I get aquatic off the puck, and woodsy floral notes that are emphasized in the product description open up in the lather.

After the unscented menthol interlude, courtesy of Stirling, I delight in following this up with Cool Water. I love aquatics, largely due, I'm sure, to the fact that I took a liking to one as a young lad. Cool Water is a quintessential aquatic in my mind, and it triggers all kinds of pleasant brain-chemicals.

#photocontest
Photo: Sports
I'm no fisher—wait, is that something people say? "Fisher"? Fisherman is more specifically vocational, no?
Suffice it to say, I don't fish, but my understanding is that it's a sport (no less so than bar sports) and swaths of anglers will argue vehemently as such.

If you're at a "pristine mountain lake" with a rope swing (a category of which I figure a tire swing is a subset), it may well be likely that there's going to be fishing happening, as well. But probably don't jump where the lines/hooks are.

2023-07-15 C'est un chypre

• Brush: Yaqi - Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Gillette Old Type 1919 #BRASSING
• Lather: Wet Shaving Products - Olympus
• Post Shave: Fine Accoutrements - Platinum
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Executive Man
• Blade: Feather (4)

Natural brassing wear on the razor's handle. I don't want anyone to think I'd deliberately scrape the cap for this, because I know it looks like that.

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: The only thing more confusing than figuring out whether a soap/scent is a chypre is figuring out why somebody decided to name a family of scents after cheese. Or is it named after the goats themselves? Either way, both are stinky and smell nothing like these Aventus dupes in today's lineup.
Aventus is apparently a "fruity chypre," a description that I guess makes sense if we're talking about cheese, but not so much if we're talking about goats, so I guess it's the former.

Challenge Accepted:
What have you djudges gotten yourselves into? You know you're not going to want to watch a bunch of boring shave videos, I am nothing if not ~~pandering~~ ~~acquiescent~~ accomodating, so I condensed my shave video with the magic of time lapse. Come to think of it, I think I did pick up a whiff of cheese during the shave...

But also, I'm still going to make mention of Challenge^bis, i.e. "WetTubing," which frankly sounds like something you'd encounter at a water park. I'm only inferring it's related to YouTube. In that case, no YouTube shaver can ever hope to come close to u/Cadinsor. I don't understand why this thread isn't full of people praising u/Cadinsor. You all need to look up Michael Freedberg immediately.

#FOF
All of these products, being different (maybe? unless they're all pre-blends?) reproductions of the same scent, are similar enough that my nose can't discern them in any meaningful way. Altogether, it is a fresh scent, that is for sure. It is also undeniably fruity, but I don't care for that at all. I mean, it's fine, but it's not my cup of tea (unless it provides relief from a super-stanky civet).

Now, it's relevant to mention that, as I was figuring out my Games calendar a few weeks ago, my lying-around sample of Executive Man fell onto my concrete floor, seemingly destroying my only goat-cheese fragrance for today. However, there was plenty left in the little tube. Nonetheless, I later got a sample vial of the veritable Creed Aventus. While I haven't used it, there does seem to be something remarkable different about it, better, less in-your-face pineapple.

#photocontest
Photo: History (No, I'm not talking about the goofy Greek diorama, though I am quite proud of that)
I am, however, talking about the literal piece of history in the photo: the 104-year-old razor. I mean, the threshold is 20 years. There's plenty of junk that we all have lying around older than that, but at some point—maybe the centennial mark?—a thing ceases to be old junk and becomes a piece of history (purely coincidental tie-in).

Edit: I've been informed that it's Chypre, after the island of Cyprus, and not chèvre, like goats and goat cheese. They're, like, almost the same word, guys. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2023-07-16 Barbershop

• Brush: West Coast Shaving - Two Tone Synthetic
• Razor: Henson AL13 Medium #CNC
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. - No. 11
• Post Shave: Floïd - The Genuine
• Fragrance: American Crew
• Blade: Feather (5)

Challenge Accepted: The word "meme" is not so narrowly defined as to refer only to image macros or whatever templates, and I don't think so lowly of the djudges to think they would assume as such.
A recently-surfaced meme that remains fairly persistent on reddit lately is that of AI-generated images of John Oliver. Now, I'm not about to shell out for a year's subscription to Midjourney or the like, so instead I managed to create these horrible atrocities. The AI models that produced these clearly know about prominent Oliverian features, such as his glasses, but they seem to have trouble with the idea of "safety razor", "DE razor", or permutations thereof, and the finger-like appendage in that first one is nothing short of horrifying.

#FOF
What is a barbershop?
The only answer I've been able to find to this question is: whatever the hell the scent-creator wants! No argument here. But it confuses the hell out of my sniffer.

My first impression of No. 11 is that it's very close to London Barbershop of Maggard, which I previously lauded as the cleanest scent in my nose's experience. It's similar enough that I have wondered if it is the same and just hits the nose differently due to the soap's base. I am led to dismiss this idea, though, because No. 11 is said to be based on a specific other barbershop scent, the notes of which differ quite a bit from that of the pre-blend. Shows how much my nose knows!

Meanwhile, I found Floïd The Genuine described as "a barbershop classic," and I'll take whoever's word for it. Maggard's description says it's "an explosion of spices with citrus [...] that will transport you to the aromas of traditional barbershops". You betcha, marketing person! I do agree that it is strong in the spice department, but its similarity to No. 11 ends at the "barbershop" association.

Meanwhile again, this American Crew stuff is something that I was given a long time ago in an, "I don't want this; you have it!" kind of way. It as long enough ago that all I can find in regard to its scent thereof is that it's "a clean and subtle scent that combines spicy and citrusy notes." You got it, pardner. Based on that, I can say with moderate confidence that the fragrance shares the spicy and citrusy aspects of the barbershop aftershave, and the clean-ness of the lather.

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: The lather and aftershave are both ostensibly barbershoppy, and the fragrance shares the clean/citrus/spicy accords of each.
Not to mention the fragrance is vaguely-defined, much in the spirit of "barbershop".

#photocontest
Photo: Games
I don't think I've ever stepped foot in a veritable barbershop, so all I really have to go on is in media-depictions. I haven't seen the Barbershop movies, though. I did see an episode of iZombie that featured a barbershop, and it had a whole theme around gambling. I think I might indeed associate gambling with the general depiciton of that kind of barbershop, so here we are: Gaming.

2023-07-17 The Beast with Three ~~Backs~~ Heads

• Brush: Yaqi - Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Qshave Adjustable
• Lather: Declaration Grooming - Cerberus
• Post Shave: Cloe - Alum block
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Agua Fresca
• Blade: Astra Platinum (1)
• Razor: Rockwell 6S
• Razor: Weishi Butterfly

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance:
Agua Fresca: Not only is this scent part of a Declaration collaboration, but it features the stone-fruit apricot, while Cerberus highlights stone-fruit.
Alum because I, too, am a team player!

Challenge Accepted: To find out the brand of this alum, I had to look up my order from... phew, 25 months ago. Here's the thing, though: the brand doesn't matter. It's the same stuff.

What? I mean, uh—Oh, man, how I wish I had paid 30-40% more for a block of something that is entirely indistinguishable from what I have! Everyone knows that if the package says OSMA then it automatically improves the quality of the otherwise chemically-identical block of potassium alum inside! Oh, why did I not think to pay more for nothing?! Oh, great despair!

In other news, I have found that storing one's alum block standing up on its end instead of laying it on its side helps to keep it from melting away as quickly as it might otherwise, and also helps to keep its surface smooth. Maybe this is obvious and well known, and it's likely (and encouraged) that someone will chime in with a better alternative.

#FOF
I don't tend to hold back when praising Ben; he's created some of my favorite scents (I don't think I've mentioned in a while how amazing Tobacconist is). I'm no sycophant, though, and I must be honest: my nose doesn't care for this. I think it's the fruit. The scent is almost viscous in a way that I find unpleasant. I now realize that it's been a recurring thing for me during this year's Games that I don't care for fruity scents, and it seems to me that the stone fruit is what Cerberus is all about. Agua Fresca, too: all about the fruit, albeit lighter (is it the melon?), without viscosity. Obviously (I hope), this is only a matter of my opinion and olfactory preferences. I'm sure they're both lovely for those who like fruit. Yuck.

#photocontest
Photo: Vehicles
Might as well knock this theme out, especially since the little Cerberus guy looks like it could be a bobblehead. That's set up on the dashboard of my car, in case it weren't obvious. I am, might I add, very pleased with how the colors turned out working together here.

It is pure coincidence that this is my fourth SOTD that relates to Greek mythology; I did not plan it, and I don't otherwise have a particular affinity (or aversion) thereto, but here we are. Side note: it was only the other day that I learned that our triple-noggin'd canine friend was the offspring of two snake/serpent monster things, because that makes sense.
Three heads? Three razor heads? Three razors!
I made 3 passes for today's shave, eache one with a different razor: First the Qshave Futur knockoff, because it's kind of clumsy and is definitely represented by the goofy third head. The Rockwell followed, and then the Weishi.

Now, I'm pretty sure I'm not channeling u/cowzilla3 here, but I'm pretty sure there ain't no rule says I can't use multiple razors in a single shave, especially since doing so is not in the spirit of some exploitative advantage (as would be the case for, say, mixed lathers, frankenrazors, or multiple hashtags).

2023-07-18 Halfway Happy

• Brush: Summer Break Soaps - Custom
• Razor: Rockwell - 6S
• Lather: London Razors - Coffee & Contemplation
• Post Shave: Henri et Victoria - Cognac & Cuban Cigars
• Fragrance: For Strange Women - Decadence & Debauchery
• Blade: Astra - Platinum (2)

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Ampersands & Alliteration!

Spooky Season: In case it's not immediately evident how Coffee & Contemplation (C&C) fits the theme, the below is from the original description; it was explicitly marketed for Fall:

Being a little on the heavy side, we think this scent is going to be perfect for the upcoming cooler, Fall months.

#FOF On paper, it makes sense: Russian leather (which is also relevant to the show), cedar, and amber come together with the coffee headliner for a darker scent, with a sweet side introduced by cocoa, vanilla, and coconut...

C&C smells like Tootsie Rolls.

It took me a little while to figure it out; I had decided that it smells like a kid's bag of candy, and thus appropriate that it's indirectly Halloween-themed. More specifically, though: Tootsie Rolls.

Cognac & Cuban Cigars comes in strong with the former part of its name, or at the very least that's brought to the forefront when layered on top of Tootsie Rolls.

Will the fragrance provide any respite? Yes. Despite the brand, Decadence & Debauchery is marketed as a unisex scent. I was pleasantly surprised by it, but tobacco in a scent's list always gets my attention. Immortelle and violet provide a floral prominence, which is deeply darkened by tobacco, myrrh, and amber. It doesn't quite tip it toward masculine as much as I'd prefer, though. I do detect the blood orange and bergamot, and I don't find it off-putting—rare for me, because I loathe orangey notes.

Challenge Accepted: This challenge is disgusting.
This is something people do for Atlas Shaves? That's the thing where you go for increasingly long periods without shaving, yeah? Yeah, no thank you. I had a daily-shave streak for a really long time. Then, a week in the hospital reminded me that one of the biggest reasons that I got started with DEs—trichotillomania—is still very much a thing with me. I don't know if we have any other trichsters in here. If you're unfamiliar, though, see that big ol' bare area on my jaw and cheek? I pulled that all out of my face without even realizing I was doing it. But I digress.

#photocontest
Photo: The Law
Yes, it is a picture of a lawman (Hopper, if you're familiar with the show). But I thought to myself, "What real, physical thing represents the law, so that I can do better than just an image for the photo theme?"
Handcuffs! 100% bona fide handcuffs... of a sort. And it happens to tie in perfectly with Decadence & Debauchery.

Before you get too carried away with your imagination thinking about that, let me draw your attention to the miniature recreation of Steve's bat from the show. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, after giving it a non-boring color and pattern, risking an unfortunate encounter between my kitchen counter and a drill, and the finished product, cat for scale.

2023-07-18 Creamy Goodness

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Gillette Tech
• Lather: Taylor of Old Bond Street - Tobacco Leaf (Cream)
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Tobacconist
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Tobacconist
• Blade: Astra - Platinum (3)

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Tobacco

Challenge Accepted: Well, this sounds like an awful series of thoughts led to this idea.

You may use a brush to apply the lather to your face, as long as the lather was made with a sock.

I can use a brush as long as I make the lather with a sock. Cool.
Look at that ugly-ass sock! I'm never gonna wear that. I mean, definitely not after I make my lather with it! Now how much sock do I need? Apparently, one blade can't handle very much sock. That's probably enough sock. Sock. Lather.

It did not work well. Creams are enough of a pain on their own, but add several pinches of sock? I was trying to keep sock from going into the drain the whole time, and I expect I'll be finding sock in my brush long for a long time. On the other hand, I didn't have any sock getting in the way of the razor, which I expected.

#FOF TOBS Tobacco Leaf is a vague tobacco smell. There's a lot of different tobacco smells, ranging from ashy to flowery (no one has smelled a tobacco flower) to pipey to cigary. I guess this is accurately leafy, but it's unremarkable.

When I sought out to find a tobacco scent, I sought one that recreates what it's like to walk into a humidor, its walls lined with cigars. Tobbaconist gets as close as anything, for which reason I can't seem to be able to shut up about it.

I want to preface this by saying Tobacconist is beautiful. I definitely can't stay mad at it.

With all my praise, I'm going to be critical of one teensy, minor thing. It's been recurrent over the past few weeks and perhaps my concentrated nose-efforts during that time have made me more sensitive to it: the fruit. Kill the fruit. No one even likes to eat fruit, much less smell it. When was the last time you voluntarily selected and consumed a piece of fruit, and enjoyed it? It was never, wasn't it?
I'm kidding; I know there are weirdos in this world.

#photocontest
Photo: Insects/Invertebrates
Gross.

2023-07-20 Dooblie-doo

• Brush: Omega 343178 Synthetic #FAUXFUR #OLDWORLD
• Razor: The Goodfellas' Smile - Kamisori Shavette #KAMISORI
• Lather: The Goodfellas' Smile - Shibusa 2
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Campania
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Dunshire

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance: Not only are they all dupes (that's easy and boring), but they're all dupes of "Acqua" scents (equally easy but maybe slightly less boring).
Also, the The Goodfellas' Smile razor (brand to match the lather) is a fascimile of a veritable kamisori.
Finally, the synthetic brush is an imitation (albeit a superior one *darts eyes around*) of a natural brush.

Challenge Accepted: How much water do I normally use? I have had the thought that I tend to go a bit pastier than many, but I would sooner say I do "eh, middle water". Just to be safe, I'ma do both!

Side note: I think there's an important consideration for water quality—i.e. hard vs soft water—that I don't think gets mentioned enough, especially when we're talking about how much water you're using. That's a rant for another time. That said, I do have a bag of citric acid that I never use because PITA.

I wet the brush just out of habit, then backpedaled to squeeze and shake as much as I could out of it to get this. If I'm being honest, it wasn't that bad, but it stuck hard to the razor with a tenacity! On the other hand, it was also straight-up dangerous, because I had to actually force the thing through that dry paste, so any slip of the razor would certainly result plentiful loss of skin and blood. The "lather" kept getting drier still, becuase I live on the surface of the sun.

Next, I got it much wetter than I ever would. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, frankly. Bits of lather and suds were flyin' every which way; I didn't know what was happening! While I expect some would say that this looks close to perfect, it didn't stick to my face very well, and it fizzled away really quickly.

#FOF
Shibusa 2: Acqua Di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Mandorlo Di Sicilia. Holy shit, that's a lot of syllables.
I had picked up a sample of the actual frag, and I find it to be a close match. But focusing on the soap itself, my nose-training during the past few weeks seems to be paying off, because I definitely get anise off of the top (huge win; I fuckin' love anise). While I'm still not sure if it would fly for Almond Day (which is why I originally purchased and didn't use it last year), there is definitely almond at its core. Base vanilla comes through quite clearly, as well.

Campania: Acqua di Parma's Blue Mediterraneo Fico di Amalfi. Fou de fafa.
Figs. Shit, fruit. Well, I have only myself to blame. Maybe because it's an unfamiliar kind of fruit to me, it's not too offensive. But still fruit.

Dunshire: Giorgio Armani's Acqua di Gio. I feel like this leans away from the woodiness of the original.
Hm, it only just now occurred to me that my username might be seen to start with the Italian name 'Gino'. Can I get away from that without Streisanding myself?

#photocontest
Photo: Extinct Animals
Observe the noble samurai fending off the likes of... whatever that thing is!
Side note again: Anyone ever try those long Japanese washcloth things? They're pretty great. I threw one in the photo, because why not pile on with the weird nihon-esque theme I have going on here. That particular kind is really rough, so I generally use a softer one, but they all eat soap like crazy.

2023-07-20 Les fous gèrent

• Brush: Zenith B35 Moar Boar #CHONK #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Bambaw Sea Green #RAINBOW
• Lather: Murphy and McNeil - Green Man
• Post Shave: Brut - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Murphy and McNeil - Green Man

Relevant Post-shave and Fragrance:
u/DoctorRotor said, / "Just fougère after fougère." / The hardware's green, too.

Challenge Accepted:
Lather Games haikus. / Haikus enforce brevity. / Good thinking, djudges.
I had a friend once. / Thanks to her, I got practice. / Her haikus were great.
Haikus have morae. / Japanese is different. / But this is English.
Make each line its own. / Don't get all fast and loose with... your haiku line breaks.
Good haikus observe major phrasal boundaries. See? This "haiku" sucks.

#FOF
What is a fougère? / They're not what I might expect. / They should be grassy.
That may not be fair. / Varen is the best fougère. / Stirling did it right.

Murphy and Mcneil. / Green Man says "fougère" right there. / I guess I'll trust them.
Three weeks of the Games. / My nose is getting better. / I smell the anise!
Lavender, jasmine / And hey, I get the oakmoss! / I guess it's grassy.
The scent gets better. / It develops on my skin. / That's why I bought it.
Oh! Free Disclaimer! / If "bought from a gift card" counts; / It was from my mom.

I did not know this: / This Brut stuff is a fougère. / I guess it smells fine.
Brut is way too strong. / This is all I'll smell all day. / But it's not too bad.
An old friend hates it. / At least, for me to exude. / Her father used it.
Though it's a classic, / I'm not sure of the appeal. / To each their own, though.
They blend together, / the Green Man fragrance and Brut; / they're similar (duh).

#photocontest
Photo:
They're Wild Animals. / Artemis likes watching them. / We both just waited.
That jasmine still lives. / Watered 90 times a day. / It's so fucking hot.
The air's made of death. / Don't think you can go outside; / you will not survive.
Wouldja look at this: / An "Excessive Heat Warning"? / Yeah, no shit. We know.

2023-07-22 Failure is Just Success Rounded Down

• Brush: West Coast Shaving - Two Tone Synthetic
• Razor: West Coast Shaving - Midnight 78B Closed Comb
• Lather: Pheonix & Beau - Spitfire
• Post Shave: Clubman Reserve - Gent's Gin
• Fragrance: Pheonix & Beau - Spitfire

Strange Times for Berry Club: Juniper berries, and "juniper" is smack in the middle of the label.
It gave me pause when u/USS-SpongeBob mentioned the possibility of juniper wood being a scent component instead of the berry; in order to rule that out, I simply asked Phoenix & Beau, who said, "It is Juniper Berry that we use in the Spitfire scent profile."

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: Also juniper.
The frag is, of course, the same. As for Gent's Gin, it features "fresh juniper", as it bloody well should with a name like that.

#FOF
Spitfire was one of my first dozen or so soaps, and it remains one of my favorites. Of the three scent components on the label, the most marketable ones are surely leather and tobacco; they certainly work well in the description of Kerry's own grandfather (I'd link, but the site seems to be dead). But what about the juniper? To get a better idea, I shoved my nose not only in a Juniper candle from Stirling but also in a whole bunch of straight juniper berries.

Through the wisdom of my nose-holes, I can say with utmost confidence that juniper is the star of this soap.

Juniper just isn't as broadly appealling as leather and tobacco. I've previously described this soap as smelling like old, dried-out leather. I now understand that the "old dried-out" is the juniper and how it interacts with the other scents as they grapple and claw to make their way through the juniper just enough to also get their names on the label.

As for the Gent's Gin aftershave, I frankly didn't expect much actual juniper from it, based on what I sniffed off the bottle. Once applied, though, the juniper took over potently.

Pi-Approximation Day: I tend to make a big deal out of this day; I make a deal out of it, anyway, which is a lot more than I can say about literally everyone I've ever met. My favorite part of the holiday, such as it is, is the theme of approximations of success!

Challenge Accepted: Speaking of approximations of success, let's give this leg-shaving thing a whirl!
I approximately got a smooth shave (hey, u/newtothethis specifically said not to do a third pass).
I approximately consistently held onto my bowl.
The bowl approximately did not break.

In all seriousness, though, is anyone familiar with kintsugi? Because I think I'm going to see if I can find a place to do that. The bowl was a gift, and now it carries a story of "I was shaving my legs for the first time ever—you know, because a bunch of strangers on the internet told me to—when I dropped it in the shower."

All in all, it took a lot longer than I thought (approximately 45 minutes, I think), and u/newtothethis' help was invaluable. Most notably, the bit about sitting (I don't have a tub, but that ledge in my shower worked out, even if the adjacent wall got in the way), tendons (extending the leg is good), and mirrors (she didn't mention this, but I found that plopping a mirror on the floor was useful).

Finally, while I don't hate how it feels, there's no getting over how horrible my bare man-legs look.

#photocontest
Photo: Spaaaaaace
Aviation—in addition to being directly pertinent to today's soap—is space-adjacent, hence why air and space museums are a thing. That bright orange thing that you see in the photo is a USAF jumpsuit/coverall from the 70s, an era when spacefaring was exciting.
But if that doesn't suit you (pun intended), I'm pretty sure that the planet is a thing that's in space, so there's that.

2023-07-23 What's that smell?

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Gillette Travel Tech (J3: 1964) #JETSETTER
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Oro Valley

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: Trickhole.

What is that enchanting aroma?:
Wait, you guys are getting compliments?
I'm just going to make the excuse that I don't generally have a habit of getting close enough to people—wait, uh, close enough in physical proximity for them to get a whiff. Yeah, that's it. Not the other thing.
That said, I have presented my ridiculous soap-filled cabinet to a small few people who, after smelling a number of scents therein, request a re-sniff of Oro Valley, agreeing that it is indeed phenomenal.

#FOF
Oro Valley is a dupe of Tom Ford's Ombre Leather. Honestly, the main reason I bought this is because of the name (it's not the first time I bought a soap for this reason, and it was far from the last), plus the promise of jasmine seemed, well, promising. I assume that u/stirlingsoap chose the name because they wanted something to evoke the US southwest and isn't so close to Tuscan to cause confusion, plus Valley has an idyllic connotation to it. I couldn't help but want to find out what kind of scent Stirling would name after such a place. Once it hit my nostrils, I immediately got the whole set.
That was the direction of causality: I was curious because of the name, and after that I fell in love with the scent. Don't want anyone thinking I chose this for today just because of the place for which it's named (that part's just convenient).

I assume that the noses under which I've shoved this scent appreciate it for the same reasons that I do. My overall impression is that the leather is masculine and earthy without being too dark or rugged. Cardamom is quite prominent; it is close to being too much, but it mellows out after not too long. It seems to fill a transitional space between the leather and jasmine—so much so that I hesitate to say I can pick the jasmine out, but I believe it's there.

Side note: if you're following along (why would you?), you may recall that I had a couple other run-ins with cardamom earlier this month, at which point I was like, "I don't even know what this is!" I since just went and grabbed a jar of the cardamom spice and bam I know what it smells like. It seems obvious, but if you—like me—feel uncertain with a lot of scents, just find the thing in isolation and (if you can) compare it to scents that purport to contain that scent note. It came in super handy yesterday, when I was hesitant about the berry-ness of Spitfire, and then it was super-obvious that that scent is packed with juniper after I stuck a bunch of juniper berries up my nostrils.

Challenge Accepted

#photocontest
Photo: Scenery

I took a little trip to the soap's namesake.

There's still going to be an "outside" challenge eventually, isn't there? I was really hoping it was going to be today. We've finally started getting some rain, lowering our high to 107/42 today (during the past week, we hit 113/45 for a couple days). Obviously, I brought some drinking water—ahem, some drinking water. It turned out not being too bad, though; I left before the sun, and there was also generous cloud-cover.
(Edit: As I update this in the afternoon, now back at home, it's 110 with a "feels like" of 111 (like that matters). It's fucking death out there. Technically cooler than last week, though.)

I had no idea where I was going to go, but I noticed a sign for a state park. I thought that sounded promising, but I noped out of there after seeing signs about park fees and then a scary-looking ranger began to emerge from the ranger station. Nah, I'm sure he was a friendly chap, but I still left. I decided instead to go to the empty parking lot of a government subcontractor I briefly worked for a few years ago. I'm totally revealing too much information about myself now, but oh well.

It's too bad the depth of field in my phone's camera is limited, but watcha gonna do? I shaved there in the parking lot, eyeing a lone white van that also happened to be there for some reason, and that big bag of water came in quite handy.

2023-07-23 I Bequeath thee!

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: Muhle R41
• Lather: Barrister and Mann - Hallows
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann - Hallows
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Varen

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: Varen, like Hallows, highlights oakmoss and vetiver.

Literally just this past Friday, I went to my local supermarché and was bewildered when I heard from the store's speakers: Jingle Bell Rock. Why were they literally playing Christmas music in July? No idea. Was it someone trying to convince themselves that it's not as ungodly hot outside as it is? Maybe, but I can only imagine that that would make it seem hotter once they inevitably had to step into the blazing death called "outside".

Christmas in July's Eve: The benefactor who generously provided me today's lather, aftershave, and razor is u/loudmusicboy. I had long been curious about this scent, perhaps largely because of the multitude of variations in its artwork that I'd seen pop up from time to time.

#FOF
I'm a fan. With strong oakmoss, it doesn't seem too far off from Varen. It's undeniably darker and "cold"er, which is unsurprising considering that Varen is still a fougère, and is brightened by floral notes. I could do without the cocoa of Hallows, and labdanum is on my "find out what this smell is" list. Nonetheless, both are strongly grassy (which, in the case of Varen, I feel a fougère should be). All that said, I don't know what a swamp smells like or even how likely it is for there to be swamps in Boston, nor what "perversely elegant" means.

But that wasn't the main highlight of the PIF. No, the PIF in question was mainly the razor. Well, this one and the MMOC that a PIFd on. u/loudmusicboy wanted to provide the experience of this aggressive razor to someone unfamiliar, and that he did. Holy hell, this is aggressive. Far more so than the MMOC, I feel. Quite simply, the Muhle R41 is a rough ride. I feel like the blade hovers in razor, loose and wild and ready to slice my skin off. It's like a shavette at 90 degrees. Now that it served here in the Games, I'm likely to pass it on forward to a new owner.

Challenge Accepted: While I can't say that I've caught every post, I can say that I've been paying extra attention to the participants mentioned below:

u/loudmusicboy, who has not only a seemingly relevant username, but also some impressively hairy shoulders and a remarkable debonair and distinguished-looking dog.

u/2SaintsDude and u/partyman97_3, one of whom now has u/loudmusicboy's MMOC (no idea which one, but they both got an MMOC), and both of whom are first-time Games participants.

u/Marquis90, though he doesn't know this, inspired me to search for and discover a non-alcoholic pastis (it's Ricard Pacific, it's wildly expensive to get in my neck of the woods, but it's deliciously close to the "real" thing).

u/OnionMiasma, in addition to exhibiting what I can only describe as a fanatical dedication to LG shenanigans, has been notably engaging among Games participants, which I think is the most commendable thing in the Games.

u/djundjila—who was the victor of my first Games and at that time conspicuously kept a running tally of his own score, which I suspect was motivated by non-existent transparency in scoring at the time—has provided a way not only to make the Games possible, but has worked to ensure an unprecedented degree of participants' confidence in scoring.

All of the djudges, especially the one djudging this. But also the anonymous 1 or 2 who graciously helped me with my small scoring concerns.

#photocontest
Photo: Light sources, because why not throw a bunch of loose LEDs in the skull's mouth?

2023-07-23 What is Winter?

• Brush: Maggard Razors - Black Resin Handle Tuxedo
• Razor: Henson AL13 Medium #CNC
• Lather: Noble Otter - Northern Elixir
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Frozen Tundra
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Santa Noir

Christmas in July:
To quote the product description from Noble Otter: "Man, fuck summer! Summer is scorching death that will kill your children! Elixir is all about winter! Bring back the cool winter air!

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: (All are on-theme)
Similarly, the Frozen Tundra description says a bunch of words about football that I don't understand, leading up to "the scent and feel of earth in winter."
Finally, in u/mammothben's incomparable eloquence, "Santa Noir loves Christmas like an exquisite and expensive prostitute from the wilds of Canada." After that, though, I got confused by the sequence of words "soft woody" and lost concentration.

I don't know, I'm tired.

#photocontest
Photo: Water. Cold, hard water.
In honor of the two weeks out of the year during which we momentarily pretend that the sun it's not trying to destroy all life on the planet (Wait, you guys get more than two weeks? So, like, 20 days?!)
To achieve this, I put some water in a comal and stuck that in my freezer. That's a comal, by the way. I didn't really think through how I was going to get the ice out, but a few seconds with the back of the pan under running cold water popped it right out.

Speaking of thermal stuff, here's a neat thing about aluminum: it's a ridiculous heat conductor. That's why you can put stuff in the oven on aluminum foil, and just grab the foil with your bare hands. That's also why the razor just melted itself cozily right into the ice.

And then why not plop that slab of ice right into the bathroom sink, incidentally working in last year's Menthol Day challenge. I know, it doesn't quite say "this guy needs therapy; look at that desperate call for help" like filling a tub of ice (I kid), but... I don't have a bathtub!

#FOF
My overall impression of Northern Elixir is that the peppermint is pretty overpowering, but I'm also not a big fan of peppermint, so take from that what you will. I admit, though, that it ties in quite nicely with the lavender and eucalyptus, the latter of which blends in with subtlety against a backdrop of similarly hard-to-detect cedar.

Frozen Tundra is exactly what it says on the tin. I suspect another mint (is it in the same line as the snowman-punch scents?), and then whatever the earthiness is brings it, uh, down to earth in such a way that the suspected mint isn't too prominent. And if I'm wrong about mint, then, uh, nevermind.

Santa Noir isn't really comparable to the others, but it independently fits with the theme (obvs). It's a glorious scent that I kick myself for barely missing getting a full bottle of. I normally think of it as being generally season-agnostic while being especially suitable for the corresponding holiday, but I'm feeling expecially Christmassy with it blending with the other scents.

Challenge Accepted: Ah, yes, the ol' reliable Lefty Day. I expect a number of shaves performed with wives', children's, and dolls' left hands. I would have tried to enlist my cat, but I don't know which is her dominant side and she refuses to answer my questions.

But back to the topic of reading comprehension: Wouldn't you know it, just yesterday u/sdrdddy wrote an explanation all about what makes the Henson perfect for Lefty Day, locking in that blade angle even for the most maladroit of shavers!
In fact, I had already chosen the Henson for Left Day for exactly that reason. Am I getting better at the left-handed shave? Maybe, but it's still utterly impossible to lather with the left hand. Humanly impossible. Anyway, here's another intentionally-out-of-focus timelapse in a mirror, in which the lather is done with my dominant hand and the shave with the other.

The Henson actually gets me a remarkably smooth shave most of the time, today included. If I do u/AirBudRuler's Easy August thing, this will be the razor.

2023-07-26 Nondescript Slime Day

• Blush: Ikea - Tillagd Fork
• Raser: The Goodfellas' Smile - Kamisori Shavette #KAMISORI
• Leather: Viet Huong Three Crabs Fish Sauce + Red Drago Tapioca Starch
• Post-Share: Viet Huong Three Crabs Fish Sauce
• Flagrant: Viet Huong Three Crabs Fish Sauce

Wildcard Wednesday:
I'm a fan of cooking. One of my favorite things to cook is stir fry, and my approach thereto has evolved quite a lot. In times past, I'd just throw some meat and vegetables around in a wok, but now I like to make a sauce to throw them around in. The sauce is a little different every time, but an invariant ingredient is: Fish Sauce.

Also critical for the sauce is some kind of thickening agent, which helps it stick to the noodles and solid components of the stir fry. Today, it will also help the fish sauce stick to my face. Corns starch is commonly used for this, but I like to use tapioca starch. Nice, that'll stick real nice.

On second thought, you know what? Fuck that noise.

2023-07-26 No one has used this yet

#photocontest
Photo: Trenches/Holes. It's this photo, guys. Not the first one. That's a trench that's sided by concrete, but it's a trench in the ground all the same.

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: The Goodfellas' Smile - Kamisori Shavette #KAMISORI
• Lather: Gentleman's Nod - Musashi
• Post Shave: Gentleman's Nod - Musashi
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. - Tsuka

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: Japanese-inspired.
Musashi (lather and post-shave) are obvious, but Tsuka is a dupe of the original scent by Japanese designer Hanae Mori.
In the spirit of the theme, the kamisori shavette returns again. I quite surprised myself with how I've come to command the thing, at least on the WTG pass. Practice, I guess.

#FOF
I think this is the third time I've had some vaguely Japanese theme to my shave, which was not planned. In fact, I just got Musashi yesterday. I saw that the scent purports to be built around jasmine tea, and I said, "Oh, fuck yeah." I even made a cup of jasmine tea for comparison to accompany my shave.

The yuzu on top is exactly that: on top. It's backed by what the description calls an "earthy and woodsy" mix, the earthy part of which directs one's attention to the core: is it jasmine? Well, no; jasmine isn't earthy or woodsy. In truth, I don't get much jasmine out of this, but what I do get is green tea.

Enter Tsuka, which kind of makes me question whether the jasmine is as absent from Musashi as I thought; it transitions from the soap seamlessly. Tsuka is nothing if not floral, and I'm quite certain is categorically a women's fragrance, but one that I've never been bothered to don.

Challenge Accepted:
Here's my shaving space. I love that cabinet and I will miss it when I leave where I live now for cooler climates, so I bought another one; it actually just arrived yesterday, and will just stay in the box for the foreseeable future.
The weather here is like living inside of an oven (you sadistic bastards just had to wait until the end of the month for Outside Day), but I've also been saying for the past year and a half that I'm going to move for the PNW. Trouble is, the job I started last April is amazing. So I'm hanging out until I can line up something new either in that area or fully remote. But I digress.

2023-07-27 Don't Get Assaulted Day

• Brush: Omega 343178 Synthetic #FAUXFUR #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Treet Starline
• Lather: Shannon's Soaps - Lavender Lemongrass
• Post Shave: St. James of London - Lavender & Geranium
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Admiral

Free disclaimer:
I have no desire to get into whether certain soap-makers deserve the hate they get around here. Parasitic business practices are pretty deserving. Being an anti-vax psychopath is also pretty damn deserving, so I have not and am unlikely to ever purchase anything from Shannon's Soaps. I think this sample came from The Gentle Shave when I got my brush for Raw Hoggin' last year, after which I smushed it in this tin where it has since waited.
Also, the Treet razor was a freebie thrown in with a WSC order.

Lavendursday: The soap is indeed lavender-forward, alongside lemongrass.

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: The Lavender & Geranium obviously matches the Lavender scent.
Meanwhile, Admiral both features and is prominent (to my nose, at least up front) in lemongrass, the other main element of the soap.

#FOF It's lavender. It's lemongrass. 'Nuff said.

At the time of receiving this sample, I was pretty pleased; I had just used the lemongrass-prominent Port-au-Prince on Desert Island Day, and I was ever a fan of lavender. I'm kind of over lavender. Have I ditched it for jasmine, much like Yukon Cornelius' change of heart vis-a-vis precious metals? Lavender is fine, but it's been done! To be fair, this paricular soap mixes things up with lemongrass, which strikes me as a counter-intuitive combination, but it's not terrible.

Moving on to St. James Lavender & Geranium aftershave, the most remarkable thing about it is that it's a gel. It's a bit unusual, but my unverified assumption is that it, like balm, makes an effort to be more hydrating than alcohol-based splashes. Meanwhile, it unsurprisingly introduces another floral note to the mix. I'm not really familiar with geranium, but it pushes harder into floral than I think I care for. I think it's the geranium that ended up lingering around all day, too, reminding me that I do not care for it.

Challenge Accepted: So stepping into the pure liquid agony that is the outdoors isn't enough anymore, is it? Hard to say; you guys forgot to define "nearby"! I went ahead and assumed that my weird little "yard" doesn't qualify for the challenge; I don't mean to argue that point, but as a thought experiment: If I move to the other side of the outside wall, does the wall of the building still count as "nearby", thus meaning that I'm not "outside"?
To avoid the question, I packed up a big ol' bag of water and headed to a nearby park. I mean, it's several hundred feet away, but it's still "nearby", so you figure it out.
Yes, "park." Rocks and dirt.

Obviously, I went before sunrise—because the fucking sun—which was, strictly speaking, when the park was open. There 's a sign that says it's closed from dusk 'til dawn, and dawn had begun, hence open.

I shaved in Pei Wei, and I shaved in a parking lot in Oro Valley. Neither of those were as unnerving as this situation I found myself in this morning. At this hour, your general passerby isn't going to be a person you want to get near. That is, there's a decent chance that it'll be a vagrant whose brain is in a, uh, altered state. Now, I don't carry very often—partly because I don't feel the need that so many stereotypical Americans do, and partly because I like form-fitting clothing, so I don't tend to have anywhere to put one—but I armed myself this morning.

There was one old man who passed me by who seemed nice enough, but I have no idea what that woman who snuck into the above photo was up to. In any case, I got a couple of passes in.

#photocontest
Photo: Flowers
Those are lavender buds.

2023-07-28 Arko Day

• Brush: Assured Men - Broosse Rasage [sic] #RUNT #HOLLOW
• Razor: Alshabab Original
• Lather: Arko - Arko
• Post Shave: Lucky Tiger - Aspen
• Fragrance: Old Spice - Swagger Body Spray

Frugal Friday: Shit's cheap, yo. I'm not pulling any of this "look at the price for a gross pack!" foolery, either (a gross is 144, for anyone unaware). No, these are just the regular, normal-quantity, non-deal prices for the stuff.

I actually didn't come into wetshaving with the idea of "I'll save so much money!" I had the goal of getting a better shave, which is important to me because trichotillomania, but I'll spare you from another tangent about that.

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: As required by the challenge.

Challenge Accepted:

#FOF

Alshabab Razor and blade: $0.15 total
I got a couple of these, because it's not like it's gonna break the bank, and this cheap little razor is surprisingly decent—when it has a decent blade. This morning, after I opened the fresh package of the other razor, I learned that the first blade was not just a dud. This blade would be happier yanking hair out of my face than cutting them. It outright refused the denser hair on my upper lip and soul patch.

Assured Men "Broosse": $1.25
Why the hell did I see u/OnionMiasma's post? I visited a few Dollar Tree stores just to see if they had this piece of crap. When I did find it, I was... not thrilled. Yes, the "knot" popped out immediately. If I were more sane, I would have tossed it and used the $4 one I had found, instead. Nope, I expoxied that thing back together, like a dumbass. During the process, my finger got stabbed by something in the conical lump of glue holding the bristles-of-questionable-material together.

Arko: $2.99/75g ($.0399/g)
I got and tried Arko for the first time just before the Games. It was a mystery how rubbing the stick on your face and then lathering would even work, and I'm still not really sure. Especially with this terrible, horrible, egregious excuse for a brush. Holy shit. But I managed a pathetic lather. Another curiosity was the reported "urinal cake" smell. Yes. Urinal cake is correct.
And it's drying! Holy hell, my skin has never felt so dry, and I live next to the sun!

Lucky Tiger: $10.00/16oz ($.0338/mL)
To reiterate, this is the non-exceptional price. Sample prices are obviously inflated. I originally included this in an order as a candidate for one of my barbershop days, but I had that covered and then I realized the stuff is normally sold in a huge bottle at a low price.
Descriptions call it "cool," "classic and clean," and "barbershop classic." I get what I think is citrus off the top, but not much else. I might have expected a bit of floral, but I noticed none. There may have been some spiciness well-hidden under the citrus. Also, is that... iron? It is! Blood.

Old Spice Swagger: $16.00/106g ($.151/g)
"Hey now, ginopono, that's deodorant; it's gotta be specifically marketed as a fragrance!"
I had that concern, too, but nope! This isn't marketed as a deodorant or spray deodorant. The deodorant products are expressly different things. The price of the particular version that I have (notably not labeled as an "underarm spray") may be inflated as a result of it being older, unobtanium-esque, and even so it's by far the cheapest expressly-marketed-as-a-fragrance product in my possession.
The scent, which reviews say have changed since this bottle/can was made, is quite citrusy, I think. Which is surprising, because I quite like it, whereas I've convinced myself I don't like citrus. Is it also spicy? I'm honestly not sure. Sorry, ~~r/cowzilla3~~ u/AirBudRuler, I'm not familiar at all with Old Spice, so I don't know how this compares.

#photocontest
Photo: r/wicked_edge
I don't get the utter disdain that people express for that sub. It's a different place, sure, but I guess if you need to onanistically massage your sense of superiority, that's one way to do it.
"Set up a photo like [I] would in WE"? Okay, well that counts for every photo I set up for WS. I could literally put this on any photo, and it should count (hell, people here still put the same photos on both subs).
But I'll play along.
I'll approach this with the idea that I'm recreating the photos that I shared with WS when I first tried coming here. It was the Games two years ago, and the environment was what I can only describe as "aggressively exclusionary". That said, I'd like to point out that the following year's Games were much better; the good folks running the Games acknowledged this, and made a conscious and noticeable effort to make the Games more accessible. But hot damn, the Games of two years ago were hostile for a newcomer.
But I digress.
It seems appropriate for the cheapo stuff to be laid out on the side of my sink with harsh lighting, much like in those early photos of mine. But that itself doesn't put r/wicked_edge actually in the photo, as the contest wants. To acheive that, there's the sub itself pulled up in the back. This isn't the phone category today.

2023-07-29 Sandalwood

• Brush: Yaqi Metal Timberwolf
• Razor: "Germany"
• Lather: Haslinger - Sandelholz
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Varen
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Weinstrasse

Sandalwood: Sandelholz, indeed.
I think this is interesting: If the Online Etymological Dictionary is to be believed, the sandal- part of sandalwood is cognate with the word candle, and traces back to a Sanskrit word along the lines of "wood for burning incense." It seems to be unrelated to the footwear word sandal. Etymology is fun!

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: On the topic of word-fun, I'm far more proud of this than I have any right to be: the name of each is a non-English germanic word; Sandelholz and Weinstrasse are both German and Varen is Dutch.
The razor also kind of ties in, because it appears to be made in Germany. That's literally all I know about it. Well, that and that it handles like a less-bitey Old Type.

#FOF
I didn't think I was a fan of sandalwood, because my first experience therewith was from one of Maggard's empty tubs, which had been from a sandalwood soap (I don't recall which), and I found it unpleasant.
Sandelholz provided a different experience. It started unremarkable, its scent faint and its lather unimpressive. By the time I was done, the lather was much stronger, and the scent it provided was rich, warm, soothing, and even classically manly. I don't know what that other soap I tried was, but this is much better. That said, I still hesitate to call myself a fan sandalwood.

Following it up with Varen, the strong oakmoss and vetiver fit right in, bringing some green to the wood. The lavender note of Varen seems to come through more in the aftershave than the soap, where it feels more like a subtle afterthought at most, u/oswald_heist. As such, the lavender offers a smoother transition into the florals of Weinstrasse.

As an aside, I feel like my smell-sensor has learned a lot over the past few weeks, during which time I gradually became better at picking out individual notes. I still have mixed feelings about that, if I'm honest. I still feel that a scent should be appreciated for its whole.
At the same time, though, it seems comparable to, say, a color. As a simplistic example, take a single color in the RGB colorspace. The color is its own thing, but one can still identify that it's more red or blue, or dark or light, without losing sight of the color as a whole. With scents, you can identify, say, oakmoss or tobacco or nacho cheese without losing the overall experience.

Weinstrasse makes me realize that, though I've made strides, there's still much to learn. Specifically, there's a bunch of notes here that ~~I'm not familiar with~~ I haven't learned in isolation, i.e. honeysucke, iris, helichrysum (?!), coumarin.
The scent certainly reminds of white wine off the top, accompanied by floralness and... something sharper that almost competes for the attention of the wine, which must be the blackcurrant, I dare guess. As those fall away, the oakmoss and musk (musk being a note that I learned on day 1 of these Games) affirm their presence. I realize I'm largely just describing how top/base notes work, but hey.

Fun fact: white wine comes from red grapes! The difference is that the grape skins are removed from the grapes during the production of white wine, whereas red wines get their color from the skins that are left on.

Challenge Accepted: I'm of the opinion that this challenge should be re-framed to reflect what it's really about. It's not about the judges or their scoring. Never has been. It's about recognition of Games well played and identifying the players who ~~require mental health treatment~~ have demonstrated devotion to the Games.

I think it's pretty clear (not to mention heavily hinted by the djudges) who's in the top running for the Games. In no particular order, u/MrTangerinesky, u/Priusaurus, u/OnionMiasma, u/hugbckt, u/hairykopite, u/tsrblke all seem to be top contenders.

As such, u/tsrblke also seems pretty likely to take the top-scoring ROTY spot.

As for #photocontest, a quick glance at the portal seems to indicate that there's only a few who have carried through with that contest hitting all the days and themes. Notably, I've had an eye on u/chronnoisseur42o throughout the month. Meanwhile, I doubt I did myself any favors with a couple of, uh, "liberal" interpretations of loosely-defined (or simply non-defined) categories.

#photocontest
Photo: Society
This one was probably the trickiest to figure out how to do—or rather, what to do. I've just been winging it from day to day, so I missed a few days when this could have been easier (Pei Wei folks having lunch or people walking by the park, for instance).

Last night was pretty stormy, and we had dime-sized hail here in the desert. That's not unusual for this time of year; our summer storms are characterized by massive raindrops, which are big because they form as hailstones; on occasion, they manage not to completely melt as they careen through the firelike air. As a result of the storm, internet went out for a while last night, and it was out this morning and is out still.

What's one place where people go to use the internet when not at home? The library! I mean, I don't, but people do.
A regular public library was an option, but the university has those neato wooden steps. They weren't there in my day, though. I might have been able to try to get the effect such that my little pieces of wood blended into the steps, but I figured it probably wouldn't have been worth the effort.
I did, however, wait around for someone to use the stairs there (to no one's surprise, not a lot of students in the university library in July) to really get the society theme pegged.

2023-07-28 Safe Travels, Don't Die!

• Brush: Yaqi - Metal Timberwolf
  China
• Razor: "Germany"
  Germany
• Lather: Abbate Y La Manta - Blue Tobacco
  Italy
• Post Shave: Løthur Grooming - Oregon
  United Kingdom
• Fragrance: Guy Laroche - Drakkar Noir
  France
• u/ginopono
  United States

Bon Voyage/Buon Viaggio/Gut Reise/旅行愉快:
Soap is from Italy. I'm from the most backward developed country in the world.

Challenge Accepted: Places of origin listed above.
It occurred to me this morning that I could conceivably trek down to Mexico for a Games-final huzzah, but the list of reasons not to do that is long. I won't be surprised if someone does cross a national border today, though, particularly in the Schengen area.

Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: As required by the challenge. Also, pleasing black/silver color scheme.

I grabbed Blue Tobacco around last year's Games, motivated by a stupid as-many-tobacco-soaps-as-I-can thing, but I ended up using Garibaldi instead. For today, my original choice was Earth of Mankind, because it's a bit special to me, but the colors Blue Tobacco's tin work better here and it says travel right on it! How perfect is that?

#FOF The tobacco note seems to be the same as that of Garibaldi, and both strike me as being in the neighborhood of Tobacconist's, so that's a win. It allegedly also has eucalyptus, but either the tobacco or menthol drowns it out. I think it is a very good thing that it does not smell like a tobacco-y Proraso Green.

Oregon I also picked up last year, largely because I very much want/plan to relocate to the PNW (Pacific Northwest). I had my eye on Oregon as a destination, but everything I've heard indicated that it has become a terrifying place in the past few years. I had been planning a trip there in January of this year, but I set my sights a bit more northward and scoped out the Seattle area instead. I still feel like the summers there are hotter than I'd like. I do not care for being warm.

Oregon (the scent) is a "tribute to Wonderwood by CDM". FFS why does no one just say what these abbreviations are? Comme des Garçons. Oh, pardon me. COMME des GARÇONS. But with an asterisk as the cédille for some reason.
I haven't used Oregon much since I got it, and I do like the Oregon scent, but this aftershave seems oddly inconsistent. The last time I smeared this on my face, it immediately took me back to Cascadia. This time, it almost didn't have any scent at all. Perhaps it's a matter of how it interacts with the preceding scent, and Blue Tobacco is quite understated itself.

Drakkar Noir I think was the first fragrance-fragrance that I ever bought. Let's see, how is it classifi—oh, fougère. Of course. Dammit. As if it weren't bad enough that is has a reputation.

I'm probably inclined to just renounce everything I've learned over the past month about fragrances, which admittedly is not a lot, but huge compared to where I was at the start. I don't think I care about picking out scent notes, or what's a fougère or a chèvre or an aromatic (which is kind of a batshit label when talking about different aromas, I might add). I just want to appreciate scents holistically without the need to analyze the components. There's nothing wrong with that!

I can't deny the practical convenience of say, being able to inform a purchase decision based on scent notes and such, but if I ever manage to stop buying so much damn soap because, dude, how many years do you think the soap you already have with last, then that won't be an issue anytime soon. Certainly not next year when the new Games calendar comes out and I try to work out what I can cover with what I already have...

#photocontest
Photo: Mobile Phones
Not quite as shoe-horned as some have needed to be, so that's good.