July 14, 2023
- Brush: Yaqi – Evil Zebra 26mm Synthetic
- Razor: Rockwell 6s
- Blade: Wilkinson Sword
- Lather: Zingari Man – The Socialite
- Post Shave: Lucky Tiger - Aspen
- Fragrance: Boucheron – Jaipur Homme
- Music: Foreigner - Cold As Ice
Brrrrr…. It’s cold in here! There must be some menthol in the atmosphere! It’s Freeze Your Face Off Frigid Friday. Today, we have a day dedicated to being frigid, so let’s ice this shit up today! When I was thinking of what to do for today, I was talking to Mrs. Priusaurus:
Me: “I need something fun to do for our menthol theme day. Something to make my post stand out. Not sure how to show a best show the coldness of mentholated soap.”
Her: “Can you even see menthol?”
Me: “No…. But you can see ice.”
And that’s when this idea was born.
Because I don’t want to be remembered for just doing interviews every day, or getting asked to leave restaurants for shaving in them, I decided to bring the heat to this shave. And by heat, I mean cold. And by cold, I mean shaving in an ice bath. Since a gag like this could be easily faked by just taking a picture or two and calling it a day, I’m including a video as proof of this stupid idea. And sitting here, a few hours later, I can definitely say, this was a stupid, stupid idea. Warning: A lot of NSFW language was said throughout this video and it was all inadvertent. Sorry to all the children watching. In the interest of time, I sped my shave up 1.5x, because I really only wanted to use the video as proof that I was dumb enough to actually do this. I’m not trying to become the next geofatboy or ScoobyShaves with this one. But if you want to see a dude suffer in an ice bath, while trying to shave, and struggling to put together coherent thoughts because his brain and appendages are frozen, do I have a video for you!
Not one 10-pound bag... Not two 10-pound bags... But three 10-pound bags of ice! 30 pounds – that’s 13.6KG for those not in America – of icy, cold, torturey, goodness. Hey u/Marquis90 – Get.On.My.Level. And final temperature reading of 36.7F – that’s 2.6C for those not in the USA. I not only froze my face off, but I think I may have frostbite.
Not gonna lie. Mistakes were made. I thought it would be extra fun to make lather on a bed of ice chips, but that just made the lather too watery, so I abandoned that idea after the first pass. If I had unlimited time and a tub to load from, it could have potentially worked better, but given the icy circumstances, my pain threshold, and just using a sample jar, the ice-bowl lather was a bad idea. Also, I’m pretty sure the two bags of ice would have had the same effect. I probably didn’t NEED bag number three, but now I can say that while u/Marquis and I had the same idea, I went 3x as hard. Also, I have a MASSIVE headache right now. Apparently, that can happen with ice baths. AND BTW, there are people out there that do this on the regular! Ummmm… No f’ing thank you. #neveragain #itsbeen6hoursandimstillcold
Let’s talk about the shave: The first pass was a bit to watery, as we’ve discussed, but the 2nd pass was great. The Socialite smells like a gin and tonic with lime. It’s extraordinally unique and phenomenal. I’m glad this was not the first time I used this sample because I really didn’t get the chance to enjoy it much for this go round. The menthol is present but not overpowering (but that could be because the rest of me was freezing). This is such a refreshing scent. Perfect for summer. The Lucky Tiger Aspen splash sucked. Smells like a hospital room and looks like Windex… But it has menthol! And to close out the ice bath shave, I sprayed a couple spritzes of Jaipur Homme by Boucheron. Originally, I picked this frag because Aspen says has “a fresh, spicy aroma”. WRONG! But I didn’t know that until I put it on my face. Jaipur Homme actually has a nice spicy amber scent to it and was just enough to cover the smell of the splash. Most days, I want the frag to compliment the splash, but today, the great feat for this fragrance to do is eliminate the stench of Aspen. #FOF – not every day can be a winner!
Originally, I was going to use a different razor today, but then I saw the challenge and when going against the grain first, in a bath of ice, I opted to go for the mildest plate on the Rockwell 6s. Call me wimp, but we aren’t yet halfway through the Lather Games and I’m not about to make my face and neck look like a r/wickededge post on day 14. No thanks. Live to fight another day. Shaved Against the Grain, then with the Grain for a extremely cool two pass shave.
And for #photocontest: Water. In its solid form.
And, of course, we have an interview today! I was fortunately enough to touch base with Heather Melton, the founder of Zingari Man. Zingari Man’s soaps are great, and her post shave products are even better, in my opinion. I have yet to find a post-shave balm I enjoy more than her unscented balm. I use it most every day. Heather was kind enough to take the time and put some real thought to my questions. Thank you so much u/ZingariMan (but really a woman). I really appreciate you taking part and thank you for being such a great member of this community. I’m so looking forward to seeing what you release next!
10 Questions with… Zingari Man
1) How often do people assume that Zingari Man is owned by a man?
ALLLLLL the time! I actually have "but I am really a woman" under my reddit name because of this. I’ve tried posting on the lady wetshavers sub and was mansplained by a man that women do not need a man telling them how to shave or what to use. Ummm hello sir, I have a lot of personal experience here haha. I have been called bro more times than I can count. But I just laugh at it anymore, it is an easy assumption.
2) What is your favorite scent that Zingari Man has put out?
My all time favorite scent would be Watchman. I believe it has been out for almost 3 years now and I love it as much as I did when we released it. Shawn Maher really did an amazing job nailing exactly what I wanted in that scent. The runners up would be Coconut Nanas and Mousse Illuminee.
3) Where do you get inspiration for the names you come up with for each scent?
I like to tell a story and make scents about a person/job/action. I want the copy, label and scent to tell a story and use all 3 to pull it together. The Watchman, for example, is a dark and stormy aquatic. We paired that copy with the lighthouse and a stormy coastline visual on the label. But the lighthouse has to have someone that works it, aka The Watchman. The hard part is when I make a scent that I really like but It was not intentional(no plan) so I have to create something that will go with it. I have a group of testers that is great with giving ideas and helping me brainstorm if needed.
4) If you had to live the life of one of your scent names, which one are you choosing?
Hmmm... let's see. The Royal would be nice. Being pampered and having all the wine I can drink sounds pretty tempting. The Watchman sounds exciting but I think my fear of heights would be an issue. So I am going with The Explorer. We have always been an outdoor family-camping, hiking, archery etc so I think that would be a great fit.
*We’ve named this scent for he who dares to venture into the unknown in search of new takes on tired ideas, in search of novelty in the familiar: The Explorer.
(INTERVIEW CONTINUES IN THE REPLY)