LG23-17: Happy Together
- Brush: Mammoth x Voigt & Cop Smash 28mm VC01 Super Badger
- Razor: Charcoal Goods Level 2
- Blade: Astra SP (12)
- Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. / House of Mammoth - ArmonĂa - Shaving Soap
- Post Shave: London Razors / Summer Break Soaps - Coffee & Contemplation - Aftershave
- Fragrance: House of Mammoth / Barrister and Mann - Smash
- Alum: Osma, the luxury alum, because I'm worth it
- Passes: WTG, XTG
- Coffee: Ethiopia. Guji, Werka - v: Ethiopia Landraces - p: Natural. Dried on raised beds.
- Music: Run the Jewels 2
- LG Tags:
#FOF
For today's shave, I tried to pack in as many collaborations as possible. I couldn't think of a razor that met the theme, but I did use my killer Mammoth x Voigt & Cop Smash brush, and the brass Charcoal Goods matches the brass ring around the handle. I use them as a pair regularly (🦣 Mammoth Monday 🦣 gang represent!). I lathered a Chicago Grooming Co. / House of Mammoth soap, splashed on a London Razors / Summer Break Soaps aftershave, and sprayed on a House of Mammoth / Barrister and Mann fragrance.
For my music selection, I considered a pop collaboration (Broken Bells), country (Waxahatchee and Jess Williamson as Plains or the Parton-Ronstadt-Harris Trio record), or one of the 2013 Homme/Turner collaborations (if I had to choose, I'd go ...Like Clockwork over AM), but settled on El-P and Killer Mike's Run the Jewels. That first proper album slapped from the start and holds up a decade later. The sound is glitchy, the pacing frenetic, and the bars hurled with sneering, barbed precision. The woozy production can shake a room; the filthy one-liners get everyone screaming along. And I remember when Run the Jewels 2 dropped—it reminds me of good people.
For my soap, I lathered up Vida's whimsically-labeled collaboration with u/mammothben. ArmonĂa combines a strong, pungent tobacco with an equally substantial fougère base, and I can't think of any other wet shaving scents like it (except for Shire, which is differentiated by spice, violet, and a sunnier mood). The fougère aspect of ArmonĂa is rugged, dry, and woody (lots of lavender and cedar); it smells modern, but isn't a fresh, bright-green composition. The blending is excellent, the two aspects of this scent bleeding together smoothly in a way that doesn't obscure the personality of either. Plus, I'd forgotten how good Darkwing is. What a shave!
Which brings me to today's challenge. I don't use alum on my skin anymore, but I do have a block of Osma from years ago. I used it to tighten up my skin post shave, then cleaned up my gear before—correctly—rinsing all the alum off. I can put up with that feeling in the summer but hate it in the winter when my skin doesn’t need any help feeling tightened or highlighting redness and irritation. That's not to say alum is useless. I always have it on hand to make my fingertips tacky when handling a slippery razor (Sabre, Legacy, polished handles) and deodorant stones are great as long as you shower daily. Alum is alum tho’. Don’t @ me.
The transition from lather to aftershave and fragrance was not a smooth one. There's nothing fougère-like about Coffee and Contemplation. It's not green at all, though it is woody. There's no tobacco. However, Coffee & Contemplation is a comfortable fit with Smash. Like many "coffee" scents in wet shaving, it smells more of mocha than freshly-brewed black coffee, leading with creamy cocoa and vanilla. There's a Russian leather note to darken things up and I notice the cedar in the splash. That woodiness is a natural segue to the bourbon in Smash's peach cocktail, and London Razors' chocolaty take on coffee adds another dimension to the opening fruity-floral accord. I'm reminded of ArmonĂa by the time Smash dries down, the tobacco dry and persistent under lingering boozy peach.
All three of these scents are heavy for a humid summer day, and the latter two are more sweet than I'd prefer to wear between May and September. I’m pretty sure fragrances wear sweeter on my skin, making products intended to be sweet overwhelming. Or I’m sensitive to sweetness and assume everyone else smells the same. Regardless, while the green fougère aspect of ArmonĂa clashes with my gourmand aftershave and splash, it’s an equally full-bodied scent, and the pungent tobacco note alludes to the subtler one in Smash. The combination worked out surprisingly well.