Austere August Day 1
- Prep: Hot shower
- Brush: Chisel & Hound Government Issue with 28mm Turn-N-Shave Shoat (Boar)
- Razor: Atelier Durdan Le Maurice 1.4 (SS Premium Polish)
- Blade: Wizamet Super Iridium (Edge 1 - 1st shave)
- Lather: Gentleman's Nod Mushashi Soap
- Post Shave: Cold shower, Gentleman's Nod Musashi Splash
- Tags: $UltraNightmareMode $RawHoggin $Discord
Well, this is my first Austere August and my first ever shaving challenge (started wet shaving in September 2023 and skipped the Lather Games this year because I wanted to allow /u/bacconchop a fighting chance at ROTY).
Normally, I don't think I would take part in a challenge like Austere August, partially because I don't normally shave every day, and partially because I don't like the idea of restricting myself... But, the Great Wall of Badger was breached earlier this summer when I let a Wald A1 synthetic into the den, so I decided I needed a boar, and /u/geekyoldrob is a literal crack dealer and won't stop dropping fire and I keep coming back for more, so I had a few handles that were gonna need knots. I purchased a 28mm shoat (boar) knot from Milton at Turn-N-Shave (along with his excellent ~~off the shelf~~ Chinese hand-tied Tip V8 also in 28mm for another Chizzly & Hizzly handle I had ordered.
Here is an album containing pictures of the new Shoat boar knot in its shipping material, the empty handle, the unused knot set in the handle, as well as the packing slip, knot, and shipping material. I've also included a picture of the knot after the first use today as to show the difference between from it's unused state in my SOTD photo. Tagging /u/EldrormR for the first and only time to enter Raw Hoggin'.
Further, /u/archsoup1 generously let me borrow his rather newly received Le Maurice 1.4 earlier this summer and I fell in love with it after putting it through a little over a week's worth of use in different shaving scenarios, so I ordered one. It is my Swiss Army razor, good in every situation for me. It is probably the most comfortable razor I have used over almost the last year of wet shaving, and I've put a rather lengthy list of razors though my den in that time. The razor in premium polished 316L stainless is a sight to behold and the finish is on par with that of Wolfman's mirror polish, and James set the bar. This razor quite literally arrived today at 2:55pm. Much like the Americans arrived in France at the last minute, this razor returned the favor. Sadly, I found that when I opened the box, I had misunderstood the configuration options, so the handle is not exactly what I had in mind, but that will be fixed.
I decided that Austere August was the perfect time to accomplish three things:
* Kill some soap (I have too much)
* See just how many shaves I can put on each edge of a Wizamet (I usually toss them after 10-12 shaves, but not really out of necessity)
* Further refine my technique to see if I can achieve daily BBS for a month straight (if I start getting irritation, I'll drop to WTG and XTG, and if I need to, drop to two WTG passes)
I figure getting to the point where I can comfortably shave daily and get the results I want will also help me kill more soap, so Austere August here we come!