July 24, 2023 - Christmas in July’s Eve

• Brush: Yaqi Dandelion Green 24mm Cashmere
• Razor: EldrormR MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Tallow + Steel - Shag
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Satsuma
• Fragrance: Rogue - Derviche

FOF

Today’s Theme:

I went with as many things as I could fit into today’s shave that came from this community. First up is the razor that u/EldrormR put together for me. He made it from a broken MMOC that I sent to him. Next is the lather from u/tsrblke. He won it in a PIF, and immediately turned it into a smoosh PIF. The splash is from a big box of samples I got from u/putneycj. Finally the fragrance is a sample that was in a den clearing PIF from u/wyze0ne. I hope I remembered everyone correctly, but thank you again.

Today’s Challenge:

It is easy to say nice things about people here. I don’t know if I’ve encountered such a generous group of enthusiasts before. Reminds me a bit of a group of friends I made in my early online days playing on MUDs. Very friendly group, and I met my wife on one MUD. This group shares its passion for the hobby, and really help out those who are new to it. Anyone I don’t mention, sorry, but there isn’t enough space for everyone, and I’d hate to miss anyone if I try to list you all. If you’ve ever given a nice reply, funny post, good advice, or read through my sometimes, ok often, rambling posts, thank you. You guys are what keeps me coming back. To highlight a few u/gcgallant always has some good advice and nice comments. I was pondering trying the Weck challenge, and even though the answer was in the post already, helped me not only decide on the blades, but sent me a couple to try. He also included a dull razor shaped object to get a few practices in before I commit to slicing my face off with the real thing. Another person I’m sure is on many people’s posts is u/OnionMiasma. I commented on someone’s post last year how I kept seeing people rave about Seville. He reply asking if I wanted a smoosh. Then he just does some awesome other things, like turning his personal tragedy into an opportunity to help other people. Ok, maybe the Park Police are after him for the sign makeover, but I’d say he’s still good people. Post is getting long, so again if you are reading this, know you made the list.

Today’s Fragrance:

My scents are a bit of a hot mess today. Deciding to go with only PIFs and Smooshes really limited my choices. The T+S Shag off the soap is almost an assault by patchouli. When I got the smoosh in the mail, I left the envelope in my home office for a few days. My office smelled like patchouli for several days. When I opened it up today, the scent was still strong, and all I could smell was patchouli. Knowing I had to deal with that, I picked Stirling - Satsuma for the citrus to give a clean and fresh scent to temper the soap. Finally, I only have two little EdP samples. Both are from Rogue, Derviche and Jasmine Antique. I thought tobacco, leather, and musk of Derviche would play well with the scent of Shag. So I went to make my lather, and as soon as water hit the soap, I lost the patchouli scent. I still can’t figure out how, but that full forward patchouli I was getting from the smoosh just dissipated. Did my nose just break? Well Satsuma still had that smell of tangerine peels, and Derviche was a tobacco and leather mix to me. Total surprise, and not sure what is going on here.

Today’s Haiku:

Where did the scent go?
How can patchouli fade so?
Strange, I just don’t know.