u/djundjila's SOTDs for challenge 'MMarch24 Maddness Matchup 2024'

LET'S GO!

• Brush: Dogclaration LG 2022 Mystery Brush (B16)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna #GEM PTFE
• Lather: Barrister and Mann — Roam
• Aftershave: Stirling Soap Co — Varen
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth — Shire 2

I've been looking forward to u/ShavingInCT's March Madness and u/Enndeegee's and u/tsrblke's side challenges!

I'm not confident at all in the bets I submitted to Enndeegee, I have a feeling that quite a few underdogs will get boosted. For instance, by bet today is on Chicago Grooming winning.

Excellent shave today with Soft Hearts Roam, and I stumbled upon a nice scent progression. interestingly, they also have decreasing initial intensity and Roam starts out dominating (unsurprisingly). Already now as I write this up, Varen starts to peak through the fading soap scent. I'm looking forward to Shire taking the lead in a half an hour.

Papa Eld's MM24 was efficient and pleasant as always and the mystery B16's pillowy pampering hit the spot.

#MMarch24

Dirty Luxury

• Brush: Dogclaration LG 2022 Mystery Brush (B16)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna #GEM PTFE
• Lather: Chiseled Face — Midnight Stag
• Aftershave: Southern Witchcrafts — Valley of Ashes

The match isn't over, but skimming the SOTD thread today, it sure looks like SW is taking a solid lead. I couldn't help but adding a Second Luxury Shave® with what I thought would be the main contestants today, The Stag and VoA.

With Valley of Ashes, the description that puts it best IMO is from u/jimtasticness:

The dirtiest clean scent I’ve ever smelled. Just amazing.

The Stag definitely strikes a different balance. u/WiReY_GuY put it like this:

FWIW, SW’s Valley of Ashes is in the same neighborhood as the Stag, but a little more approachable. It is more “there is a machine shop on the corner of my block” and less “the sweat running down a mechanic’s ass crack”...

It's difficult not to like these two scents!

#MMarch24

Mammoth Monday March Madness edition, episode 1

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3 knot
• Razor: Weck Sextoblade Med Prep
• Blade: Kismet Rostfrei, Polymer beschichtet
• Lather: House of Mammoth — Almond Leather
• Aftershave: Declaration Grooming — Fake Yellow Light
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors — A City On Fire

Almond Leather and Fake Yellow Light is one of my favourite leather combos. I often combine it with Gratiot League Square, but went with smoky City on Fire instead. The smoke really works with this combination, even the slightly acrid burnt match note.

Weck++;
B3++;

#MMarch24

Operation Valiant Varen Vanguard

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BOAR, failed kintsugi edition (31 mm × 57 mm bleached boar)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna #GEM PTFE
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. — Varen
• Aftershave: Stirling Soap Co. — Varen

It didn't come as a surprise to me that I had a simply stellar shave today. The MM24 is my third-most used razor, Varen my second most used soap, and the broken MOAR BOAR my second most used brush (with its unbroken sibling catching up slowly) for a reason.

Aside from just being excellent, the gear occupies a soft spot in my heart:

• The MOAR BOAR was a wild little adventure to organise, and I couldn't be more happy with how it turned out, how it was received by our sub, and how — in many ways — it symbolises the spirit of our sub: An idea pops up, it gets discussed in a subadjacent chat, and a group of volunteers forms and makes it happen. BOOM. It's hard to overstate how fond I am of this let's-do-it attitude that also brought us the Lather Games and most recently, this awesome #MMarch24 madness.

• u/EldrormR's MM24 hits in the same vein. He had this idea, tried it, perfected it, and now he cranks out these unique and wonderful Frankenrazors that fill the SOTD pictures on the sub.

• Varen is an original scent by Stirling and the soap I used to break in this MOAR BOAR brush last year. Rod from Stirling was the one who helped us when we were in over our heads dealing with US import regulations during Project MOAR BOAR. I'm not sure how we'd have managed without him and stay roughly within budget. For that alone Stirling deserves winning this match (no knock on Talent, they got paired up with this juggernaut through no fault of their own), but they also produce some of my favourite software like Varen, Haverford, and Mountain Man.

The Blues

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3 knot
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Barrister and Mann 42
• Aftershave: Southern Witchcrafts / Shawn Maher Gravefruit 2
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux Yuzu/Rose/Patchouli

Congrats to Barrister and Mann for yesterday's victory. It's not official yet, but I commissioned u/robodjudge to tally the shaves and it found 50 B&M vs 45 Southern Witchcrafts uses (excluding luxury shaves of multi shavers). It's an entirely deserved victory, but I was really hoping for an upset this time around, and at times it seemed possible. There were even times when SW was leading!

The horse race:

BaM	SW	Other	Total	Time (GMT)
0	0	0	0	06:00
1	0	0	1	08:00
1	1	0	2	09:00
3	2	1	6	11:00
3	3	2	8	12:00
6	3	4	13	13:00
9	8	5	22	14:00
11	14	6	31	15:00
18	17	7	42	16:00
19	20	7	46	17:00
27	22	7	56	18:00
31	26	8	65	19:00
32	28	9	69	20:00
37	31	9	77	21:00
41	32	11	84	22:00
42	36	11	89	23:00
42	37	12	91	00:00
44	40	12	96	01:00
44	40	13	97	02:00
47	43	13	103	03:00
48	44	13	105	04:00
50	45	13	108	04:32

42 and Gravefruit 2 work really well together and I had a great shave with Soft hearts and the MM24. I'll add a second spritz of YRP before leaving for the office.

#MMarch24

Stirling vs SBS

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BOAR (31 mm × 57 mm bleached boar)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. Friends to the End
• Aftershave: Stirling Soap Co. Friends to the End
• Fragrance: Creed Wind Flowers

Tough one again. Summer Break Soaps is great, Stirling is great. No right choices here. In the end, I just feel more of a connection to Stirling than Summer Break Soaps. If that's not a questionable parasocial relationship, I don't know what is. I'm now going to examine my life choices while smelling great 😅

Edit: forgot muh tag #MMarch24

Fri Mar 22

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BOAR (31 mm × 57 mm bleached boar)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps Teacher's Pet
• Aftershave: Southern Witchcrafts Pomona
• Fragrance: Echt Kölnisch Wasser N° 4711

48 Stirling vs 34 SBS, 11 abstentions according to u/robodjudge's tally.

Yesterday's plebiscite yielded the predictable outcome (†) and the lowest participation rate since u/robodjudge started tracking March Madness. I expected the green juggernaut to win, but I was a bit surprised that that more people didn't show up given how beloved both brands are.

Great shave with Teacher's Pet this morning. The Kölnisch Wasser was a mistake, though, and the lemon opening overwhelmed the nice apple combo I had going.

#MMarch24

(†) pending official confirmation by u/ShavinginCT, but u/robodjudge doesn't usually make mistakes.

Hunter vs Prey

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BOAR (31 mm × 57 mm bleached boar)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Spearhead Shaving Company Seaforth! Fleur de France
• Aftershave: Barrister and Mann Fougère Gothique
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company Seaforth! Heather

Ugh, really tough one today. Ben and Dennis are pillars of our little community, they both make fantastic software, and for me personally, they have very little overlap. For instance, Black Watch and Shire are amongst my all time favourites, but they convey such different moods that they never compete. There are days I feel like Shire (which may compete with something like Valedictorian) or days I feel like Black Watch (competing with things like Cerb or Boltzmann) but the spear and the mammoth never compete against each other. Until today, that is 😭.

In the end, I'm throwing my lot in with the hunter because every single Seaforth! release I've tried was a winner for me. Doesn't mean I'll be able to enjoy my pound of juicy Mammoth flesh with a clear conscience should we bring down the mighty beast.

On a side note, I'm amused by the idea that House of Mammoth is the big hulking Goliath in this match-up when both contestants are tiny one part-time person shops with a single contractor each (Shawn and Vida).

#MMarch24

Sun Mar 24

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BOAR (31 mm × 57 mm bleached boar)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Barrister and Mann Lavanille
• Aftershave: Chatillon Lux Pure Lavender
• Fragrance: Terre d'Hermès Eau Intense Vétiver

Yesterday's tight match-up was the most exhilarating one so far. I'm impressed how we Highlanders almost held our own against the mighty Mammoth Mafia. I'm looking forward the final four round. Both match-ups are David vs Goliath situations and I'm curious to see what happens.

For today, I chose to shave with the 800-pound gorilla of tomorrow's match. Great shave, great scents.

#MMarch24

BaM! Otter Madness 🦦

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BOAR (31 mm × 57 mm bleached boar)
• Razor: EldrormR Industries - GEM Division: MM24
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Noble Otter Rawr
• Aftershave: Noble Otter Rawr
• Fragrance: Declaration Grooming Bangarang

My gut tells me we will have an underdog victory today and I'm doing my part.

#MMarch24