u/djundjila's SOTDs for challenge 'Lather Games 2024'

Bonjour, Lather Games!

• Brush: Zenith — 506 N XS (extra soft horse) #HORSESASS #OLDWORLD
• Razor: Dovo — Shavette
• Blade: Dovo — Professional Shavette
• Lather: A A Shaving – Wapiti
• Aftershave: Declaration Grooming — Bangarang
• Fragrance: Declaration Grooming — Bangarang

Boom! Lather Games are back! Who will go above and beyond this time? Will there be intercontinental feuds again? Who will follow u/cowzilla3 and u/MrTangerineSky path and cause new legislation?

The Wapiti smush was provided by the very generous u/OnionMiasma. This was the first time trying this base (and brand), but I got a nice, creamy lather nonetheless. Really easy to use base, this.

The scent aquatic, sweet-woodsy scent reminded me of Bangarang, and both scents are supposed to evoke wet forests. A nice pairing.

The Dovo Shavette with professional blades has been approved by u/USS-SpongeBob for the New all the Things! challenge in accordance with the seasoned veteran clause. The shavette does not spark joy and feels flimsy and cheap compared to my Weck-style shavettes. In the spirit of the challenge, I also used a new brush. The extra-soft Zenith horse hair brush did well with this soap, and it has very little horse funk. The knot is pillowy soft ad the bristles have so little bending stiffness that they completely stick together just by capillary forces. Very pleasant!

Ahoy, Lather Games!

• Brush: Order of the Midnight Animals — Midnight Kraken #FAUXFUR
• Razor: Böker S.S. Paris Wins
• Lather: Old Spice — Original
• Post Shave: Old Spice — Original
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company Seaforth! - Spiced

I didn't take any risks with the theme this time, and relevance of the post and fragrance are that they are spicy fragrances.

This day is really u/Cowzilla3 and TGSO appreciation day, but it was also a very welcome opportunity to use my Midnight Kraken brush and Böker boat razor.

Good shave today, and the Old Spice cream (a gift from u/Semaj3000 when we met in Oxford two years ago) creates a decent lather, but the scent is very different from the splash (sweeter, less cinnamon).

To honour our reigning champion, u/Priusaurus, I want to recall a few highlights of his stellar run last year. He automated lathering, seduced the djudges with his hot mating dance, fought Skynet, shaved on a sidewalk/restaurant terrace, shaved in a fucking ice bath, did it again (!) out of spite, developed an interesting witch hunting technique, shaved with a butt plug, and managed one of the most dignified sign-off shaves in lather games history. Truly an inspiration, and I can't wait to see what our champion has in store this year.

Today's sponsor Noble Otter's Thé Noir et Vanille was one of my earliest love-at-first-sniff wetshaving fragrances, and Barrbarr, Firefighter, and Two Kings are still among my favourites.

Oh, and #photocontest for boats!

Where's the Beef?

• Brush: Chisel and Hound - Intrepid (26 mm Zenith boar knot at 53 mm loft) #COMPOSITE #FRANKENBRUSH
• Razor: Above the Tie - Calypso R1 #CNC #RAINBOW
• Blade: Feather - new Hi-Stainless
• Lather: YRFCE - Yard Raised Fresh Chicken Eggs
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann - Roam
• Osma: Osma - Osma
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Shire 2

Happy YRFCE day! Three years ago, u/pppork revived this mythical chicken tallow soap and published the best documentary in wetshaving history. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't had the pleasure!

The chicken tallow makes this perfectly on theme, and the relevant post shave and fragrance through-line here lies in three different versions of grassy scents of nature: YRFCE has notes of grass, dry hay, and vetiver. Not exactly clean, but light and subtle. Roam is the exact opposite: Wet grass, earth, smoke, dirt. This is the scent of a camp site that smelled like YRFCE three rainy days ago. When the weather turns good again and the land dries again cleaner, that's when it smells like Shire: violets and fresh air (= warm hay to my nose, but that's a side note), fresh vetiver. I like these happy roller coaster fragrance progressions that tell a #FOF story. I'm really looking forward to the Roam 2 splash, because the balm in the Covid era finger balm tub starts looking a bit sus.

Great shave with the blue AtT. It's a good razor, it's just not very exciting. As a result it doesn't tend to get a lot of use. Not sure why I find it boring, but I do.

For the #Photocontest, I first planned to do the Bird theme (obviously), but then I got in the mood of doing Fill the frame instead because I enjoy the perspective and calm a closeup gives, the details and imperfections revealed, the tricks of depth-of-field, the visceral experience of one's size, and, of course, the tiny bokeh balls.

The chicken with its piercing look is a fun subject for closeups, even getting very close. I also experimented with a shorter focal length macro lens, but it was a bit over the top.

Today's Sponsor Wholly Kaw is the maker of controversial Entropy Man, one of my all time favourite scents in ~~cough syrup~~ wetshaving, and for that alone I'll be forever a fan ♥.

K.I.S.S.

• Brush: Rubberset 400 (unnumbered, with a 26 mm Zenith knot at 63 mm loft) #HOLLOW #TOLL
• Razor: EldrormR Industries GEM Division - MM24 #FLIPTOP #MODERNGEM #RUSTYBUTTRUSTY
• Blade: Personna - GEM PTFE
• Lather: Nordic Shaving Company - Coffee
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Orange Chill
• Fragrance: Acqua di Parma - Blu Mediterraneo Arancia di Capri

Theme: Coffee note. ✅
Relevant post & frag: Orange (single note, OJ after coffee) ✅
Challenge: Spearhead 20.1 is my favourite dead base, Stirling mutton my favourite current base. ✅
#Photocontest: Bokeh balls ✅
Keeping it simple ✅

Canned Shave Goop

• Brush: Omega - 11047 Mixed Midget Badger and Boar #MISTURA
• Razor: Merkur - Futur #ZAMAC
• Blade: Derby Premium
• Lather: Palmolive - Classic
• Post Shave: Pitralon - Swiss version
• Fragrance: Mäurer & Wirtz - Tabac Original Craftsman
• Bowl: Shaving Suribachi Bowl Teak by Steve Woodhead

Theme and post+frag relevance: The Palmolive stick is from a clearance sale at the nearest pharmacy three years ago. Pitralon and and Craftsman are from the two nearest department stores. All software on is theme.

Challenge: I normally face rub and face lather shaving sticks, so today I bowl rubbed and bowl lathered it. The rough kushi-no-me pattern in my suribachi bowl makes this a breeze, so I have accidentally found a very functional, albeit entirely unnecessary, method of shave stick usage. u/Merikus should extend the GUTL, there is new science on the matter, and 27 steps are no longer sufficient.

The mixed midget did its thing. Really a surprisingly good toy sized brush. I had a fantastic BBS shave with the Futur on level 5 (for the fifth day of LG). This loud, chattery SOB is big, slippery, and its blade clamp mechanism is a mere suggestion to the blade not to wander off too far. My point is that it has no business giving me good shaves, but there it is.

#photocontest: u/pppork sent me these handy razor head protector chickens, perfect for the bird theme.

Thirsty Thursday

• Brush: Αλφα T400 tribute #RESURRECTIONBRUSH
• Razor: Darwin - Hollow Ground #ADJUSTABLE #FOREVERSAFETY #STAINLESSLESS
• Lather: Smitten Soapery - Big Daddy
• Post Shave: Zingari Man - The Duo
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Sandalwood

Zingari Software sponsor point: Smitten Soapery is a Zingari brand that seems to get revived every once in a while. I wanted to support Heather selling soap under a different name, so I got all four scents. Vote with my wallet, so-to-speak.

Theme, post & frag relevance: This soap is bourbon and sandalwood scented, boozily within theme. I wonder whether it was the starting point for The Duo which also features Bourbon and Sandalwood, but adds a few more scent notes. Both the lather and splash have a very creamy sandalwood note, and Stirling's drier Sandalwood frag leads the progression out of the gourmand category, bookending the theme. The drink is done, time to head back to the bar.

Challenge: I remain puzzled by the wettubing genre, so this challenge is always tricky for me. I mean, I enjoy u/VisceralWatch's videos and watch them regularly, but that's because I'm interested in what my friend has to say rather than my urge to consume wetshaving video content (and because he – conveniently – sends me reminders when a new video drops because he knows that I don't subscribe to anything on youtube and would miss them otherwise). But this year is diffenent! I actually do have a non-VisceralWatch wettuber I watch regularly, and it's our very own u/GcGallant who has started honing straightrazors on video. Go check out his content, he is much more knowledgeable about razor maintentance than VisceralWatch.

#photocontest: The modern resurrection brush next to the antique shiny Darwin Hollow Ground is a sprinkle of colour in this Black and White tableau. I hope it's still in the spirit of the theme that I got rid of only most of the colour.

Vetiver You Want

• Brush: Frank Shaving - FR 0929 Pure Badger Shaving Brush 20 mm × 47 mm #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS #SMOLL #RUNT
• Razor: Star - Cadet #TWINS
• Razor: Ever Ready - 1912
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Saponificio Varesino - Desert Vetiver
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Vetiver
• Fragrance: The Scottish Fine Soaps Company – Vetiver & Sandalwood

I like vetiver. I like it fresh and with citrus, I like it smoky, earthy and dank, and I like it woody-spicy. Today, I'm using one of each of these versions.

Theme justification: Desert Vetiver is a clean scent with a spicy citrus opening on a solid base of vetiver. It's a dupe of Eau Intense Vétiver by Terre d'Hermès and a staple in our household. Both my wife and I love this fragrance (dupe and original).

Post & frag relevance: Stirling Vetiver is a dank, earthy vetiver. I've never smelled Eufros Vetiver de Haití, but Stirling Vetiver smells like u/VisceralWatch describes Vetiver de Haití. This is a stark contrast with the fresh Desert Vetiver, but prepares the ground for a warmer, woodier vetiver in SFSC's Vetiver and Sandalwood. The Stirling toner was a gift from u/Semaj3000, and the frag from my sister in law.

Speaking of whom, during LG 2021, I decided I had to try GEM razors, and there was this Semaj fellow with a "SE Cultist" flair so I asked him where to start. He recommended looking for a 1912-style GEM and suggested looking at French eBay where they are readily available under the Star brand, and that's how I ended up buying this pretty Star Cadet. Both Semaj and VisceralWatch still had razor thrill back then and quickly asked me to find some for them too, and this is how our first group chat got the title "Star Cadets". It was soon renamed to "GEMs of Wisdom: Finding Serenity in Austerity planning committee" when u/EldrormR joined and we planned the first MMOC(MM) challenge in August of 2021. This challenge in turn led to the first iteration of RoboDjudge, a simple bot for tracking participation in AA challenges with a truly horrific Reddit message-based user interface. It would later grow into the Djudge Portal you are now using to check the djudges' work.

Challenge: It is consensus that starting with an ATG pass is a bad idea. It seems so obvious that we don't tend to question it. But why? If the lather is slick, the blade is sharp, why would it matter? I believe it's superstition and I'm curious to see how others feel about it following today's challenge. Star Cadet on the left side of my face, Ever Ready 1912 on the right. Both with fresh GEM blades. One pass ATG, easy peasy. Not as close as I'd like, but not bad.

The Frank Shaving brush is thoroughly unimpressive and since that's how it's priced, there is no surprise there. It does a passable job.

#photocontest: Did you know that vetiver is a grass?

DJ offers a history of friendship, group chats, and the portal. People may enjoy hearing how the games/portal/etc. has evolved over the years.

Small Business Saturday... but in June

• Brush: Wild West Brushworks - Copper Shadow with Timberwolf knot
• Razor: Bismarck ~ 4/8", hollow ground, square point
• Lather: Maggard Razors - Mango Sage Tea
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Thé Noir et Vanille
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Admiral

Maggard Day! Brad Maggard created a pillar of our little community here and his boxes clutter my apartment. It's my go-to place for the first look not only when buying software, but also for my shaving-related DIY projects. Brad also had a big influence on the beginning of my descent down the rabbit hole; I started exactly the wrong way. Instead of doing the recommended thing where you get one good straight razor honed my a reputable honemeister and use it for 100 or so shaves to learn the technique without too many variables, I woke up one day in 2022 to the Lather Games announcement post with the then new Hardware Scavenger Hunt. If I wanted to compete for all points, I suddenly needed a straight razor below 4/8, one above 7/8, one in between, and a shavette. My first few open blades shaves were all for LG, with cheap vintage eBay straights that I honed on cheap lapping films (glorified sand paper) glued to plexiglass panes. It was not optimal, but it was enough to get me hooked. After LG, I decided that I needed to do straight razors right. I bought this Bismarck razor honed by Brad himself to have a reference edge (Note to my djudge, this means it qualifies for the Maggard hardware sponsor point), bought water stones, started hunting down razors on Brad's List, and interviewed Brad about straight razors together with u/VisceralWatch, u/EldrormR, u/Semaj3000, and u/J33pGuy13 on the Audio Book Club Shaves podcast (one of my favourite episodes, btw. Now I'm 432 straight razor shaves into the hobby (and 536 open blade shaves when you count also my shavette shaves).

Theme and post/frag relevance: Mango Sage Tea is a Maggard house brand soap, and the Soap/Frag/Post triplet recreate the name in their notes with mango in the soap, sage in the frag, and thé (tea) in the splash.

Challenge: I've been pretty good about big purchases from Maggard with the biggest one at a moderate USD 190 price tag for a bunch of scales, pinning kits and other hardware for a little razor restoration project a while back, but I've racked up over 2500 in small orders over the years. It's good that I don't do these analyses of my financial irresponsibility too often 😅

Shave and a Haircut - Two Bits

• Brush: Zenith B8 (XL aluminium handle, 28 mm × 57 mm boar)
• Razor: Weck Hair - Shaper (blue translucent scales)
• Blade: Kismet - Rostfrei, Polymer beschichtet
• Lather: Catie's Bubbles - Tonsorial Parlour
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Barrbarr
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Fleur de France

Quiz: Ouch! I got 10/32, and there are several that I realised I should have gotten once reveiled. Oh well.

My barber is closed on Sundays, so I had a preparatory haircut there yesterday. The Weck is a great little razor for realigning the sideburns.

Theme, and post & frag relevance: Three barbershops.

A word about today's sponsor: SBS is the maker of two of my favourite scents in wetshaving; Valedictorian and Teacher's Pet and I'm looking forward to trying more of them.

Happy Together

• Brush: Dogwood Handcrafts - Papa Eld with Declaration Grooming B3 knot #SHD
• Razor: Blackland Razors - Vector #CNC
• Blade: Feather Professional
• Lather: Declaration Grooming - Cerberus
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Cerberus
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Cerberus

There was an "Artisan Appreciation" Theme Thursday on January 11 this year ("Use as many artisan and/or collab products as possible. Both software and hardware encouraged.") and maybe I should have copied my setup from then which featured a total of 12 collaborating artisans, but I've done that already and instead this is my first trickhole shave of the games. I'm glad I did it. Cerberus is simply fantastic and I can't tire of it. It's also the symbol of collaboration within our sub with three of our favourite artisans working on it together.

The hardware isn't a collaboration, but me being able to use it is a result of team work:

The razor is a loan from @sahenders@sub.wetshaving.social, and I'm impressed with this stunningly elegant razor. Thanks for loaning it to me! The first shave with it was a breeze and I got a comfortable 3-pass shave in. So nice. I'm looking forward to comparing it to the Hawk V3 on loan from u/Wallygator88.

The brush was originally bought by u/VisceralWatch, then sold to u/EldrormR who loaned and later sold it to me.

For today's challenge, I hate to do this to you, but thanks to Djunior, the song stuck in my head, the only song I can think of today is this abomination.

April Showers Bring may Flowers

• Brush: Stirling Soap Co. / Zenith - Boar Brush 31mm × 50mm
• Razor: Weck - Hair Shaper (green translucent scales)
• Blade: Kismet - Rostfrei, Polymer beschichtet
• Lather: Spearhead Shaving Company Seaforth! - Heather
• Post Shave: Noble Otter- Cerberus Fougère
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Weinstrasse

Theme justification: Heather is a floral fougère and used to be one of the example suggestions for this theme (then the opening theme "Spring into Lathergames".

This is the first soap I've ever used in a Lather Games, and I got a bit nostalgic shaving with it. Djudging Lather Games is fun and all, but sometimes I want to hop back in the ring and compete. Maybe next year? Regardless, great shave with the little Weck and the big brush.

Relevant post and frag: They're green, they smell green, and they are fougères like the soap. On a side note, Weinstrasse is the reference scent for a "green" scent for me.

Challenge: Colour-coordinated spring colours green and earth tones in harmony.

CREAM

• Brush: Zenith - 506 N XS (extra soft horse) #HORSESASS
• Razor: Razorock - Hawk V3 (standard plate)
• Blade: Feather - Professional
• Lather: Lea - Classic
• Post Shave: Lea - Classic
• Fragrance: Sir - Irisch Moos

Theme: It's a cream!

Relevant post & frag: Lea is the fresh little mossy brother of Irisch Moos. (Moss being the link)

Challenge: Sigh, every year I think I should do an elaborate show of all my stuff, and every year I'm short on time on Den Tour Day. Even worse, I have absolutely no excuse because 1) Den Tour Day happens every year, so anyone could have prepared it beforehand, and 2) I chose the date for this challenge, so I even had specific knowledge about when this would happen weeks ago. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. Have some poor pictures of my den storage.

Dupelgänger

• Brush: APShaveCo - Butterscotch with 24 mm Tuxedo knot
• Razor: Zwilling J. A. Henckels Friodur 14 (8/8", extra hollow ground, stainless steel)
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co. - AG 1889
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Friends to the End
• Fragrance: Maison Francis Kurkdjian - Baccarat Rouge 540

Theme: AG1889 is a dupe of Guerlain Jicky, and it's so good I keep using it despite getting all tingly from using it (yeah, I know).

Relevant post & frag: Bear with me: When I got my set of 1889, I immediately got a fresher version of Baccarat Rouge and said so on the discord. I was met with some push back, but who are you going to trust? My nose or some randos? So the relevance is that 1889 smells like a fresher variant of BR, and Friends to the end is the on theme version of BR. (Or vanilla, if you prefer my critics.)

Great shave with my prized Frio 14, hands down my best razor.

Challenge: A soap label

OP draws a gosh-darned masterpiece. 🧑‍🎨

Frigid Stacking Friday

• Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
• Razor: Fatip - Lo Storto - Testa Dentata
• Blade: Mühle
• Lather: Noble Otter – Orbit
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Terror
• Fragrance: Mäurer und Wirtz – Tabac Man Gravity

We've arrived in Rome for a Friend's Wedding yesterday evening. The temperatures are already brutally hot so it's excellent timing for Frigid Friday.

Theme justification: Orbit has a healthy dose of the synthetic cooling agent W23.

Relevant post and frag: Terror has the same cooling agent, and Tabac Gravity is so close to Orbit in scent and marketing that I wonder whether M&R took "inspiration" from it. both have cool blue space-themed packaging and both are cool rose scents with fresh metallic notes.

I chose Italian hardware for this trip to blend in with the locals, with my trusty Lo Storto which simply cannot give a bad shave, and my brand new beautiful butterscotch badger. It's both my first Zenith badger and my first Manchurian badger knot. The brush has a scrubby loft with a good backbone and a bit of scritch. My initial impression of this lovely brush is great, let's see how it breaks in.

Challenge: Our friends are getting married in a bougie hotel that hands out Acqua di Parma products as their toiletry amenities. When I saw it, I knew that I had to incorporate them into the stack. In my eagerness, I overlooked half of them, so have an additional AdP mini stack.

On a side note, when I flipped through my stack pictures, I noticed a fun detail: in the background of the picture that ended up getting the nod, there is what I believe to be the first documented evidence of a free Roman Spice in its natural habitat. What a find!

Can we just talk about this hotel that hands out AdP

Near Death Experience

• Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
• Razor: Fatip - Lo Storto - Testa Dentata
• Blade: Mühle
• Lather: Mickey Lee Soapworks – The Kraken
• Post Shave: Zingari Man – Nomad
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – Every Storm a Serenade

Theme: The Kraken was a PIF I received three years ago and it's a true zombie: it qualifies as "Near Death" by this year's theme definition (Photographic evidence with podophilic material for my co-djudges u/J33pGuy13 and u/VisceralWatch) and qualified as dead ("Rest in Pieces") in previous iterations for being unobtainium by a defunct vendor.

Relevant post and frag: I'm leaning into the nautical theme here. Kraken is (aside the obvious branding) an aquatic scent, Nomad is a Bay Rum, and Every Storm a Serenade is a green aromatic scent, that is still nautically themed for some reason, inspired my an obsession with Ulv, a Danish Seafarer.

Challenge: I went pasty today. Really a sad affair with this new to me Zenith brush (second use today) which encouraged me to take my time and build a beautiful wet lather. Alas, tomorrow, my pretty butterscotch.

Judge seems to forget that stacking day was the day before. Additionally, Judge provides photographic evidence of his NDE soap by posting a photo of it that includes his feet and perhaps some hair (or maybe my laptop screen is dirty). Finally, for the record I get teary-eyed whenever MLS comes up.

Father's Day

• Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
• Razor: Fatip - Lo Storto - Testa Dentata
• Blade: Mühle
• Lather: D.R. Harris – Arlington
• Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Roman Spice
• Fragrance: Zoologist – Dodo

I'm really loving this Zenith Badger so far. Good flow through even though it feels quite dense, pleasant scritch and backbone. I might have to come to terms with me being too much of a philistine to fully appreciate expensive knoots, because this feels great and I'm not sure the my B3 and B16 are better! Let's see if the break-in process changes my mind.

Theme: D.R. Harris was founded in 1790, so this definitely qualifies, even recursively for several generations of fathers.

Relevant post & frag: Arlington is a typical classic cologne scent, aromatic citrus. This scent category was created in 1709 when Johann Maria Farina recreated the fragrance of Italian spring. Well it is still spring for a few days and do you know what else is in Italy? Rome is, and that's where Roman Spice is from! "Roman Spice" is almost certainly a reference to silphium (°), the spice used in ancient Roman cuisine that was so delicious that with the rise of the Roman Empire, Roman purchasing power became strong enough to create the economic conditions in which the plant it's produced from was systematically overharvested in the entire Mediterranean region. The plant is now extinct like -- you guessed it -- the Dodo. Boom.

Challenge: not this year.

(°) Listen to the excellent Dr Emma Southon and Janina Matthewson in episode 85 of their podcast if you're looking for more info on Roman cuisine and its extravagance.

Don't have a Cow, Man!

• Brush: Мужской Материк - Blue Stabilised Burl with Maggard Tuxedo knot #FRANKENBRUSH
• Razor: Dovo Bismarck 2 (7/8", full hollow, carbon steel)
• Lather: Talent Soap Factory – Razberri and Tomato Leaf
• Post Shave: Noble Otter – 茉莉綠茶
• Fragrance: Tom Ford – Tobacco Oud

Theme: Talent Soap Factory produces a vegan base.

Relevant post and frag: I received this smush from Chief Podcast Djustice u/OnionMiasma who notably has a plant-based username (thanks for the smush!!). In his honour, I only used software with plant-based names. Raspberry and tomato leaf in the soap, jasmine and green tea in the splash, and tobacco and agarwood in the frag.

On a side note, the razor and brush are also vegan. No animal hair, no horn scales, etc.

Challenge: since I skipped the leg shave yesterday, I did not get to do a shoulder lather today and had to go with the knee. This was my first time using TSF soap, and this isn't my most practised lather method, so I was a bit uncertain how this would end. Luckily, the TSF base is super easy to pick up and to hydrate slowly, so I didn't make too much of a mess in the bathroom.

#### RIP in Pieces

• Brush: Rubberset 400-3 #Hollow
• Razor: Victoria 4 (6/8", half hollow, round tip, carbon steel)
• Lather: Australian Private Reserve – Raconteur
• Post Shave: Siliski Soaps – Unscented
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Pharaoh's Dreamsicle

Theme: APR went out of business when its owner passed away a few years ago.

Relevant post & frag: All items in this shave are some degree of RIP in Pieces. Siliski soaps has stopped making wetshaving products, but are still in business. Stirling has retired Pharaoh's Dreamsicle, but are still producing a lot of other wetshaving products. Victoria has stopped making razors at some point and changed its name to Victorinox in 1909 (the maker of the Swiss army knife). Rubberset finally never really went out of business, but was bought by Williams in 1956 and stopped producing shave brushes.

Challenge: The straight felt a bit harsh, so I corked it. To my eternal surprise, it didn't help.

Science with Fuck, Part 1

• Brush: Rubberset 400-3 with unbleached 26 mm Zenith knot set at 56 mm loft #HOLLOW
• Razor: Geneva Cutlery Co. Ontario 81 (5/8", full hollow, round point)
• Lather: Barrister and Mann – Lavanille
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Beaudelaire
• Fragrance: Barrister and Mann – Fougère Gothique

I recently got my hands on a set of Beaudelaire soap an splash, and I was immediately intrigued by this interesting scent, but struggling to make sense of it. So I did what I usually do when I need wetshaving-related information: I tasked the DjSIA with a survey of Beaudelaire reviews. One analysis by u/fuckchalzone immediately stood out to me and provided a possible key to solving the mystery. Fuck wrote

"Baudelaire, of course, is a fougere with Mousse de Saxe. Several times I've paired Lavanille soap with Baudelaire splash, figuring that they have Mousse de Saxe in common. But a funny thing happens: when I apply the splash, all I smell is fougere. I figure that over the course of the shave, my nose gets desensitized to MdS, so all it smells from the splash is what's left, the basic elements of a fougere. So I figured I'd test the theory and see if it worked the other way around: I used Varen soap, with its delightfully piquant fougere scent, and followed it with Baudelaire splash. And lo and behold, no fougere, all MdS. QED.

It's kind of like the nose version of this." - u/fuckchalzone

So I decided to execute a replication study, with today replicating the first part of Fuck's experiment. Lavanille (++) followed by Beaudelaire splash was a heureka moment. Beaudelaire turns into a bright green Fougère in my Lavanille-saturated nose. I'm looking forward to replicating part 2 of the experiment on Fougère Friday.

Theme: BaM was founded in Boston, MA, but seems to be operating out of Hartwick, NY now. In addition, the hardware is also on theme today: the straight was manufactured in Geneva, NY, and the brush in Newark, NJ.

Relevant post and frag: the post and frag are linked by u/fuckchalzone's science experiment going from MdS to Fougère with the Beaudelaire transition piece.

Challenge

Subtractive Olfaction

sUnNy DaYs and New Discoveries by Indiana Djundj

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive prototype MOAR BADGER (31 mm × 57 mm silvertip 🦡) #SUBBROOSH
• Razor: Henson Shaving AL13 (mild)
• Blade: RK Stainless Double Edge Blades
• Lather: Wholly Kaw – Iced Tea
• Post Shave: Mammoth – Iced Tea
• Fragrance: Acqua di Parma – Blu Mediterraneo Mirto di Panarea

Some of you might remember my alter ego Indiana Djundj from back when we had real conspiracies haunting our sub, not seemingly manufactured ones like the canine ballplayer cult apparently based on poor reading comprehension of its founder. Indy's adventures disrupted the evil plans of the Order of the Midnight Animals a few years ago and saved wetshavedom from full enthralment every August ever since. (Part 1, part 2, and part 3 for the curious, but not material to today's goings on.)

A year later, u/Merikus started slandering me/Indiana Djundj, and at the time I struggled understanding why. Until a mysterious u/sukireM made an appearance in the fourth episode of that canine cult podcast yet a year later and was eventually identified as u/Merikus (!), obviously an agent of the Order who has managed to infiltrate the Djudicial Forces for Good. Only then did I understand that u/Cowzilla3 and u/Merikus have been part the evil terrorist Midnight Animal Order for all this time! It's the old terrifying foe in a new disguise attempting to subjugate all of wetshavedom again for the month of August.

In the meanwhile I have been investigating the claims of The Cult (this second generation of the Order of the Midnight Animals), starting with the so-called Cabal hoping to find hints of what they are planning. The fact that u/Merikus had infiltrated it must mean that the Subbrush Organising Committee is viewed as part of the Cabal and a valuable target for The Cult. While I haven't been able to find a smoking gun, I have found evidence of early secret plans of making a badger sub brush, and I even found an early prototype. Some of you might remember that Project MOAR BOAR was active just about the time when u/Merikus ran a podcast where he propagandised the benefits of badger brushes (specifically B14) on a biweekly rhythm. I conclude that The Cult had reason to influence the sub towards a badger brush, so there must be a link between badgers and other Midnight animals. I will keep investigating.

To the shave:

So, a sunny day is not in the cards today. What started as just a rainy day turned into a day with flood warnings. Luckily I happened to be in my alter ego role which means I have a protective hat for a shave in the rain. So I packed my gear in a waterproof bag, waited for a moment of lower rain intensity, hopped on the mobile archaeology lab and drove to my favourite outdoor shaving spot. Usually there's a beautiful view onto the French alps from there, not today. I caught a quick rain shower just after setting up, but then I could start. The prototype MOAR BADGER seems to be not broken in and was quite the lather hog, but eventually I got a decent lather and got a nice shave. At this point I realised that I had packed the wrong AdP Blu Mediterraneo frag (the bottles look practically identical), so I waited to get back home before applying the correct frag.

Theme: Beach, cold drinks, citrus, and cooling agent? It doesn't get much more summer than that.

Relevant post and frag: Myrtle is indigenous to the Mediterranean region, which I strongly associate with summer vacation.

Challenge: documented photographically.

Fougère Friday, Science with Fuck Part 2

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive prototype MOAR BADGER (31 mm × 57 mm silvertip 🦡) #SUBBROOSH
• Razor: Böker Abalone
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co – Varen
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co – Varen – (not pictured)
• Extra Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Beaudelaire
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co – Varen

Subtracting scents, part two, I try to compare,
Dirty Beaudelaire and a dank green Fougère,
Isolate Mousse de Saxe,
Chalzone showed the facts,
Green fades, Mousse de Saxe darkness stays in the air.

Spooky Season

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BADGER (Silvertip) #SUBBROOSH
• Razor: Wolfman WR2 (1.55 mm SB / 1.25 mm OC)
• Blade: Polsilver
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts – Autumn Ash
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts – Autumn Ash
• Fragrance: Southern Witchcrafts – Autumn Ash

Challenge: the spookiest fruit of this sub is obviously the Boonana (thanks to today's sponsor, SW), so have a razorfin boonanashark (razorcut).

Theme, relevant post and frag: It's right there in the name.

The MOAR BADGER is the biggest badger I've ever tried, and while being comically large, it's super fun to use. Just a giant lather pillow with soft, soft tips. So nice.

Sweet Sunday

• Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
• Razor: Zwilling J. A. Henckels Friodur 14 (8/8", extra hollow ground, stainless steel) #STR8SNOB
• Lather: Summer Break Soaps – Teacher’s Pet
• Post Shave: Southern Witchcrafts – Pomona
• Fragrance: Stirling Soap Co. – Sweet Stuff

Theme: Teacher's pet is red apple with brown sugar. It smells sweet and yummy and happy.

I'm sad it's been discontinued, but luckily Braeburn scratches the same itch.

Relevant post and frag: Pomona is another sweet apple scent, and finally Sweet Stuff is here to dial the sweetness to 11.

Challenge: This was the perfect opportunity to try my new-to-me rubber lather catcher thingy that barbers use to wipe lather from the blade without running water. (My preferred kitchen shave spot is an the kitchen table, not the sink])

Christmas in July, but in June's Eve

• Brush: Dogclaration LG 2022 Mystery Brush (B16)
• Razor: Wardonia Possibly a "Rugby Set"
• Blade: Personna Platinum
• Lather: Eleven Shaving Blue Spruce
• Post Shave: PannaCrema Nero
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company Seaforth! 3 Scots

Christmas Eve! This sub is so damn generous that I had lots of choice today ♥

Theme: All around great guy and Chief Podcast Djustice u/OnionMiasma has a 100% participation rate so far in this year's Lather Games. Thank you for letting me try this soap from a new-to-me soaper, Onion!

Relevant post & frag (and razor, and brush...): Everything in this shave was received with no exchange of currency involved from someone who is involved in the games in some way: The post shave was a gift from u/VisceralWatch, my friend and one of the two wettubers I follow. He donates his time as a Lather Games Djudge and Podcast Guest Djustice. The razor is from my friend u/Semaj3000, who gave me this piece of Sheffield history and serves as a Djudge in the SOTD Photo Scavenger Hunt. The brush was my prize from u/declarationgrooming after I OnionMiasmaed the 2022 Lather Games, and 3 Scots was a PIF from u/Ironbeard_SYS, both of which are sponsors in this year's games.

Challenge: I'd love a sub exclusive straight razor from Ulrik of Koraat. A big full hollow 7/8 with blacksmith finish and MOAR BOAR-green scales. (Think Sparschweinchen, but full hollow).

Christmas in July, but in June

• Brush: Bite of Mammoth – Victor Hyggo
• Razor: Henkotsu #KAMISORI #STR8SNOB
• Lather: House of Mammoth – Santa Noir
• Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Dickens, Revisited
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Santa Noir

Today I'm using HoM, which means that it's a great opportunity to buts out Victor Hyggo, the French philosopher Mammoth brush.

Theme: Santa Noir is so on theme that the logo wears a Santa hat. I doubt that it's physically possible to be more on theme.

Relevant post and frag, Dickens is also totally winter themed with the splash bottle art depicting a snowball fight and the soap art depicting a couple on a joy ride on a horse-drawn sleigh.

Challenge: The Kamisori form factor is my least practised type of open blade, so I thought it appropriate mitigate risks and protect myself by wearing a helmet for this shave. unfortunately there is no good way to keep lather from messing up the chin strap even when it's dangling. shaking fist angrily at clouds

Savoury Gourmands ±∓

• Brush: Silit - Silicone baking brush
• Razor: Zwilling J. A. Henckels Friodur 72½ (13/16" hollow ground, stainless steel)
• Backup Razor: Blutt Rasur BR-1 (1.20 mm gap)
• Blade: Astra Superior Stainless Double Edge (blue)
• Lather: Djundjila Farm Works – Mountain-Raised Fresh Chicken Eggs (in Canard base)
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth – Shire
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux – La Petite Prairie

Since I learned on Where's the Beef Day that some of my favourite bases have duck fat, I new I had to try a YRFCE variant with it. Photo story.

Blending the warm egg yolks with melted duck fat was promising, but things took a turn. The lather is extremely drippy, like dripping everywhere drippy, and wherever it drips, it seemingly instantanously congeals. ugh.

I thought that a straight razor would be the least problematic for this, but I prepared a backup razor with a large blade gap, just in case. The straight was the right choice, though.

Three passes, not a terrible shave, but I think the soapers are onto something with their saponification thingy.

Theme: Well, I'm first

Relevant post and frag: My favourite part of the original YRFCE scent is the clean grass, so I went with grassy post and nominally grassy frag.

Challenge: see last image in the Photo story.

OP finds that a congealed lather is not a good lather.

OP finds that a congealed lather is not a good lather.

Information Overload

• Brush: Zenith 506B MB (27 mm × 51 mm Manchurian badger)
• Razor: Schick Repeating Razor Type C
• Blade: Schick Injector Blade
• Lather: Highland Springs Soap Co. – Eclipse
• Post Shave: Highland Springs Soap Co. – Eclipse
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux – Gratiot League Square

My fellow djudge u/RedMosquitoMM's and my mind have synchronised. My shave happened 12 hours ago, or 7 hours before skeeter's, I just haven't had the chance to post yet.

Eclipse is warm and rich and comforting, and more importantly for today's theme, it has 21 scent notes.

Relevant post and frag: Gratiot League Square is Eclipse's lost sibling sharing the tobacco-leather-sandalwood core.

Challenge: I got distracted. Started with my left, forgot about it by pass number two. Sigh.

Frugal Friday

• Brush: I Am (house brand of local grocery store chain Migros)
• Razor: Wilkinson Sword
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword
• Lather: Arko – Berber Tiraş sabunu
• Post Shave: Wars – Classic - Energetyzujący Płyn Po Goleniu
• Fragrance: Brut — Original

Theme: To my chagrin, the cheapest soap by weight in my den seems to be Arko at CHF 22.80/kg, eking out a narrow victory over my palmolive stick (CHF 30.67/kg) which I bought in my local pharmacy a few years ago when it went out of production. The soap performs well enough, but I struggle with the scent. This is based on a technicality, because I do own an even cheaper soap, Vitos, but it's in my mountain den, so it's not in my collection today.

Relevant post and splash: also the cheapest in my den. Wars is CHF 43.33/l and Brut CHF 78.00/l.

Challenge: Luckily I got rid of my horrible clipped boar brushes at CHF 1.50 per brush last year after Frugal Friday (I bought them for my Rookie Lather Games, when there was still a bonus point for using 30 brushes and they were tërrible), so this brush is my new cheapest one at CHF 6.80. It's still garbage, but less. The Wilkinson razor is GBP 4.99 including the blades, making it my cheapest. Saving so much money on today's shave wasn't worth using that brush. I'm getting rid of the brush and Arko.

Sandalwood Saturday, The Penultimate Challenge

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BADGER (Silvertip) #SUBBROOSH
• Razor: Eversharp-Schick Hydro-magic (I2, NOS)
• Blade: Personna Injector Blade
• Lather: Proraso – Sandalwood
• Post Shave: Taylor of Old Bond Street – Sandalwood
• Fragrance: Le Labo – Santal 33

I can't believe that LG is already almost over again!

Theme: Proraso Red is a dry, warm, slightly dirty sandalwood scent.

Relevant post and frag: Both the post and frag are completely sandalwood-forward frags. I smell like dry twigs on a sunny patch of forest floor.

Challenge: It would be a bit unethical for me to answer since I know the current rankings. Well, now I do, but I knew this challenge would come, and I answered today's challenge on day 1, before I had relevant knowledge. Here's my answer:

• Main ROTY will go to u/MudAccording. He's going full hog right out of the gate. The other two roty prizes are random so your guess is as good as mine.
• photocontest goes to u/Crossan1983, that black and white shot looks well set up, like he means business.
• FoF u/Hugbckt: Great write-up, someone to watch.
• LG goes to u/Tsrblke. He was a joy to follow last year, and this first post looks like he's full of energy this year, plus, he has that racing team!
• No Scruba: The real winner here is going to be everyone (awww!) I'm looking forward to u/Enndeegee's no scrub list, and dread his scrub list.

Bon Voyage, Lather Games!

• Brush: Mühle Boar Brush – Deutsche Demokratische Republik (GDR)
• Razor: СПЗ Консул – Українська Радянська Соціалістична Республіка (Ukrainian SSR) #Stainlessless
• Blade: Нева – Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика (Russian Soviet Republic)
• Lather: Купа – Купа – България (Bulgaria)
• Post Shave: Wars – Fresh – Rzeczpospolita Polska (Poland)
• Fragrance: Красная Москва – Красная Москва – Российская Федерация (Russian Federation)
• Me: Switzerland

Another Lather Games edition is in the can, and we made it to the end almost completely without drama! I want to thank the participants and my fellow organisers from the bottom of my heart for a wonderful month of June! I'm looking forward to recording the podcast wrap-up and the winner announcements soon.

Our hobby on this sub is pretty anglo-centric, so I decided to look east for today's international theme instead for a change.

Theme: The cream Купа is from Bulgaria, home of sub legends u/MrTangerinesky and u/DjanovShaving.

Relevant post and frag: All items used are on theme.

Special challenge: The Mühle brush is from the same Mühle company that still makes razors. This NOS brush was made around 1975, shortly after the owner family Müller had been expropriated and the company had been transformed into a Volkseigener Betrieb (Publicly Owned Enterprise, the main legal form of industrial enterprise in East Germany). The Razor was made in Severodonetsk in 1990 in the Ukrainian SSR. It's a pretty neat clone of the Gillette Slim. The blade was made in 1963 in Leningrad in the Russian SSR. It's tuggy. The post shave is from (modern, democratic) Poland (fresh!) and Красная Москва is from the modern day Russian Federation ("Smells like a cheap old woman's perfume" - my wife).

An interesting titbit about Красная Москва is that it and Chanel N° 5 have the same origins in the last decades of the Tsarist Russian Empire. Here's an interesting podcast episode about it for those who understand German.