2023-07-23 What is Winter?
- Brush: Maggard Razors - Black Resin Handle Tuxedo
- Razor: Henson AL13 Medium #CNC
- Lather: Noble Otter - Northern Elixir
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Frozen Tundra
- Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Santa Noir
Christmas in July:
To quote the product description from Noble Otter:
"Man, fuck summer! Summer is scorching death that will kill your children!
Elixir is all about winter! Bring back the cool winter air!
Relevant Post-Shave and Fragrance: (All are on-theme)
Similarly, the Frozen Tundra description says a bunch of words about football
that I don't understand, leading up to
"the scent and feel of earth in winter."
Finally, in u/mammothben's incomparable eloquence,
"Santa Noir loves Christmas like an exquisite and expensive prostitute
from the wilds of Canada."
After that, though, I got confused by the sequence of words
"soft woody" and
lost concentration.
I don't know, I'm tired.
#photocontest
Photo: Water. Cold, hard water.
In honor of the two weeks out of the year during which we
momentarily pretend that the sun it's not trying to destroy all life on the
planet (Wait, you guys get more than two weeks? So, like, 20 days?!)
To achieve this, I put some water in a comal and stuck that in my freezer.
That's a comal, by the way. I didn't really
think through how I was going to get the ice out, but a few
seconds with the back of the pan under running cold water popped it right out.
Speaking of thermal stuff, here's a neat thing about aluminum: it's a
ridiculous heat conductor. That's why you can put stuff in the oven on
aluminum foil, and just grab the foil with
your bare hands. That's also why the razor just melted itself cozily right
into the ice.
And then why not plop that slab of ice
right into the bathroom sink, incidentally
working in last year's Menthol Day challenge.
I know, it doesn't quite say "this guy needs therapy; look at that
desperate call for help" like filling a tub of
ice (I kid), but... I don't have a bathtub!
#FOF
My overall impression of Northern Elixir is that the peppermint is pretty
overpowering, but I'm also not a big fan of peppermint, so take from that what
you will. I admit, though, that it ties in quite nicely with the lavender and
eucalyptus, the latter of which blends in with subtlety against a backdrop of
similarly hard-to-detect cedar.
Frozen Tundra is exactly what it says on the tin. I suspect another mint
(is it in the same line as the snowman-punch
scents?), and then whatever the earthiness is brings it, uh, down to earth in such a way
that the suspected mint isn't too prominent. And if I'm wrong about mint, then,
uh, nevermind.
Santa Noir isn't really comparable to the others, but it independently fits
with the theme (obvs). It's a glorious scent that I kick myself for barely
missing getting a full bottle of. I normally think of it as being generally
season-agnostic while being especially suitable for the corresponding
holiday, but I'm feeling expecially Christmassy with it blending with the
other scents.
Challenge Accepted: Ah, yes, the ol' reliable Lefty Day. I expect a number
of shaves performed with wives', children's, and dolls' left hands. I would
have tried to enlist my cat, but I don't know which is her dominant side and
she refuses to answer my questions.
But back to the topic of reading comprehension: Wouldn't you know it, just
yesterday u/sdrdddy wrote an
explanation
all about what makes the Henson perfect for Lefty Day, locking in that blade
angle even for the most maladroit of shavers!
In fact, I had already chosen the Henson for Left Day for exactly that reason.
Am I getting better at the left-handed shave? Maybe, but it's still utterly
impossible to lather with the left hand. Humanly impossible. Anyway,
here's another intentionally-out-of-focus
timelapse in a mirror, in which the lather is done with my dominant hand and
the shave with the other.
The Henson actually gets me a remarkably smooth shave most of the time, today
included. If I do u/AirBudRuler's Easy August thing, this will be the razor.