u/merikus's SOTDs for challenge 'Shepherds of Stirling 2024'

u/merikus submitted 11 SOTDS.

u/merikus posted on 2024-08-01 07:14:27-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (1)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
Well here we are—welcome to the $ShepherdsofStirling month! I really want to thank my fellow flock of friendly fjudges, /u/hugbckt and /u/TheStallionPartThree for taking this idea and running with it.

The idea came out of a $Discord conversation where I mentioned I’m using Sheep for the whole month because my wife is pretty scent adverse and I didn’t want to choose something that would bother her. /u/StBandicoot came up with the name, and in a few minutes the fjudges were planning the whole thing via DM. It literally came together in about a half hour two days ago—which is why you all had such little warning about this excellent challenge.

So we now have what is objectively the best AA challenge. It’s the best because it doesn’t ask you to shave every day. It just asks you to use what is arguably the best soap base out there, with which you can double down with one of the best scents out there (Varen++) and you have a great month ahead of you. It’s the chill challenge; the challenge reflective of the easygoing, no nonsense, no fuss vibe of our good friends over at /u/StirlingSoap. And it benefits 4H too!

(As an aside, as a kid growing up on suburban Long Island, New York, the only thing I knew about 4H was that commercial which frankly tells you nothing about the organization, and I had no fucking idea what 4H did until I moved to rural America as an adult. But for some reason that jingle always stuck with me: 4H! For you! For America! 4H!)

A few words on the other choices here. I haven’t used the Hydro Magic in a long time so that’s how that won out—looking for a month of nice easy shaves. The brush choice was simply because its pretty much become all boar all the time with my brushes, and I wanted to give my Dec some love.

Good shave, looking forward to the rest of the month!

EDIT: It would be nice if I could spell the name of my own challenge right.
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-03 16:14:43-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (2)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
Unfortunately this is my second bad shave in a row, and I think I know the culprit.

When I first got my B14 I was astonished by it. Best brush I ever used, it made lather effortlessly and felt great on my face. But as time went on I felt the performance began to drop, and I’ve always wondered if it has to do with the fact that I lived with extraordinarily hard water for many years.

Last night I shampooed it with a clarifying shampoo. That felt like it helped. I’m now thinking of doing a vinegar rinse to try to clean out whatever residue is making this brush underperform.

Anyway, now to see if tags get registered if they’re inside a spoiler tag.

!Tags: $Discord $ShepherdsofStirling !<

EDIT: Ok so this is interesting. Tags behind spoilers still get picked up by the Discord bot. Fingers crossed it still works for djudge.me.
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-04 17:06:08-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (3)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
Yesterday I complained I wasn’t getting a good lather with this brush and hadn’t for a long time after it being amazing for awhile. /u/Zimora suggested a 1:1 vinegar rinse with Dawn. Since I had previously washed it with shampoo I skipped the Dawn and since I like to overdo things I did a 2/3rd vinegar 1/3rd water solution. I let it sit for like 10 minutes because I got distracted by other things.

It worked great! The lather I got was superior in every way. After a few shaves I may do it again to get out residual hardness, and I think I’ll give the rest of my brushes the same treatment considering we had hard water for so long.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-07 04:57:41-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (4)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
Again I get a really great lather out of this brush. I am struck with how much the vinegar rinse helped. I thought it would be a minor thing, but it’s really night and day. I’ll give it a few more shaves and then give it a second one to see if that helps any more. Need to give my other brushes this vinegar wash too now that I finally have a water softener.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-11 14:08:55-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (5)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
Things have been very dialed in since my vinegar wash of this brush. 10/10 would shave again.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-12 06:30:24-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (6)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
Another impressive shave with this setup. The Hydro Magic has always been a great razor for me, and the other elements of the shave are making it even better.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-16 20:07:14-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Zenith B33
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (7)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: [REDACTED] - Travel Scuttle
Traveling this weekend so decided to mix it up brush and scuttle wise. No way in hell I’m traveling with my DG. And thanks as always to /u/djundjila for the travel scuttle, even if it is from [REDACTED].

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-17 13:05:35-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Zenith B33
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (8)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: [REDACTED] - Travel Scuttle
Today’s shave reminded be that the HydroMagic is best on 1-2 days growth. Typically I have more, and it can struggle. But today was easy.

That said I pushed it one more pass than I should have and the Osma screamed at me for awhile because of it. Ended up with a little irritation but it’s already fading.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-19 13:09:02-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (9)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
Back home after the trip to NYC for the wedding and so I'm back to my normal AA setup.

But the real big news about today is that I was reminded via Facebook memories that it's my wet-shaveaversary. 10 years ago today I had my first wet shave with Proraso, a sweet little Omega boar that the handle has since broken on, and the shittiest shavette imaginable.

I've told the story several times before, but I randomly decided one day to pick up wet shaving and decided my upcoming trip to Italy was the best way to pick up gear. I wanted to learn to shave with a straight at that time, and figured a shavette was a good entry point to that.

I was wrong.

It was a terrible shave and I didn't buy any post shave products, leaving my face to ache for like a day.

But I stuck with it and look where it got me, I now spend all my time talking about shaving and helping to run the International Shaving Olympics.

Look how far I've come in a decade.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-24 19:10:36-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (10)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
This was by far the worst shave of the month for me. I think it was because it had been about 5 days since my last shave. The HydroMagic is a great daily driver razor, but really struggles with thick hair. Typically this would be an OCMMOC shave for me.

This also marks 10 shaves for the month, officially making me a Shepherd of Stirling. I wasn’t sure if I would make it so that’s exciting.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling
u/merikus posted on 2024-08-27 06:45:11-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)
Aug. 1, 2024
- Brush: Declaration Grooming B14 “Nebula” Badger
- Razor: Schick Hydro Magic
- Blade: Schick Injector (11)
- Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Sheep - Soap
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Unscented - Aftershave feat. House of Mammoth - Permafrost
- Osma: Osma - Osma
- Scuttle: Georgetown Pottery - G20
It’s time for this blade to be replaced. Last time I shaved I thought maybe it was a technique or lather issue. But nope, I’m sure the blade is just done at this point. If it wasn’t AA I’d switch it out but there’s only a few more days of August left and who knows if I’ll even shave between now and then.

^Tags: ^$Discord ^$ShepherdsofStirling