July 5, 2023 - Canned Goop

• Brush: None #BRUSHLESS
• Razor: Game Changer .68 SP #CNC
• Blade: Gillette Rubie (2)
• Lather: Cremo - Refreshing Mint
• Post Shave: Aqua Velva - Classic Ice Blue
• Fragrance: Guy Laroche - Drakkar Noir
• Muzak: Spotify Shopping Playlist
• Tea: Dunkin’ Donuts - Iced Tea - Unsweetened

FOF

Today’s theme:

Before about 3 years ago, everyday was drugstore/grocery store available cream. Last year I got this tube of Cremo and the Aqua Velva at the Walgreens a couple blocks from my home. The Drakkar Noir is sold at my local Walgreens, but I bought it on Amazon. I have to say this is going to probably be my least favorite shave this month. Cremo is ok, and the mint and menthol are very chilly. It is definitely not as nice feeling as a good artisan lather. I’d just rate it as adequate. Reasonable slickness, but not much else there. The Aqua Velva is pretty awful. I think when I last used it about 13 months ago, I thought the same. Not much skin food there with the main ingredients being water, alcohol, glycerine, and fragrance. The fragrance is really strong. It didn’t help that I spilled some on the counter.

That Spotify playlist sure has a lot of Sheryl Crow on it. I skipped ahead to The Cure.

Today’ fragrance:

In keeping to the bought at a drugstore near me theme, I went with the scent of my youth. When I was in high school, I had two eau de toilettes, Drakkar Noir and Polo (the original green). I’d say the scent would be a bit nostalgic, but this Aqua Velva is overpowering my nose and I can barely get anything off it. I might smell like a teen going to a homecoming dance, but I can’t get past the Ice Blue. Today’s scent mix I’ll give an F. I’m going to shower soon and get the AV scent off me. Maybe give a new spritz of Drakkar to relive my horny teen days.

Today’s Challenge:

Fragrance is a strange thing for me. Before I got into wetshaving, I almost always chose scent free products. Sure in high school and college I might have overdone the Drakkar or Polo, but I always felt like too much fragrance made me itchy. Overthe last couple years, I have really expanded the fragrances I use. Ok, the Aqua Velva is giving me a headache and my negative thoughts on fragrance are coming back. I’ve said it many times, but I recently have learned to like patchouli. When it is balanced well by other scents, I get a very pleasant impression of it. Musk is another scent where too much is crazy awful, but a hint is quite nice. It is that really strange thing, but when you get a faint hint of skunk, not that bad, but get right up close to a freshly sprayed dog, or maybe roadkill skunk, it makes you gag. So that is two ingredients I’d want to have. I would want a citrus scent like lemon, grapefruit, or bergamot to brighten up the earthier tones. Next I’d want black tea and vanilla. Three of my favorite splashes are Noble Otter - Thè Noir et Vanille, Noble Otter - Barrbarr, and Barrister and Mann - Cheshire. Another great scent for me is freshly cleaned laundry dried on a clothesline outside. Even better was the laundry on the line at my Aunt’s cabin in the mountains outside Crested Butte, Colorado. So add in a bit of laundry musk, rosemary, and pine. So my signature scent would be fresh laundry with a cup of Earl Grey, while sitting on the front porch at my Aunt’s cabin. A few months ago, I was looking for my Aunt’s Cabin on Google Earth. It has been torn down in the last few years. Most of the cabins that were in the same part if the national forest are gone. My great aunt and uncle built the cabin themselves in the 1960s. My dad helped build the sleeping loft they added later. We spent a couple weeks there every summer when I was growing up. My aunt finally sold the place when she was in her 80s and couldn’t take care of the place by herself. Scents are such strong triggers for memories, and my ideal scent would take me back to those summer days at a cabin with no tv or even radio (no reception). We’d go for walks, fish in the creek near an abandon beaver dam, read lots of books, shoot bb guns off the back porch, and see the dozens of hummingbirds at the feeders hung up by the windows.

TLDR: Drugstore crap sucks. I like tea, citrus, and mountain air.

Haiku #5:

Aqua Velva? No!

Really just don’t get the stuff,

Be nice to your nose.

Bonus Drugstore Day Burma Shave Poem (author unknown):

Said Farmer Jones,

Who’s bald on top,

I wish I could,

Rotate this crop.