June 3, 2024 - Where’s the Beef?

• Brush: Aurora Grooming Lather Games 2024 - Blurple
• Razor: Unbranded Solingen Silver Steel 6/8 #RUSTYBUTTRUSTY
• Lather: Chicago Grooming Co - Montrose Beach
• Post Shave: Chicago Grooming Co - Sandy Cheeks Splash
• Fragrance: Noble Otter - Manoi de Tahiti EdP
• Alum: Osma and Green Block

FOF

Today’s Theme - Don’t have a cow:

First thing I thought of was the Darkwing base of Chicago Grooming Co. I got this soap in a generous PIF from Vida at CGC. Also included was the Sandy Cheeks splash. The Darkwing base shows that duck fat is good for more than just French fries.

Today’s Challenge:

Alum or potassium alum KAl(SO_4)*12H_2O has been a folk remedy for millenia. It is often the ingredient in styptic pencils and many antiperspirants. If you ever used the brand Certain Dri, it has a very high concentration of the alum which can last for days. There are 3 prevailing opinions in the group. Alum is great and Osma the best, ain’t nobody need that shit, and ehh? from the fence sitters. When I got my first sampling of blades, a free block of alum was included. I used it off and on, usually if I had weepers. I was in the ehh? camp.

I decided for today to unscienticianly determine if Osma was the aftershave GOAT (hmm any soaps with goat tallow?). From the Osma camp the claim was since it was cut from solid blocks of mineral alum, the smoothness made it miraculous. After spending Saturday evening honing a couple straights for the first time, some of my equipment was still out, and I got an idea. Now out of the box, the Green Block has a rougher surface texture. I actually opened this block yesterday, and it was pretty grainy, but pretty solid. Could I polish this ~~turd~~ alum block? Now I didn’t want to use my new Shapton ceramic stones, but I do have a fine/very fine Duosharp diamond plate. It is approximately #600 and #1200 grits. I got the Green block wet and started polishing all 6 sides of the GB. It made a milky swarf/slurry of alum pretty quickly. Once I got it smooth to the touch on fine, I flipped the plate over to very fine. On 1200, I could feel the stone was much flatter. It started doing that thing where flat ground surfaces can kind of stick to each other. I got out the Osma to compare. I learned a little lesson. If you put Osma in a plastic box wet, some of the salts will dissolve and crystalize on the surface. To the diamond plates with the Osma. It was quick work to remove the rough crystals from the surface. I dried both blocks, and I was ready for today.

To give myself the best base to test these, I decided I should either do a Weck shave, MMOC, or try my first self honed razor. The Nameless Solingen has a fair amount of character from the black iron oxide stains, and surface putting. Not sure why the tag is Rusty Butt Rusty, but I added it. I went with testing my work with myself as the 🐹. One thing that did happen from wet polishing alum for about 20 minutes. My fingertips are crazy soft today. Anyway, the shave was a bit crunchy, but did remove the hair. Back to the stones and strop before I try again. After a 2.5 pass shave wtg, atg, other atg cheeks only, I was sure I had a perfect test bed for a bit of alum sting. To my surprise, nothing. No stinging and both blocks felt pretty smooth on the skin. While I dried off the razor, I left the alum on my face. Still no stinging, so I washed it off. Then applied the splash. Now there was some stinging.

Conclusion: ehh, if you like it use it, if you don’t no big deal. It is this decisiveness that I’m known for after all. As for Osma vs. other blocks, buy the Osma if you can get it. Sure a cheap block made from crushed up alum can be smoothed, but that isn’t worth the time unless Osma cost 10x more.

~~Smelly feet~~ Fragrant Feats:

This set of smells is all about my wife’s least favorite food, coconut. Fun fact, when your wife hates a food, she assumes you should hate it too. I don’t get a lot of coconut here. Montrose Brach starts this tropical party with a pretty aquatic scent accented by coconut. It is quite a refreshing scent. Sandy Cheeks slaps you in the face with a sweet coconut with my mind thinking I spilled a piña colada all over my face. I was back on a cruise having my after breakfast piña colada. If you buy the alcohol package, you have to drink pretty steady while on the boat. I didn’t touch a drop for months after the trip. Manoi de Tahiti is a wonderful tropical fragrance with a base of sandalwood and vanilla. The floral tiara flower, coconut, and ginger mix well with the base notes. All said, it is a tropical gourmand scent combination that would be perfect for the sweet day.

I have pictures to add later tonight, but first I’m late for dinner now.