June 7 Lather: Barrister and Mann - Hallows
- Brush: AP Shave Co Cashmere 24mm Emerald handle
- Razor: Karve Overlander
- Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
- Lather: Barrister and Mann - Hallows - Soap
- Post Shave: Barrister and Mann- Hallows - Splash
- Fragrance: Southern Witchcrafts - Fougere Nemeta - Edp
- Music: Hooray for the Riff Raff - Vetiver
TODAY THEME: In my closet full of soap tubs and samples, I don’t have one tub labeled “vetiver.”However, I dug deep, found this tub of Barrister and Mann’s HALLOWS. And realized it absolutely qualified for today’s theme.
In Barrister and Mann’s official scent description, VETIVER is always listed as the FIRST note.
“Taking inspiration from the swamps and churchyards of the city, we combine vetiver, oakmoss, black pepper, cocoa, labdanum, and cedar to produce a deep, cold scent suited to the chilly, bitter days of late October.”
Early reviews, like this one from Daily Lather
“The Sri Lankan vetiver starts to grab you. This is not your happy, bright green vetiver. This version is deep, full-bodied and complex.”
When Will was asked if he was bringing back a Vetiver scent on another discussion forum, his response was: “No, the only vetiver fragrance we will produce this year will be Hallows. Otherwise, they don't seem to sell well for us.”
My favorite description of Hallows on another forum: “To me, it smells like dark chocolate mixed in a vetiver-heavy stew.”
Enough on theme justification. This scent is imo one of Will’s masterpieces. Along with Leviathan, Vespers, Lavanille, and a few others. But some people hate it. For the newer folks around here, if you haven’t tried Barrister and Mann, or if you gave one a shot and gave up on it quickly, I’d strongly encourage you to have patience with Will’s scents. They are often not immediate hits for me. They grow on me. First whiff I am usually wondering what the hell he was thinking. 2nd whiff, eh, this is not too bad. 3rd use, hey this is alright. 4th, damn, this is pretty fuckin’ good. By the 5th time I’m wanting to buy backup tubs. To keep the vetiver theme going, I sprayed lightly a little Fougere Nemeta on my wrists. I got fall Vetiver up top and spring below.
TODAY’S CHALLENGE: I’ve never done a first pass against the grain. What the hell, why not? I pulled out my Karve Overlander in brass. Easily my best razor ATG. I was expecting the worst. You know what? This was a hell of a shave. I went ATG, WTG, ATG. I think that was the closest shave I’ve had all year. Zero irritation. Maybe Omnibus helped. Who knew. This is why we do shit like the Lather Games, I guess.
SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT: Another reason to do the lather games – I get to find out about vendors I haven’t used before. I don’t have an Aurora grooming handle but after looking through their site, I’m now interested. I’ll get one this year. To honor Aurora grooming today, I grabbed my AP Shave Co. Cashmere brush. Looks like Aurora sells this knot.
QUOTE OF THE DAY:
“ME, MY THOUGHTS ARE FLOWER STREWN:
OCEAN STORM, BAYBERRY MOON.
I HAVE GOT TO LEAVE TO FIND MY WAY, I HAVE GOT TO FIND THE RIVER...
BERGAMOT AND VETIVER
RUN THROUGH MY HEAD AND FALL AWAY. "
—R.E.M., 'FIND THE RIVER'