June 7, 2024 - Vetiver You Want

• Brush: Aurora Grooming LG2024 Blurple Synthetic
• Razor: Parker Adjustable Injector #ADJUSTABLE
• Blade: Parker Injector
• Lather: Martin De Candre - Vetiver
• Post Shave: Summer Break Soaps - Field Day
• Fragrance: Maher Olfactive - Velouria

Today’s Theme:

I didn’t have what I think I could say that’s a vetiver soap. Sure it is in lots of stuff, but I just think ok, it is a “green” scent of growing plants? Luckily we have smoosh trading, and once again u/tsrblke set me up. MdC - Vetiver is just vetiver. That’s pretty spot on for the theme I’d say.

Today’s Challenge:

Why would anyone start against the grain? I guess for points. That’s the only reason I shaved atg and only atg. Just don’t unless you have a need for a fractional improvement in points. I usually shower after my shave, but today I went before. I wanted every chance to improve my shave I could get. Also grabbed my Parker Adjustable Injector because it may look like it has a huge gap, it shaves pretty mild for me on any setting. I went with 1, but I’ve tried them all and yes the gap gets measurably wider, I can barely tell a difference in feel. The wider gap makes it harder to clog I guess. Post shave, I feel like I scraped the whiskers more than shaved. Lots of stinging too from the splash.

Feats of Fragrance:

Obviously today needed to start from a base of Vetiver, but all I knew about it was it was a green plantlike scent. So I smelled the smoosh, ready scent descriptions, and went through my splashes. I don’t know for sure if Field Fay has vetiver in it, but smelling it after the MdC soap made me think it could. They had a similar grassy note to them. The harder part was the final fragrance and finding one that had vetiver, or at least took off running from that playground grass scent. I went with finding one that has vetiver. I was down to House of Mammoth - Indigo or Maher Olfactive - Velouria. I decided why not both? They both have vetiver listed, and I could sneak indigo into the mix since it is my bar soap in the shower. I’m not certain how successful this really is. Indigo gives me a more peppery berry scent to my nose, while right now Velouria is a mix of the top notes of violets, blueberry and frankincense. It has two kinds of vetiver listed as notes, so as it dries down, maybe more green will come out. It’s a nice scent, but I think I’ll have to see how it evolves over the next couple of hours.

Sponsor Time:

Aurora Grooming is fairly new in the wetshaving world. I recall when he started selling brushes, he reached out to the sub to see what we thought of his work. Then of course he jumps in and not only becomes a sponsor, but made a LG2024 exclusive brush and has the audacity to only charge $35 for it. They even have custom coins for the base. When I ordered mine I was so specific with my color choice saying ok purple, blue, green, or red. Obviously, I gave very specific demands since I have such high standards (cough Colgate Toothbrush?). Undeterred by my strict demands, I get an email asking how about a dark purply navy blue being called Blurple? Well the picture of the pour looked blue/purple, so sure, Blurple it is. Now my brush was just a blank piece of resin, but in just a few days, it arrived (helps that I’m about a 4-20 hour drive from Norfolk depending on traffic). In person it beat my expectations. I love the color and using the powder pigments gives it a nice chatoyance. The shape is very comfortable for me too. If you are on the fence, get one.

FOF