June 8, 2024 – Maggard’s Day
- Brush: Semogue TSN LE Mixed knot #MISTURA #OldWorld
- Razor: Parker 96R #ZAMAC
- Blade: 7 O’Clock – Sharpedge (Yellow) (2)
- Lather: Maggard Razors – Lilac
- Post Shave: Barrister and Mann – Diamond
- Fragrance: Motif Olfactif – Moments
Maggards day, or should we call it chief enabler day. Sure, we all have our favorite artisan who sucks up a ton of our money (stares at u/mammothben). But when we need hardware supplies or a lot of different things at the same time, we turn to Brad. And Brad delivers. More than once, I’ve had stuff arrive 2 days after I place the order. Sometimes I don’t order until 3pm, BAM still in the mail by 5. He runs a machine. And in doing so keeps thrill alive for many of us. Plus, customer service cannot be matched. I forgot to add an empty tub to my order once, I emailed, he replied “I gotchu!” (paraphrased) and threw a tub in before it shipped. Once I ordered Rawr, he was out, the system miscounted, he refunded me, then settled on a free shipping code I could use to get Rawr when it was back in stock (or whatever else I wanted.) I ended up using that code to send out my secret Santa last year. (Rawr came in a different order that was, of course, above the shipping threshold.)
Plus, samples from places that normally don’t do samples! Explore without excessive expense. My LG last year ran almost entirely on Maggards samples. Maybe next year I’ll run just on Maggards samples I have laying around. 3 Cheers for Maggards! And tell you what, since Maggards is FIRE, for #photocontest lets do FIRE. (Man, I hope this doesn’t melt my soap).
For the challenge, as noted I mostly order samples and hardware from Maggards, so my largest order from them isn’t huge. It was actually last year’s LG order at a whopping $70.83 cents. The box is still next to my nightstand as I used it to keep the LG stuff organized and intended to use it again this year but my calendar was completely different so I have a new Maggards box for it! My Stirling orders now are regularly over $100, but that’s mostly coffee, some bath soap and lotion, so I’m not sure it counts. My largest shaving specific order ever comes from u/mammothben (of course) at $135.34. It had Shire 2 and Rumble dickhole sets (plus 2ml edp of each because I couldn’t justify a $300 order) and a Mammoth x Lancaster Shaving works towel. I probably spent some money on a raffle leading up to that as well. Which I never win, I need to stop doing that and just buy the soap. But it’s for good causes.
A note on the Parker. It was my first razor, which in retrospect was probably a mistake. It’s an odd construction of brass handle and Zamac head, so it’s bottom weighted. There’s tons of blade feel and it’s kinda rough. Glad I have vintage Gilletes now.
On to #fof: At first glance there’s just total disconnect here, but that’s because it’s personal to me. See, my grandparents lived off a road, aptly named “Lilac.” Their yard smelled of it all year. Their family had been generational farmers for years, but that went away with my grandfather who operated heavy machinery in a quarry. So, he donated some of the farmland to the Chruch for a baseball field. Every year at family reunion when I was young, we’d go to the field and play a game of softball. Which brings us to Moments. From the description: “Time whizzing while each second is cherished. No one knew it would be awhile before our family could be together again.” This description hits hard, because like all families when our patriarch and matriarch died a few years ago, those big gatherings ended. It’s not the same. It’s not bad (my immediate family is growing and we make new traditions) but it is different. Cheris the time you have