July 7, 2023 – LG Day 7 – Fremen Friday
- Brush: RazoRock 400 Plissoft Synthetic #PREMIUMPLASTIC
- Razor: Merkur 34C
- Blade: Voskhod
- Lather: Declaration Grooming – Darkfall
- Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. – Intrepid Man
- Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – A City On Fire
Today’s theme is both easy and difficult for me: easy because I have a ton of options, difficult because I have to make a choice. Orientals, spicy scents, and smoky fall scents are some of my absolute favorites, so I tend to have trouble not buying more. I went with Darkfall today, ~~partially to make sure I get the DG sponsor point in of course, but also~~ entirely because it combines smokiness and spiciness in a really beautiful way. It manages to evoke burning leaves, just as it’s meant to, but is not smoky in a way that most would find overwhelming. The cinnamon and clove are still very present while lathering and shaving, but they give way to the resins and balsams post-shave. To provide a little post-shave balance, I tried layering a completely different spicy oriental – Intrepid Man. Aside from the style of fragrance, there is only one note in common (cinnamon). Honestly, I can’t really detect the cinnamon in Intrepid man, but as stated in another post, I don’t have the most discerning nose. It was interesting to see how the two fragrances came together. The tonka and vanilla are playing very nicely with the resinous smoke, and Intrepid Man helped to bring that spiciness out a little more as well. Then I sprayed A City on Fire. Although I personally notice the cardamom and cade, I recognize that others (i.e. my partner) just smell smoke. It just so happens that I love the smell of smoke, at least this kind. Tobacco, burnt leaves, burnt match, smoky resins – give them all to me. (Cigarette smoke, not so much.) I’ve paired A City on Fire with Darkfall before, and I know that it might be a little more smoky than my coworkers would like to be smelling – but I have Fridays off, so I can spray unabashedly to my heart’s delight. Smoky and spicy, all day long. #FOF
My other hobby…I have two. I really love cooking/baking, but work sucks (a la u/Old_Hiker) and I’ve been too tired to be creative in the kitchen as of late. The other hobby is a more recent obsession, which is TTRPGs (tabletop role-laying games, for the uninitiated). It’s taken over my life and maybe become a little excessive, but I’m having fun. I’m currently in two DnD (Dungeons & Dragons) campaigns, and I started running a campaign using a lesser-known system called Other Dust. The DnD campaigns are more casual for me. I get to show up, be a garden gnome in one and a Thri-kreen in the other, and play a fun game with friends. GMing a campaign, however, is a super time-suck. Worldbuilding, creating stat-blocks for NPCs and beasts, trying to balance my technophobic post-apocalyptic world with some semblance of levity so we don’t feel depressed playing, trying to anticipate and prepare for the ten million directions my players might go because I really don’t want to railroad — it’s a lot of work. And I’m loving it. Also, I listen to NADD Pod pretty much every day, I’ve watched most seasons of Dimension 20, and I regularly listen to/watch Adventuring Academy and read the various RPG/DnD subreddits to try to absorb as much knowledge as I can. The RPG community is pretty darn big, and I don’t know that I could argue that all of them are weirder than us on r/wetshaving, but there are definitely plenty that could talk for hours and hours about the weird mechanics, spells, characters, and history of the various worlds they play in.
Edit: I apparently shouldn't make up sponsors because then it induces panic among other players