LG SOTD 25Jun2024
- Brush: AP Shave Black & Green - 26mm synbad synthetic
- Razor: Henson - Ti22 Medium
- Blade: Croma - Diamant (2)
- Blade: Gillette - Wilkinson Sword (2)
- Lather: Noble Otter - Tis the Season
- Bowl: CaYuen - Dark Nebula, large
- Post Shave: Stirling Witch Hazel - Coniferous
Happy Tuesday and Christmas in June! Welcome to the twenty-fifth shave of the 2024 Lather Games where we shave with a winter or winter holiday themed lather.
I love Christmas and have a weakness for trying Christmas themed scents. In the den as residents I have BaM’s Dickens Revisited, based on a beloved Christmas cookie. Stirling’s Christmas Eve, a blend of spices and conifer that is a nostalgia bomb for the Christmases my mom put on with the natural tree and oil warmers. But there was only one choice for today, Noble Otter’s Tis the Season. I went for the blind buy in 2022 when it dropped and it nearly instantly dethroned Christmas Eve for favorite holiday.
Artisans that only deal in original scents make for some of the strongest reactions, negative and positive, and Noble Otter is no exception. I’ve tried sixteen (16) scents from NO and five (5) were tub worthy. That puts Noble Otter as the most compatible fragrance maker for me, far ahead of BaM (seven out of forty-two) or even HoM (four out of eighteen). I will also say that my negative reactions with NO have never come close to the intensity with some of the misses from BaM (c.f. TFH: Death) or HoM (c.f. Santa Noir). This is why, as much as I hate doing it, I will go for the blind tub buy from NO when the description is seemingly a can’t miss and samples are scarce.
Three times I took the leap - Monoi de Tahiti, Tis The Season, and, most recently, Jasmine Green Tea - and three times I found a new den tub. In comparison, never blind bought from BaM and my first and last blind tub buy from HoM was Santa Noir 😅. That does leave six scents I haven’t tried (and none sound sure enough for blind buying) so maybe one of them terrifies my olfactory centers like Death but, for now, the otter has special privileges 🦦🏖️
Tis the Season was the Christmas scent I didn’t know I needed. The harmonious blend of fruit and gentle conifer pulls me in and I’ve been looking forward to this shave all Lather Games. I did not know I would be wearing my hat doing so.
The brush is only new for the games hardware. It’s an AP Shave brush from their stock of premade handles and the third synbad knot in the collection. It is also my least favorite one. Very little backbone the way it’s set but the other two knots have some oomph.
After, tried something I’ve never used - a witch hazel splash, conifer scented of course. As a kid, my dad kept the witch hazel in the hall closet vs the bathroom with the rest of the shave stuff and I always thought that was because it was the “big guns” and on the level of mercurochrome. It was a bit disappointing that there was no real discernible sensation at all from it 😂. I don’t find this as good as an aftershave balm but interesting to try.
Merry Christmas in June!
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Tournament of Blades Fight 423, Round 2. Croma - Diamant (Germany) vs Gillette - Wilkinson Sword (India)
The Croma maintained the slight lead on feedback over the Gillette. Wish things were more dramatic but pretty much everything left in the pool is decent.
Winner of R2 and Fight 423: Croma - Diamant.