SOTD by u/Environmental-Gap380

July 25, 2023 - Santa’s Early Visit

• Brush: Yaqi Dandelion Green 24mm Cashmere
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Flying Wing
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Siliski Soaps - Santa’s Pipe
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - ‘Tis The Season - Splash
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Rumble EdP

#FOF

Today’s Theme:

I got this Xmas themed soap in a PIF of smooshes from u/worbx. It is a perfect fit for today. To build on it, I had two great choices to bring in more holiday spirit, and chose Tis the Season. For the fragrance, I needed something to tie into the rest of the shave. I narrowed it down to two House of Mammoth scents: Tobacconist and Rumble. As I was smelling both pre shave, Rumble just clicked.

Today’s Sinister Challenge:

I think last year had a non-dominant challenge, and it wasn’t very easy for me. I can do some things well left handed, but writing and shaving are definitely awkward. Earlier this year, I challenged myself to a month of left handed shaves. It took a couple weeks to get things working better. I didn’t get rid of awkwardness entirely, but I felt I reached an acceptable level of competence. It has been well over a month since my last lefty or ambidextrous shaves, and my face felt it. I picked the Flying Wing because it is getting easier for me to get the angle right with the Micromatics. I do think a new blade would have been better today. While whiskers were shorn, it wasn’t a very close shave. There was no real irritation or blood sacrifices at least. I may need to go lefty the rest of the week in prep for next month.

Today’s Fragrances:

In prepping my calendar, it would have been an easy fit to go with the Tis the Season soap and splash, or use Santa Noir, but the 30 brands challenge made it difficult to fit the soaps. I had another choice for a while, but as I was going through the smooshes for yesterday, I decided Santa’s Pipe would work to be the base of the theme. I really liked this soap. The scent is straight up cherry pipe tobacco. This month has shown me that Ireally like tobacco scents, but how can I build up more Christmas scents? Noble Otter’s Tis The Season really hits the Xmas nostalgia for me. Growing up, we would get a permit to cut our own Xmas trees in the nearby national forest. We had a living room with high cathedral ceilings, so we would get a tree around 10 feet tall every year. The house would smell of pine or spruce for a month. I really get that from the splash along with a fruity kick of the berries. My wife and I always decorate our tree with a cranberry bead garland, so my brain is giving me cranberry. Now to finish with the fragrance there were a few ways I thought to go, but I really only a couple viable choices were available to me, add more tobacco, or go with a treat for Santa. When Rumble came out, someone described it as smelling like brownie batter. I decided that it was a perfect fit to my childhood memories. When I was about 10, I asked my mom to make chocolate chip cookies, instead she decided to teach me how to make them myself. From that day, until I went off to college, I was the cookie baker in the house. One year for Xmas, I made a batch of chocolate crinkle cookies. The smell of Rumble could also fit those cookies. Now if it would just snow and get rid of the heat we’ve had lately (ok, at least it is not as hot as Satan’s Butthole like the forecast last week for parts of the US).

Today’s Haiku:

Cherry tobacco,
A cranberry Christmas Tree,
And some warm cookies.

[**July 25, 2023 - Santa’s Early Visit**](https://imgur.com/Cx9YEO9)

* **Brush:** Yaqi Dandelion Green 24mm Cashmere
* **Razor:** GEM Micromatic Flying Wing
* **Blade:** Personna GEM PTFE
* **Lather:** Siliski Soaps - Santa’s Pipe
* **Post Shave:** Noble Otter - ‘Tis The Season - Splash
* **Fragrance:** House of Mammoth - Rumble EdP

#FOF

Today’s Theme:

I got this Xmas themed soap in a PIF of smooshes from u/worbx. It is a perfect fit for today. To build on it, I had two great choices to bring in more holiday spirit, and chose Tis the Season. For the fragrance, I needed something to tie into the rest of the shave. I narrowed it down to two House of Mammoth scents: Tobacconist and Rumble. As I was smelling both pre shave, Rumble just clicked.

Today’s Sinister Challenge:

I think last year had a non-dominant challenge, and it wasn’t very easy for me. I can do some things well left handed, but writing and shaving are definitely awkward. Earlier this year, I challenged myself to a month of left handed shaves. It took a couple weeks to get things working better. I didn’t get rid of awkwardness entirely, but I felt I reached an acceptable level of competence. It has been well over a month since my last lefty or ambidextrous shaves, and my face felt it. I picked the Flying Wing because it is getting easier for me to get the angle right with the Micromatics. I do think a new blade would have been better today. While whiskers were shorn, it wasn’t a very close shave. There was no real irritation or blood sacrifices at least. I may need to go lefty the rest of the week in prep for next month.

Today’s Fragrances:

In prepping my calendar, it would have been an easy fit to go with the Tis the Season soap and splash, or use Santa Noir, but the 30 brands challenge made it difficult to fit the soaps. I had another choice for a while, but as I was going through the smooshes for yesterday, I decided Santa’s Pipe would work to be the base of the theme. I really liked this soap. The scent is straight up cherry pipe tobacco. This month has shown me that Ireally like tobacco scents, but how can I build up more Christmas scents? Noble Otter’s Tis The Season really hits the Xmas nostalgia for me. Growing up, we would get a permit to cut our own Xmas trees in the nearby national forest. We had a living room with high cathedral ceilings, so we would get a tree around 10 feet tall every year. The house would smell of pine or spruce for a month. I really get that from the splash along with a fruity kick of the berries. My wife and I always decorate our tree with a cranberry bead garland, so my brain is giving me cranberry. Now to finish with the fragrance there were a few ways I thought to go, but I really only a couple viable choices were available to me, add more tobacco, or go with a treat for Santa. When Rumble came out, someone described it as smelling like brownie batter. I decided that it was a perfect fit to my childhood memories. When I was about 10, I asked my mom to make chocolate chip cookies, instead she decided to teach me how to make them myself. From that day, until I went off to college, I was the cookie baker in the house. One year for Xmas, I made a batch of chocolate crinkle cookies. The smell of Rumble could also fit those cookies. Now if it would just snow and get rid of the heat we’ve had lately (ok, at least it is not as hot as Satan’s Butthole like the forecast last week for parts of the US).

Today’s Haiku:

Cherry tobacco,
A cranberry Christmas Tree,
And some warm cookies.