SOTD by u/Environmental-Gap380

July 4th, 2023 - April Showers Bring LG Flowers

• Brush: AP Shave Co - Ivory Purple 26mm G5A Premium SHD #PREMIUMPLASTIC
• Razor: Parker Adjustable Injector #DIAL
• Blade: Parker Injector
• Lather: Noble Otter - Rawr
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Rawr Splash
• Fragrance: Maher Olfactive - Orris Forest
• Tea: Harney and Sons - Royal Palace
• Music: Mazzy Star - “Fade Into You”

#FOF

Happy Independence Day to my fellow denizens of the USA. I’d say Americans, but today’s challenge is all sciency and stuff, so saying Americans is just too imprecise. There are many countries in the American continents, so need to be a bit specific. I forgot to say happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north. That was Sunday and the work holiday was yesterday. My team at work is half in Canada, so I am learning more about the different holidays. Thanksgiving in October? Well the harvests are earlier the further north you go, so makes some sense to have it earlier.

Special Challenge:

Today’s challenge came at a very opportune time for me. Last week I bought a new kitchen scale for some recipes I want to try. All the measurements are in grams, so easier to get the scale than a bad volume conversion. How to perform a more precise lathering for my shave? Well weighing the soap was easy. I scooped a bit more than I needed and used 2g of Rawr. Now for the trickier part, I weighed my cheap kiddie bowl and brush (127g). 2g of soap was smooshed on the bottom of the bowl. I got warm water on the brush to start (approx 40C or a decent hot tub temp). I shook out most of the water and started liading the brush. The residual water got a bit over half the soap off the bowl and loaded into the brush. The weight of the initial water was 3g. I added more water in splashes of about 3g each and decided the lather was ready after 16g of water was added to the bowl. Before the shave started, the weight of the bowl, lather, and brush was 145g, so an increase of 18g, with 2g being the soap, and 16ml of water (approx. 1Tbs). I continued to weigh the set after each pass. An average of 2g per pass was used (5 total for 3 passes). My scale is only to the nearest gram, so I didn’t get a good reading on how much splash or EdP was used.

Today’s Theme:

This was one of the first lathers I picked for the games. I was having trouble with the Christmas/Winter theme and almost switched out. Noble Otter - Rawr is one of my favorite scents. It is frequently listed as a spring scent. I think it is the grassy dandelion note that brings it about. To me it smells of new growth in your yard after a good spring rain. I love that it is a celebration of fatherhood, and I can associate it with Father’s Day which is usually in late spring, but some years can fall on the summer solstice. If I had to juggle things around, I did have a few alternate spring scents, but I was happy to bring in my favorite.

Today’s sponsor spotlight:

Summer Break Soaps brings to mind two alternate choices I could have gone with today. To my nose, Prom King has a similar feel to Rawr. Plus Proms are a spring event. My other choice would be Field Day. My daughter’s school field day was in May. It is a great grassy spring scent. Recently it was announced that one of my favorite SBS soaps was being discontinued. R.I.P. Bellringer. I broke down and bought a spare tub. Not supposed to be spending more, but I need to have a good supply of that fruity scent (apple is the strongest note for me in Bellringer). Not intentionally a fall scent, but the scent of apples has a strong fall association to me. I’ll use it year round.

The other day was Wholly Kaw’s spotlight, and I didn’t get them in my write up. Their soap Eroe (Italian for hero) is a Father’s day tribute, and could also have been my choice today. I have a couple more WK soaps, but Eroe was one of the first artisan soaps I got, and I really like it.

Ok, how was the shave?

The shave itself took a little longer with all the measuring and prep. The lather was excellent (hard to get a bad lather out of Noble Otter soaps). For the Parker Razor, I’ve settled on 3 as my setting for this. Like my other injector razors, the head angle means holding the handle a bit less steep than a DE razor. It does a decent job of mowing the lawn, but I don’t think I’ll ever get BBS with it. Still a DFS and close enough. One strange thing for my beard, as I have aged, my beard has gone from a mix of dark blond, light blond, and red to mostly white and some blond. I don’t get 5 o’clock shadow anymore. My skin looks paler as the whiskers grow.

Today’s Fragrance:

Going through my set of samples and when I got to Maher Olfactive - Orris Forest, I found my spring scent. The description is of a nouveau fougère that is a flowery spring scent. It adds a bit of earthiness with the patchouli, oakmoss, and musk. The floral notes keep it from getting too dark. I am really enjoying these scents I picked up from MO and Chattilon Lux. While I would like to get the Rawr EdP someday (plus Barrbarr, Thè Noir, and Manoi de Tahiti), I like this combination. Strangely, they don’t have scent notes that are the same, but somehow Orris Forest is making the scent of Rawr stand out stronger for me. Usually an EdP can overwhelm the soap and splash, but to my nose, this one is lifting up the scents from the soap/splash. Today I think I got about my best mix yet. I’ll give it a solid A-, just edging out when I paired Treachery.

Haiku number 4:

The soap tributes Dads,

Add even more springiness,

Makes me shout out Rawr!

[**July 4th, 2023 - April Showers Bring LG Flowers**](https://imgur.com/a/DTirgy1)

* **Brush:** AP Shave Co - Ivory Purple 26mm G5A Premium SHD #PREMIUMPLASTIC
* **Razor:** Parker Adjustable Injector #DIAL
* **Blade:** Parker Injector
* **Lather:** Noble Otter - Rawr
* **Post Shave:** Noble Otter - Rawr Splash
* **Fragrance:** Maher Olfactive - Orris Forest
* **Tea:** Harney and Sons - Royal Palace
* **Music:** Mazzy Star - “Fade Into You”

#FOF

Happy Independence Day to my fellow denizens of the USA. I’d say Americans, but today’s challenge is all sciency and stuff, so saying Americans is just too imprecise. There are many countries in the American continents, so need to be a bit specific. I forgot to say happy Canada Day to our neighbors to the north. That was Sunday and the work holiday was yesterday. My team at work is half in Canada, so I am learning more about the different holidays. Thanksgiving in October? Well the harvests are earlier the further north you go, so makes some sense to have it earlier.

Special Challenge:

Today’s challenge came at a very opportune time for me. Last week I bought a new kitchen scale for some recipes I want to try. All the measurements are in grams, so easier to get the scale than a bad volume conversion. How to perform a more precise lathering for my shave? Well weighing the soap was easy. I scooped a bit more than I needed and used 2g of Rawr. Now for the trickier part, I weighed my cheap kiddie bowl and brush (127g). 2g of soap was smooshed on the bottom of the bowl. I got warm water on the brush to start (approx 40C or a decent hot tub temp). I shook out most of the water and started liading the brush. The residual water got a bit over half the soap off the bowl and loaded into the brush. The weight of the initial water was 3g. I added more water in splashes of about 3g each and decided the lather was ready after 16g of water was added to the bowl. Before the shave started, the weight of the bowl, lather, and brush was 145g, so an increase of 18g, with 2g being the soap, and 16ml of water (approx. 1Tbs). I continued to weigh the set after each pass. An average of 2g per pass was used (5 total for 3 passes). My scale is only to the nearest gram, so I didn’t get a good reading on how much splash or EdP was used.

Today’s Theme:

This was one of the first lathers I picked for the games. I was having trouble with the Christmas/Winter theme and almost switched out. Noble Otter - Rawr is one of my favorite scents. It is frequently listed as a spring scent. I think it is the grassy dandelion note that brings it about. To me it smells of new growth in your yard after a good spring rain. I love that it is a celebration of fatherhood, and I can associate it with Father’s Day which is usually in late spring, but some years can fall on the summer solstice. If I had to juggle things around, I did have a few alternate spring scents, but I was happy to bring in my favorite.

Today’s sponsor spotlight:

Summer Break Soaps brings to mind two alternate choices I could have gone with today. To my nose, Prom King has a similar feel to Rawr. Plus Proms are a spring event. My other choice would be Field Day. My daughter’s school field day was in May. It is a great grassy spring scent. Recently it was announced that one of my favorite SBS soaps was being discontinued. R.I.P. Bellringer. I broke down and bought a spare tub. Not supposed to be spending more, but I need to have a good supply of that fruity scent (apple is the strongest note for me in Bellringer). Not intentionally a fall scent, but the scent of apples has a strong fall association to me. I’ll use it year round.

The other day was Wholly Kaw’s spotlight, and I didn’t get them in my write up. Their soap Eroe (Italian for hero) is a Father’s day tribute, and could also have been my choice today. I have a couple more WK soaps, but Eroe was one of the first artisan soaps I got, and I really like it.

Ok, how was the shave?

The shave itself took a little longer with all the measuring and prep. The lather was excellent (hard to get a bad lather out of Noble Otter soaps). For the Parker Razor, I’ve settled on 3 as my setting for this. Like my other injector razors, the head angle means holding the handle a bit less steep than a DE razor. It does a decent job of mowing the lawn, but I don’t think I’ll ever get BBS with it. Still a DFS and close enough. One strange thing for my beard, as I have aged, my beard has gone from a mix of dark blond, light blond, and red to mostly white and some blond. I don’t get 5 o’clock shadow anymore. My skin looks paler as the whiskers grow.

Today’s Fragrance:

Going through my set of samples and when I got to Maher Olfactive - Orris Forest, I found my spring scent. The description is of a nouveau fougère that is a flowery spring scent. It adds a bit of earthiness with the patchouli, oakmoss, and musk. The floral notes keep it from getting too dark. I am really enjoying these scents I picked up from MO and Chattilon Lux. While I would like to get the Rawr EdP someday (plus Barrbarr, Thè Noir, and Manoi de Tahiti), I like this combination. Strangely, they don’t have scent notes that are the same, but somehow Orris Forest is making the scent of Rawr stand out stronger for me. Usually an EdP can overwhelm the soap and splash, but to my nose, this one is lifting up the scents from the soap/splash. Today I think I got about my best mix yet. I’ll give it a solid A-, just edging out when I paired Treachery.

Haiku number 4:

The soap tributes Dads,

Add even more springiness,

Makes me shout out Rawr!