SOTD by u/ginopono

2024-06-05 - Brick, mortar, pestle, artillery...

• Lather: Proraso - Menthol and Eucalyptus
• Razor: Baili BR179 / Rockwell R1 / CVS Goodline Grooming Safety Razor
• Brush: Moar Boar #OLDWORLD #SUBBROOSH
• Post Shave: Stetson - Original, After Shave
• Fragrance: Stetson - Original, Cologne

Drugstore Day:
It's a good thing that Proraso occasionally shows up in those low-end department stores—e.g. TJMaxx, Ross, Marshalls—because I won't deign to use actual canned goop or even the sorry excuse for shave soap that is Badger Balm. I imagine it'll vary by locale, but I don't think I've ever been in one of those stores that isn't just a step away from a bin store. Speaking of, have you been in a bin store? The ones that have literal piles of Amazon returns that people just tear through, haphazardly throwing unwanted items over their shoulder into a sea of unattended children? Well, when I describe it like that, it just sounds like Ross.

But I digress.

Unifying Theme: Drugstore Day

The razor, though I got it as a winter-holiday giveaway from Rockwell, is the same as "Goodline" from CVS, where Stetson may also be found.

#FOF
I'm pretty over Proraso Green. I haven't even used it all that much. I'm sure it's a perfectly fine smell, but I've come to the conclusion that it's not a scent that I would ever want or choose to smell like; rather, it's something I might expect from an industrial solvent.

Stetson is a fougère, whatever that means to you. I won't pretend it evokes imagery of a roping livestock on a Texas savanna or whatever, but I will say that, despite its classification and purported associated floral top notes, I mostly get amber with a slight woodiness out of it.

Reverse Lather Routine:
I have a track-record of maligning face-lathering. I'm not going to beat that dead horse, though, partly because there's not much left of the horse, but also—in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson—because "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".

You see, I now have considered information that I previously hadn't: At the time that I developed my negative opinion of face-lathering, that opinion was influenced by the brush that I was using at the time, i.e. for the first Raw Hoggin'. Later, when using the Moar Boar, I found that it did a much better job than my first boar, but only when face-lathering. The Moar Boar sucks at bowl-lathering; because it's so huge and lather-hungry, it can't afford to sacrifice any to a bowl's surface. So I went with the Moar Boar today, and it didn't suck.

I am learning, though, that I do not much care for natural brushes in general. Synthetic brushes are analogous to automatic transmissions in cars. Time was when manual transmissions were standard and were referred to as such. Not only that, but the performance of automatics couldn't hold a candle to "standard." Except that stopped being true longer ago than almost anyone reading this has been alive. Today, automatics are better in every way. The same is true of synthetic versus natural brushes.

#photocontest Trash
Man, all the Trash photos have been really... well, trashy. I guess that's the point. Today's photo is kind of a throwaway, anyway (pun intended), so I figured I might as well.

I acknowledge I did a similar thing the other day, and I'm not trying to make a whole thing out of it, but that Badger soap is literally garbage that I've inexplicably been keeping in a drawer for far too long.

[**2024-06-05 - Brick, mortar, pestle, artillery...**](https://i.imgur.com/vuNoRkw.jpg)

* **Lather:** Proraso - Menthol and Eucalyptus
* **Razor:** Baili BR179 / Rockwell R1 / CVS Goodline Grooming Safety Razor
* **Brush:** Moar Boar #OLDWORLD #SUBBROOSH
* **Post Shave:** Stetson - Original, After Shave
* **Fragrance:** Stetson - Original, Cologne

**Drugstore Day:**
It's a good thing that Proraso occasionally shows up in those
low-end department stores—e.g. TJMaxx, Ross, Marshalls—because I won't deign
to use actual canned goop or even the sorry excuse for shave soap that is
Badger Balm. I imagine it'll vary by locale, but I don't think I've ever
been in one of those stores that isn't just a step away from a bin store.
Speaking of, have you been in a bin store? The ones that have
literal piles of Amazon returns that people just tear through, haphazardly
throwing unwanted items over their shoulder into a sea of unattended children?
Well, when I describe it like that, it just sounds like Ross.

But I digress.

**Unifying Theme:** Drugstore Day

The razor, though I got it as a winter-holiday giveaway from Rockwell, is the
same as "Goodline" from CVS, where Stetson may also be
[found](https://i.imgur.com/eUbPjxr.png).

#FOF
I'm pretty over Proraso Green. I haven't even used it all that much.
I'm sure it's a perfectly fine smell, but I've come to the conclusion that it's
not a scent that I would ever want or choose to smell like; rather,
it's something I might expect from an industrial solvent.

Stetson is a fougère, whatever that means to you. I won't pretend it evokes
imagery of a roping livestock on a Texas savanna or whatever, but I will
say that, despite its classification and purported associated floral top notes,
I mostly get amber with a slight woodiness out of it.

**Reverse Lather Routine:**
I have a track-record of maligning face-lathering.
I'm not going to beat that dead horse, though,
partly because there's not much left of the horse,
but also—in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson—because
"a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds".

You see, I now have considered information that I previously hadn't:
At the time that I developed my negative opinion of face-lathering,
that opinion was influenced by the brush that I was using at the time, i.e. for
the first Raw Hoggin'.
Later, when using the Moar Boar, I found that it did a
much better job than my first boar, but only when face-lathering.
The Moar Boar sucks at bowl-lathering; because it's so huge and lather-hungry,
it can't afford to sacrifice any to a bowl's surface.
So I went with the
Moar Boar today, and it [didn't suck](https://i.imgur.com/vqGSFmH.jpg).

I am learning, though, that I do not much care for natural brushes in general.
Synthetic brushes are analogous to automatic transmissions in cars.
Time was when manual transmissions were standard and were referred to as such.
Not only that,
but the performance of automatics couldn't hold a candle to "standard."
Except that stopped being true longer ago than almost anyone reading this has
been alive. Today, automatics are better in every way.
The same is true of synthetic versus natural brushes.

#photocontest Trash
Man, all the *Trash* photos have been really... well, trashy.
I guess that's the point.
Today's photo is kind of a throwaway, anyway (pun intended), so I figured I
might as well.

I acknowledge I did a similar thing the other day,
and I'm not trying to make a whole thing out of it, but
that Badger soap is [literally garbage](https://i.imgur.com/V4AFPvo.mp4)
that I've inexplicably been keeping in a drawer for far too long.