SOTD by u/ginopono

2023-07-06 Honoring the Olfactory Oeuvre + Horology

• Brush: West Coast Shaving - Two Tone Synthetic 26mm #PREMIUMPLASTIC
• Razor: Clix E-Z-Flo #UNICORN
• Lather: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
• Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
• Fragrance: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
• Blade: Personna Super (2)

Challenge Accepted:
Not only have I outdone myself this time, I think it's very clear I've even outdone u/Tonality!
Behold! Such expert, delicate, and unsuspicious stacking to put u/Tonality to shame! There is no trickery afoot, as the pocket watch clearly demonstrates the direction of gravity! A round bottle of aftershave on its side, mid-stack! The brush, bristles-down and without compromising the structural integrity of the bristles! See it close-up if you do not believe me! Can u/Tonality do that? I think not! Crown your new king of stacking!

(I wasn't too pleased with the photo quality, so I updated the SOTD pic, albeit with a much lamer stacking method. There is no masterful weaving of powerful invisible forces, no expert control of electric currents within the very air. Just the boring vertical-only gravitational force. The much more impressive version is still here, too, though.)

Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance: As required by the daily theme.
Also: black razor, black brush, and black watch to match Black Watch.

Brush:
Sure, it's not completely black, but that's beside the point, contrarian person I just made up! Its bristles are all black, which is remarkable enough, and I made up the rules for whether the brush counts for my points-less theming, and I say it counts! Plus, being that this brush is going for $34.00 after a 20% discount, it also gets the "pricey synthetic" badge.

#FOF

Lather/Post Shave/Fragrance:
As I attempt to document my experiences for #FOF day by day, I am slowly coming to realize that, as a collection, my ramblings may be tied together under a theme of The Haphazard Explorations of an Olfactory Rube. I'm okay with that, because I think there's value in such a perspective. There's no harm in appreciating a scent for what it is,

The human brain is a curious thing; it is very suggestible, and it will often confirm what it expects to be true, regardless of the reality. In my experience, this tends to be true when it comes to my perception of scents. That is, what one (read: I) perceives a scent to be is heavily influenced by what they are (I am) expecting it to be.
For example, Shawn Maher, today's spotlight and the creator of this scent, compares it by metaphor to a pair leather shoes, evoking the leather note of its base. As a result, my mind said, "Alright, we're smelling leather now! Smell that leather!" And it did.

There's of course more to this scent, and that becomes clear to me only through focus. I can be convinced that there is incense, oakmoss, and sandalwood tied in with the leather, although my nose reads it as "flavoring" the leather, if that makes sense.
There is definitely a fruitiness to it, which seems to be the plum; however, I do not believe I detect the jasmine that is said to accompany it. A shame, because I've evidently mentioned my fondness for jasmine a few times already these Games, though I do concede that too much jasmine might threaten Grandma territory.

Of course, this is all just me trying to decipher my own perception of the scent, a clumsy attempt to analyze it. All the while, I can't help but wonder if that's really necessary.

When I take the scent in as whole, and let the description of leather shoes and 1950s department stores form a context around the scent, an image forms in my mind right out of Mrs. Maisel (I stopped after the first or second season, after she ditched Zachary Levi's character for like, no reason). I imagine a particular kind of vintage classiness that "never feels dated but never goes out of style." And that's how I feel when I wear it.

Razor:
While this razor predates the image I described above, it's close enough for me, plus I think it fits well aesthetically (and I have an odd yet mild fascination with Bakelite, possibly just because the word inexplicably has three syllables). I haven't been able to find much about the razor aside from that these were made by one Conrad Razor Blade Company in the 1940s. What I can say about it is that it's a surprisingly good little shaver. It's the kind of thing that makes me think, "man, they really had razors nailed ~~60~~ ~~70~~ 80 years ago!"

#photocontest

Photo: Technology

Speaking of going out of style, it's a real bummer what happened to pocket watches, isn't it? I get it, though; technological advancements in horology allowed smaller wrist-watches to take over, and waistcoats fell out of style, too. But that doesn't stop me from wearing both; the relentless, merciless, all-eviscerating sun does!

[**2023-07-06 Honoring the Olfactory Oeuvre + Horology**](https://i.imgur.com/omnp7Vr.jpg)

* **Brush:** West Coast Shaving - Two Tone Synthetic 26mm #PREMIUMPLASTIC
* **Razor:** Clix E-Z-Flo #UNICORN
* **Lather:** Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
* **Post Shave:** Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
* **Fragrance:** Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Black Watch
* **Blade:** Personna Super (2)

**Challenge Accepted:**
Not only have I outdone myself this time, I think it's very clear I've even
outdone u/Tonality!
[Behold!](https://i.imgur.com/epgwMFL.jpg)
Such expert, delicate, and **unsuspicious** stacking to put u/Tonality to shame!
There is no trickery afoot, as the pocket watch clearly demonstrates the
direction of gravity!
A round bottle of aftershave on its side, mid-stack!
The brush, bristles-down and without compromising the structural integrity of the
bristles!
[See it close-up if you do not believe me!](https://i.imgur.com/yiCLwVn.jpg)
Can u/Tonality do *that*? I think not! Crown your new king of stacking!

(I wasn't too pleased with the photo quality, so I updated the SOTD pic,
albeit with a much lamer stacking method. There is no
masterful weaving of powerful invisible forces, no expert control of electric
currents within the very air. Just the boring vertical-only gravitational force.
The much more impressive version is still here, too, though.)

**Relevant Post Shave and Fragrance:**
As required by the daily theme.
Also: black razor, black brush, and black watch to match Black Watch.

**Brush:**
Sure, it's not completely black, but that's beside the point,
contrarian person I just made up!
Its bristles are all black, which is remarkable enough, and I made up the rules
for whether the brush counts for my points-less theming, and I say it counts!
Plus, being that this brush is
[going for $34.00 *after* a 20% discount](https://www.westcoastshaving.com/products/wcs-two-tone-tall-synthetic-shaving-brush-grey-and-black),
it also gets the "pricey synthetic" badge.

#FOF

**Lather/Post Shave/Fragrance:**
As I attempt to document my experiences for #FOF day by day,
I am slowly coming to realize that, as a collection, my ramblings may be tied
together under a theme of *The Haphazard Explorations of an Olfactory Rube*.
I'm okay with that, because I think there's value in such a perspective. There's
no harm in appreciating a scent for what it is,

The human brain is a curious thing; it is very suggestible, and it will often
confirm what it *expects* to be true, regardless of the reality.
In my experience, this tends to be true when it comes to my perception of
scents. That is, what one (read: I) perceives a scent to be is heavily
influenced by what they are (I am) expecting it to be.
For example, Shawn Maher, today's spotlight and the creator of this scent,
compares it by metaphor to a pair leather shoes, evoking the leather note of
its base. As a result, my mind said, "Alright, we're smelling leather now!
Smell that leather!" And it did.

There's of course more to this scent, and that becomes clear to me only through
focus. I can be convinced that there is incense, oakmoss, and sandalwood tied
in with the leather, although my nose reads it as "flavoring" the leather, if
that makes sense.
There is definitely a fruitiness to it, which seems to be the plum;
however, I do not believe I detect the jasmine that is said to accompany it.
A shame, because I've evidently mentioned my fondness for jasmine a few times
already these Games, though I do concede that too much jasmine might threaten
[Grandma territory](https://old.reddit.com/r/Wetshaving/comments/14q6lda/tuesday_lather_games_sotd_thread_jul_04_2023/jqn62zl/).

Of course, this is all just me trying to decipher my own perception of the
scent, a clumsy attempt to analyze it. All the while, I can't help but wonder
if that's really necessary.

When I take the scent in as whole, and let the description of leather shoes
and 1950s department stores form a context around the scent, an image forms in
my mind right out of Mrs. Maisel (I stopped after the first or second season,
after she ditched Zachary Levi's character for like, no reason).
I imagine a particular kind of vintage classiness that "never feels dated
but never goes out of style." And that's how I feel when I wear it.

**Razor:**
While this razor predates the image I described above,
it's close enough for me, plus I think it fits well aesthetically
(and I have an odd yet mild fascination with Bakelite,
possibly just because the word inexplicably has *three syllables*).
I haven't been able to find much about the razor aside from that these
were made by one Conrad Razor Blade Company in the 1940s. What I can
say about it is that it's a surprisingly good little shaver. It's the kind of
thing that makes me think, "man, they really had razors nailed ~~60~~ ~~70~~
80 years ago!"

#photocontest

**Photo:** Technology

Speaking of going out of style, it's a real bummer what happened to pocket
watches, isn't it? I get it, though; **technological** advancements in horology
allowed smaller wrist-watches to take over, and waistcoats fell out of
style, too.
But that doesn't stop me from wearing both;
the relentless, merciless, all-eviscerating sun does!