WetShaving

Small Business Saturday... but in June

• Brush: Wild West Brushworks - Copper Shadow with Timberwolf knot
• Razor: Bismarck ~ 4/8", hollow ground, square point
• Lather: Maggard Razors - Mango Sage Tea
• Post Shave: Noble Otter - Thé Noir et Vanille
• Fragrance: Chatillon Lux - Admiral

Maggard Day! Brad Maggard created a pillar of our little community here and his boxes clutter my apartment. It's my go-to place for the first look not only when buying software, but also for my shaving-related DIY projects. Brad also had a big influence on the beginning of my descent down the rabbit hole; I started exactly the wrong way. Instead of doing the recommended thing where you get one good straight razor honed my a reputable honemeister and use it for 100 or so shaves to learn the technique without too many variables, I woke up one day in 2022 to the Lather Games announcement post with the then new Hardware Scavenger Hunt. If I wanted to compete for all points, I suddenly needed a straight razor below 4/8, one above 7/8, one in between, and a shavette. My first few open blades shaves were all for LG, with cheap vintage eBay straights that I honed on cheap lapping films (glorified sand paper) glued to plexiglass panes. It was not optimal, but it was enough to get me hooked. After LG, I decided that I needed to do straight razors right. I bought this Bismarck razor honed by Brad himself to have a reference edge (Note to my djudge, this means it qualifies for the Maggard hardware sponsor point), bought water stones, started hunting down razors on Brad's List, and interviewed Brad about straight razors together with u/VisceralWatch, u/EldrormR, u/Semaj3000, and u/J33pGuy13 on the Audio Book Club Shaves podcast (one of my favourite episodes, btw. Now I'm 432 straight razor shaves into the hobby (and 536 open blade shaves when you count also my shavette shaves).

Theme and post/frag relevance: Mango Sage Tea is a Maggard house brand soap, and the Soap/Frag/Post triplet recreate the name in their notes with mango in the soap, sage in the frag, and thé (tea) in the splash.

Challenge: I've been pretty good about big purchases from Maggard with the biggest one at a moderate USD 190 price tag for a bunch of scales, pinning kits and other hardware for a little razor restoration project a while back, but I've racked up over 2500 in small orders over the years. It's good that I don't do these analyses of my financial irresponsibility too often 😅

June 8, 2024

• Brush: AP Shave Co. - 24mm Synbad Fan
• Razor: Chiseled Face - Legacy Raw Titanium (#69)
• Blade: Feather New Hi-Stainless (5)
• Lather: Barrister & Mann - Roam Two - Soap
• Post Shave: Barrister & Mann - Lyssa - Aftershave

Three new samples/smushes arrived yesterday, so I've been enjoying some thrill.

First let's talk about the soap base. This soap is in Veggiebus, the vegan version of Omnibus. The lather is indistinguishable from the animal ingredient version, which is pretty cool! Maybe if I did a side by side comparison I'd notice some difference, but this looks the same, takes a metric ton of water, and it's super creamy and slick.

Next, the scent. This is not OG Roam. Initially off the sample I got a hit of something that leans sharp and synthetic, and it made me think of Electric Mayhem. Over time, though, my nose has learned how to smell more depth in the scent.

There are some scents that I just have to learn to love, and I do think I'll learn to love this one over the next few shaves with it.

June 8, 2024

• Brush: AP Shave Co. - 24mm Synbad Fan
• Razor: Chiseled Face - Legacy Raw Titanium (#69)
• Blade: Feather New Hi-Stainless (4)
• Lather: Mike's Natural Soaps - Orange, Cedarwood, and Black Pepper - Soap

This was actually a luxury shave from last night. Posting in the wrong thread because it's all going to be deleted soon anyway! No rules!

I was hoping Orange, Cedarwood, and Black Pepper would be less orangy and more Cedarwood and Black Pepper, but the good news is I really liked the soap base. I'm going to grab a tub of Vetiver, because I know I like Vetiver.

I'm ashamed to say I don't remember the username of who sent this to me because the messages got lost in the database mess. I know their real name, but if you reveal yourself I'll say thank you!

Saturday, June 8, 2024: Down by the river

• Preshave: Proraso Green Preshave
• Brush: Semogue C3 Galahad Horse 🐎
• Razor: River Razors Kamisori
• Lather: Barrister & Mann Le Grand Chypre
• Postshave: Naissance 702 Witch Hazel
• Postshave: Mennen Le Grand Large
• Postshave: Nivea After Shave Balm

My spending spree continued (GRUYE now!): I acquired a used River Razors kamisori straight razor, with a symmetric grind. It's a western take on kamizoris, and the ergonomics are really good (the handle is fatter than the part before, so its easy to hold). The razor is rather light, but I like it very much, and its previous owner did a good job putting a JNAT edge on it.

I'm still a bit awkward with using it (and especially stropping!), but I'm happy I didn't pass on this one. Life is good, and so is LGC.

Have a good day!

~Shared via emacs & sotd.el~

June 8, 2024

• Brush: Chisel & Hound Gulf Short 26mm V22 Fanchurian

• Razor: Thiers Issard Le Transatlantic 7/8" Full Hollow Round Point

• Lather: Wholly Kaw - Aranceto - Soap

• Post Shave: Wholly Kaw - Hiatus - Aftershave

• Post Shave: Thayers - Lemon - Toner

• Fragrance: Creed - Aventus

• Talc: Yardley Classic
   

I normally take the this day off during Lather Games.

For this shave I chose to use Aranceto which is a wonderful warm weather scent with noticeable bergamot and mandarin orange notes. The Hiatus aftershave was chosen to transition the fragrance to more of a pineapple top note presence in preparation for using Creed Aventus which is known for its pineapple note. In other words, I felt like using Aventus today.

Today's shave was with a new razor that came in at the end of last month. The razor is gorgeous, but the factory edge was dull. I thought that the way in which it was dull was interesting. Attached is a photo of it sitting next to my new River Razors 6/8, and this is the video that discusses these razors and discusses using abrasives in razor honing.