June 27th, 2025: Frigid Friday
$discord
Theme: Black Ice is without question a mentholated scent. I enjoy the menthol level in the soap, but using the splash afterward is a bit intense for me. Nice enough on a hot day, but I suspect I'll have this set for many years to come.
Either way, I smell like black licorice and I'm here for it.
Challenge: I used a bottle of Arrowhead water to shave with today. It's not particularly bougie, and it didn't improve the shave at all.
$SELFCARE - My 4-year-old nephew wanted to play with me today while I was trying to get some work done. Instead of telling him that I was busy, I closed my computer and played with toy airplanes outside for ~30 minutes. A welcome break from the stress of my day, and a lovely memory for me to take home.
$FOF - The sharp anise in Black Ice played beautifully with the Mousse de Saxe, vanilla, and lavender in Lavanille. The bit of sweetness balanced the anise perfectly. Quite happy with this one.
$ROTY
June 26th, 2025: The Spice is Right
$discord
Theme: Scent notes for Westman Bastardo: Bay Leaf, Orange, Rum accord, Spices, Woods, Vanilla, Patchouli. The Master continues the spiced theme with hints of tarragon, coriander, holy basil, and sweet bay. It's a great spicy barbershop vibe.
Challenge: For today's song I picked Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver (link). My wife and I danced to this song at our wedding for our first dance. We spent a couple of months taking dance lessons and practicing a choreographed routine. Not something I thought I'd ever do, that's for sure.
$SELFCARE - I was supposed to commute into work today, but decided to work from home instead. I have a flight this evening and wanted to help my wife get our apartment tidied up before we leave for the trip. Sometimes, self-care is creating the space you need to meet your responsibilities.
$FOF - Bastardo into The Master felt like a natural and spicy scent progression. ACQUA DI GIÒ PROFONDO from Armani is described as:
A fougère aromatic aquatic scent with notes of fresh green mandarin and marine notes, spicy nuances of aromatic essences, a woody mineral dry-down that gets softened with patchouli & musk.
Although it does have "spicy nuances of aromatic essences (whatever that means), it doesn't fit with the soap and splash. Honestly, the move from spicy into aquatic felt pretty jarring. Not a combo I'd use again.
$ROTY
June 25th, 2025: Christmas in June
$discord
Theme: This was a smush from u/josiguuh, who is very much participating in the games. Thank you for sending me this soap and the 3d-printed razor. I appreciate having you around.
Challenge: If I could design a soap, I think I'd go for a straight strong anise. Think Stirling Black Ice without the menthol. I know that Stirling did an Anise soap, but I've never seen it for sale.
I just want my face to smell like black licorice, hopefully without frag burn or a ton of menthol.
$SELFCARE - Today I followed through and told my boss that I'm giving them two week's notice. I'm feeling a whole range of emotions about this, especially because I don't have anything else lined up yet, but I know that it's ultimately the right decision for my well-being.
$FOF - The soap doesn't really fit, but Proraso Red into Stirling Gentleman was an outstanding combination. The warm sandalwood from the splash played wonderfully with the tobacco, amber, and vanilla in Stirling Gentleman. An excellent combination to wind down with at the end of a long day.
$ROTY
June 24th, 2025: All About That Base
$discord
Theme: All my software is unscented. Thanks for the smush u/hugbckt. The soap was pretty mid (imo) but gave me a great shave in the end.
Challenge: I haven't been around long enough to see many bases come and go. I have used BaM Soft Heart, and it's certainly a great base. I'm not sure whether it's much better than their current offerings though.
I do wish Talent Soap Factory was still doing their previous base that included sweet almond oil. It's a better base than the mango butter one.
It's difficult to pick favorite bases -- we're truly spoiled for choice. My current favorite is a toss-up between Mike's, Stirling, and Catie's Bubbles premium. All excellent performers at an excellent price.
$SELFCARE - I'm pretty sure I made the decision to quit my job today. Feels like self-care to me.
$FOF - All unscented is boring, so I added Molecule 01 at the end. This is a fun fragrance, as it really does fade in and out and change quite a bit while on skin.
I genuinely have a hard time smelling the fragrance when I wear this, but my wife picks up on a strong cedar/pine/woodiness when I wear it. This was the end of my little decant, unsure whether I like this enough to buy more.
$ROTY
June 23rd, 2025: Information Overload
$discord
Theme: Scent notes for Phantom of Kyiv (12):
Initial note: hazelnut, lemon, orange, lime
Heart note: cedar, clove, rose, lily of the valley
Final note: oak, pine, patchouli, eucalyptus
Challenge: Busted out the MMOC for the single pass challenge. Unsurprisingly I had great (DFS+) results. Once you get the hang of it, this is one efficient and comfortable razor.
$SELFCARE - I took a sick day from work today mostly just because I've been feeling overwhelmed and that this position/company isn't right for me. It was nice to take a slower day. I also spent some time looking at job postings to start seeing what's out there right now.
$FOF - Phantom of Kyiv is a mostly bright scent. I pick up a soft mix of orange, lemon, rose, and pine. It feels fresh and a little floral, with a nice lightness to it.
Next, I layered on Tres Matres, which adds more complexity while still keeping things bright. It has notes like pink grapefruit, green mango, yuzu, bergamot, aldehydes, elemi, freesia, jasmine, cedarwood, and sandalwood. The citrus and light woods create a nice balance between the fresh vibe of Phantom of Kyiv and the darker scent that comes after.
Finally, I finished with Varen. It’s deep, green, and earthy, with lots of oakwood and a damp forest feel. It really grounds everything and shifts the whole blend in a darker, more intense direction.
$ROTY
Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Continuing my smush/sample tour with Mike's Hungarian Lavender. Another well-balanced and subtle scent that gave an excellent lather. I like Mike's.
This is my last shave with the S1. It's a wonderful brush, easily the softest badger knot I've used with the perfect amount of density. I'll be sad to see it go, but I'm glad I got the opportunity to use it for a bit.
Have a great day all.
I stumbled across this vintage Colgate shave stick ad and thought some here might also get a kick out of it.
“The Conversion of Mr. Prejudice”
Wednesday, February 19, 2025: BVWSC - Dragonsbeard
For this month's meeting of the Buena Vista Wetshaving Club we're shaving with Dragonsbeard from ETHOS.
Artisan notes:
It combines Authentic Agarwood Oil and Oud Resin with essential oils of East Indian Sandalwood, Amber, Tonka Bean Butter, Madagascar Vanilla Bean Infusion Oil, and White Rose Absolute.
I wouldn't call this a gourmand, as the oud was front and center to my nose. I did pick up on a little spiciness and vanilla, and maybe a hint of rose. It's a very complex scent that I thoroughly enjoyed. The base also gave an excellent lather without too much effort.
Thanks for the smush @[email protected]!
Ah, they did say Spotify.
The article and controversy are about Shopify, that’s where Kanye was selling his swastika shirt.
The CEO of Shopify is a man named Tobias Lütke
Microspikes for hiking in icy conditions
I had some exciting stuff arrive this morning and over the weekend!
First up, a nice Stirling haul:
This is the 31mm Zenith boar brush, the same that was used for the subreddit's prior "Moar Boar" group buy. The handle feels great in hand, and the knot seems just as nice as my other Zenith boar. My only complaint is that the Zenith and Stirling logos are pretty far off-level with the base of the handle. Not the end of the world, but it's unfortunate.
Christmas Eve in a bath soap is a great scent. I'm looking forward to trying it and Frankincense & Myrrh in shave soap format.
Deep Blue Sea aftershave is a re-stock. I love it with a bit of menthol.
The bonus was a sample of Haverford bath soap. I've previously used the shave soap/splash/frag, so this sample is most welcome. It's such a winning scent, especially for this time of year.
Next, some new hardware:
From left to right:
The Clog-Pruf seems in quite good condition for its age and price (~$15 shipped). I'm still waiting on some GEM blades and want to clean it up just a bit before trying it out.
The CF TI Legacy razor is a real indulgence, but it's a belated birthday gift from my wife, and we got a good deal from a kind soul on Discord. I've shaved with this razor a few times since I got it this weekend and it's quickly vaulted to the top of my list. If I had to pick a desert island razor right now, this is very likely the one I would pick. Likely, I'm still deep in the honeymoon phase, but this is truly an outstanding razor.
I got a good deal on the Game Changer on the zaar before I ordered the CF Legacy. It's a great shaver, I like how low profile the head is (very easy to shave under the nose), and the stainless steel construction is most definitely a step up from my Rockwell 6C. This will probably take the 6C's place in my collection.
And finally, a Barrister and Mann score:
I've wanted to try this scent since I first read about it, so when I saw the set for a decent deal on the zaar I snatched it up.
Clean, mild, and strangely complex. I'm very much looking forward to getting to know this fragrance.
October 26, 2024
I definitely overloaded my brush and had a bit of a hard time getting enough water into the lather. After a bit of work, though, it developed nicely.
I'm so glad it's the weekend, but somehow my day is full of responsibilities already. At least I smell great!
Happy Saturday y'all. ✌️
June 28th, 2025: It's Alive!
$discord
Theme: I combined SBS Trouble Maker and Valedictorian for today's franken-shave. Partially because I needed to slot SBS in somewhere. I had planned to use it for The Gift day, but the person who sent me the smushes didn't end up participating in the games.
Both share smoke and rosewood as notes, but their contrasting personalities create complexity. Trouble Maker's dark, earthy lavender pushes against Valedictorian's refined tobacco.
I'm giving this combination the name "Scholar's Shadow." Quite nice, but not an improvement of either scent I'd say.
Challenge: 75% -- better than I thought I would! I also think I got a pretty easy start. If I'd gotten the HoM soap early, I'd have been cooked.
$SELFCARE - Got out for a run this morning even though I really didn't want to. Those are often the most important runs.
$FOF - Stirling One's bright bergamot, tobacco, and warm spices cut through the dark soap base. The cologne's cedar and ambergris blend with Oro Valley's leather and the soap's earthy tobacco nicely. A bright yet mysterious combination.
$ROTY