June 26th, 2025: Spicy!

• Brush: Stirling Soap Co. 24mm Synthetic
• Blade: Personna Twin Pivot Plus (Atra) Cart (3)
• Lather: Viking Shaving Soap - Norway - Soap
• Post Shave: Old Spice - Original - Aftershave

Theme justification: This is a clove bomb.

Notes: Clove, Rosemary, Benzoin, Lavender, Cedar, Patchouli

In my brief research I came across this AMA. He seems like a nice guy but it's still not cool to copy (bite) other people's work for profit. I've been told he recently rebranded to Cornfed Viking which is neat because he mentions that in the AMA. That was his nickname and wanted it to be the brand from the start, but thought it'd be too silly of a name. I like to think he was inspired by Rad Dino Creations to let loose and call yourself something silly and whimsical.

June 26, 2025

• Brush: Thäter Faux Ivory 29mm 2-band Silvertip
• Razor: Tanifuji Spalding 0411 6/8" Full Hollow
• Lather: Shulton - Old Spice - Soap
• Post Shave: Shulton - Old Spice - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Thayers - Coconut - Toner
• Talc: Yardley Gold

2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

I can't think of a better choice for The Spice Is Right than Shulton Old Spice because the spice is right. This is the way.

Today's shave was great, and also efficient. For a straight shave, some might say it was rapid. Therefore, a song to accompany this shave is Rapid Shave by David Burns. I think u/VisceralWatch might agree.

Cella impresses me the more I use it. It doesn't need much soap, water, or time to make a very slick and cushioned lather. My first go with Alive, I need to use it more to formulate some thoughts.

June 26th, 2025: The Spice is Right

• Brush: Omega - Bambino Boar
• Razor: Chiseled Face - Legacy Ti
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Catie's Bubbles - Le Piment de la Vie - Soap
• Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company - Seaforth! Sea Spice Lime - Aftershave

Daily Theme Justification: "Le Piment de la Vie" or "The Spice of Life" is a very complexly fragranced shaving soap. It is sweet and spicy and earthy and just all around amazing. -Le Piment de la Vie

Daily Theme: Thank you today for our friend u/snoo-ting providing the smush. CB lather is great as usual and as a new scent to me, I thought this was a great scent. To me there was a touch of familiarity to it that I can't quite identify. The sweetness mixed in with the spiciness is blended very well and it was very enjoyable to use. I would consider getting a full tub, but I need to finish this smush before I decide that because it is huge. As a relevant post shave, I went for Sea Spice Lime to take the spice in a different direction with with more aquatic and green qualities. Two different takes on spice that have cemented their place in wetshaving!

Daily Challenge: I've been on a Grateful Dead kick lately and I actually listened to this song a few times over this morning. It is Brown-Eyed Women live at Barton Hall at Cornell University. It has has the perfect mix of complex, yet relaxing and energetic, reminiscent of Le Piment de la Vie, balanced perfectly. It really is just a great performance all around.

June 26th, 2025: The Spice is Right

• Brush: Grizzly Bay - Chisel & Hound v24 Fanchurian Badger
• Razor: Gillette - Rocket HD
• Blade: Personna Lab Blue (2)
• Lather: Westman - Bastardo - Soap
• Post Shave: Zingari Man - The Master - Recovery Splash
• Fragrance: Armani - ACQUA DI GIÒ PROFONDO - EdP

$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

The Spice is Right: Day 26 of Lather Games

• Brush: Zenith r/Wetshaving exclusive MOAR BADGER (Silvertip)
• Razor: Böker S.S. Paris Wins (6/8", carbon steel, full hollow, square point)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Stirling Spice
• Post Shave: Spearhead Shaving Company – Seaforth! Spiced
• Fragrance: Atelier Rebul – Istanbul

Theme justification and post/frag relevance: Stirling Spice: according to resident spice connoisseur u/Cowzilla3, Stirling spice has a spiciness rating of 3, Seaforth! Spiced has a rating of 4 and Istanbul is a warm spicy fragrance with top notes of cinnamon, cloves, and saffron according to fragrantica.

Song Day Challenge: I'm on a nostalgia trip and it has brought me back to my undergrad days. I was an exchange student in 2006 meeting new people, going to concerts, and having tons of fun. Today, I'm choosing the song with the most out-of-tune guitar in music history Solid Gold by the Eagles of Death Metal from their album Death by Sexy. I dare you to listen to the song and not be in a good mood after.

26.06.2025

• Brush: AP Shave Co. black & clear handle w/ 30 mm Tuxedo Fan knot
• Razor: Leaf Thorn
• Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
• Lather: Barrister and Mann - Le Grand Chypre
• Post-Shave: alum block; Lavera Men sensitive ASB

-> 1 pass on both head and face. Today the face shave was way more comfortable for some reason, even after waiting for one day my dome didn't really agree with the blade today: one nick behind my left ear, several weepers. That's what the alum block was invented for...

LGC was my first Omnibus base soap, but like a few others I feel like it was more of a lateral step towards more greasy/skin food bases instead of a step up. Excelsior was really, really solid FWIW. Not trying to knock on Will's new base in any capacity, just an honest personal observation. The scent though? Great for summer, like a nice cola/coke with citrus. It's a mix of different ingredients which I didn't expect to smell like that, but it's a welcome surprise.

Today my new cordless vacuum cleaner arrived. It's great and a definitive improvement over my older model. I'll write some more about in in FTF tomorrow. Now I only wait for the car cleaning kit I ordered for my old one to arrive, as I intend to keep that as my little Opel cleaning assistant.

Since the LG participants are sharing songs today, I was reminded of the side-side challenge I used to run in one Austere August a few years back. So why not join in on the fun?! Here's my share for the day: Kerosene by Big Black - don't be intimidated by the noisy guitar, the gritty & snappy bass tone makes up well for it. The lyrics are a bleak case of cabin fever known by a lot of people who live in very rural areas... (I might make the song sharing a more regular occurrence as I enjoy that more than just summarising my shave)