June 27, 2025

• Brush: Chisel & Hound Lost Nativ 26mm Fanchurian V13
• Razor: Gillette Super Adjustable 109 (Black Beauty) Gold O-4 (setting: 6)
• Blade: Gillette Nacet (3)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Margaritas in the Arctic - Soap
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Margaritas in the Arctic - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Thayers - Coconut - Toner

2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.

Margaritas in the Arctic uses menthol as its cooling agent. Very refreshing for a hot summer's day.

I chose to lather with a bottle of Fiji Water. My choices were Fiji Water or Saratoga Springs Still water. The blue of the Saratoga bottle doesn't fit with the color scheme and Fiji sounds much more exotic, so Fiji Water must be better. Right?

Anyway, I used Fiji Water for soaking the brush, dipping the brush (to hydrate the lather), wetting the face, and rinsing the face before, during, and after the shave. The lather experience using the Fiji water was much ... the same as with tap water. I could not tell any difference in between Fiji Water and tap water for shaving. I don't drink my tap water, though.

June 27th, 2025: Frigid Friday

• Brush: AP Shave Co. - Silksmoke Synthetic
• Razor: RazoRock - Game Changer .76-P
• Blade: Van Der Hagen Stainless (1)
• Lather: Stirling - Black Ice - Soap
• Post Shave: Stirling - Black Ice - Aftershave
• Fragrance: Barrister and Mann - Lavanille - EdT

$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 27th, 2025: Menthol --

• Brush: Maggard Razors - G5 24mm Synthetic
• Razor: Chiseled Face Legacy Raw Titanium - (#69)
• Blade: Personna P74 (91)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Margaritas in the Arctic - Soap
• Post Shave: Chatillon Lux - Weinstrasse - Aftershave
• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Jitterbug - EdP

Theme justification: Having "in the arctic" in the scent name means it contains menthol!

Relevant post-shave: I have a handful of Chatillon Lux aftershaves, and I think they all contain menthol. Weinstrasse seems to have the most menthol of them, so that's what I used. I'm not sure if it actually has an increased amount of menthol compared to the others, or if I get frag burn which is accentuated by the menthol, making everything feel that much worse :-)

I've figured out that Chatillon Lux aftershaves (and toner) are superb if you just use a small amount. I also make sure my skin is nice and wet to water it down a bit.

Jitterbug paired really well with Weinstrasse! I'll have to explore this combo again in the future. They're both semi-sweet, but not cloying. Some boozy type of fruit/floral in both of them too, maybe. Good stuff.

June 27th, 2025: Frigid Friday

• Prep: Proraso - Eucalyptus Oil & Menthol Pre Shave Cream
• Brush: Rad Dinosaur Creations - Cavern Dream w/ AP Pure Bliss Synthetic
• Razor: Chiseled Face - Legacy Ti
• Blade: Gillette Silver Blue
• Lather: Oleo Soapworks - Polar - Soap
• Post Shave: Barrister & Mann - Terror - Aftershave
• Post Shave: Nivea - Sensitive Cooling Balm - Balm
• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Permafrost
• Fragrance: Catie's Bubbles - Crangère - EdP

Daily Theme Justification: While menthol is not explicitly stated in the ingredient list of this particular tub, the label says "MENTHOLATED". If that is still not satisfactory, LOOK AT THE SOAP FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, also the brush after a swipe or two. Yes, that is pure menthol crystals awaiting to be lathered.

Daily Theme: It has been hot as balls out for pretty much every region in the US this last week or two, so Frigid Friday was needed. I opted for some high quality bottled Hy-Vee Spring Water that had been in the fridge all day, but chilled in the freezer for about 30 minutes prior to shaving. However, it has been really hot. So why not add some ice to the equation for a full ice water shave. I poured the water directly into the ice, and something unexpectedly pleasant occurred, the water turned into slush immediately after pouring. Perfect! I really need to cool down after this hot week. Just as a safe measure, I squirted two pumps of Permafrost into my ice water.

To get my shave started, I rinsed my face and got it nice, cold, and wet, before applying a mix of Proraso Pre Shave and some Permafrost. Wow! This is really cool and refreshing. I rubbed that in for about a minute and let it sit before building my lather. Since I needed serious cooling I opted to pre-chill my razor before the shave and between passes. I swirled and swirled before I was met with a pretty meh lather, but alas Permafrost is here. I added two additional pumps of it to my brush before hitting my face to lather. Holy shit, this is cold, but just what I needed.

I lather and perform my first pass, and then rinse with my ice water. Oh. My. God. This is for real cold, but it is what I asked for. I lather up for a second pass and by this point, time, space, and any sense of self has diminished and I have merged metaphysically with the cold. Eyes watering, can't think straight, where did I put the fucking razor? Oh yeah, I forgot it is hidden underneath the ice water. I rinse again with the ice water and do some touch up passes and at this point, I hit the singularity...

.....cold......

I rinse one last time and this shocked me back to life and I dried my face off. It was like I'd been waterboarded in the Arctic and resuscitated, reminding myself of what I'd just done to myself. "No, please let me perish, I cannot bear another second of this", I plead to myself. In a futile attempt to merge with the cold beyond this realm to escape, I applied Terror with more..fucking..Permafrost. "I am still here.. Please.. let me go." How about some Nivea Cooling Balm with more death sauce (Permafrost). At this point, I am shivering inches from death, awaiting for it to take me. However, I hear something. "Finish the Lather Games, there are only a few more days left". I remember that it is Frigid Friday and I needed to shave. Anyways, it has been hot as balls out for pretty much every region in the US this last week or two...

Daily Challenge: I used spring water bottled by Hy-Vee. Not sure what impact it had on my shave, but I used it. Please see my above post for proof and what this water did to me.

Frigid Friday: Day 27 of Lather Games

• Brush: Djundjila Brushworx u/IcyPooter $FauxFur
• Razor: Delolme – Le Thiernois №14 Acier Spécial pour Coiffeur (8/8", hollow ground, round tip, carbon steel)
• Lather: Wholly Kaw & House of Mammoth – Iced Tea
• Post Shave: Wholly Kaw & House of Mammoth – Iced Tea
• Fragrance: Imaginary Authors – Sundrunk

Theme justification and post/frag relevance: WK Iced tea has synthetic menthol (Menthyl Lactate). I'm leaning into summer beverages with this shave.