Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

This offer is for those who want to take on one, or more, of the straight razor challenges for Austere August. If you are hesitant to participate because your straight isn't shaving well, and you don't want to hone it yourself, or, if you just want someone else to hone your razor, I'll be happy to do it for you -- for free. (But, I don't charge sub.wetshaving.social members anyway.) And, I'll even cover some, or all of your return postage.

This offer is for razor honing only. I don't do razor restoration or repair other than for myself. I'm certain that there is time between now and August for a package to make a round-trip through the US Postal Service in CONUS. If you live elsewhere, just PM me and we can discuss it.

If you're interested in this, please PM me or contact me via Matrix to work out details.

I should add that you can have your choice of finish: synthetic, coticule, Black Arkansas, Black Shadow (a French slate), or Japanese Natural stone. For stainless razors, because of the added chromium in the steel, the safe bet is a synthetic edge.

Share your shave of the day!

From the artisan:

Apple of Aetherwood

This is our first 100% original scent in way too long. It starts with an opening of apples and bergamot, with hints of sage, ginger, juniper berries, and geranium, with a base of amber, tonka beans, cedar, vetiver, and frankincense.

While this may sound rather heavy, it's a rich, but still summery scent that is well grounded, but no so heavy and sweet that it would be overwhelming on a hot day.

Coming later this month!

Anyone planning on giving it a try?

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Are you a honemeister? A casual honer? A honeapprentice? Interested in learning to hone? This is for you!

This is not your typical tough guy AA challenge. No Ultra Nightmare Mode, no tuggy blades, just 31 good shaves.

Straight razor maintenance is a very accessible and satisfying skill to learn, but it can feel daunting at the beginning. The goal is to create small welcoming AA community for those curious about getting into straight razor maintenance, perfecting their technique, or talking shop with fellow straight razor maintainers.

This challenge is about straight razor appreciation and lowering the entry hurdle to straight razor maintenance.

TL/DR:

1. You start with a shave-ready straight razor of your choice
2. you use it daily with the same soap and brush to keep the number of variables to a minimum
3. If you're new to honing, you read up on honing straight razors (I also recommend watching these videos by @gcgallant@sub.wetshaving.social), and ask questions about honing.
   If you have experience in honing straight razors, you answer questions of the newbies. Feel free to share videos, meet for voice calls on discord or matrix. Get a conversation going.
4. On the weekend of August 17/18, we all refresh the edge on our straights, to experience, discuss, and share the effect of a refreshed edge.
5. Profit!

What do I need?

A shave ready straight, a finishing stone, a strop, a brush, a soap, styrofoam packing peanuts.

If you need a finishing stone, Naniwa 10k or Naniwa 12k water stones are widely recognised a as good value. You can get one here for instance.

Can I combine $Honemeisterschaft with other challenges?

Mostly yes. $Honemeisterschaft is compatible with $FriodomRiders, $RawHoggin, and all the software challenges, but it is incompatible with the no-honing rule of $headless.

What if my edge is bad? Do I have to wait for the 17th?

No, this is about having a good experience with your favourite straight. If the shave-ready edge turned out to be less than, or you have a stropping mishap, or you have the world's toughest beard and softest razor, whatever, refresh your edge, that's what the hone is for.

It is recommended to start with a good edge and wait for the 17th, so as to make the effect of the refresh noticeable. If you keep refreshing your edge, the effect of maintenance is hidden.

How do I participate?

Include the character string "$Honemeisterschaft" in your SOTD posts. (Yes, that's a Dollar sign $, not a hashtag #. If I never have to talk about hashtags in SOTD posts again, it's still too soon 😅)

What do I get?

The honour of displaying the 🗡Honemeister🔨 flair.

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

Are you a straight shaver? Do you hate rust? Do you like great razors? This is for you!

This is about leveraging the only meaningful innovation in straight razor manufacture in the last 75 years for a relaxed Austere August without worrying about your precious razor rusting while you enjoy your summer.

This is about Friodom! (from rust)

TL/DR:

1. Get yourself a Friodur, Inox, Eisgehärtet, Edelstahl (or any differently named stainless steel) straight razor.
2. Participate in AA with it.
3. Profit!

What do I need?

A stainless steel razor (If you don't have one and are tempted by this challenge, I strongly suggest getting a Friodur 5/8 or larger, they are all very good, and typically in can be found in great condition on eBay).

Can I combine $FriodomRiders with other challenges?

Yes! $FriodomRiders is compatible with $headless, $RawHoggin, $Honemeisterschaft and all the software challenges.

How do I participate?

Include the character string "$FriodomRiders" in your SOTD posts. (Yes, that's a Dollar sign $, not a hashtag #. If I never have to talk about hashtags in SOTD posts again, it's still too soon 😅)

What do I get?

The honour of displaying the 🗽FriodomRider🏇 flair.

Backstory

The heyday of straight razors is the late 19th century, and a 130 year old full hollow ground Böker looks exactly like one made this year. Even modern razors who try new design languages are typically made exactly like a century ago: A blank of carbon steel is forged, tempered, ground, and scaled.

After an initial learning curve, a good straight razor delivers fantastic shaves for a lifetime if properly cared for, and here lies the rub. Most straight razors rust. You need to keep them dry and oiled between uses, or they will turn into expensive red powder.

We're not really used to things rusting any more in our lives. Our cutlery, pots, pans, and most kitchen knives are made from stainless steel, so why aren't razors?

The first stainless steel knives appeared in 1914, and they weren't a success, but known as "the knife that would not cut". The ice-hardening process for quality blades in stainless steel was only invented in 1939 and patented by Zwilling in 1951 under the name Friodur (pseudo latin for cold-hard). This means that good stainless steel came about only after the straight razors fell out of fashion.

Zwilling (Friodur), Weltmeister (eisgehärtet), Thiers Issard and Dovo (Inox), Ralf Aust (Edelstahl) all produced or still produce stainless steel razors.

I'm convinced that good stainless steal razors are on par with good carbon steel razors, and they have an undeservedly bad reputation. Join me in shining light on the best straight razors ever made.

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day for Saturday!

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

The Lather Games theme (from the other website) is:

Information Overload

"Product marketing must list at least 10 scent notes.
Note: remember that notes are scent descriptors used for marketing - not actual ingredient lists.
Caveat: fragrance dupes will count the number of notes listed in the dupe's marketing description - not the original product's description."

Roam Two is a great scent that is not OG Roam, but still great. It wasn't on sale.

Promises - marketed for winter, an interesting scent that's absolutely worth the $5 I paid for it.

Cootie Killer 2.0 hand soaps - I got 6 of them for $2.50 each. I've never smelled Le Grand Chypre before so buying 3 bottles was a small risk, but it was worth it. It smells like a lemon-lime type of soft drink. Fougere Classique is so stanky and awesome, but I might be the only one in the house to use it.

Share your shave of the day!

Wildcard Wednesday

"Product can be any singular product you want to use - it doesn't even have to be soap.  But here's the catch: any subsequent shave by other LG participants on the same day with the same product will be disqualified; only the earliest submitted shave will earn points for being on-theme.
Note: For the purposes of counting brands for the Soap Brands bonus point, whatever you use here will be counted as whatever brand it is.  Palmolive dish soap?  Palmolive.  Skippy peanut butter?  Skippy.  Barrister and Mann Cootie Killer?  Barrister and Mann.  Home-made soap?  Assume it's branded however you would usually brand it if you made something.  Two soaps superlathered together?  Whoops, that's a disqualification."

Episode link

The third week of the 10th annual Lather Games has come and passed and you must be eagerly awaiting your dose of of gossip, shenanigans, ditch shittings, miscarriages of djustice, and inside baseball. You're probably also looking to glean intel about your fierce competitors.

Come join Chief Podcast Djustice OnionMiasma as he guides hon. Merikus and djundjila through this retrospective and definitely doesn't forget to edit some parts out.

Also, tell us when you're doing the challenge, please and thank you.

Share your shave of the day!

If you're playing asking with the lather games on the other website, today's theme is:

Christmas in July, but in June

"Product must be:
     - Explicitly marketed as a Winter scent OR
     - Explicitly marketed for a holiday occuring between Winter Solstice and Vernal Equinox OR
     - Strictly feature pine, fir, or spruce.  (Evergreens with dirt or lichen?  Nope.  No dirt allowed in the living room - only the tree!)
Caveat: Products explicitly marketed for multiple seasons or other seasons do not count (eg. ""a summer breeze through pine trees"")."

Share your shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day!

For those playing along with the Lather Games on the other website, today's theme is:

Sweet Sunday

Product must be a sugary sweet gourmand.  Products inspired by sweet, desserts, etc. are good candidates for this theme.

Sorry, just now remembered to post our off-topic thread.

Share anything that doesn't necessarily need to be relevant to wetshaving: your weekend plans, recent events in your life, something interesting that's happened. Also music/movie/book recommendations are very welcome.

Bonus prompt question for those who can't think of something to say:
With warmer temperatures creeping up in the northern hemisphere, do you begin to use more mentholated soap/cream/aftershave in the summer months?

Share your shave of the day!

The Lather Games theme for today (from the other website) is:

Spooky Season

Product must be:

    Explicitly marketed as an Autumn scent OR
    Explicitly marketed for a holiday occuring between Autumnal Equinox and Winter Solstice OR
    Products that prominently feature spicy accords may be accepted.