SOTD by u/Priusaurus

Aug 1, 2021 – Austere August. Day 1.

• Prep: Hot Shower
• Brush: Zenith - B16 24mm Boar
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Open Comb Gen 2
• Blade: GEM PTFE (1)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. – Sheep
• Post Shave: Zingari Man – Unscented - Aftershave Balm
• Post, Post Shave: Zingari Man – Rescue Potion

It’s gonna be an interesting month. On the one hand using an MMOC and breaking in a boar brush is going to spice up my shaving life a little bit, but I’m also going to be living a boring, unscented life for the next 31 days. I’ve used this soap literally twice since I bought it, so it’ll be good to make a dent in this 5.8 oz tub. I documented on Second Chance Day why I dislike this soap, but the long and short of it, is it’s no fun using unscented products. Imagine having a bunch of wonderful nose-flavors at your fingertips and choosing this? No thanks. However, that changes today. I opted to buy Zingari Man’s post shave products because I believe they put a ton of effort into the skin care aspect of shaving and Lord knows my face is going to need all the help I can get this month.

I was fortunate enough to get to use this MMOC about 7 or 8 times prior to today, because otherwise, today's shave would have been bad. My first time using it about 2 weeks ago was somewhat of a bloodbath and I had about a dozen nicks/cuts. Fortunately, I’ve learned I need to use a light touch at a good angle. I’m still very much at the point where the goal of every MMOC shave is to not need to use a styptic pencil. I was confident heading in, but today I had 5 or 6 nicks at the end of my 2 passes. Most of which came from my first pass, and the sub-par lather that came with it.

At first, I really struggled building up a good lather with this new brush my first pass. Of course, most lathering issues can be fixed by adding more soap and more water, so I went back and really, really overloaded soap between passes, which helped on the 2nd time around. I’m looking forward to seeing this brush progress, because if I didn’t trust this would be worth it, I probably would’ve given up on it after one shave. The brightside is I think I found a loophole to u/rocketk455’s unscented challenge: while all the software I used was unscented, my brush provided my face with a stench of wet animal, so I have that going for me! #winning

After the shave and balm, I also used Zingari Man’s Rescue Potion. I didn’t plan on having to use it (which is why it’s not in my SOTD pic), but I’m thankful I had it ready, because my face was pretty irritated coming out of the bathroom. Can't wait to try this again tomorrow! One day down, 30 to go!

#sidetracked: u/Teufelskraft had the great idea to ask us to include a little bit of music in our SOTD posts. I’m kicking it off with the band Guster, and their song “This Could All be Yours” from the album: Easy Wonderful.

Because my two-year-old daughter likes the album cover, she requests this album literally every day. So, I listen to this song every. Single. Day. And I’m not tired of it yet, so at least she has good taste! Every morning she says “Flower music, Dad!”, because the cover looks like a flower to her and then she stares at the album cover on my phone. One time, I tried to play something different, but still show her the Guster album cover, but she wasn’t having it. She has to listen to this Guster album and look at the “flower”. The song is uplifting and will remind me to keep looking toward the future, as Austere August may start to drag on at some point!

Tags:

#GEMsOfWisdom u/EldrormR and u/Semaj3000

#RawHoggin

#unscented