Aug. 1, 2022 - Better and worse than expected

• Prep: Soaked brush for a few minutes
• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (1)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

Brush unused

Brush after first use

My very first brush was an Omega 48 around 10 years ago and I used boars for the first few years before switching to badgers and synthetics. There wasn't anything wrong with boars but I fell in love with the softness of my synthetics and the ease of use, particularly not having to soak the brush before use when I need a quick shave before going to work. I moved on and I never looked back... until probably a year ago when I saw u/VisceralWatch breaking in his Zenith. Then came along the raw hoggin' challenge and I'm at a point where thrill is dropping again due to being out of the country and not having easy access to all the artisan goodness in the US. However, what I could find in Taiwan is some of the classics, like Proraso, Tabac, and Omega, so I decided to go for it and get a Proraso boar brush to try the challenge for fun. I don't have the energy to do the Lather Games, but AA was always a better fit for me.

Today's inaugural shave was definitely a bit different than I had anticipated. My biggest fear was that face lathering with a brand new $15 boar was going to be a very unpleasant experience, but that turned out better than I expected. The brush wasn't as scritchy as I feared, and a lot of that fear was probably due to my experience 10 years ago trying to face lather with the huge Omega 48 and having no idea what I was doing at the time. What I didn't expect was how much the boar would eat lather. Using a stiff brush on a softer soap (Tusk) I was worried that I would pick up too much soap, and it was a bit hard to gauge because I'm so used to seeing proto lather building very quickly as I'm loading the brush and that didn't happen with the boar. After I thought I had enough soap, I went to the face and made a pretty solid lather pretty quickly. The lather seemed to skip the foamy stage and went straight to yogurt consistency and I was not really able to build volume no matter what I tried, so I decided that was good enough and went to the shave.

Fortunately, I'm now experienced enough with the shavette that a subpar lather didn't affect my shave negatively. However, after I finished my first pass, I noticed that the brush had pretty much eaten all the lather and there was not much left to shave with so I decided to go back to the tub which resulted in something I've never experienced before. I had seen people throw around the word marshmallow to describe soap before but it was not something I had experienced until now. For some reason, the boar brush refused to pick up more soap and just ended up pushing the soap around in the tub until a thick layer of goopy marshmallow developed on top of the tub while at the same time refusing to get onto the brush. I decided I didn't want to kill this tub of soap before the end of the month so I gave up loading more soap and just worked with what little it had picked up and what was left in the brush. Normally I'm a daily 3 pass shaver but I had to skip the XTG today and go straight to ATG with what lather I could squeeze out of the knot. I could have used a bit more lather to clean up a bit more, but in the end I got a solid shave without much irritation so I'm happy with that.

I might try scooping tomorrow to see if I can load the brush more effectively before face lathering. I'm definitely excited to see how this brush develops knowing that each shave should be better than the previous.

u/Marquis90 (Headless Horsemen)

u/EldrormR #RawHoggin

u/JoboozeRum u/mammothben #MammothMafia

Aug. 2, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 2

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (2)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

In my hurry to soak my brush so I could get my shave on before getting the kids ready for school, I forgot to take a picture of the brush before the shave.

This is what it looks like after the second second use

Yesterday I had trouble picking up soap after running low after the first pass, so today I decided to try scooping out a generous amount and loading it in an empty tub before proceeding with the face lather. When the brush dried after the first shave I was somewhat surprised by the transformation that the brush had gone through and the tips looked noticeably better like they might actually be pleasant to use. But that was a lie. Today's face lather wasn't much more enjoyable than yesterdays, but I did end up with a more respectable amount of lather. I'm finding that the boar brush doesn't hold as much water as I expected, but thinking about it it makes sense because the bristles of the brush are much thicker than synthetic/badger fibers so water has much less overall surface area to adhere to. #pHySiCs #ICouldBeFullOfSh1t

After using this boar, I'm starting to remember some of the qualities that I liked about boar brushes from using them maybe 7-8 years ago. One thing I seem to recall is that boars seem to skip to foamy phase of lather and goes right to the yogurty good stuff. My guess is the lower density of fibers ends up introducing less air into the lather, but I haven't used denser boars so I could be wrong on this. I also like that the backbone of boar brushes isn't evenly distributed due to the hairs being thicker closer to the base of the knot than the tips, allowing for a nice combination of good backbone that doesn't splay wildly while being able to flex and split near the tips. Natural 2-in-1 fibers, if you will. Amazing stuff.

I was half expecting the lather to disappear by the time I was ready to do my second pass but fortunately the boar did not eat the mammoth today and I had enough lather to do a normal second pass without reloading, but I'm a 3 pass shaver and the boar had nothing left to give after the second pass. The brush had much less lather inside the knot than I expected, but I didn't feel like loading again so I just scraped the little lather that was left off the sides of the brush with my hands to complete a third pass. Fortunately this Tusk base is amazing so even with almost no lather I was able to do an ATG pass with the shavette, buffing certain areas with the residual slickness. My face felt great after applying the Mammoth balm.

Seeing everyone and their mothers with brand new Zenith boars yesterday definitely gave me a bit of brush envy but using this cheap Proraso brush also seemed fitting given how similar it is to my first brush ever, the Omega 48. I have a cheap Zenith on the way so I'm looking forward to trying that out as well.

In preparation for AA I purposely used mostly DEs the past few weeks knowing that I wanted to use a shavette for August and I'm finding a lot of joy in using the kamisori again. The Feather SR + Schick Proline combo has been giving me fantastically smooth shaves and I'm glad that my proficiency with the shavette has given me the opportunity to focus more on the excitement of breaking in the boar without worrying about destroying my face. I've never counted blade uses with the shavette but I know I haven't taken a blade to 31 shaves before so it will be interesting to see if the blade performance starts degrading in the second or third week.

#RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Aug. 3, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 3

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (3)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

First day I had enough lather for 1 pass. The second day I had enough lather for 2 passes. On the third day, I finally made enough lather for 3 full passes so it should be smooth sailing from here. Yesterday I tried scooping and loading soap in an empty tub, but that wasn't very enjoyable so today I decided to try tub loading again because I like the simplicity of it, and I have too much soap so it's fine if I use more soap as long if I can get a solid lather. I tried shaking less water out of the brush today and that seemed to help with the loading, and I also did some loading with the tub upside down so that gravity can provide some assistance which may have helped to draw more soap toward the base of the knot. On the face, I still had to add quite a bit of water but in the end the lather was fantastic.

Visually, the brush seems to be breaking in nicely but when face lathering I definitely feel the pokiness from what I presume are the thicker bristles inside the brush. I'm not sure if those bristles will ever split so if I continue to feel those near the end of AA I might look for them and pull those out when AA is over.

With a solid lather, I was able to focus a bit more on my actual shave once again. A nice 3 pass shave with just a tiny bit of irritation from slight over shaving in certain areas, but nothing that the Mammoth balm couldn't take care of.

#RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Aug. 4, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 4

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (4)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

The brush is coming along better than I expected, and I have a good grasp on how to load and lather the Tusk base with this brush now. The last time I had to add a ton of water on the face to get it to the drippy runny state that I prefer so today I decided to load after the lightest shake of the brush, and I probably could have gone without shaking the brush at all once it finished dripping water. Just look at this lather. I believe the brush is just on the cusp of being enjoyable to use. Today I didn't feel the pokiness as much and getting enough soap loaded onto the brush probably helps to provide a more luxurious face feel as well. Today I had enough for 3 passes plus touch ups which is my typical full shave and there was still a bit of lather that I could squeeze out of the center of the knot so I'm already very happy with the performance in its current state. The tips are also splitting and hooking quite nicely.

Boar thrill is alive and I ordered a cheap $13 Zenith a few weeks ago from ebay which arrived today. I'll probably play with a few hand lathers to get a feel for the differences, but just from the initial visual inspection the Zenith looks denser and the bleached hairs look like they'll be nice to use.

The Feather SR + Schick Proline is still nice and smooth with no noticeable performance degradation. Today I tried a few new angles of attack which I'll incorporate more in future shaves. Fantastic shave overall.

#RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Edit: Fixed image links + tags

Aug. 5, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 5

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (5)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Things are settling down into a good rhythm but I'm continuing to refine the process. Today I decided not to shake any water out at all and proceeded to loading from the tub after the brush stopped dripping and the lather definitely still required adding more water so I'll be using this approach going forward unless the brush somehow transforms to hold more water. With most other brushes, this results in a puddle of water inside the tub right after the brush splays, but with this brush that doesn't happen probably due to lack of brush density. Yesterday I thought the pokiness was starting to go away, but today they felt more present once again so I'm not sure if I exerted more pressure today or if it's just the brush's way of reminding me that it's not soft like a bleached Zenith. Visually, the tips are splitting very nicely and it will be interesting to see how much more transformation the brush goes through by the end of AA.

I'm definitely planning to take this brush to the finish line, but seeing it next to a Zenith that came in yesterday definitely got me thinking about whether I need to keep both of these brushes in the end, especially considering that I might want to make room for the 31mm sub exclusive bad boy and I have another copper Zenith waiting for me in the US already. Variety is nice, but I like to keep the den slim as well.

Now that my lathers are pretty much perfect for shaving, I've been spending more time on shavette technique as well. The main problem areas I have with the shavette are the ATG passes on the jawline and on the neck where my hair grows horizontally. Hopefully by the end of AA I'll be able to tackle those areas more efficiently.

Aug. 6, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 6 - A dissertation on why boars 🐗 are GOAT 🐐

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (6)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Soap Weight (post shave, lid off): 137.7g

The pokiness of the brush I felt yesterday seems to have subsided again and I'm not sure if the amount of time soaking has anything to do with it. I haven't really been keeping track of how long I've been soaking the brush for but it's probably around 3-5 minutes each day. I'm not noticing much boar funk during my shaves but if I put the wet brush up to my nose then it seems to be a faint combination of Alive and boar stank. The lathering is getting pretty easy, partially due to the fantastic Tusk base, with no fear of running out of lather but as the month progresses I want to become more consistent with how much I'm loading. I still wouldn't describe the face feel as soft, but more of a gentle scrub. Another difference I'm noticing with the boar is that it releases lather exceptionally well, and that may be partially due to the lack of density in this brush so we'll see if the Zenith behaves differently. The lather this thing produces is phenomenal. You know the lather is good when the some of the lather on the brush has slid down to the countertop and formed a puddle by the end of your first pass.

Today's shave was probably the closest shave this month at the cost of a bit of irritation along the jawlines. Yesterday u/StraightShaverSix kindly offered some tips after I mentioned some of my problem areas and I tried applying some of that feedback today which worked out pretty well. Those strokes/grips/angles are a bit unfamiliar to me so it's going to take a while to build the muscle memory before I'm confident doing those areas. good times and bad times, good friend go through shit together, newborn baby, unhealthy obsession

---

🚨🚨🚨

!BEGIN DISSERTATION

!Boars offer exceptional value, and the biggest hurdle has to be the break-in period. I'm a big fan of synthetics and the right ones really have no weaknesses (MOIMO) for my personal use, but I don't care about water retention or keeping my lathers warm while I shave since I'm a cold water shaver. However, after spending some time getting reacquainted with boars, I'm beginning to understand that what synthetics lack is soul. Synthetics are great from the start and don't go through any changes from use, but they have no character.

!Boars, however, are bad to horrible in the beginning. What's unexpected is the relationship you build with your boar baby during the break-in process. Your baby may be cheap looking and full of unsorted black hairs, but it's your baby and you love it nonetheless. After its first bath, you can't help but be disgusted by its smell, but you soldier on knowing that with time, love, and lots of soap, it will smell a bit less like ass with each passing day. The first time you mash it into your face, you wonder what the hell you got yourself into, but with each subsequent swirl your face becomes more numb to the pain, knowing that it will all be worth it in the end. When you set the brush out on the counter to dry, you can't help but check on it every few hours to see if it's doing okay or if any hairs have begun to split, wondering what it will look like after it fully dries and shows its first bloom. At the end of a long day, you think to yourself, "Wow, that was only the first day. How am I going to do this every day going forward?"

!The trials and tribulations that you experience together forms a bond tighter than epoxy between you two and no one else. There comes a day when you realize, "Wow, this brush is phenomenal. When did you become like this?"

!Little did you know that day by day, your baby was growing up. After a few days, its appetite for tallow dwindles and you no longer need to bring back the tub of soap to refeed it in the middle of a shave. After a week, its tips have split generously, creating wonderfully luxurious lather in no time at all, giving your wrist a much needed rest. After a month, its fibers become more pliant, caressing your face during a face lather like your mother's bosom did when you were still spitting up breast milk.

!Each morning, you scan your bathroom shelf at your army of badgers and synthetics, but your hand unconsciously reaches for your boar. Why? Because it's the only one that's not merely a tool, but an everchanging experience, and that experience becomes a part of you. You'll never let that brush go. Not after all you've been through. Months, or even years, from now, you'll look back and wonder how you did it.

!But you did it. You made it. Together.

🚨🚨🚨

Edit: Formatting

Aug. 7, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 7

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (7)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Soap Weight: 136.3g (1.4g used)

The brush is back to feeling fairly soft again without the pokiness that I experienced two days ago. It feels like it's splaying easier too. I'll be weighing my soaps each day to see if I can get a feel for my soap usage but so far I've just been loading until it looks and feels like it has a pretty heavy load. My impressions for how quickly this brush picks up soap was tainted by the first few days so I need to take a step back and reevaluate. I've been shaving around 6am and letting my soap dry for several hours before measuring the weight so it will be imprecise but should provide the general idea. I'm a little surprised by the amount of soap I used today and I'd be happy if I can consistently use around 1-1.5g of soap each day.

In terms of building delicious, dense lather, I'm still finding the boar extremely easy to use. With my dense badgers sometimes I start off with too much water and end up with a bit too much air in my lathers, but I'm not sure I'm able to even produce that kind of fluffy lather with this brush because I have not experienced it even once so far regardless of how much water I start with. It definitely helps to be using one of my favorite bases so it will be interesting to see how this brush performs with my other soaps next month.

At this point, I've already gotten most of what I want out of the break-in process and further improvements will be in much smaller increments and there won't be any more big revelations. The lather is already optimal for me, the boar smell is nearly nonexistent, and the brush is sufficiently comfortable for face lathering. The only remaining question for me is how soft this brush will end up being once it's fully broken in because that's the only area that's currently still lacking for me.

Once again I overshaved my jawline trying different angles of attack and got some irritation. I'll try more bullfrogging tomorrow to see if I can make that area easier to shave by creating a flatter surface to work with. The blade is still showing no signs of deterioration, but I am still finding it hard to shave as closely as I can with DE probably due to the thicker AC blades. My hairs are coarse and lie flat against my skin so I'm finding that I need to do a bit more touching up to the get all the hairs. In my experience the base plate/guard of DEs putting pressure against the skin actually helps lift those hairs up so they are easier to cut and I don't have that aid with the open blade format.

Aug. 8, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 8

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (8)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Soap Weight: 135.0g (1.3g used)

Today I decided to roughly count the number of swirls. I think I ended up with around 80-90 swirls on the puck and it was enough for 3.5 passes. It felt like a lighter load and it felt like there was a little bit less lather left over and the soap weight confirmed what I suspected. The brush continues to feel pretty good. Sometimes I feel a little bit more of the stiffer bristles in the brush depending on how much pressure I'm exerting and whether I'm doing back and forth strokes or swirling motions but it was never uncomfortable.

Great shave with the kamisori today attempting a technique that was described to me by u/MrTangerinesky where you lead the blade edge with your other hand/fingers to promote the lifting of facial hairs before they are cut. It definitely felt more natural when I was doing a dry run with my bare hands than in actual practice with the blade against my face, so I only tried it on small sections of my face at a time but the technique shows a lot of promise.

8 days of AA and I haven't really felt the itch to change anything up yet which is nice. Following the development of the brush as well as building my shavette technique has been distracting me from thinking about using different scents and my DE razors. The main itch I have right now is to purchase a Semogue Torga C5. 😅

Aug. 9, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 9

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (9)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Soap Weight: 134.2g (0.8g used)

This hog sure is temperamental. It seems like each time I mention something about the brush not being comfortable, the day after the brush feels like it's behaving better again. I'm really starting to enjoy this brush and the face feel. The lack of density makes it easier to splay compared to the Zenith I've been playing around with doing a few hand lathers.

Yesterday a few people commented on my soap usage saying 80-90 swirls is too much so I tried 60 today and I had barely enough to complete my full shave (3.5 passes). What do these 2 pass (or in some cases, single pass) shavers know anyway? 😂 To me, those 20-30 swirls was the difference between a good shave and a great, luxurious shave and today I was left with slightly subpar lather for my cleanup pass. Also it turns out that a swirl is a very inaccurate measurement since u/RedMosquitoMM loaded far more with 40 swirls yesterday than I did with my 60 swirls today, so YMMV and all that. I'm going back to my luxury lather tomorrow. Wet shaving for me is a way of pampering myself so I'm not going to hold back to save a few pennies each day.

A few years ago I went down the path of weighing my soaps and trying to optimize soap usage but it was tedious and definitely took some of the fun out of the hobby. I'm revisiting soap usage right now mostly to get a feel for how the boar is breaking in and how its soap usage compares with other brushes. I've already confirmed that I'm not somehow using up a ludicrous amount of soap lathering this softer soap so I'll just get a few more data points and be done with this experiment.

I'm continuing to notice incremental improvements to my shaves with the shavette. The past few days I've been getting better results along my jawline and less irritation and not spending as much time getting there. The blade still feels smooth but it feels like it's taking more effort to get a close cut even going ATG.

Side Story

Since there are a lot of silly acronyms in our hobby, I thought I'd share an amusing story related to that from a few days ago.

August 8th is Father's Day in Taiwan, because the number 8 is pronounced "ba" in Mandarin so 8/8 is baba, which also means father in Chinese. This past Sunday we went to a nice shopping mall in Taipei with my parents to celebrate Father's Day early at a Japanese BBQ restaurant inside the mall. After the meal, we decided to walk around a bit with the kids and we passed by an area where they had a bunch of expensive ($2000+ USD) massage chairs on display for people to try out. The brand of these massage chairs is OSIM, which I wasn't really familiar with and I didn't think much of it as we walked past the display to head to the elevator.

Out of nowhere, my dad approached me and asked (in Mandarin), "Do you know what OSIM stands for?"

"I don't know." I responded.

"Oh shit, it's Monday." My dad said, with a shit eating grin.

The thing is, my dad is generally a pretty serious person. Before he retired he was a physician and it's very rare for him to joke around so this caught me off guard.

Not sure if I got the joke, he continued to explain with almost a whisper next to my ear since we were in public: "TGIF means Thank god it's Friday. OSIM is: Oh--- Shit--- It's--- Monday."

He seemed rather proud of himself and couldn't wait to share with my mom as well, so as we were waiting for the elevator, he walked over next to her and explained OSIM to her. My mom seemed unsure about what my dad said, and she repeated, "Oh shi... shi... shit it's Monday?"

My parents spent around 30 years in the US so they've seen enough American television to be familiar with the word and what it means, but to hear it from both of them for the first time in my life (and probably their lives as well) was such a precious and hilarious moment.

A belated Happy Father's Day to all the wet shaving dads out there.

Aug. 10, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 10

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (10)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia #>!hidden!<

Pretty close shave today with a tiny weeper along the jawline from trying too many different angles. I couldn't really focus on the shave this morning because the kids were running around and yelling outside the bathroom and both kids decided to take a dump at the same time during my shave. The joy of parenthood. Maybe tomorrow I should wait until the kids are out of the house before getting my shave on.

The brush was comfortable once again, and my recent experiments regarding soap consumption has come to an end. The conclusion is that this brush is not a lather hog (pun intended) and I'm just going to load generously and enjoying my luxurious lathers without worrying about running out of soap before the end of the month. My gut feeling is that the soap consumption of this brush is much closer to that of a synthetic than a dense badger.

The recent release of Permafrost made me realize that I really need some menthol in my life to survive summer here (35C+ every day for several months at a time) but unfortunately getting the product to Taiwan would not be straightforward. I decided to pick up some WS-23 locally (as well as WS-5 which is supposed to be colder than WS-23) and experiment with adding some drops to my lather and see how that feels so I'm looking forward to trying it out tomorrow.

Aug. 11, 2022 - Headless Frozen Mammoth Hoggin' Day 11

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (11)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia #>!hidden!<

A third of the way through AA and things are getting a bit monotonous so I've been looking for ways to spice things up.

The first thing is trying to get a bit more creative with my SOTD photos because simply changing the placement/angle wasn't very exciting. As much as I like seeing various break-in brush photos, it's also nice to see people getting insane stacks with their gear and trying new things. Shout out to u/djundjila for joining me in getting some toys involved in his SOTD photo yesterday.

Additionally, I got in some synthetic cooling agent yesterday and I tried adding several drops to my lather and it was exactly what I was looking for. 🥶 The slow build up of cooling seemed to peak around my third pass but it was never painful or excessive. When I applied my balm I also added a few drops and the cooling effect lingered for around 5-10 minutes. Summer has been brutal here (35C+ and humid every day) so I'll be making good use of this cooling agent for another month at least.

Not a lot of changes to my brush in the past few days, but I do feel like it may be holding on to more water than it did initially so I'm starting to do some very light shakes before loading again. I'm thankful that the combination of this brush + the Tusk base is giving me effortless top tier lathers compared to some others who can't seem to get decent lather for 2 passes using more than 5 grams of soap. 🤯

Aug. 12, 2022 - >!Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 12!<

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (12)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia #>!hidden!<

Couldn't really focus on the shave today. My toddler woke up with hives this morning so she had to stay home from school and she insisted on standing on a stool next to me to watch me shave and I rushed through it as a result. Still unsure what the cause of the hives is but it didn't seem to be related to anything she ate since she was fine last night.

Felt a tiny bit of pokiness today from the brush, maybe because I didn't soak it long enough? Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful shave. I think I need to start shaking a little bit more water out of the brush because it's beginning to get a little bit messier during the loading from the tub. Struggling a bit to get a very close shave but the face feels smooth enough so I'm fine with it as long if the blade doesn't feel like it's tugging.

Aug. 13, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 13

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (13)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

The boar thrill is past its peak but I'm still enjoying these shaves that are almost on autopilot mode at this point. I shook out more water today which resulted in a cleaner load off the tub and it wasn't too hard to incorporate enough water on the face to get that sloppy goodness that I like. Last night I took a few minutes to feel the badgers and synthetics that have been collecting dust in the medicine cabinet and they definitely felt a bit unfamiliar because I've been fondling my boars for almost two weeks now. It will be interesting to compare the face feel of the other brushes and see if my preferences have shifted once I've spent a month with boar brushes.

Aug. 14, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 14

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (14)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Very good shave today. 2 weeks into AA and the shaves are becoming more of a routine and less exciting.

Today I shook a bit more water out of the brush and it loaded soap very efficiently without making a mess, though I did have to spend a little bit more time adding water when it was on my face. A good portion of the tips have split and this thing is a lathering machine, but I'm not sure if it's easy mode due to the lack of density. At the end of AA I want to try this brush with a variety of other soaps to see how consistent it is, but I suspect it will be as easy to use as my synthetics. I'm still enjoying this brush but I'm very curious how the different denser, bleached Zenith will feel on the face. I've become a bit nose blind to this scent during the shave, but spraying on the frag is still quite enjoyable.

A few days ago I created what I thought was a clever hidden side contest involving SOTD photos, but I think people are already a bit weary of reading AA posts so nobody caught on despite me progressively dropping more hints. I ended up giving up on it which may be good since I was investing a bit too much time into it each day. It also made me appreciate the djudges more because even I'm finding less motivation to read through the posts each day despite my initial thrill.

Aug. 15, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 15

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (15)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Wow. I think I'm at a point where I can actually consider my boar soft and comfortable! No, it's not the same kind of soft as my synthetics, but it's different and I love it. I think the increase in comfort is also due to the hairs becoming a lot more pliable when they are wet. I don't like brushes that are too floppy but I'm not on team backbone either, so I think this brush will end up in the goldilocks zone for me. I'm also quite interested in how those lower lofted Zenith scrubby knots feel once they are well broken in. My current boars are all around the 56-57mm loft so I'd like to add a shorter loft for variety. The Semogue Torga C5 is still the front runner because I'd like to own a Semogue as well.

The boar also seems to be holding on to a lot more water than it did a week ago probably from the greatly increased surface area from all the split tips. Today I didn't shake the brush enough and quite a bit of water ran out when I started lathering on the tub. The lather was still amazing but I always feel bad when I see soap running down into my sink when I'm loading.

I'm really enjoying the shape of this phallic (thanks /u/frankieIVfingers) handle and I never noticed until recently that a lot of the Italian boar brushes have this general shape. I must be subconsciously attracted to this shape because the 3 boar brushes I have purchased all turned out to be the same shape without me realizing it. 😂 I find that I have perfect grip and maneuverability if I pinch the handle at the top where it tapers with my thumb and index finger and then wrap my hands around the rest of it and it's extremely comfortable for my small hands. My only complaint is that my wet lathers tend to slowly slide off onto the countertop at the end of each pass, but that happens with a lot of my other brushes as well.

My blade still doesn't seem to be showing any signs of tugging or discomfort. We'll see if things change in a week or two.

Aug. 16, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 16

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (16)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

My shave this morning was interrupted by a huge cockroach that decided to scurry into the bathroom as I was in the middle of my second pass. I knew it must have been big because I was able to notice the movement in the bathroom mirror at the edge of my vision. Dealing with small cockroaches has become a daily routine here in the summer, but I didn't expect to have to deal with one this size (maybe 1.5 inches long) inside the house. The smaller ones I don't mind just grabbing with a few pieces of toilet paper, but I'm not man enough to do that to one of this size.

Damn, this guy was tough! I quickly found a takeout box that I could use to decapacitate this bad boy but we went 10 rounds and I could not produce the knockout. The first time I hit it I thought that was the end of it since it flipped onto its back and was mostly motionless, but within a few seconds its legs started kicking like a turtle unable to flip over. I hit it with a several more good shots but the little bugger was unphased. I didn't feel like getting cockroach juice all over the bathroom floor so I decided against the good ol' stomp.

The next course of action was to find a piece of paper and escort the roach to the toilet for a nice water ride down the pipes, but as I tried nudging it onto the paper with the box it was able to push off of the box to flip itself over and it made a scramble for cover among some boxes under the sink that I used for storing my wet shaving supplies. I had already made the wife and kids aware its existence so there was no way I could abort this mission without losing respect and dad cred. I was locked into a desperate battle to finish off this MFer before my lather dried out so I quickly moved the boxes out of the way and hit it with a few more blows, knocking it onto its back again. In the end I was able to wedge it between the piece of paper and the box into the toilet for a farewell flush. Except I just consulted my buddy Google and it looks like cockroaches can go without breathing for half an hour and will likely survive a flush. We'll see if there is a rematch at some point in the future.

As expected, my shave wasn't the greatest. I had already spent 5-10 minutes dealing with the monster, the half pass of lather that was left on my face was mostly dry, and I had to wrap up quickly to get the kids ready for school. The good news is, the boar had not eaten all the lather and I was able to complete the shave. Unfortunately, now when I see the black hairs inside of the boar brush I'm reminded of the legs of the cockroach flailing in the air trying to flip itself over.

Aug. 17, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 17

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (17)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Back to an uneventful shave today. I've become quite proficient with this shavette during this month but I'm starting to wonder how much my technique is compensating for the reduced sharpness of the blade. I've started employing almost a buffing technique when I'm doing my ATG pass which isn't resulting in any irritation but I wonder if that's going to bite me once I swap back to a fresh blade. My shaves are still comfortable but I typically aim for as close to BBS as possible and the lack of close shaves is bothering me a little bit.

The progressive reduction in backbone of the brush has got me thinking about whether this brush could eventually become too floppy for me. Compared to my Zenith of similar size but much higher density, this brush splays much easier, but I'm thinking the lack of strong backbone is also due to the lack of density in the brush. I've also been experimenting with how much I mash the brush into my face when I face lather and it seems to work quite well if I use a light touch and alternate between swirling and painting. 26mm seems to be about my sweet spot as well in terms of face coverage and amount of lather produced.

A lot of people are itching to use different scents but I'm finding that my itch is more on the hardware side. I love experimentation and comparisons and I can't wait to try this brush on different soaps to see if the brush lathers my other soaps effortlessly and also break in a Zenith brush for comparison. Once September gets closer I'll think a bit harder about whether I want to commit to Sample September or just take it more casually.

Aug. 18, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 18

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (18)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

I've reached the bottom of the tub! Admittedly, this happened a bit sooner than I was expecting but I did buy this tub used and it was maybe at 80% when I got it. I'm a bit sad but fortunately I still have a mostly full tub of Fu Dao on deck and a set of Voices ordered. This base checks all the boxes for me and I'm happy to use it for the entire month.

I think I'm finally feeling a bit more resistance when I'm doing my ATG pass, particularly on the upper lip area. It's getting slightly annoying the amount of effort I have to put in to try to get a very close shave so I might just give up for the rest of the month and settle with an acceptable shave. Tomorrow we're going glamping with our kids and a bunch of friends but I'm not really looking forward to figuring out how to get my shave on once we're there and having people ask me awkward questions about what I'm doing. On the bright side, it's glamping so there should be a sink with running water and a mirror so the actual shave shouldn't be too challenging.

The brush is very soft now, but I'm beginning to miss the variety in face feel of my different brushes. Boar thrill is waning but last night I was pushed over the edge and ended up signing up for the "moar boar" brush, especially after seeing a preview of the logo. This means I'll own 4 boar brushes, 3 of which are Zenith. Once I finish breaking in all of them (some time around 2024?) I'll have to do another round of den thinning to get rid of some of the brushes in the den because I like to keep things lean.

Aug. 19, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 19

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (19)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Last shave before going glamping for 2 days. I scooped out some soap and squirted a bit of balm into a sample container for my shave tomorrow. It's been a while since we took a family trip so I'm looking forward to it.

I'm now experimenting with soaking times to see how much it matters. Today I soaked the brush for maybe 1 minute and honestly couldn't tell the difference. The brush still felt plenty soft and lathered just fine and I had plenty for my 3+ passes. Tomorrow at camp maybe I'll just try running the brush under the faucet for 10-15 seconds and go from there.

Aug. 20, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 20

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (20)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Camping shave today in the shared bathroom sink covered with dead mosquitos and other little bugs. Good thing I woke up early so nobody was really around. I brought a sample container with a scoop of soap and a pump of balm so I smeared the soap on my face and went at it. Not much time to get in a good shave so I went for a quick WTG followed by ATG and called it a day. Didn't soak the brush today and it was fine. Looking forward to shaving in the comforts of my own bathroom tomorrow.

Aug. 21, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 21

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (21)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

This morning we were still at camp but I thought it would be better to wait to shave at home in the afternoon and it was a very good call. Combined with the quick shave at camp and more than 30 hours since my previous shave, it's been a while since I've had this much facial growth so it was nice to mow it down with the scythe. Of course the shavette doesn't care about the length of the hair and cut through it with ease and my face is feeling nice and smooth again.

Yesterday I smeared my soap on my face like a shave stick and the boar worked fine picking up the soap from the face, but I much prefer loading from the tub since it was annoying that I still had tiny bits of soap that didn't get distributed properly and ended up falling into the sink yesterday. I loaded heavily today and was rewarded with great lather for three passes plus touch ups, and I still had really nice lather in the middle of the brush at the end that I used to wash my face with.

Need to remind myself not to go camping in the middle of AA in the future. I would have much preferred to just use a tube of Proraso or a shave stick with a DE when camping, or maybe even skip a day and not worry about it.

Aug. 22, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 22

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (22)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Not much to say. Good brush, good soap, good shave. Let this end.

Aug. 23, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 23

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (23)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

I can't really tell the difference between a 1 minute soak and a 5 minute soak so I'll just go with a shorter soak going forward. What I thought was a weakness/annoyance with boar brushes may not actually be that big of an issue after all. When I dip the brush in the mug of water I can tell that it absorbs water very quickly because the color changes in less than 30 seconds up to where the water is, then eventually that water is pulled to the base of the knot through osmosis but I have no idea how long that takes.

I'm not able to perceive day to day differences in the brush anymore so there doesn't seem to be a whole lot more to look forward to this month other than the end of the AA and being able to switch things up. I'm still patiently waiting for a care package from /u/frankieivfingers (thank you!) which I think should arrive any day now and the anticipation is keeping the thrill alive.

I can tell I'm a bit more careless with the shavette now possibly because it doesn't feel like the dull blade will bite very easily so I will need to be a bit more conscious during my first few shaves with a new blade next month.

Aug. 24, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 24

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (24)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

One more week of this and I don't anticipate any drastic changes over the next week. Concerns about the blade becoming tuggy and uncomfortable didn't come to fruition and it seems to have settled into a decently smooth state.

I've been examining the brush closely throughout the month and I've noticed that some of the thicker bristles that look slightly transparent seem to have developed into floppy noodles when wet and I'm not sure why that is. Almost like raw pasta vs cooked pasta in a way. Might be interesting to pull one of those out and observe it in a more controlled environment and see how water and wet/dry cycles affect its stiffness and all that, but I don't have the energy or patience to do that. But it does make me wonder whether I actually need to pull out those tougher bristles or if they'll mostly transition to this softer state and become comfortable even if they don't split.

I'm not sure if it's because I've hit the bottom of the tub, but my loading is getting a little bit sloppy again so I may need to shake out a bit more water when loading. I weighed my soap today and I'm down to 119.5g from 134.2g on the 9th. 134.2 - 119.5 = 14.7g used across 15 shaves so I'm averaging almost exactly 1 gram of soap used per day and I thought I was loading fairly heavily and getting luxurious lathers. This hog is really not a lather hog at all. I am a bit surprised after doing this calculation because I thought I was going through the soap quickly which resulted in me seeing the bottom of the tub. Maybe I do need the moar boar brush after all.

On a side note, I really love the Mammoth jar. I'm not sure if it's intentional (maybe u/MammothBen can comment) but the transparent sticker on the bottom of the tub is a nice touch. Now I have an angry Mammoth staring at me through the ring of death each time I look at the tub.

Aug. 25, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 25

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (25)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

These shaves have become a bit mindless which is good and bad. Prior to AA, I used to think about the software and hardware I want to use the next morning and I would be somewhat eager to wake up to get my shave on. I wouldn't say that I'm no longer looking forward to my shaves, but it's definitely not an exciting thing to start each day. I haven't really been thinking too much about all my other software and I'm hesitating even more now to pull the trigger on the the Tabac that I was planning to buy near the start of AA.

Using the soap for the entire month and seeing how much is still left is making me want to load heavy and kill more soaps this year, but I'll also spend some time trying out some new samples in September. Smelling some new scents should get me more excited about the software side of things again. After finding out how little soap I was actually using in the past 2 weeks by doing some math yesterday, I'm feeling better about signing up for the 31mm monster now.

My post shave collection is mostly alcohol based aftershaves but I used to be a balm only guy when I first started out and was that way for several years so it's weird to be using balm only again. I have oily skin and I tend to prefer the lighter face feel of splashes but I've been fairly happy using this balm for the entire month.

Aug. 26, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 26

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (26)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Solid 3 pass shave today. Today I decided to try a steeper angle with the shavette to see if I could gain a bit of efficiency and it might be placebo but it certainly felt like I was getting a bit closer with each pass. I may have ended up with just slightly more irritation, but that may also be due to the mileage on the blade, who knows.

One thing that I've been thinking about is the idea that the rate at which a brush picks up soap is probably closer to asymptotic and than linear, but I have no way of scientifically measuring it but it makes sense to me. When a brush has no soap on it, the fibers make direct contact with the soap and the friction of the brush should be greater than when a brush is full of soap. If a brush is already saturated with soap, then I would imagine rubbing soap against soap you're less likely to pick up more. Of course this is complicated by the amount of water in the brush and how much pressure you're exerting when you're loading, but for someone like me that loads with a very light touch it has been fairly easy to get the right amount of soap to build the type of lather that I want without feeling like I overloaded.

Now that we're near the end of the month of boar, it's also time to be a bit more objective in evaluating boar brushes now that we're well past the honeymoon period. At the beginning of the month I was curious about how soft the boar would actually get and whether it would actually end up feeling pillowy soft and luxurious, and right now the answer for me is no but that may be because I'm not using a nice Zenith. What it is is a great tool for building excellent lather very efficiently with a little bit of scrub. It will be interesting to see if I end up reaching for my boars at about the same rate as my badgers and synthetics. I tend to reach for synthetics when I want a quick brainless lather that's very easy on the face maybe after a rough shave the previous day and when I want that silky face feel. In the end I'm guessing I'll just pick up a boar when I want some variety and it's different enough to keep in the den.

Aug. 27, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 27

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (27)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

I was examining some of the bristles in the brush today and found some strange looking ones. /u/djundjila I see your splitting DABETB and I raise you this three headed monster. The way the hair is dark at the base but light where it blossoms into a flower is quite odd and makes me feel a little uncomfortable, like something out of an alien movie. I must be getting bored.

Aug. 28, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 28

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (28)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Still no major problems with this setup but I don't think I'm curious enough to see how far I can take this blade beyond AA. Why bother when I have enough blades for probably 10-15 years? I stopped tracking my blade uses because with good lather I find I can easily get more than a week out of a blade and I mostly switch blades out of boredom but maybe I should try tossing blades sooner to see if I notice smoother/closer shaves and so I can go through my blades a bit more quickly.

I typically splay my brushes maybe halfway when I face lather, but I've been experimenting with using just the tips to take advantage of all the split tips on the boar bristles and it seems to work pretty well. This brush splays with very light pressure and I've found it makes excellent lather no matter how it's used. Beyond the first three days of lather eating there hasn't been a single day of bad lather with this brush.

A few years ago I read a book by Marie Kondo, a famous Japanese woman that developed a methodology/mindset for tidying up your life by getting rid of stuff that doesn't bring you joy which resonated a lot with me. Over the years I've cut down on a lot of clothing and random junk in the house, but I've also started applying the method to my wet shaving hobby to some extent. I try to keep only the gear that brings me happiness when I use them and I've used this approach to decide what brushes to sell and what razors to keep. I've started thinking about whether this boar brings me joy to use and I don't have a clear answer yet. It's a fantastic tool for building amazing lather, but the face feel is not luxurious compared to other brushes in the den. There are some brushes which I love because of the aesthetics of the handles, but this is not one of those either. I do have some attachment to it after spending so much time with it this month but I'll re-evaluate whether I should keep it once I bond with my other boars a bit more.

Aug. 29, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 29

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (29)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

Another solid shave. The loading of the brush has been slightly hampered by the ever growing ring of death and I've been compensating by loading a bit longer, but if the ring expands much further I'll spend some time gathering the soap back into an even layer on the bottom to facilitate loading. The brush is comfortable but I do still feel a few stiffer bristles here and there and that takes away from the enjoyment of the brush slightly.

My care package from /u/frankieivfingers (thank you!) arrived today just in time for Sample September! There are some nice samples of some of the newer releases I've been wanting to try and also my birth quarter Gillette Super Adjustable AKA Black Beauty, so I can finally start thinking about what I want to use on September 1st. The timing couldn't have been better, because the temptation would have been too great if I received these things in the beginning of the month.

This month feels like it's going slowly and quickly at the same time but I'm just glad AA is almost over. I really have a love hate relationship with AA, but I do appreciate that I was finally able to get very comfortable with the shavette which is now making me want to try out an actual straight razor. I'm looking forward to trying out my new Zenith brush, but at the same time I'm also not looking forward to going through the break-in process again especially since I want to go back to using a variety of brushes, so it might take until the end of the year for the Zenith to break in properly. It will be hard to evaluate soap scents in September if the scents are fighting against boar funk as well.

Aug. 30, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 30

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (30)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

I spent the day looking at Casio G-Shock watches which was a good distraction from AA but I almost forgot to put in my write up. My face has felt slightly more irritated the past few days possibly because I've been trying too much with this blade, but it's almost over so I'll just push through it. The brush felt very nice today but I'm ready to stuff a fat broosh in my face on September 1st. It's getting quite challenging to get a very close shave and it feels pointless to try to improve my technique using suboptimal equipment.

One more day!

Aug. 31, 2022 - Headless Mammoth Hoggin' Day 31

• Brush: Proraso Professional Boar | Break-in photos
• Razor: Feather Artist Club SR (Kamisori)
• Blade: Schick Proline (31)

• Lather: House of Mammoth - Alive - Soap

• Post Shave: House of Mammoth - Alive - Balm

• Fragrance: House of Mammoth - Alive - Eau de Parfum

AA Tags: #RawHoggin #MammothMafia

This is my second time doing AA, and while I can't say that I'll never do AA again, I might skip ultra nightmare mode next time and swap out the blade as needed. Using the same blade for the entire month is something that I know I can accomplish but doing so doesn't really provide any benefits to my general shave routine, and in fact it might introduce some bad habits like excessive buffing. Using unfamiliar equipment (boar brush, shavette) for the entire month was quite beneficial in building technique which is what I'm most interested in for AA but I don't think I'll have the same needs to do so each year. I'll probably sit out next year unless there is a particularly interesting challenge that I want to try out and not feel like I'm missing out on sub participation.

The raw hoggin' challenge honestly was a great idea for AA (props to /u/EldrormR), and the approximate timeline for a decent break-in of a boar brush lines up nicely with the length of the month so there is a nice sense of accomplishment at the end. The boar brush also gradually became more enjoyable to use which seemed much nicer in contrast to the MMOC challenge where the last week seemed like torture to a lot of the participants. If I had been completely new to shavettes, I don't think I would have had a great time and definitely would not have felt all that confident by the end of 31 days.

It's also interesting to note how certain challenges built comradery among the participants while others seemed to fly under the radar. I do think the number of challenges is taking away a bit from the spirit of AA, but they also do a good job of spicing up an otherwise boring month of monotony. I appreciated the exercise of documenting my experience throughout the month but it also became a bit tedious over the course of the month. In the end, AA is probably meant to be a shared month of suffering in which we all come out with /u/j33pguy13 level thrill for all things wet shaving again.

Time to go back under my rock.