September 2nd, 2025
Great hotel shave. I'm glad to have options other than Arko, but I do love it sometimes.
Oh, this experiment! Fun!
Interesting and relatively predictable results! I am a bit surprised that linen and/or leather can so easily bring hard steel back into shape. Perhaps if you really pushed it, say, for 2 months, then stropping would be less effective. Time for an experiment!
September 1st, 2025: Great
$discord
The razor felt SO good. As far as straight razor shaves go, it usually doesn't get any better than this for me. Good stuff.
Mood Indigo is getting low. Maybe less than a week left if I keep using it consistently.
I'm doing a PIF of a Chatillon Lux aftershave. Find it here.
August 31st, 2025: Nice
Really nice shave. Super duper. I always regret using this aftershave, though. I think someone must have added some sort of cooling to it in addition to the little bit of menthol that CL aftershaves had by default. Either that, or I get some quick frag burn which combined with the menthol makes it even worse. Either way, this aftershave hurts. Time to give it away, I think.
I've been using straight razors pretty consistently (except when I travel and use cartridge/disposable razors). Going back to DE is a pleasure, especially with a blade that works well. These V12 blades might be my favorite, though it might be a toss up between them and Zorrik. If I had to choose 3 blades for the rest of my life it would be these, Zorrik, and Bolzano.
I've used this soap 8 times this month and it's in my sights for a tub kill. My lathers yesterday and today were quite nice. It seems I'm getting it dialed in (more soap, more water).
Looks great. I think for something like this finishing isn't strictly necessary. The wood will change over time, but I wouldn't be concerned with it getting dirty or stained like mentioned below. It'll just add character, if anything.
One thing to consider would be mineral oil (found in the laxatives section in the grocery store, usually). It's cheap and will help keep the wood nice.I use it on my cutting board, and it needs to be reapplied every so often for that use case.
I'm excited for the stropping result. Subscribing for updates!
August 30th, 2025
Easy hotel shave. One of the better Tusk lathers I've gotten recently. I think Santa Noir might be a good travel/work aftershave for me. It smells nice but isn't overly strong. The dry down is mellow enough that it shouldn't bother any coworkers, some of whom I have to work in close quarters with.
As someone who has read almost all of your SOTD and Free Talk Friday posts about the stresses of school and exams, I'm so glad it's over!
Seriously though, congratulations.
Estimate Me: 2025-08-29 (Large cup of hazelnuts)
Rank #76 of 151
🟧🟧🟨
🔗 https://estimate-me.aukspot.com/archive/2025-08-29
After seeing pictures of it and voting for it on multiple occasions on the contests held here, I got to see a Eurasian eagle-owl in person today. I was a little far away so the picture isn't that great, but I was very impressed.
I also got to see a Barn Owl, and it was beautiful!
I'm in for October