#the end of the den tour

Brush: MOAR Razor: Gillette New Blade: persona platinum (20)

And so we reach the end of the tub tour. 20 soaps all in all with a few more to be en route when Irish moos lands.

Next up will be a sample killing spree.

So what did I save to last? The best of the best obviously, but before I go in to that let’s recap

Burns

• panta rei gattopardo - weird texture to the soap and something in it burns slightly. Scent is ok at best
• caties bubbles le marche du rasage - good scent but it burns l. Chris says it’s one of the inhibit not the oakmoss which I’d originally assumed it to be

Basic bitches

body shop maca root and aloe - easy to use and decent lather but nothing special. If you had no other options this is better than anything else on the high street signature capra - good base but unscented mitchells woolfat - hard enough to last forever, but not for me so it’s been released from my den elysium pineapple ambrosia - average soap and a scent that starts nice but the dry down isn’t great

Gud

wickham gothic revival - eucris dupe. Surprisingly strong for a euro soap but average peformer
grooming dept mallard corretto - kids favourite scent. Lucky it's not a soup and is a good quality soap base and a nice gourmand that reminds me of black forest gateaux. I'm just not a gourmand fan.
wickham ninfeo di egeria - light and summery scent I like it a lot but the soap base isn't as good as those above it
Noble Otter rawr - decent. I don't get the love for the scent but it's not bad, just forgettable 
Stirling varen- dark and dank and sheep base is great
signature brittania - surprised this ended up here but the aniseed works really well and the base is the best the UK has 
Chicago ag1889 - great base and scent that's a classic
Noble otter northern elixir - would be higher but I can't cope with menthol year round
Mammoth smash - great base and good scent just a little too sweet for my preference 

Would be happy as my only soap

MdC fougere  - slick as rick and great scent. 
chiseled face Santa Paula - citrus for those that don't like citrus. Don't know why but it just tickles me in the right way.

Desert island soap

barrister and mann sandalwood - a classic. There's a reason it's a favourite for a lot of people and softheart base slaps

Bestest of best

No scrub x red house farm no scrub

Is the base the best - no

Is the scent the best - no

No, it was never going to be anything else. This is literally the greatest thing I’ve done as part of the community and one of the most fun things too. Onion and ray and grindermonk all came together to help turn my daft idea into reality and it meant that I could go out on a high with the no scrub list.

Of course I’m not the type to play the lather games properly, too many rules too much soap and splash and razors needed to score highly even with creativity. But I am the type to enjoy the community aspect of things and to enjoy the shit posts. And so hope thats what I’ve done in the community - from resurrecting the photo contest to various stupid pifs to rebooting and reenvisaging atlas shaves - it’s all about the twin pillars of community engagement and ‘shits and goggles’.

So the shitlist was for me the real heart of the lather games. It was great at driving community engagement driving and encouraged people to do things for the shits and giggles, moreover in the earlier days it was very much a singular vision. If itchy liked it then it went in, and he usually shat on you at the same time. Then it became shared by the judges flagging what they liked and it was watered down and then eventually it kind of died (although by then shit posting was a core part of lathergames).

'course I’ve said this before but the year there was no list was worse as a result. It culminated in a massive whingefest day, where it became apparent that loads of people hadn’t been able to see all the shit posts for the shit. I think I did a SOTD that highlighted a great post each day to prove the whingebags wrong. And that kinda planted the seed for the no scrub list. It’s like the shitlist but worse, and it didn’t even start until a few days into the games after me and DJ were chatting about it. No prize just a curated list.

Risky and self indulgent but I think people liked it. it was a lot of work, and I felt bad there was no prize. But then a single prize was problematic because you ended up with the pppork situation where a single extended riff didn’t win because there was a great one off shit post. So I came up with the idea of an exclusive soap, and grindermonk took it further by refusing to take any money for it so it became a group exclusive prize.

Unbelievably the no scrub soap came together, exclusive for people who shit posted their way to notoriety and an inducement to get squares to loosen up. For that it’s the best.

Bestest even.

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I’ve gone on too long and too earnestly (but at least only 6 people will read it). But don’t worry there’s a hidden message.