I Want To Be The Very Zest: Day 5 of Lather Games

• Brush: Boti - Sunrise
• Razor: Koraat Sparschweinchen (7/8", “Sheffield-style” full hollow, carbon steel)
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co – Black Pepper Lime
• Post Shave: Noble Otter – Firefighter
• Fragrance: Acqua di Parma – Blu Mediterraneo Arancia di Capri

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Theme justification: Black Pepper Lime is very lime forward. With grapefruit (Firefighter) and orange (Arancia di Capri) playing the main roles in the post and frag, the orange brush, and the orange razor, this entire shave is coloured like or smells like citrus.

It felt really good to have a normal shave, no new-to-me contraption, no leftorium, no lather shenans, just a straight-up good shave.

Today’s challenge suggestion: There be dragons

The wetshaving rabbit hole runs wide and deep. Which parts have you wanted to explore but have held back for some reason? What would you need to take the leap?

I’ll start. Natural stones. People swear by them, and they are pricey. Could they possibly be worth the investment in time and money? I don’t know, but I’m super curious. I have a solid progression of synthetic stones with grits ranging from 1k to 12k, and I get great-feeling edges from them, so I should be a happy camper, right? But then I keep following the discussions on the #straights channel on discord where experienced straight razor users and honemeisters swear that synthetic edges are harsher, that they get less splash feedback after shaving with a jnat edge, etc. You get the picture, I’m a victim of FOMO. I haven’t made the jump yet because frankly, the sheer number of options, the lingo, and the cost in the natural stone space scare me off, especially since I don’t even know whether I’m missing out on anything.

What’s my solution? Well, a couple months ago, Böker had a huge discount on the Böker Abalone razor where you could order one for about CHF 100. I have one of those and it’s one of my favourite razors. I contacted u/Whosgotthepudding and hatched a plan. I will send him two Böker Abalones, two completely identical razors, save for a mark on the tail, and he’ll put a jnat edge on one, and a synth edge on the other. I won’t know which is which, but he will. I’ll get to find out whether I can feel and/or appreciate the difference in how they feel, and might very possibly be forced to explore one more side tunnel of the rabbit hole. It’s a real test for my patience, because Böker is running late one month and counting with my order.