DaveWave94
@DaveWave94@sub.wetshaving.social
- Comment on Monday SOTD Thread, May 26th, 2025 (#713) 2 days ago:
It definitely somehow helped me to appreciate the hobby aspect again. Not really the FOMO and staying up late to catch a certain drop of soap or brushes - that’s gone for good. But the simple enjoyment is back and that’s cool. 👍🏻 Thank you very much 🙏🏻
- Comment on Monday SOTD Thread, May 26th, 2025 (#713) 3 days ago:
26.05.2025
- Brush: AP Shave Co. Snakeskin w/ 26 mm Silksmoke Flattop/Fan hybrid
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE (fresh)
- Lather: House of Mammoth - Tobacconist
- Post-Shave: OAM sensitive skin toner; alverde men aftershave balm
-> 1 pass on both head and face. Mostly ATG on the dome, mostly WTG on the face. Great shave.
Today I postponed picking up my new car until after the exams. My stress levels were getting so high that even my parents began to worry about me, which is never a good sign. It’s not good to have two big milestone events of my life conflicting with each other. I was at the dealership with my father, we looked at the new car and took some photos and I signed all the necessary contracts and made my deposit. Everything’s prepared for next week, but until after the exhausting exams.
Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled SOTD program: after I mentioned HoM Tobacconist yesterday, I couldn’t get it out of my head. So of course I had to use it today. What a magnificent scent, this could definitely be my desert island soap. I think FMoM is a close second, but still second. Also, Mammoth’s Tusk base is a pleasure to work with: hassle-free lather, very fast and good slickness. I’m aware that Vida from Chicago Grooming does the soap base for Ben and I also never had a problem with any of her soaps either. Granted, haven’t tried her newest base yet.
You know, it’s kinda funny how now in the most stressful time ever I start to shave more and appreciate the hobby aspect of it again - finally! It kinda helps me to calm down and get my thoughts sorted, something sorely needed atm. Maybe @walden@sub.wetshaving.social 's sample letter was also part of igniting the spark again. Maybe I’ll get myself a nice set when all of this is finally over in September. Thanks for reading, folks ✌🏻
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, May 25th, 2025 (#712) 4 days ago:
25.05.2025
- Brush: AP Shave Co. Snakeskin w/ 26 mm Silksmoke Flattop Fan hybrid
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: BIC Chrome Platinum
- Lather: Barrister and Mann - The Full Measure of Man
- Post-Shave: OAM sensitive skin toner; alverde men aftershave balm
-> 1 pass on the head, 2 on the face. Minor irritation on the face, otherwise a very enjoyable shave.
Had a busy day. Apart from studying, I also cleaned out my old car and put its summer tires in the trunk. Tomorrow it’s the final drive with it - I’m leaving it at the dealership and Wednesday I’ll pick up my new car! A bit excited, a bit sad. My old car has gone through a lot with me, but sadly it’s falling apart and is definitely at the right time for permanent retirement. I’ll need to get a rental car tomorrow, I hope they have something small. Don’t really need something as big and long like my current old car if I have to be extra careful…
FMoM is such a great tobacco scent. Perhaps it’d be my top spot if HoM Tobacconist wouldn’t exist. Still, this one is beautifully dark and comparable to a high quality cigar. I had to work a bit harder than usual to get a great lather and had to redo it for the face shave, but I chalk this up to nerves - still, it was as great as can be. While I liked the other B&M bases I tried so far (thanks to PIFs and generous samples), Omnibus is really high quality. Especially noticeable on head shaves, where one needs good residual slickness for an even result.
Hope everyone had a nice weekend. 👍🏻
- Comment on Saturday SOTD Thread, May 24th, 2025 (#711) 5 days ago:
24.05.2025
- Brush: AP Shave Co. Snakeskin w/ 26 mm Silksmoke Flattop/Fan hybrid knot
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
- Lather: Australian Private Reserve - Raconteur
- Post-Shave: Benecos - 2in1 face & aftershave balm
- Fragrance: Bentley for Men Intense EdP
-> 2 passes on the head and on the face. Great shave on the dome, some minor irritation on the face but still comfortable enough. Sample kill!
Ok, I kinda need to explain the constant shift between facial hair styles: I went back to smooth cheeks and just a goatee since due to the current stress of my final exams drawing closer and closer, my facial hair is shedding a lot. Especially on the cheek area. I’m not that fond of the full goatee anymore, but atm I will use it to grow out the moustache and soul patch enough to not look weird - it’s simply a bit too short right now. I don’t know what causes this shedding, but I think it’s the culminating stress.
Still had my sample tray with Raconteur in it and it was plenty for two full shaves (face and head), so I used it. Huge thanks to @walden@sub.wetshaving.social for allowing so many of us to use this unobtainable soap. I kinda have to revise my earlier statement from Wednesday: Raconteur is much more of a sophisticated, high-class scent than VoA or Midnight Stag. While those two perfectly represent the lower to middle class work of bikers and car mechanics, Raconteur is more of the office friendly scent. And I don’t mean a call center office, more like a lawyer’s/attorney’s office if you catch my drift. Somehow I got the lather even better today, it didn’t even dry out my skin too much.
Ok, enough pointless rambling. Have a great weekend y’all ✌🏻
- Comment on Wednesday SOTD Thread, May 21st, 2025 (#708) 1 week ago:
22.05.2025
- Brush: AP Shave Co. Snakeskin w/ 26 mm Silksmoke Flattop/Fan hybrid knot
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
- Lather: Australian Private Reserve - Raconteur
- Post-Shave: Moon Soaps - OldSchool “balm”
-> 2-pass head shave and a very great one if I may add.
Even though I wanted to drop out of BVWSC until further notice, @walden@sub.wetshaving.social generously provided me with a sample too. Maybe he knew this scent is right up my alley? Anyways, I couldn’t let this generous opportunity pass even though my shave got delayed quite a bit by studying and beard trimming:
I had no problems to lather the APR base, perhaps this one likes soft water. My experience with APR is extremely limited, but I once got a small sample for the Lather Games '21 (IIRC it was “Fenchurch”?). It left my skin a bit dry after shaving, though that’s not uncommon for me. Overall it was pretty slick.
Now the scent is the real star: a great blend of leather and woody notes, generally a warm scent IMHO and somehow very comfy. Like driving around while wearing your favourite leather jacket. The runny Moon Soaps “balm” kinda fits nicely, even though it’s way sweeter than Raconteur. I know you folks like kinda bizarre comparisons, so here’s one: I think Raconteur is the well-groomed, toned down cousin of Midnight Stag and Valley of Ashes. Does a solid and stable job and won’t overstay it’s welcome. Also definitely more of a people pleaser than the aforementioned “fuck you, I wear this for myself”-scents.
Have a good time, everyone. 👍🏻
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, May 18th, 2025 (#705) 1 week ago:
18.05.2025
- Brush: AP Shave Co. Snakeskin handle w/ 26 mm Silksmoke Flattop/Fan hybrid knot
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
- Lather: E&S Rasage - Shaman
- Post-Shave: Lavera Men sensitive ASB
-> 2-pass head shave (WTG, ATG) and 1 (WTG) around the beard. Good shave but very sloppy lather.
Initially I couldn’t even get any lather going with this soap, but I refused to give up and it kinda paid off. I don’t know if it maybe is due to the many oils E&S uses in their soap, but at first it only produced a watery mess with a deep brown tinge (I’ll keep any comparisons to myself for the sake of you fine folks keeping your lunch in). I actually had to really grind my brush into the tub and swirl it like I was stirring up something to get it to something useable. While I really enjoy this one’s tobacco heavy scent, lathering it is no pleasure compared to my other soaps.
Not shaving for 5 days meant that I had a considerable amount of stubble to knock down, but I am pleased that the Thorn does it quite effectively.
I used this shave to calm down, atm the stress of studying is really wearing me out. I think I need to slow things down a bit, the last four days (including the weekend) have been nothing but writing tons of stuff down.
Nevertheless, have an amazing day ✌🏻
- Comment on Tuesday SOTD Thread, May 13th, 2025 (#700) 2 weeks ago:
Haha, it definitely used to be like this for me too! Now with the pre-exam panic, I tend to actually study but my inner perfectionist still says it’s not enough. At least I have a small group chat with 3 other classmates and the exchange there helps to repeat certain topics.
- Comment on Tuesday SOTD Thread, May 13th, 2025 (#700) 2 weeks ago:
13.05.2025
- Brush: AP Shave Co. Snakeskin handle w/ 26 mm Silksmoke Flattop/Fan hybrid knot
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
- Lather: Barrister and Mann - The Full Measure of Man
- Post-Shave: Lavera Men sensitive ASB
-> single pass headshave, mostly ATG; coupled with a single WTG cleanup around the beard. Good shave.
I was in the mood for Tobacco and so a few soaps of mine came into consideration. FMOM is always a solid choice though, I really slept on this scent for a long time.
Nursing school exam prep is currently a shit show, thanks to sick teachers we’re mostly at home (except for three hours tomorrow) and learn whatever we deem necessary. We get some old exams by email from our teachers to familiarize with the weirdest way of asking questions ever, but that’s it. I used today for very theoretical concepts and basics of communication psychology, so this shave was also used as some form of palate cleanser from very dull activities.
The good thing about this home schooling is the flexible schedule, so I can start whenever I want to; this is also a double edged sword however, since I tend to feel like I’m not doing enough and take to many breaks. Then I try to compensate by late night studying sessions. Well, nobody said it would be easy…
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, May 11th, 2025 (#698) 2 weeks ago:
11.05.2025
- Brush: TGS Galaxy 26 mm
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
- Lather: Chiseled Face - Ghost Town Barber
- Post-Shave: Lavera Men sensitive ASB
-> 2-pass head shave and one WTG cleanup pass around the stubble.
Pre-Exam period is the funny time where you worry about the stupidest things: namely, I was researching the best pen for writing exams for quite some time today. Turns out that most of the high-class metal ones aren’t it - at least now I know what to look for tomorrow. (But in case anyone has any high quality ballpoint pen recommendations, I will gladly look at them!)
I thought that since I am late, I might as well shave. And it was good. GTB is really nice to calm down, CF doesn’t do a super high-end base but at least it’s quick to lather and reliable.
Yeah, I got rid of the circle beard/goatee and it was the final time trying. It’s just too much maintenance for something too small. I like myself better with the short stubble, those patchy spots be damned. Maybe I just need to learn to live with a bit of imperfection, even though that’s admittedly hard for myself. I rather prefer to focus on achieving a smooth dome and nicely shaved neckline.
Also, dear @walden@wetshaving.social , I got your sample letter - Thanks! I don’t know if I can make it, but I’ll try for sure.
- Comment on Tuesday SOTD Thread, May 6th, 2025 (#694) 3 weeks ago:
06.05.2025
- Brush: TGS Galaxy 26 mm
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
- Lather: Wholly Kaw - King of Bourbon
- Post-Shave: Lavera Men sensitive ASB
-> 1-pass WTG head and face shave. Increased the frequency, still kept it at a single pass though.
Also one of my odd partial face shaves, have gone back to a full goatee from my scraggly unkempt long stubble and to make this stand out, you need to shave around it. Who knows, maybe I’ll keep it this time around if I maintain it at a fairly short length.
Shaving with the Thorn instead of the Cyber is a bit less comfortable, but this one is great for even lines and general efficiency.
Have a nice evening/night/whatevertimeitisinyourtimezone✌🏻
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, May 4th, 2025 (#691) 3 weeks ago:
04.05.2025
- Brush: TGS Galaxy 26 mm
- Razor: RazoRock Cyber Medium w/ Superknurl handle
- Blade: BIC Chrome Platinum
- Lather: Abbate Y La Mantia - Blu Tobacco
- Post-Shave: Lavera Men sensitive ASB
-> single pass WTG head shave again. Not very close, but comfortable nonetheless.
Trying to be more active in wetshaving is difficult when there’s a thousand other things on your mind. I even had to get back to my bathroom because I couldn’t remember the right name for the artisan…
However, this was a nice night shave to calm down before it’s back to nursing school tomorrow. Final month before the exams, crunch time. A nice shave helps to clear my head before this (figuratively and literally).
Anyways, have a nice start into the new week! ✌🏻
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - May 2nd, 2025 3 weeks ago:
It really is awful… usually letterboxes are spared from vandalism except the occasional guerilla sticker or graffiti. They’re also built pretty safe, but my colleagues said that the lowlifes in their town usually used fireworks to damage them. I really am glad that the township and the Deutsche Post installed a letterbox right at the entrance of our nursing home recently. More watchful eyes thanks to our 3-shift-system so less chances of vandalism and short ways for our residents who want to send letters to their family from further away. Win-win.
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - May 2nd, 2025 3 weeks ago:
Damn them indeed, but lesson learned - I now only trust the single letterbox left in my small village, but for everything international it’ll be the post office.
Thanks! I sure will be relieved once everything’s over, but at least there’s light at the end of the tunnel now. 👍🏻
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - May 2nd, 2025 3 weeks ago:
I finished the last day of my practical training (ok, it was just 500 hours total in my nursing home) before my exams. On Monday, it’s back to nursing school and the exams start in June with the written part. I’m excited when I am finally done with my retraining and get my RN license in September.
The written exams will be the worst part, lots of theory to memorize and unfortunately they are the very first part. I’m not very afraid about the practical exam in July and the final oral exam at the end of August - there’s a myriad of topics to draw, but I should have enough knowledge and communication skills to pass those. And more time to prepare. It’s unfortunate how much I neglect hobbies and everything else due to the exam period, but thankfully I begin to improve in terms of my mental wellbeing. Slowly, but steadily.
I also think I know now what happened to the BVWSC March letters - if my colleagues who live in the small town where I work are right, it’s not DHL who are to blame but stupid vandalism. According to them, the letterbox is now gone as it was in a very troublesome neighbourhood (who would’ve thought in such a small rural town?!?) and was often the target of idiots who put it on fire for fun. They told me the last known fire incident was at the end of February - which unfortunately matches up with the time I put my letters in. So it seems like everything was lost to a fire thanks to some morons. I always hated vandalism, but now I know for sure: if I ever send something important out again that I really, really want to reach its destination - I will only send it via post office. I will never understand why some people think it’s a good idea to harm their own community - be it destroying letterboxes, park benches, sculptures or worst of all public playgrounds. But unfortunately, it is what it is. Just sad about the wasted postage and soap samples, but thankfully no one was seriously harmed.
- Comment on Wednesday SOTD Thread, April 30th, 2025 (#687) 4 weeks ago:
Very late, but: Happy birthday! 🥳🎉
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - April 25th, 2025 4 weeks ago:
Thanks walden! I hope that everything goes smoothly and that I can be a bit more active here.
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 4 weeks ago:
Hi! 👋🏻 Thanks, things are finally moving in the right direction. Hope to be a bit more active here even in my exam period.
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread, April 27th, 2025 (#684) 4 weeks ago:
27.04.2025
- Brush: RazoRock F-400 34 mm
- Razor: RazoRock Cyber Medium w/ Superknurl handle
- Blade: BIC Chrome Platinum
- Lather: Wholly Kaw - Transition
- Post-Shave: Lavera Men sensitive ASB
-> single pass WTG head shave and a bit of buffing. Comfortable shave.
This seemed like a cool combo for this Sunday night shave. Transition is warm yet inoffensive and WK soap always treats my skin good - it also helped that I used my mildest razor. Had some trouble to get a good lather with the behemoth of a brush, but it worked on my second attempt.
Stayed with a single WTG pass though, after weeks with just a trimmer I simply lack the muscle memory for more.
My Sunday was not only spent studying, so that’s a big plus. Have a nice evening/day/night ✌🏻
- Comment on Free Talk Friday - April 25th, 2025 4 weeks ago:
Very late to the thread, but I don’t mind…
Lots of positive changes happened lately. I was able to score an A in my last “preparation exam” - to explain, a teacher from nursing school visits us in our workplace and we’re graded on our performance in just the ‘nursing’ part of our job, not the documentation. We give a good overview of our patients/residents’ diagnoses and medication, but we don’t write an extensive daily care plan like we do in the real final exams. My score was barely an A (1), but I’m still very confident in my skills now.
Second I was finally able to order a used car for me, even though my mother had to get involved to validate my credit rating. The bank didn’t care that as a future nurse I could find work easily. Well, now I wait for the delivery… Thankfully it has all the features I was looking for and my favourite design of the line (all black with a red stripe around the roof).
Currently most of my time apart from working and household chores is spent on preparing for the written exams, as they’ll be in the first week of June. Not much time for hobbies… But I hope to get a nice and relaxing shave done today.
- Comment on Saturday SOTD Thread, April 12th, 2025 (#671) 1 month ago:
Happy belated birthday! 🎉
- Comment on Sunday SOTD Thread - March 30th, 2025 (#656) 1 month ago:
30.03.2025
- Brush: TGS Galaxy 26 mm
- Razor: Leaf Thorn
- Blade: Perma-Sharp half DE
- Lather: Declaration Grooming - Unscented
- Post-Shave: Lavera - men sensitive ASB
-> single pass shave, head and face area.
Had nothing else to do so I figured I might as well take a nice slow relaxed shave.
Did better than expected, just one weeper on the head and a bit of redness around the goatee. I went back to partial beards since minoxidil wasn’t working after 2 months, if anything it made things worse.
Hope everyone has/had a nice Sunday. - Comment on [BVWSC] Inquiry on the state of the March shave 2 months ago:
Thanks a lot DJ 🙏🏻 Unfortunately currently nothing is anywhere close to fun for me, everything feels like a chore and there’s quite a lot to get done. At least I don’t have any suicidal thoughts anymore so that’s a little better. Small steps.
- Comment on [BVWSC] Inquiry on the state of the March shave 2 months ago:
Thank you very much. Fortunately I didn’t send the razor head you were asking for with the sample, as I really don’t want it to get lost in an uninsured and untracked letter. I hope everything will get easier soon, currently it’s just loads of stress in every aspect of my life. Nothing’s fun anymore and shaving has also turned into a chore again.
I’ll do my best
- Comment on [BVWSC] Inquiry on the state of the March shave 2 months ago:
Thanks. I hope it’ll become less stressful soon.
- Comment on [BVWSC] Inquiry on the state of the March shave 2 months ago:
It’s just a very unfortunate situation though - I guess if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s the unreliability of our postal services…
- Comment on [BVWSC] Inquiry on the state of the March shave 2 months ago:
Thank you I didn’t want to spoil the fun, but currently it seems like everything I undertake turns into shit.
- Comment on [BVWSC] Inquiry on the state of the March shave 2 months ago:
I am deeply sorry to everyone involved. I don’t know what kind of dumbfuckery is going on with DHL/Deutsche Post, I put the letters into one of their old yellow mailboxes near the end of February and it seems like no one received theirs yet, not even sahenders who’s residing in Germany. Even though it’s not my fault directly, I wish to apologize to you all for ruining BVWSC. 😥
As for my personal situation; I want to inform you that I had a massive load of shit happen to me recently and so, my depression is back at full force. Therefore I won’t be able to participate in any shave events in the foreseeable future - atm, it’s very hard to just get everything in my daily life under control and my final exams for the RN are coming up in early June. My appearances here will be sporadically at best during the whole spring and summer months, I hope everything will look better & brighter once September rolls around and I hopefully passed everything. Shit’s though.
Due to some technical problems with my smartphone and certain apps, I also lost my Lemmy login info around my birthday and was just recently able to retrieve it via Windows password manager. Thanks for those who inquired about me - I’m not dead (yet), but I’m seriously struggling mentally. (Proof being that writing this took me way longer than usual and tons of edits).
Again, sorry everyone for all this mess. I seriously hate how this turned out - Comment on Monday SOTD Thread - February 24th, 2025 (#623) [Atlas Shaves Edition] 2 months ago:
Not in this contest, but this sounds very weird: so if the chosen soap would be something of the now-defunct Oleo Soapworks, you can’t use anything under Chicago Grooming Co. despite Vida being the artisan behind both names, just re-branded? Same with Scott and L&L/Declaration Grooming? IMHO, that sounds like BS to me. The rules don’t seem to mention the same brand name.
- Comment on Friday SOTD Thread - February 21st, 2025 (#620) [Atlas Shaves Edition] 2 months ago:
tbh, this can happen to anyone of us. I immediately recognised the handle and just zoomed in to see the little holes indicating what base plate it is that GreenCult uses. I always found this little detail very neat!
- Comment on Friday SOTD Thread - February 21st, 2025 (#620) [Atlas Shaves Edition] 2 months ago:
Not OP, but if I am not mistaken it’s a GreenCult 2.0 with adjustable base plates (similar to Karve/Rockwell), stainless steel safety razor made in Austria.