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Aug 1, 2025 - Fougère Friday: Gothique
August 1st, 2025: MMOCMQ Day 1
$discord
Kicking off AA with a new blade and continuing to use what I’ve already been using for a week. I’m on a trip for another 10 days-ish, so AA started a little early for me.
Simple, easy, and close.
Tip of the hat to u/EldrormR for blessing the Master Quest and letting me steal content from his previous posts.
BIG $monthofmikes
MMOC ++;
The Fellowship of MMOC Djudges feels happiness.
Ugh, those razors are so awesome.
One of those silly indulgences that spark joy
August 1, 2025
2 passes. Face lather. Excellent shave.
Wonderful kickoff to Austere August. Let me get all the challenges rolling:
$RawHoggin u/EldrormR (Unboxing is in the first 2 minutes of the video. Feel free to skip the rest. I would.)
$ShepherdsofStirling u/Hugbckt
$headless u/whosgotthepudding
What a nice setup!
Also, using the Affluent Alces for Austere August tickles my affinity for alliteration :). Mine's still in the mail, so I'll try in during Straightember.
Love the photo, Now of course I'm wondering what the trick is with balancing the straight on its tip!
Oh I love Affluent Alces! Heck yeah!
As I'm sure you suspect, the photo is Lightroom/Photoshop trickery:
I did suspect something along those lines regarding the razor, but I'm surprised that the background colour was artificial. I'm naïve 😀
I can do the color with lighting. I have the lights. It’s just quicker to do it with Lightroom. It looks natural because everywhere you see the white background reflected, white is replaced it with green.
I was originally planning to redo the $FriodomRiders and $HoneMeisterschaft challenges, and to add the $Equestrian challenge, which combines $FriodomRiders with horse-themed wares: a horse hair brush and a trifecta of cowboy-themed Roam. I ended up being to lazy to make it a full challenge with posts and prizes, so I'm doing it just for myself this time around.
Because its school break for us right now I've been carrying this setup along during our vacation through Switzerland, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey again, and in two days we move on to Germany before we go back to Switzerland. So far, no luggage has been lost, fingers crossed for the next flight.
Roam in the soft heart base is one of my prized possessions and I was playing with the idea of buying a tub of Roam Two instead, but in the end, I decided to just enjoy this tub.
Looking forward to using this setup for the month.
01.08.2025
Haven't used this soap in a while and the beginning of August is a good opportunity for such a nice citrus scent. I'm really sorry that SW closed down, their scents were really bold and they had one of the best vegan bases ever created. Also, the only artisan afaik who only has alcohol-free toners as their aftershave and those are top notch too.
Seems like my face still hates shaving - while the dome didn't mind blade contact after a day off, my face skin maybe dislikes shaving in general. It doesn't even feel bad until after I rinse the remaining lather off, really weird...
$RawHoggin
$monthofmikes
$headless
And we are off! I have been waiting since mid June it seems like for AA. Tagging u/EldrormR for Raw Hoggin and here is an unboxing video of my brush. The brush felt really good out of the box and reminiscent of the pass around brush u/KerblimeySkal sent around last month, which directly prompted me to get this brush for AA.
Also tagging u/whosgotthepudding for Headless Horsemen. This was a last minute decision and I am totally unsure how this month will play out. Today's shave went okay. Two passes on the mustache area and two with some clean up on the chin and stragglers on my neck. My face felt pretty damn raw after this shave and the splash burnt like hell. I will keep trekking on because I know I can get good shaves with this razor/blade combo because I have before, just gotta shake off the rust. My picture last night showed Sunset and not 322, but 322 is the splash I will be using for the duration of the month, staying in line with HH rules.
Also thanks to everybody participating in Blimey and I's new Mike Soap Challenge. We appreciate you and hope this month will be enjoyable for all, Mike's or not.
Mike's for a month is a really nice AA side challenge. I hope it's still around next year.
Thanks for the compliment! And thank you for your hand it getting things set up!
$RawHoggin
name checks out
August 1st, 2025
MdC is fine soap. I load a normal amount drspite some claims that you don't need much for a good lather.
I load MdC heavily as I do with most soaps. I’ve never had issues with it that others have.
Forgoing Austerity this month?
I'm shaving normally this month! I just killed a tub by using it almost every day, so time to mix it up.
I understand. I was going to try to kill a tub of Stirling by doing 62 shaves in August but could not find the motivation.
More time for gliders and razor honing!
So true!
