This is a community of enthusiasts, hobbyists and artisans who enjoy a traditional wet shave: brush, soap, and safety or straight razor. We are a part of the WetShaving community found on Reddit, Discord, and IRC.
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Nice autumnal shave. Really enjoying this setup.
I have to ask out of curiosity: is the metallic background in your photos an operating table or a sheet of metal?
Lol, it's my Dexter murder table of course!
What you see is our kitchen counter. I usually pick my setup in the morning, when I'm making coffee, so it's convenient
A full stainless steel kitchen counter? Impressive ๐๐ป
Eh, sounds better than it is. Looks a bit like an industrial kitchen. Definitely wouldn't have been our choice, but we're renters, not owners
After looking at images, I tend to agree. There's a bleak coldness to these counters that makes it look like a prison canteen. Nevertheless, good neutral background for your photos. ๐๐ป I'm a renter too, but the flats/apartments over here rarely include any furniture.
but the flats/apartments over here rarely include any furniture.
Biggest difference between renting in Switzerland and Germany: The kitchen doesn't count as furniture here. Just like toilets, bathtubs/showers, it's considered part of the apartment, and only moveable stuff (Mรถbel comes from mobil, after all) is furniture. I found it very frustrating when I lived in Germany. What the fuck am I supposed to do with my kitchen when I move out? Chances that my setup will fit the next kitchen are close to zero ๐
it addition to making your kitchen ...
look like a prison canteen
, it's also a first class detector for damaged cables. I had a blender cable that got squeezed in a kitchen drawer and the live wire was exposed. I hadn't noticed and plugged it in. After a few seconds of moving the blender around, the live wire made contact with the stainless steel surface and with a loud arc and a puff of smoke burned a little copper-coloured crater into the surface. Good times.
The swiss way sounds like the most logical solution to the problem you named - rarely, if ever, will an old kitchen setup fit another flat's kitchen space.
The cable story sounds dangerous though, really good nothing worse has happened...
Yup, fuses++;
I love the older BaM labels.
Screwdjriver++;
November 23rd, 2025
I don't remember where I got this MdC Fougere from, but I think it was a tub split from u/VisceralWatch... I don't remember sending him money for it, so I think he was just trying to get rid of some :-) Either way, I finished it off! Not really a tub kill, but still happy to reduce the amount of soap I own.
Yesterday's shave was worse than I thought... I even had irritation left on my cheeks this morning... I don't remember the last time I got irritation on my cheeks! That's the easiest place to shave. I decided to end my 4-shave run with the Joseph Rogers & Sons and give my face a break by using a DE today.
Thrill of the kill!
Even half a tub of MdC takes some effort to get through. Congrats on the kill!
Congrats on the kill! I remember sending VisceralWatch my entire glass jar of MdC Fougรจre two or three years ago. My recollection was that he did not care for it that much. I happen to think it is great, but I seem to find a way to like most scents, so I may not be very discerning ๐
Interesting! I'll text him and see if he remembers the origin of my MdC. Would be fun if it was from you originally!
I like the scent. It's quite strong in the lavender department, but a nice Fougรฉre.
I forgot to mention that I sent it to him to try. He returned it to me after he was done with it.
That makes sense then. He said he's only ever owned the bowl version.
Tabula Rasa - 23. November 2025
single pass head shave, great shave ; single pass on the face except moustache, soul patch and broader chin area - good shave
This sounds very stupid on my part, but now it was the shortest time I ever had a full goatee. What was supposed to just be a minor trim of the areas under my mouth directly to the sides of my soul patch turned into a full-blown re-styling and shave thanks to a mishap. Small PSA: if you're using a trimmer, no matter for what area, make sure you have a) the right guard comb on it, b) any guard on if you're not doing detailing/contouring. In my case, I had absolutely no guard on my zero gap trimmer and zing! one of the connection areas between moustache and chin fluff was erased. Well, shit happens - I trimmed the remaining hair into the shortest stubble possible with the 1.5 mm guard and went ahead with my shave - just with a bit more areas to cover with lather than originally planned ๐ค
I'm still amazed how good VoA can smell if you get it just right. Today, while the trimmer luck had forsaken me, the wetshaving gods smiled at me and blessed me with a really great lather. Under all the dank leather and burnt rubber, I can get a little citrus/bergamot note and I simply stopped to be frustrated at my mistake. Like Bob Ross said, maybe it's all just happy accidents. This soap can get really slick and it treated my skin well during the shave.
I was kinda impressed how well I managed to freehand style some kind of stubble anchor beard. The basic henriquatre shape was still noticeable in short form, but there was also a bit of longer scruff grown around it and I had to shave the previous "connection areas" right below the moustache and above the classic chin goatee part. Full disclosure, I didn't do that with the 30 mm brush, but squeezed the remaining lather out and dabbed it there with my fingertips. It sure isn't 100% symmetrical, but that's barely noticeable at a stubble length anyways. Now I plan to give my facial hair time for regrowth; the good thing is that beard hair is a renewable resource as it simply grows back.
However, even though it resulted from a frustrating mistake, I had gotten such a good to great shave out of it that I can't be angry about it. Things will happen and sometimes I just need to adapt on the go. Hope y'all had a great weekend and a very relaxing Sunday โ๐ป
Valley of Ashes ++
You're not the first person who's said they smell a burnt rubber in VoA, which is interesting to me. I get a bit of rubber for sure, but much more of the bright citrus notes. Funny how different noses work!
It's definitely interesting. To me, the rubber note in VoA is like skid marks on a race track from slamming the brakes, drifting, etc. The citrus note is definitely prominent, just usually more drowned out by the harsher scent notes for me. So my nose doesn't even reliably work the same every time! ๐
Sample kill. Scarn is a nice scent but the strength is slight (maybe 2/10). Hรขttric Classic is great though. It hung with me through most of the days without being overpowering.
Have a good day!
Stirling soap with a boar brush never disappoints.
Have a great Sunday!
Nice setup! What's behind the term "Shoat"?
I believe shoat refers to a young pig that's recently been weaned. I can't say that I notice a huge difference compared with my other boar knots. If anything, the hairs are a bit thinner, but it's hard to say.
Thank you! Somehow, it didn't occur to me that I could just Google it. Senility sucks!
November 23, 2025
3 passes. Face lather. Average shave.
This was a comfortable, but not particularly close shave. In looking back at my records I saw that this razor had one of my very early edges from the Olympus stone. After the shave, I took this razor back to the Olympus and did a refresh using what I have learned about the stone since my early attempts. This refreshed edge looks significantly better under the microscope and tests exactly where I would like it for sharpness. Tomorrow's shave test will tell me if my skills with this stone have improved.
As always, Waterlyptus was wonderful as was Aqua Velva, which added a touch of nostalgia to the shave.
November 23rd, 2025: Dranks SLS
Excellent Dranks shave. I'm looking forward to getting a trifecta of this in the premium base!
