The Germans seemingly confiscated it too, no smoke at all for me and perhaps just a faint touch of old leather (could’ve been the vetiver though). 🤔

Me neither, zero smoky notes - and I actually hoped for those…

Glad to hear about your wife finishing her chemotherapy treatment; very sorry to hear about your elderly dog. Life and death indeed, but losing pets sucks. Wishing you & your family all the best.

18.12.2024 - BVWSC December Edition

• Brush: AP Shave Co. black & clear handle w/ 30 mm Tuxedo Fan knot
• Razor: Leaf Thorn
• Blade: Derby Premium half DE
• Lather: House of Mammoth - You & I (Will Die)
• Post-Shave: Southern Witchcrafts - GraveFruit II AS toner

-> 2 passes on the dome, 1 around the beard lines. Smooth shave.

For the last edition of Buena Vista Wetshaving Social Club of 2024, we’re using a new release by Mammoth. You & I (Will Die) seems to be intended as a Memento Mori in shaving soap form. I mean, read the description at Maggards - sounds pretty profound, doesn’t it?

Here’s the thing though: upon receiving the sample, my first thought was “Oh. Not what I expected.” And now that it was time to use it, this didn’t change. I’m glad for the opportunity to use this as a part of BVWSC, but if I am brutally honest: I would have expected something very different just from the scent description/marketing babbling than this. It smells very cologne-y to me, in the sense of an old school cologne. It’s definitely floral in the opening and the aldehydes don’t really add a fresh note, they rather amplify the floral notes and give them some complexity. The darker notes aren’t as present to my nose then. I get a bit of woody stuff, a faint dank note either by the vetiver or the leather. 0% smoke. But the musk hits hard, damn. “Fragile musk” is definitely wrong - this is very musky. Combined with the strong florals and musk, this IMHO is an Oldschool scent. Something ol’ geezers would appreciate to smell like. Not that it’s a bad scent; oh no, quite the contrary. But I feel like I am at least 20 years too young to wear this. Good that I now know never to get a full tub…

The good thing is that Tusk base is really great to shave with - whips up tons of slick, protective lather. Leaves my skin feeling rather nice. I agree with @djundjila that the florals give the scent a springtime feeling, so I followed up with GraveFruit II - something that also combines light & dark notes but also reminds me of warmer seasons. All in all, a great and comfortable final BVWSC shave for 2024. The scent isn’t for me, but at least now I know how it is like. Folks, it’s always an honour to shave with you. I’m really looking forward to the 2025 editions with all of you fine people. Have a good time! 🤝🏻

16.12.2024 - Monday comfort shave

• Brush: RazoRock Beehive 28 mm
• Razor: Leaf Thorn
• Blade: Derby Premium
• Lather: Declaration Grooming - Cuir et Epices
• Post-Shave: Moon Soaps - Old School “balm”; moisturizer

-> 1 pass on the head plus some buffing in hard-to-get places. Just WTG, not very close but really comfortable.

Just a short shave I did before my late shift and yet again forgot to post… Today was rather stressful, despite the late shift I had to get up early to help my landlord/s (two brothers) and the heating company to fix our heating system. Well, ‘helping’ is a bit ovestated in this case - I told them what happened in my flat, let them in, they checked everything once, talked with me and seemed to have easily fixed everything in our whole apartment complex by cleaning the pipes. Now it’s working, it’s warm again and I am happy.

I was in the mood for a comforting shave before work, and since I saw @djundjila posting a nice leather-themed SOTD I wanted to follow along. Unfortunately I forgot to use a leather fragrance, but there should be enough other opportunities this winter.

Cuir et Epices (I still can’t get the proper name right, sorry my french is shite) is a warm leather scent mixed with spices. It’s as comfortable as an old armchair and a real pleasure to use: lathers very fast, smells great, works wonders. Of course the Thorn is also a very easy autopilot razor for me, so it was all in all very relaxed today.

Monday is done! I really look forward to when everyone else stays at home for the holidays. The streets are packed atm and I really would appreciate getting to work faster. Hope everyone else here can have some peace & quiet on the holiday season!

I guess it helps that shaving soap itself is pretty malleable and therefore not prone to breaking easily. Really cool though what an international effort BVWSC is!

Thanks for the reminder. I put it in my calendar app so it’ll notify me in time… I also always forget to tell the people when I receive the samples. Everyone, as long as I don’t say anything otherwise, it should be assumed that your sample has reached me but I simply put it in my drawer and forgot about it until it is time to use it.

I’m sorry to hear there are no unions/lobbies for software developers. It was just an idea that came to my mind - unions would’ve made withholding bonuses due to bad management a big issue. My employer works with ver.di, one of the biggest german worker unions - they always get some slight benefits for us settled. This year, it was an inflation bonus.

I can totally understand your point - If you’re the most skilled team member, but no one of the execs appreciates it, that becomes very frustrating soon. I can relate how you actually want to improve further, but there seems to be a hard ceiling limit in your way.

Fingers crossed for your resumes. I hear IT work is a bit of a wild ride in terms of the job market atm, but I hope you’ll be successful in securing a satisfying job at a good place. 🙏🏻

My view is that we shouldn’t be punished because the execs are mismanaging the company…but what do I know?

Your view is, IMHO, exactly right. Unfortunately, a lot of corporations tend to let their workers suffer for the mistakes the higher-ups committed. Even if they are what really keeps the business running…

If this mismanagement has affirmed your decision to leave the company, I say it’s a good idea. Your workforce is the most valuable thing they get from you; and if they don’t honour it, I say let them suffer the consequences by directing your efforts elsewhere. I know unions aren’t as big in the USA as they are over here in Germany, but I personally consider joining at least one that has the working people’s best interests in mind. Perhaps there’s something you can join that’s directly related to your field of work, if such things exist in the US? We have “Berufsfachverbände” over here, e.g. they cater to workers in the steel industry, healthcare, and so on. And perhaps you can find a company that won’t pressure you to stay out of unions and actually cares about their workers. I seriously wish you all the best in your efforts to find a better job.

Personally, changing jobs at the end of the last year and starting anew in January 2024 was one of the best decisions of my life. It’s hard, mentally draining and involves lots of elbow grease. But in the end, it’s so worth it!

Thanks. For me personally, audiobooks are a bit of a double-edged sword with my ADHD. If everyone has a “stream of consciousness”, mine’s more like a ravaging ocean during a storm. I get distracted a lot, even when I watch video essays that provide a visual experience to illustrate their point. Podcasts are actually very hard for me to follow along due to this, but I think I could try audio books for some topics at least. There’s always the rewind button…

I hear you. I often tend to have a very negative point of view. There’s still lots of areas to be improved, but that doesn’t need to happen constantly or all at the same time. I guess now would be a good time for me to delve into the works of Albert Camus, since that’s something that interested me for a long time but haven’t found the time nor energy to go deeper into such topics. It’s kinda hard when my early shifts tire me out so much that I fall asleep in my armchair; but there’s always a bit of free time to use for such things. Thanks for the positive encouragement! 👍🏻

Thanks walden, you’re right there. I often tend to see things in my life more negatively than they actually are. My profession is actually going really well - the exams will be very stressful next year, but that’s to be expected. I currently feel a bit lost at my new station since I don’t know the residents there too well and therefore lack the routine my colleagues have developed; but I can always improve. Thanks for the reality check! 🤝🏻

I have a free weekend, finally. But unluckily, there seems to be a problem with the central heating system in my flat. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but we currently have -5°C at night so it’s a bit uncomfortable. Hope they’ll fix it soon. Currently I help myself with blankets and a fleece pullover.

Unfortunately I still am a professional at procrastination and feel like I am wasting a lot of my potential, both in work and in private. I feel like I’ve wasted a good chunk of my twenties and my thirties shouldn’t go down the drain too. I hope to finally start reading a book again this weekend - given that I have so many unfinished or not even started ones lying around here, I should find something.

11.12.2024 - Chypre on Wednesday

• Brush: AP Shave Co. black & clear handle w/ 30 mm Tuxedo Fan knot
• Razor: Leaf Thorn
• Blade: Derby Premium half DE
• Lather: Barrister & Mann - Le Grand Chypre
• Post-Shave: benecos 2in1 aftershave & face balm

-> 1 pass on the head and neck. Comfortable dome shave, one inexplicable weeper on the neck - maybe I was going too fast and reckless.

2 of 4 early shifts have already worn me down; LGC smells like cola to me, so I figured a little wake-up call would help. At least it’s always a pleasure to shave with.

Half of the week is done, folks. Let’s survive those remaining two days together!

03.12.2024 - A Barbershop on Tuesday

• Brush: RazoRock Beehive 28 mm
• Razor: RazoRock Hawk V2 w/ Superknurl handle
• Blade: KAI Protouch MG
• Lather: HAGS - Barberwood
• Post-Shave: HAGS - Barberwood AS toner; moisturizer
• Fragrance: Bois 1920 - Oro Nero EdP

-> a quick single pass shave on both head and face before my appointment at the optician for getting new glasses.

A very nice shave regardless. Wanted to smell good but inoffensive, so barbershop scents are a good choice for that. The Hawk V2 is good for shaping my goatee area, generally SE razors are very favourable for getting sharp lines.

01.12.2024 - Sunday Shave

• Brush: TGS Galaxy 26 mm
• Razor: Greencult GC 2.0 (II-plate)
• Blade: Rapira Platinum Lux
• Lather: Stirling Soap Co. - Rasoi Goodfellas Gold Club
• Post-Shave: OAM witch hazel & cucumber toner; benecos 2in1 aftershave & face balm

2 passes on the head, one on the face around my circle beard (back to my old style - let’s see for how long before I get tired of it again).

It’s December already. Crazy. This year really goes by fast… Since everyone is now full-on in Christmas mode and I totally despise the season, I went for a little relaxing shave.

This is an elusive soap - back in the day, Rasoi Goodfellas tried something like A&E with “The Club” and went with a subscription model to their site like amazon prime. Since they are the main importers of american wetshaving artisans like Stirling, A&E and a few others, they commissioned a soap from Rod just for their members. AFAIK, it’s a dupe of Bvlgari Men in Black. Kinda hard to tell, as this is not the usual level of Stirling’s fragrance strength. It’s very faint, but still pleasant. Of course, the whole Gold Club thing never really took off and they shut it down - and offered everyone their oh so exclusive special soap. I got this one during some kind of sale. Usual Stirling base, so performance was solid. But nothing that wows me.

My face still needs to adjust to having blade contact, so I went easy with just a WTG pass. Not really a smooth feeling there at all, but it’ll do. 🤔

I think it’s only irresponsible when there’s more pressing financial matters at hand. From time to time, we want to indulge in a little bit of luxury. As long as you’ve got the spare room for the soaps, why not? 😉

Looks really good on my phone with its AMOLED dark mode and the custom colours. It also has the swipe for votes/reply/save function. The only thing it misses in comparison to Voyager: user mentions and a way to see the comment you’re replying to whilst typing your reply (made quotes by copy paste really easy).

Ha! Try getting up at 4:30 AM and starting to work by 6:30 AM when you’re usually going to bed around 1:00 to 2:00 AM. By 9:00, we’re usually done with basic care (washing our residents, getting them dressed and giving them breakfast) and have our first smoke/vape break. Nursing is tough, but I’ll always prefer late and night shifts.

29.11.2024 - Black (Friday) themed shave

• Brush: AP Shave Co. black & clear handle w/ 30 mm Tuxedo Fan knot
• Razor: GEM Micromatic Bullet Tip/Flying Wing gold plated
• Blade: GEM PTFE
• Lather: A&E - Boca Negra (K2e)
• Post-Shave: OAM witch hazel & cucumber toner; benecos 2in1 aftershave & face balm

-> 2 pass head shave. There was just one weeper, but not even that noticeable. Great shave otherwise.

We were bombarded by so many sales themes in Germany that I actually thought last Friday was BF. Turns out it is today… but no wonder when we do “Black Weeks” or even months over here. On the one hand, it’s better than just concentrating all sales on a single day or weekend. On the other, most of it is shameless commercial tactics anyways. I bought lots of stuff before today for sale. Nevertheless, I was in the mood for a themed shave with the colour black as my leitmotif.

Boca Negra is a beautiful blend of darker gourmands (coffee absolute, dark chocolate, ginger, black pepper) as well as resinous and woody notes. It’s inspired by a perfume called Boccanera, but no direct dupe afaik. To me, it smells delicious and sophisticated at the same time. The black, screaming mouth on the tub art adds a surreal art touch to it.

As always, the Flying Wing gave a great and hassle free shave. I was intrigued enough to get one of my GEMs going again after @djundjila 's series is almost concluded. Especially the “super close shave by holding it flat against your skin” was kinda cool. Simple, but it works. Even though the ‘guiding eye’ can never be seen during shaving.

Have a great weekend, folks!

I think it’s not the amount of sugar that yields good results, but the amount of spices. Combined with the sweetness, they are what really satisfies our taste buds. It’s the same with german lebkuchen (gingerbread cake). Get a generic, cheap store-brand and they are just really sweet little nothings. Buy them from a good bakery shop or artisan and you’ll have this great, delicious taste.