Vetiver You Want

• Brush: Frank Shaving - FR 0929 Pure Badger Shaving Brush 20 mm × 47 mm #WEDONTNEEDNOSTINKINGBADGERS #SMOLL #RUNT
• Razor: Star - Cadet #TWINS
• Razor: Ever Ready - 1912
• Blade: Personna GEM PTFE
• Lather: Saponificio Varesino - Desert Vetiver
• Post Shave: Stirling Soap Co. - Vetiver
• Fragrance: The Scottish Fine Soaps Company – Vetiver & Sandalwood

I like vetiver. I like it fresh and with citrus, I like it smoky, earthy and dank, and I like it woody-spicy. Today, I’m using one of each of these versions.

Theme justification: Desert Vetiver is a clean scent with a spicy citrus opening on a solid base of vetiver. It’s a dupe of Eau Intense Vétiver by Terre d’Hermès and a staple in our household. Both my wife and I love this fragrance (dupe and original).

Post & frag relevance: Stirling Vetiver is a dank, earthy vetiver. I’ve never smelled Eufros Vetiver de Haití, but Stirling Vetiver smells like u/VisceralWatch describes Vetiver de Haití. This is a stark contrast with the fresh Desert Vetiver, but prepares the ground for a warmer, woodier vetiver in SFSC’s Vetiver and Sandalwood. The Stirling toner was a gift from u/Semaj3000, and the frag from my sister in law.

Speaking of whom, during LG 2021, I decided I had to try GEM razors, and there was this Semaj fellow with a “SE Cultist” flair so I asked him where to start. He recommended looking for a 1912-style GEM and suggested looking at French eBay where they are readily available under the Star brand, and that’s how I ended up buying this pretty Star Cadet. Both Semaj and VisceralWatch still had razor thrill back then and quickly asked me to find some for them too, and this is how our first group chat got the title “Star Cadets”. It was soon renamed to “GEMs of Wisdom: Finding Serenity in Austerity planning committee” when u/EldrormR joined and we planned the first MMOC(MM) challenge in August of 2021. This challenge in turn led to the first iteration of RoboDjudge, a simple bot for tracking participation in AA challenges with a truly horrific Reddit message-based user interface. It would later grow into the Djudge Portal you are now using to check the djudges’ work.

Challenge: It is consensus that starting with an ATG pass is a bad idea. It seems so obvious that we don’t tend to question it. But why? If the lather is slick, the blade is sharp, why would it matter? I believe it’s superstition and I’m curious to see how others feel about it following today’s challenge. Star Cadet on the left side of my face, Ever Ready 1912 on the right. Both with fresh GEM blades. One pass ATG, easy peasy. Not as close as I’d like, but not bad.

The Frank Shaving brush is thoroughly unimpressive and since that’s how it’s priced, there is no surprise there. It does a passable job.

#photocontest: Did you know that vetiver is a grass?