Austere August SOTD - 8/1/22; The Iceman Cometh
Pre: cold shower -> splash of hot water to the face
Brush: Stirling 26mm synthetic pro handle
Razor: Merkur Progress
Blade: Astra (1)
Lather: B&M Arctique (omnibus)
Post: B&M Arctique AS
Post: Nivea cooling balm
I don't know about you guys but I am fired up to be here - pretty cool, pretty damn cool. Been a long time lurker in this community with some stretches of consistent SOTD posts and I have been wetshaving for almost a decade. However, this is my first challenge in which I am participating and my excitement is uncontainable. August is going to be a big reset month for me and the Mrs. Lots of exercise, salads and ice chips, and no booze. Hopefully these posts will help make the routine easier at the expense of those who slog through these posts.
#UNCHALLENGE:
Look, I would love to be like all of you badasses and turn a stiff and funky new boar into a supple, pillow soft tool of skin-care luxury at the expense of my face through a month of extreme exfoliation; or wield a super cool Hattori Hanzo kamisori all month while narrowly avoiding my carotid artery; or get that righteous Stag flair and smell like a backwoods gasoline dump and have my wife avoid touching me for four weeks. But, alas, I am a coward. So, thanks to u/cowzilla3, I get to go the easy route and still experience a good dose of austerity while obtaining easy and effective shaves.
Is there anything more austere than the cold itself? When I think of austerity, among many other things, I think of my ancestors. A scarf donning babushka bracing against the Polish winter, gazing across a barren field of ice and dirt, rationing potatoes until spring arrives and wondering when her son will come home from war. Those were hard times endured by even harder people.
Considering all of the above, you may be asking yourself what, if anything, is easy about my set up for AA? Simple - if you are a menth-head you will know that the skin bracing, eye watering, sinus clearing effect of a soap like Arctique is a pleasure. It is not a hurdle to achieving shaving nirvana but rather a key to the gates of the same. And yes, I will be taking a cold shower every day as well, hopefully right before the shave. For the unitiated or unpracticed, the benefits and pleasures of a cold shower, regardless of how you shave, are too many to list here. Combine all of this with the excellence of u/bostonphototourist's omnibus base, the gentleness of the Merkur Progress, the mildness of fan-favorite Astras, and the supple feeling of a Stirling synthetic - I am going to have a month of great, easy shaves. There will be plenty of time for me to feel my face in September.
#sidetracked:
As a music lover it is impossible to not take part in u/Teufelskraft's #sidetracked challenge. Since this is a month of reflection for me, and since music and memories are one in the same, this will be brutally autobiographical (I am sorry for anybody who actually reads this post). Today's pick is Our House by Crosby, Stills and Nash. My father used to sing this song to me as baby. Although I myself cannot remember him doing this, it was a big enough thing for my remarkably stoic father that he told me about his memories of this song only once I grew older and confronted major life challenges with him at my side. Dad is still around and doing well, but he has gotten up there in years and I not infrequently face the reality of his age and that my time left with him is limited. They tell you growing up is hard, but nobody can prepare you to watch your best friends grow old. Hug your dads out there today if you are lucky enough to still be able to do so. Luck hath no greater gift for a young man than that of a kind and loving father.