Textpictures

You know I had to open with this.

• 53 people participated in Sammy Lee Saturday
  
• Mickey Lee Soapworks Colonia Di Argumi was the most popular soap followed by Lu'au and The Kraken/The Drunken Goat tied for fourth.
  

It all started right here and I'm super happy to have been one of the very first customers.
The 45 contenders:
97runner 999forever ACMEanvils Aken42 aymanem bdubelyew BourbonInExile brienc23 CanadaEh97 cb26cpa ChangoBat clothing_throwaway Dganjo Dr_Facilier eaterofworld Hyvasuomi79 iamsms ItchyPooter jburdek mjanth MorrRedd mpontiff muchoarigato Nex_renegade NoLogonServAvailable odenihy Old_Hiker pilgrim32 praise_the_fireborn rChewbacca reguyw_nothingtolose rhconway rocketk455 RuggerRigger sgrdddy shredsofmetal SoullessSingularity spazztik88 steelersroc86 tiglathpilesar vigilantesd whiskyey XSATC youarebreakingthings Zosomeone
I very happily stumbled upon this ode to MLS The Kraken and Sammy_Lee 's nose in an old SOTD that includes some amazing Superdolphins.
Have a great Dapper Domingo and, as always, may the suds be ever in your favour.

It's over. It's finished.
Here she lies. March 25, 2015 to April 11, 2018.
My mood right now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTeKpWp8Psw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3VjaCy5gck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQFCF9KESic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt7O8gDy0DA
Lavanille has been a special soap to me for a long time. I'd say Speick -- another strange lavender -- was the soap that gave me the first true "A-HA!" shave, where I learned how to properly lather a soap, and move away from the middling comfort of Taylor of Old Bond Street, but Lavanille was the first soap I ever got that not only worked for me, but seemed to suit me just perfectly. I'm no soap monogamist, you understand, but if I had to settle down and only bang my brush inside one soap jar for the rest of my life -- HAD to, nuts on the table, hand under the guillotine, my daughter tied up in the Brooklyn basement -- I could put a ring on Lavanille.
Also, Lavanille was the first Barrister and Mann soap that made me realize how talented a nose Will had. I already had Bay Rum and Seville, and while they're both very fine frags, they didn't move me the way Lavanille did.
Barrister and Mann describes the scent as "our version of Mousse de Saxe with lavender, vanilla, cedar, and the elegant musk Exaltolide to create a dark, leathery, elegant soap."
I didn't read all that when I bought it. I just bought it based on the name "Lavanille". I was expecting Lavander + Vanilla. Yeah...that's not what showed up at my house at all. I've used Lavanille a lot obviously, but I'm still trying to catch that first whiff of lavender.
Let's face it: Lavanille is a weird, weird smell. This is the first comment I ever made about Lavanille on reddit, shortly after receiving it, and it still holds true for me.
The best way I can describe it is sexy root beer. I don't even like root beer. Why would you, me, or anyone want to smell like root beer? I have no idea, but I do.
Lavanille has played an important role in my professional life. Pretty much without fail, whenever I have an important presentation or f2f meeting, I reach for Lavanille. Over the years, I've been working on a thesis. My thinking is this: even if you have a slam dunk business proposition, the typical prospect would prefer to do whatever he/she is already doing rather than make changes; so why not smell really good, but also a little weird and unconventional, to let them know at a deep, unspoken level that you know about some exciting things that they've never heard of, and if they choose to work with you, you might put them on it?
So Lavanille has been a constant out-of-town business trip companion for me -- lonely whiskeys at the hotel bar, pornhub on slow wifi, and, of course, Lavanille.
So pour out a little liquor for the big home white label Lavanille. We'll see you at the crossroads.
Now, next order of business. The PIF train made a stop into my station and I am obligated to keep the train rolling.
Up for PIF today is a sealed, unused refill puck of I Coloniali mango soap. This is a terrific soap, and one of my favorites. I acquired several of these refill pucks during the Lesser I Coloniali Panic of 2016. As it turned out, the rumors of the I Coloniali demise were indeed accurate. But at any rate, I bought a few refill pucks, and there's very little chance I will ever get around to cracking open multiple backups of any soap any time soon.
PIF REQUIREMENTS:

1. Have at least 100 sub karma in the last 90 days as verified by Mr. Roboto.
   
2. Have a mailbox in the continental US.
   
3. I'm going to weigh something random in my kitchen in grams. Could be a coffee bean, could be 100 coffee beans, could be half a jigger of rotgut whiskey, could be a knockoff groupon fleshlight. The item will weigh somewhere between 1 gram and 1000 grams (aka 1 kg). I haven't decided yet what to weigh. So pick a number between 1 and 1000. I will weigh the mystery item and the one closest to its weight in grams wins.
   

Special thanks to shredsofmetal for the PIF winnings and to cadinsor for inspiring me with this post.
ETA: I will keep this open until Friday morning-ish. Item has been weighed. I will post winner on Friday. Good luck.

After the recent post from RaggedClaws that dug out a golden comment from over two years ago, I began to wonder how I could dig up some This Day in History type posts from the sub(s) for specific dates. Turns out specific date searches aren't that simple in reddit anymore, as they are apparently reworking the search engines available through simple url manipulation. You can still access an older search engine called cloudsearch if you use the reddit API, which does allow date range searching.
So I set off to figure out how to do it, and managed to get a working script to dig the links out for me. Since I found reading through that older thread interesting, I thought I'd share the This Day in History September 28 links I dug up. There's nothing particularly useful here, just some mildly interesting history. Everything below was generated by the script.
 

9/28/2016

• self_driving_sanders — Wiki Wednesday Community Review - Razorock Santa Maria del Fiore (SMdF)
• AutoModerator — Simple Questions - Wednesday
• AutoModerator — Wednesday SOTD Thread - Sep 28, 2016
• rainduck1 — Gillette Super Speed doors open unevenly
• tiglathpilesar — Latest Antique Store Haul and Clean Up
• Banes_Pubes — AMA schedule for the next few months

 

9/28/2015

• uselessgreggy — [Review] Reef Point Soaps Admiralty
• kalifornia124 — Newbie question - How did you pick an after shave product/scent?
• wet_shavers — Mail Call Monday
• thelazyarab — Fragrance/aftershave for fougere-y scents.
• wet_shavers — Monday SOTD Text/Picture Thread
• hedgehogsinhats — Petroleum Jelly

 

9/28/2014

• BostonPhotoTourist — [Interest-Thread] Awhile back, there was talk of my writing a weekly fragrance review. You folks still interested?
• silentisdeath — SVOD 9.28.2014 Charlie Box arrives and everything else you want to know
• ch4rr3d — My wife's SOTD from yesterday
• scag315 — Ok I'm lost trying to find some history on my new Gentleman Set. Anyone know anything about this maker?
• undream22 — SOTN: Elliot FBU / quick Seifenglatt soap review
• justateburrito — SOTD with a quick review of Dapper Dragon Autumn Morning LE with tallow.

https://www.reddit.com/Wet_Shavers/comments/32sjmo/thursday_sotd_textpicture_thread/

To avoid confusion, I move that we officially adopt the "Lather Games" moniker over the former "June Challenge" moniker. I originally called it the June Challenge but then chevro1et called it the "(Ragged) Lather Games" and it kinda stuck.
We'll be gearing up for the 2017 Games in May, so, never too early to plan. It would be nice to get some constructive feedback on what people enjoyed most and any suggestions on themes/artisans to add/remove to/from the calendar. Any new artisans would have to be approached about the idea plus pony up a prize; not a big deal but something to keep in mind before suggesting somebody. Format, rules, prize structure; all open to suggestion. Perhaps best to keep in mind my reputation for handling criticism though...
Whaddya say?

Perusing the daily SOTD post as I usually do, I came across this comment from Mickey_Lee within MrTooNiceGuy 's banner-worthy Colonia di Agrumi shave. So my question is this; how would you, the consumer, feel about Mickey and Sammy_Lee moving the entire Mickey Lee Soapworks line to the new Special Edition formula? This would mean a soap performance on a par with Grand Havana and CdA and the like but with an additional few dollars per jar. Would this be a good business decision? Would they lose potential new customers due to the higher price? Would their fans buy fewer new products? I mean, it's pretty freakin' great soap already, am I right? What to do?
Now, I'm no business advisor but my take is yes, absotively. I think MLS is committed to delivering the best product they can and, well, this is a better product. I think new customers will swallow the price due to the hefty MLS rep. I think old customers will not only continue purchasing but will even buy the new versions of their old faves. I mean, look at Strop Shoppe. Isn't everyone thinking Jeez guys, why are you even still making your old formula? The new one is so much better.
So what do you think?

For those of you who haven't met me or have already forgotten me, I'm this guy. I've just come back from a few weeks in some pretty high latitudes where my kit included B&M Black Label Lavender with L'Occitane L'Occitan balm and Pour un Homme de Caron plus Cade Rich with Cade balm and vintage Guerlain Vetiver tucked up in a Bosca Tribeca hanging kit with a stack of Gillette Silver Blues for my 1959 rhodium Fat Boy and a Grooming Co. brush in a Mühle travel tube. My first shave back was Topanga Fougère with L’Occitane Cèdre & Oranger balm and Cédrat EdT. Next will be my desert island set-up; original MdC with L'Occitan everything, lawdy mama yeah.
So anyway, somebody TL;DR the last two weeks for me. Did RedThursdays get his gear back? Is SR SeptembeR going to be a thing? Has Dodges done anything else shitty? Anyone heard from 'Bama? Whassup?

Hey peoples, thanks for the great turnout to the June Challenge. I appreciate all the enthusiasm. I hope people got to use things they otherwise might not have tried and that there was much swapening. Mucho kudos to El Jefe mmosh for all his logistical support in tracking the whole damn thing.
Those of you who made all 30 shaves (after you shave with Bufflehead tomorrow, of course), please pm me your choice of soap. Remember, you are due one soap from any one of the celebrated artisans from the last week of the challenge; B&M, LASSCo, Dapper Dragon, MLS, Wholly Kaw, Chiseled Face, and Bufflehead. I was not anticipating this level of turnout when I issued the challenge and was set to pay it out of my pocket. Many of the artisans have stepped forward and offered to help, however, so don't feel too bad for me.
I have my own ideas about where the grand prize should go but would like to hear some nominations from the masses. You can find a list of the 25 contenders here. The grand prize is any one soap of choice, that includes super premium stuff. At the start, we said "a panel will decide who had the most appropriate shaves and greatest variety of soaps" for the grand prize.
Moving on, some of us are keen to start something else, perhaps in August. One idea was to make it possible for non straight shavers to get a crack at using an SR for the first time. I'd be really happy to see ideas about how to make this work and any other ideas discussed below.
Cheers and thanks for all the great shaves!

First stop. Me.
Just wanted to say thank you again to Avastz for setting up this nice little pass. The box arrived today and was full of all sorts of goodies. Some I have heard of, many I have not. Grabbed a couple that I really wanted, re-stuffed the box, and now the ball is in your court kittycat-banana! Enjoy!
 
My pulls.
 
Update: Did a SOTD that involved the Pol's and the Brutalt if anyone is interested.

Just a little recap for yesterday (Menthol Monday). I mmosh will be including a similar recap in my the next SOTD thread from now on (rather than make a whole post).

• 43 completed shaves
  
• Most popular brand was Stirling (7) followed by Barrister & Mann (5)
  
• Most popular soap was a three-way tie with four each; Maggard Razors Orange Menthol, Chiseled Face Cryogen, and C.O. Bigelow/Proraso Green
  
• Notable shave by (who else?) NeedsMoreMenthol
  

We have 44 contenders so far, 43 eligible for 30/30. Please let me know if I've missed you on the list. It's too late to complete all 30 but there is still a chance at a grand or booby prize or just plain old fun.
Contenders:

• _neutrino_
• ACMEAnvils
• audiom
• Avastz
• bishbashbosh
• blackdoublecut
• cakeerdeath
• Captain_Who
• chill31613
• chiseledface
• crazindndude
• crippie
• Cupcakes_Made_Me_Fat
• DerangedWorm
• designtofly
• elSchiz
• EmptyAy
• Gaidin23
• goodthingstolife
• hawns
• I_Broke_Nalgene
• IllegalMonk
• ItchyPooter
• Lestorfreemon
• maaneeack
• Mickey_Lee
• mmosh
• MrTooNiceGuy
• NeedsMoreMenthol
• nemesis2me
• NuclearArmedBarbies
• pathmarkcm
• powersquash
• RaggedClaws
• reytheist
• silentisdeath
• songwind
• Stevenmcqueeven
• sunderka1987
• thiney49
• tiglathpilesar
• UK_Turp
• unbrownloco
• uselessgreggy
• xerodinx

Hi every one. I make shave soaps in my kitchen and sell them as a part time business. There is a small shop on Etsy , https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/FirstCanadianShave? where they can be bought. My flavours are :Bay rum and Lime, Barbershop Taper Fade, Grand Valley Vetiver, Loretto Lime & Rosemary, South Simcoe Sandalwood, Hot Summer Lavender and Esther's Peppermint and Grapefruit. Anyhow I have been offering samples if people want to try, and I still am. PM me for an Email address if you would like one. There is a small review from chevro1et here http://www.reddit.com/Wet_Shavers/comments/36h7h5/tuesday_sotd_textpicture_thread/ edit: link

EDITS IN BOLD

• Cedar Sunday (June 21st) is also Fathers' Day (a fact I didn't take into consideration when making the schedule), therefore any Le Père Lucien is also acceptable.

For those just tuning in, after this conversation, I began this thread and then created this challenge.
I'd like to now clarify the rules so folks can plan ahead and start swapping and/or acquiring.

• Here is the challenge.

I hope this will start a lot of conversations and trading among the group and light a fire under the daily SOTD's:

• This is a self-policed honour-system challenge.
  
• Your shaves must be posted in the daily SOTD thread, pic not necessary.
  
• In each post, include a running count of the number of shaves completed plus the total number of soaps used so far.
  
• You may use a soap as many times as appropriate. For example, DRH Almond could potentially be used for Almonday, Ruby Tuesday, and Thrice Milled Thursday. The challenge is about the number of shaves, not the number of soaps.
  
• Only one shave per day, only one soap per shave; maximum 30 points. Keep it sporting, there's no sense in gaming a friendly challenge.
  
• Although you are encouraged to participate with whatever appropriate gear you'd like (balms, splashes, razors, etc.), only the soap counts as a point.
  
• Stick to the theme. While we'd prefer broad definitions of the theme, I have appointed a judge who will make the final decision on whether or not a soap meets the criteria. (This judge, rather sanely, would prefer to remain anonymous.) If you are wondering whether a certain soap is appropriate for an upcoming theme, better to ask before the shave than have it disqualified. Vetiver is considered a suitable substitute for cedar on Cedar Sunday.
  
• Soap means shaving soap or shaving cream.
  
• Anyone who completes all 30 shaves will be awarded one soap of their choosing from one of the featured artisans or Maggard Razors brand soap.
  
• The person with the most successfully completed theme SOTD's at the end of June wins the Grand Prize. In the event of a tie, the prize goes to the shaver who used the largest variety of soaps. In the event of a further tie, a panel will decide who had the most appropriate shaves and greatest variety of soaps.
  
• The Grand Prize is any single soap, yes, any ^{except this one} including MdC, XPEC, SMN, or Czech & Speake.
  
• Second prize.
  

I have officially invited /Ladyshavers to join.
Useful links:

• June Soap Challenge - Continuing the Discussion by DerangedWorm
  
• June Soap Challenge Trade Thread by chiseledface
  
• /Shave_Bazaar
  
• Maggard Razors soap/cream samples
  
• Garry's Sample shop
  
• Dapper Dragon samples
  
• Chiseled Face Groomatorium samples
  
• Wholly Kaw also sells sample sizes
  

Please feel free to use the rest of this thread to post pet pics. My boys. See you in June!

Other potential titles:

• The Good, the S.A.D., and the Uhgly
  
• Dr. Strangecream or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Balm
  
• Mostly Soapless
  

N.B.: I would like to preempt the imminent discussion on the correct spelling of dilemna and say that yes, I am aware that dilemma is etymologically correct but it just looks wrong to me. Anyway...
//
I had too much soap. Too much soap, you say? Impossible! Not really, I had so much soap that I felt like I never got to use my favourites and if I used my favourites too often then I'd never to get to even try the others. I needed to pare down from about 50 to a sensible number. Which I tried... a bit anyway. I relapsed, bought more (damn you, awesome artisans), was sent more (damn you, awesome /Wet_Shavers), and got yet another 50 with the return of Alpha Box. I aslo had loaners from my neighbour ricotter. So, yeah, I had like 100 soaps and had a bunch more I really wanted to try. Now I officially had too much soap. Fuck me, right?
I decided to go through as many as possible and separate them into keepers vs. sell/trade/PIF/re-purpose. To do this, I imposed a no-soap-twice rule on myself and pledged to shave every day until I had gone through every one. I gave up on the "every day" part when my building was without hot water for a few days. A few days in the middle of a terrible Toronto winter, that is. (For those of you who think that's a little lame, I can supply you with photos of me swimming in icy water both north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle.) I only made it to three dozen shaves, 37 unofficial, 34 official before admitting defeat and hitting the SdM for a second helping.
So what did I take away from all this? A couple of things.

• The rhodium Fat Boy, L'Occitane Plisson, and Personna Platinum combo would be my desert island set up.
  
• A co-rotation of after balms requires detailed planning.
  
• I have a weak spot for French and U.S. artisans.
  
• A good shave can make your entire day.
  
• I'm a snob.
  

I say I'm a snob because there is a significant number of soaps that I only smelled and never lathered. I'm like, yup, that's a soap, I don't really need to subject myself to it further. Most of these came in Alpha Box. Some of them were re-purposed as bath soap. The nice thing was finding what I really really liked. The soaps that I couldn't bear to not shave with again.
Of the soaps I kept, there are three groups; creams, eternals, and other. Those who know me won't be surprised by the choices. The creams get a high rotation due to limited shelf life compared to soaps. Only one of them, however, will be replaced should it become empty. They include Nancy Boy, AdP, and Castle Forbes. The single "eternal" cream is (surprise surprise) Cade Rich.
The eternal soaps include MdC, MdC Fougere, SdM, SS Baker St. LE, B&M Roam, B&M Black Label Lavender, and MLS Drunken Goat. These are high rotation soaps that I plan never to be without. Further additions to this list are not ruled out. There are three notable soaps straddling the eternal shelf; Maggard Bergamot & Lime, LPL and LASSCo Topanga Fougere. Strangely, the Maggard and LASSCo are two soaps that I bought, then sold, then bought again. These don't get the high rotation of the others but are nonetheless "eternals". The Maggard will move into high rotation when the Castle Forbes runs dry. This is due to its excellent pairing with L'Occitane Cedre & Oranger balm.
The shelf of items of that gets limited rotation includes samples of MLS Kraken, P.160 Typo Morbido, B&M Dickens, B&M Hallows, B&M Lime/LavendeCedarwood, and LASSCo Bespoke #1. Other exceptions include SMN which will be PIF'ed to my menthol-liking brother and an unopened jar of the original Guinness & Goat Milk soap that became MLS Drunken Goat. I also have a 60mL jar of SS Alpine Frost LE which I consider a winter seasonal. It may be replaced with MLS Through the Woods, however.
Regrets? I have a few. B&M Lavanille and the two B&M Fougeres plus LASSCo Myrkviðr and Maggard Cherry Limeade. I wish PdP performed well enough to make the cut since I love the scent. I wish I'd sampled more Dapper Dragon since the one I tried was excellent except menthol. If you look at the list above it is largely uncontaminated by menthol. I only ever tried one Tiki Bar and it was also great. I'd like to try Catie's Bubbles, Cold River, Bufflehead, Wholly Kaw, Chiseled Face, and more but I'm afraid of rabbit holes let alone rabbit warrens. I know I'll like them and want more and more and then have to go through the whole process again. I'll break down eventually, probably due to Sammy_Lee or BostonPhotoTourist or jbisinla or one of the other agonizingly excellent artisans. I'm already on the edge of getting MLS Bali Hai and La Belle du Sud, LASSCo CCXIII and Woody Lavender, plus I hear B&M is working on a soap inspired by a bowl of petunias falling to earth in the company of a sperm whale. Oh no, not again. I wonder if it will be friends with me? Uncle_Dubya is in some ways my nemesis here. If he says I have to try something then I pretty much have to try it. ACMEanvils too. So guys, just shut up already.
In conclusion, I recommend the exercise. It takes a little discipline but can really illuminate your priorities. My original goal was to pare down to one soap per maker, one fougere, one lavender, one citrus, etc. Yeah, that was just crazy talk. So at a minimum I learned that I was, in fact, crazy. And I'm okay with that.

• Wet Shave Glossary for the acronym challenged.

TLDR: This is the mystery of the quotient - Upon us all a little rain must fall.

The people have spoken. She is now a "Budding Soap-lebrity".

So I have had an issue with links where I can't scroll all the way to the bottom. No matter what it is an article or a picture it cuts off part of the bottom. I can view the last 10% of whatever but I have to hold after scrolling which when trying to read is a pain. Link to original post I made for this issue: http://www.reddit.com/AlienBlue/comments/2i1rm9/textpicture_issues/

I have seen a lot of down voted photos posts of the last few weeks and instead of trashing on the new members who mistakenly think that their photos will earn them karma here, I thought I would try to explain the situation.
In short: /Wet_Shavers hates photo posts.

Now, I am not saying that we all hate photography because that isn't the case. However as a general rule we do hate the following:

• "Reviews" of products that are photo posts instead of a review. Don't post your review in the comments, if you are here to discuss a product then talk about the product. Your review should come first, and the photo should be a secondary element posted in the text of your review.
  
• Questions that lead off with photos instead of info about your issue. If you have a question or problem, there are a lot of people here who are willing to help, especially if you search/wiki before you ask. However no one wants to scroll through a list of comments to see the question or the description of the question. If your photos help describe your issue or provide useful evidence, great, include them as links in the text post.
  
• SOTD Photos. We have daily threads for these, so please post SOTD photos there.
  
• MEMES. Most of us are adults with IQs greater than 80, so starting a new thread by putting your text over a picture of Spongebob isn't going to win you many friends in this sub. Posting MEMES in the comment of a thread can be OK as long as it doesn't become the primary way people reply to threads.
  
• Pictures of your collection. Honestly if you are new to traditional shaving we don't need to see photos of your 3 jars of Proraso, Stirling samplers, Edwin Jagger and Gillette Tech/Superspeed razors. You will get double down-voted if you caption your newbie collection with something along the lines of "Gee I think I have a problem!" Some people here literally have collections large enough that they could open a retail shaving store so having a lot of commonly available products isn't likely to impress. However if you do have a large collection of thousand-dollar straight razors each with custom hand-carved scales and beautiful engraving you can ignore this guideline as this is the kind of thing people really want to see.
  
• Battle scars. If you cut yourself shaving we don't want to see a photo of you with blood all over your face. Clean yourself up, put a bandage/styptic on that cut and realize that next time you should pay attention. If you have a question/problem related to your injury feel free to ask in a text post.
  

The kind of photos that do get appreciated here usually fall into the following categories:

• Work that you have created yourself or commissioned. For instance custom brush handles, restored/rescaled razors, hand made strops, non-Lego/coathanger stands, etc. If you made it and you did a good job, feel free to share. We love to see talent put to good use.
  
• Rarities. If you find a golden straight razor with unicorn horn scales inset with rubies and sapphires, post a photo because it is unlikely most people have seen something like that. Unique, rare and expensive stuff tends to get a good response because people may not have seen something like that before. However, it is worth taking a few minutes to search around and make sure what you have actually is rare and not just new to you.
  
• Instructional photos and galleries. If you have a photo or series of photos that shows a process or imparts useful technical knowledge (ie: how to hone, how to strop, how to clean a razor, etc.) feel free to post it. Chances are someone will find it useful and at the very least it can be used as a resource to point newbies to when they ask certain questions.
  

Now I want to make it clear that these are all my own opinions and no one is really going to stop you from posting whatever you want as long as it isn't blatantly offensive. However these are some suggested guidelines I have formed after watching the voting trends over the last few months.
Feel free to add your own suggestions or tell me where you think I am wrong. I am a big boy and I can take it. However the general takeaway is that content and photos that spark discussion are good. Karma whoring is bad.

In case you're really attached to the fragrance (mine just came in and I like it quite a bit; I'll post a full review in the next few days) and can't figure out how to pair it, it's a fougère and smells VERY similar to Azzaro pour Homme (though perhaps a little lighter). Just wanted to let folks know. Hope those affected weather the snow!
Edit: First impressions.

You only get one chance for a first impression… so I usually go with Christopher Walken. But seriously, about a month ago, Mickey_Lee had a few jars of “Guinness and Goats Milk” soap on /Shave_Bazaar. Even though I’m trying to downsize (no, really), I pounced on it. Heck, I’ve been guzzling Guinness, not to mention chomping chèvre, for over thirty years. I love the stuff. Since he was offering it at a price shipped in the US, I had it sent to my friend in SF rather than bother him with shipping to Canada. I’m visiting there next month. Flash forward three weeks and I happen to mention in the daily SOTD thread that I’m not crazy about the wait since I hear such good things. Mickey_Lee appears out of thin air and says that he’d like to send me the new and improved formula to my home in Toronto, on his dime. Well okay then, thanks much. It arrived today. Now, here’s my problem; the experience has been awesome so far. Over the top service with the gratis new version which arrives in good time, tastefully packaged and labeled, and including a hand written note plus a generous sample puck of La Fée Verte, Mickey Lee’s new absinthe/sandalwood scent. Also, it smells divine. Problem? I’m thinking, how can I possibly give this soap an unbiased review? I’m in love with it already and haven’t even shaved with it yet! So I give it a comparatively hard time, for science you understand. Minimal prep, a barely stropped spike-point straight, basic non-shea butter balm, and my most lather killingest unbroken boar. That ought to even the playing field. The shave was fantastic anyway. The Drunken Goat loaded like a dream and lathered like her hotter sister. I had a really great shave. It’s only my first time using it so by no means the final word but so far I’m thinking the fan-boy love-machine here is going to have to make some room at the top for the new guy.
EDIT: BONUS SOTD PIC

Further to the reviews since Sunday Sept 21, here is a form for submitting requests for sample. Limit of one sample per redditor and I cannot accommodate more than 25 requests. So first come first served. Also CONUS address only please. If you need the sample shipped outside CONUS, please PM me and I will see what I can do.
I would appreciate a review as well on slickness, lathering, consistency, density, lather longevity, skin feel, overall etc using face lathering, bowl lathering or palm lathering.
Review from uncle_dubya is here
Review from dialtone321 is here and here
Review from Domohorus is here
Thanks for the review guys.
Last but not least here is the form
Stopped taking responses at 9:18 PM, EDT on September 22, 2014.