A Freezing Cold Shave with Adopted Acres' Triple Dog Dare
Hey there, welcome back to Fred Shaves. It’s time for another shave. It’s Wednesday, and I’m really excited about this one. Triple Dog Dare showed up in the mail, made for the Blizzard Battle. Really good smelling stuff, frozen flagpole, warm winter clothes, and bad decisions. Cool label on the tin too, and it comes in a handy little 2 oz size.
I scooped some out and loaded a bowl, brush already pre-loaded, and I’ve got the matching splash sitting ready too. I’m excited to see how cold this thing actually gets. I didn’t even see a warning label on the tin. Guessing I just can’t read anymore.
Gear for this shave: a Muhle R89 with a throwaway Gillette 7 o’clock black blade, and a Frank Shaving brush, a 23mm fan knot in their finest badger. Nice and full. This is a special formula, built to handle high menthol, and I haven’t tried this base before. First go with it.
Lathering (Badly)
I scooped some cold lather onto my cheeks, and it already felt cold. Let’s see if I can actually break these pieces of soap down. I’m bad at bowl loading; honestly, I usually load straight from the tub, so this is me admitting I need the practice. The tin’s on the smaller side too, so even with a smaller brush I couldn’t get a proper full load out of it.
It smells really good. Tallow base with duck fat in it, and I can already feel the menthol in my eyes, in my nose, in my throat. This is a thirsty soap base. Real dry load. I scooped out way more than I needed, so I put the extra back in the tin, which is why it looks a little cakey on top now.
I lather it the way I lather everything. It hits the eyes hard. I’m nowhere near done building it, and my personal menthol scale, completely subjective, one to ten, ten being unbearable, is already sitting at a nine. I don’t think I’ve hit a ten in my life. I’ve run other high menthol soaps made for winter battles like this one before, and the splashes on those got extreme too, borderline evil. This one’s already pulling a lot of water to build.
Ice Cube Mode: First Pass
Face is on. The chill sets in fast. You guys made a genuinely cold soap. The lather’s dense but low structure, and like the older tallow bases, it drinks water. It builds a little differently too. I think the formula’s been tweaked specifically to handle this much menthol, because most bases can’t. Menthol’s an alcohol, and too much of it breaks a lather down.
It’s cold on the lips. Properly cold. I lathered it for a long time because I like a shiny finish on it, and by the end it’s right on the edge of burning.
Two days of growth going into this. First pass, and I shaved with cold water on purpose, because I wanted the full ice cube effect on my face. The lather kept falling off a little, it’s very well hydrated, and I’m feeling the menthol hard in my eyes, less so in my nose so far. Low 70s outside with a breeze, and I’ll take it. I like hyper-cold shaving on the face, no complaints there. I might have worked a little too much water into that lather. It’s slick, though. Really slick.
Second Pass and the Rinse
Into the second pass and my whole face feels frozen, which is exactly the point. I’m really digging this. Nose running now, eyes running. Mental strength scale, we’re at an eight, maybe a nine.
This one was specially released for the Blizzard Battle. You’ll be one of the lucky few if you end up with one.
My face is completely cold at this point. Really close shave. Let me rinse, and I’ll come back for the post-shave.
We rinsed, and that was a genuinely nice shave. My skin’s still ice cold. Post-shave feel is very good.
Bad Boy Splash
Now the splash. Bad Boy, 2 oz. Alcohol, menthol, aloe vera juice, glycerin, and a bunch of other stuff in there. Milky consistency. Don’t get this one in your mouth.
Here comes the menthol, and it ramps up fast. This is heavy stuff. I’m enjoying it, but we’re solidly in burning territory now; my skin’s turning red everywhere I put it on. I really like the consistency: milky, balmy, almost liquidy on the skin. I think I overdid how much I used. Worth it anyway.
Thanks for watching this madness. My eyes are running like rivers, so I need to go deal with that. Thanks to the folks behind the Blizzard Battle for putting this together and getting artisans to make soaps this cool. Subscribe if you’re new here until the next one.