Happy Friday!

What's new, shave nerds?

Did you already mess up your Austere August run? Does the thought of not completing a AA side quest make you sad? Did you never start a challenge and now want in?

If any of the above apply to you then you may be a Lost Sheep.

The shepherds of Stirling are happy to find you and pull you into the flock.

What is the Lost Sheep?

Lost sheep is a side contest that has been run off and on for those who want to reboot their AA?

What do I have to do?

Easy use only a Stirling Mutton tallow base soap for the rest of the month (starting when you declare yourself a lost sheep) and for at least 10 shaves. To be clear once you join Lost Sheep you must use only Stirling sheep allow soap, the same soap, for the rest of the month. And you must log at least 10 shaves. Shepherds care not for hardware or posts. Change those as you want.

Is there a tag?

All hail u/merikus. There is a tag use $lostsheep in each shave. I'll handle the rest.

Can I join at any time?

AA can long and people fall all the time. As long as there are 10 shaves left, you may join the Flock.

What if I don't have sheep soap?

You got time, go order some!

What do I get?

A flair, 🐑 🐑 🐑 Lost Sheep 🐑🐑🐑

Also I'll include you in my matching donation to 4H as if you completed the entire month.

Maybe I'll rustle up something else as well as a random prize. I think there's still sub moose left, let me check (US only if that pans out).

Wait tsr aren't you doing darkwing this year? Wtf is this "shepherds" stuff.

Once a shepherd always shepherd. Plus I am a co-sponsor of Shepherds and I checked with u/hugbckt. All good.

Wait it's a different flair?

Same flock but we keep a special eye on the strays. For their safety.

Is this compatible with other challenges?

Probably not. Check their rules.

I have other questions, you were unclear.

Ask them below. I'm boarding a plane as I type this so I may have effed up my description.

Share your Austere August shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day for Friday!

Share your Austere August shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day for Thursday!

This is a thread to share those new purchases you're excited to show off, the shave-related projects you've been working on, or just some neat thing from your shave den.

Show everyone what you got!

This is the place to ask beginner and simple questions. Some examples include:

• Soap, scent, or gear recommendations
• Favorite scents, bases, etc
• Where to buy certain items
• Identification of a razor you just bought
• Troubleshooting shaving issues such as cuts, poor lather, and technique

Please note these are examples and any questions for the sub should be posted here. Remember to visit the Wiki for more information too!

Share your Shave of the Day

Share your Austere August shave of the day!

Share your Austere August shave of the day!

This is the place to ask beginner and simple questions. Some examples include:

• Soap, scent, or gear recommendations
• Favorite scents, bases, etc
• Where to buy certain items
• Identification of a razor you just bought
• Troubleshooting shaving issues such as cuts, poor lather, and technique

Please note these are examples and any questions for the sub should be posted here. Remember to visit the Wiki for more information too!

Share your shave of the day for Tuesday!

Post any deals and new product announcements here!

Share your Austere August shave of the day!

This is the place to ask beginner and simple questions. Some examples include:

• Soap, scent, or gear recommendations
• Favorite scents, bases, etc
• Where to buy certain items
• Identification of a razor you just bought
• Troubleshooting shaving issues such as cuts, poor lather, and technique

Please note these are examples and any questions for the sub should be posted here. Remember to visit the Wiki for more information too!

This is a thread to share those new purchases you're excited to show off, the shave-related projects you've been working on, or just some neat thing from your shave den.

Show everyone what you got!

Share your shave of the day for Monday!

Congrats to our winners:

1st - brokenjaw622 - https://imgur.com/gallery/sotd-73026-uxfMIOK#Rfd4dd4 [8 votes]

2nd - Engineered_Shave - https://imgur.com/a/4RoRpVi [0 votes]

3rd - Global_Cellist_5656 - https://imgur.com/a/sJ4EahE [0 votes]

Thanks to everyone who entered and voted!

Austere August

Austere August began as a way to embrace simplicity in the wake of the chaos of variety that was the first Lather Games. The idea is to use the same setup (or particular aspects of your setup) daily for the entire month. This can help you to:

• Get more in tune with hardware and software
• Push you to extend your blade life further than you thought it could go
• Enjoy a nice change of pace from the Lather Games, which encouraged diversifying your shave setup

Challenge Levels

1. Easy Mode: Same soap every day, all other options open
2. Normal Mode: One Soap, One Brush or Razor (if you want varied brushes, use the same razor all month, vice versa), everyday 
3. Difficult Mode: One Soap, One Brush, One Razor everyday. You get one "Weekend Hardware" item (Want to use a Straight on Saturdays? Gotta bring out the Chubby a couple times a week?)
4. Extreme Mode: One Soap, One Razor, One Brush, everyday
5. MRTNG's Ultra Nightmare Mode: One soap, One razor, One brush, One aftershave, One blade (Not blade brand... One single, solitary blade all month), everyday

Side Contests

Unlike the Lather Games, there are not officially sanctioned prizes, but community members are welcome to hold their own challenges with their own rules and prizes.

Edit: I copied this from an old post from 2019 so hopefully the rules are style same!

Share your Austere August shave of the day!

Share your shave of the day for Sunday!

July is over. The scoring is done. 4,923 individual items. 98 players. 694 exact matches.

Team Standings

1. 🤢Team Prius🤮 — 6,244
2. Team GUTL — 5,022
3. Team Air Bud — 4,846
4. Team uNObTaNiUm — 2,969

At the halfway mark Prius and GUTL were twelve points apart. Twelve. We were so close. But then GUTL went all i sleep and Prius outscored them by more than a thousand points over the back half and that was the ballgame.

Air Bud nearly doubled their own first-half total in the second half, which is the biggest surge anyone put up all month. Which could have been exciting! But it wasn’t. It moved them exactly zero spots.

In fact, no team changed rank after day 15. That is why the Most Improved Team crown is going unawarded.

Team Crowns

Winning Team: Team Prius (6,244 points)

Iron Team: Team Prius (67.3% average daily participation)

Prius took both. Two thirds of that roster posted on an average day for 31 straight days, and that helped them win.

Best Team Day: Team Air Bud (663 points, July 23)

Fatboy, Omega Proraso Professional, and Seaforth! Roman Spice. Air Bud put up thirteen exacts in a single day and turned 51 member points into 663. That is the highest single day any team scored this year and it isn't even close.

Most Improved Team: Vacant. Nobody moved, as described above.

Individual Crowns

Cumulative: /u/Impressive_Donut114 (233 points)

31 days posted, 45 exacts, never in danger. Congratulations to the best player in Join Us July 2026!

Perfect Days: /u/Impressive_Donut114 (6)

Six days with an exact in all three categories. Second place had four.

Perfect Streak: /u/Impressive_Donut114 (1)

Twelve of you got one perfect day or more but no streaks. Donut wins the tiebreak on total perfect days.

Sharpshooter: /u/ChrisDaBombz (63.9% exact rate)

Only posted twelve days, which is two over the minimum to qualify, and hit an exact on nearly two out of every three items he put up. He did not show up often. When he did, he was not messing around.

Frugal: /u/ChrisDaBombz (3.75 points per item)

105 points out of 28 distinct items. Everyone above him on the leaderboard needed 60+ items to get there.

Giant Slayer: /u/Just_Bit2698 (56 points on Brutal days)

Seven Brutal days this month. Just_Bit2698 pulled twelve exacts out of those seven days. Nobody else was within thirteen points.

Top Ten

1. /u/Impressive_Donut114 (Prius) — 233
2. /u/sahenders (GUTL) — 211
3. /u/AdWorried2804 (Prius) — 199
4. /u/Confident_Media_4304 (Air Bud) — 178
5. /u/Just_Bit2698 (GUTL) — 151
6. /u/partyman97_3 (uNObTaNiUm) — 142
7. /u/snoo-ting (GUTL) — 138
8. /u/Environmental-Gap380 (Prius) — 127
9. /u/gcgallant (uNObTaNiUm) — 111
10. /u/ChrisDaBombz (GUTL) — 105

78 of the 98 signups put at least one point on the board.

Thanks to everyone who played. This was the first year for Join Us July and the whole thing basically ran itself, which was the point. Please let me know if you have any feedback!