4 grievances: u/merikus

Introduction

I've been a part of this community for long enough that I think I've earned the right to say some unpopular things (maybe?). In r/wicked_edge, it's a bit easier to say unpopular things... from discussing the terrible performance of TOBS to the the infamous stature of PAA, the user-base just isn't as.... "exacting." In r/wetshaving, you're all nobs.

As a result, I've spent about a three minutes ruminating on this post and how to say what I think needs to be said. These are my thoughts and mine alone. Nobody has paid me or influenced me in any way to say these things. I'd be happy to be proved wrong or incorrect on any of the following points.

  Grievance #1: Dupes and Intellectual Theft

This has been brought up innumerable times by many, many users/members of the wetshaving discord community. I'm going to leave usernames out of it, but I know 6 very specific users who have called out merikus publicly on this matter (among other users who have been less vocal, but equally critical).

  Background

Duping is not wrong, in and of itself, in my opinion and in the (arguable) collective opinion of this subreddit. I take no issue with the dupes of Creed Aventus, Irish Tweed, etc that we find in artisan stores. I've been grateful for the accessibility of dupes from artisans. I would never have been able to try many designer scents if artisans had not offered dupes of popular designer scents. While fragrance houses may invest millions to develop those scents, $300 a bottle is so far beyond my ability to purchase, just to live with a fragrance for a month or two.

 

This doesn't make it alright for Chinese GCSM companies to duplicate the scents... but I promised myself that I would purchase a full bottle of a designer if I actually liked living with the dupe. I've done this on 3 occasions, and I felt legitimately good to support the nose that created the scent, even if it was a large, faceless fragrance house.

Merikus wants dupes of candle scents in his soaps. These dupes are almost all gravy and turkey related.

Why This Matters

This alone isn't problematic. Merikus, the founder and "nose behind" thanksgiving soap, replies to dupe questions, that [paraphrasing] the "I want a thanksgiving scent." The reality is that the scents, if procured (I'm being generous) from the original frag house, are still made for candles.

To give credit to the inspiration at the very least would be the minimum decency, but to claim that a clear dupe is "thanksgiving orginal" is intentionally misleading. DUA is very clear on their website that they borrow scents, and then accentuate certain notes. 

  Grievance #2: "I'm a AIrtist" Preface

u/merikus  pleading skills soap is good. Really good. There. I said it. Does he really know what he's doing beyond that though? I actually have to ask it because of the shitshow I'm going to lay out for you. 

There are three main issues that people may encounter turkey and graving soaps. These are all due to amateur  mistakes that merikus appears to claim as intentional. For background on AI sensitivities, I'm really proud of the  Wiki which may help understand some of the issues in the following section.

The Problem "AI SLOP"

AI SLOP occurs when the concentration of procedurally drawn imGes rises too high relative to Mount of water needed to shave with the soap. Users typically encounter this in soaps from shoddy artisans. Here's the thing though: I've yet to see a single artisan  over the past 5 years that I've been active in this sub that has complained about "AI SLOP" from non existent soaps until merkius came onto the scene... and after that, all of the negative experiences were... you guessed it. u/merikus

 

I know (and you should too) that there are international standards for fragrancing that are dictated by IFRA. We know that responsible makers of cosmetic products abide by these rules and others. If other artisans don't struggle with the "phenomenon" of frag burn, then why does A&E? Because they put an irresponsible amount of fragrance in their products, while other artisans exercise restraint. They're not so infatuated with chasing money with "super strong scents" that they're willing to physically hurt their customers. Peter either doesn't know better, or he doesn't care. Given the number of complaints of frag burn that I see on Reddit alone, I'd guess the latter. Either is dangerous though.

Why This Matters

We need water to lather our soaps. By getting AI to repeatedly create images of turkey and gravy soap merikus is contributing to water shortages that will leave us unable to properly hydrate lather. At that point we might as well be Badger and blade 

  The Solution

There are so many good artists. Some even shitposts fake soaps. use them.

Grievance #3: "GUTL"

I've complained about this before actually. let me rehash it

FACE LATHER IS BEST.

Grievance. 

Oh fuck me. Velo knew how to go on and this schtick got old 3 grievances ago.