Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Eucalyptus
Lather: Mike’s Pine & Cedarwood
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 badger-boar brush
Razors: Cadet TP-01 and Cadet TTO-13, both with a fresh Green Astra
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Kramperts Finest Bay Rum
Last shave of this year, and a very, very nice one too.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Peppermint
Lather: Mama Bear’s Awakening
Brush: Turkish No6
Razors: ’58 TV Special with Gillette 7 O’Clock
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Kramperts Finest 80 Below
A shave to make me wake up – and a nice one too.
We’re getting up on a new year, and it’s time to take stock of the gear in my den to see what ‘holes’ that ‘needs’ filling.
I didn’t find a lot of gaps, really.
I got my eye on one or two new brushes; a Omega 343167 synthetic and a Vie-Long 14033M unbleached horse.I would love to get my hands on an affordable and agreeable open comb twist to open razor – not to mention an affordable and agreeable open comb slant. Apart from that… nothing, with the exception of soaps and creams.
At least until my ADs starts playing up again…
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Orange
Lather: Mike’s Orange, Cedarwood and Black Pepper
Brush: Vie Long 14033 mixed badger-horse brush
Razors: Bakelite slant and ’58 TV Special, both with Gillette 7 O’Clock
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Kramperts Finest Bay Rum
A decent shave, although the yellow 7O’Clock don’t quite agree with my Bakelite slant. Works wonderfully in my TV Special though.
I was gong through the blog I wrote while I was deployed to southern Sudan / South Sudan, and found the first public thing I wrote about the joys of traditional shaving:
I wrote:
It is something very satisfying to whip up your own lather before shaving… to see a tiny bit of shaving cream and a few drops of water turn into a nice, thick, rich and nice smelling lather. The slightly cool feel as the eucalyptus and menthol lather first touches, and then covers, most of the face – and then taking it off with long, controlled strokes with my old fashioned safety razor. A quick splash of water, and then the sting of the alum as it finds the small nicks and scratches that I couldn’t see in the mirror.
It don’t matter if the lather cup I use is a bright pink snack bow from Ikea. It don’t matter if my brush is a reasonably cheap one from Body Shop. It don’t even matter that my bathroom is a ‘three toilets, three showers’ shared ablution container that – frankly – is a bit run down. What matters is that it’s five minutes of ManTime, and a link to my more or less daily routine at home. Try that with a spray can full of foam and plastic razors with five blades…
I might be a couple of years older by now, my skills honed somewhat, and my ‘nook might be at home with a significantly larger stash of gear… but I still like my ManTime.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Lavender
Lather: Mike’s Lavender & Eucalyptus soap
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE mixed badger-boar brush
Razors: Bakelite slant and ’58 TV Special, both with fresh Gillette 7 O’Clock (yellow)
Post-shave: Warm water rinse, Witch Hazel, and Kramperts Finest 80° Below
A lovely Christmas shave with a frozen finish – wonderful.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Lavender
Lather: Crabtree & Evelyn Sandalwood soap
Brush: Vie Long 14033 mixed horse-badger
Razors: Cadet TTO-13 and Parker 22R, both with Astra Green blades
Post-shave: Warm water rinse, alum, and Kramperts Finest Bay Rum
It might be the last shave ever, but it was a damn nice one…
Just for fun, I summarised all my razors:
Links to reviews on this page of my blog.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s liquid Peppermint
Lather: Proraso Eucalyptus & Peppermint croap
Brush: Turkish No6
Razors: Cadet TTO-13 and Parker 22R, both with Astra Green blades
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Kramperts Finest Prototype Menthol
A very refreshing shave.
I was out shopping the other day, when I stumbled over something in the non-food section of my local grocery store:
Pleased because even if all they have is canned goo and multi blade horrors, they do now have shaving brushes. A little horrified because frankly… how good can a no-brand brush that cost 49.90 (approx 8.50USD) be, considering that that’s ever so slightly more than you’ll pay for a Big Mac?
Still, they offer a “quality guarantee” for it, so it can’t be half bad… no listing on the back as to the materials used in it, so it’s anyone’s guess as to what the hairs are – cheap boar, nylon, leftover paintbrushes… Still, it’s on the shelf now – so that’s an improvement. All they need to do now is to start stocking proper shaving soap or cream, as well as some proper safety razors and blades.
Suggestions from my favourite shaving forum points towards this being a re-badged Marvy brush – or both Pfeilring and Marvy get it from the same third-party supplier – if so it might be a pretty scratchy boar brush. I might just have to give it a try… or maybe not.