Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Teatree Soap
Lather: Col Conk’s Bay Rum
Brush: Vie Long 14033 mixed horse-boar
Razors: Merkur 25C OC and Gillette ’58 TV Special TTO, both with a Persona Platinum
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
One of the big benefits of treating traditional wetshaving as a hobby is that you’ll be likely to have a range of hardware and software in your shave den, and can thus tailor your shave to fit your mood and – more to the point this time of year – the weather.
Warm, muggy morning? No problem; a cold water shave with mentholated soap and aftershave will make you feel suitable refreshed in no time flat!
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Peppermint Soap
Lather: Mama Bear’s Awakening
Brush: Turkish No6
Razors: Merkur 25C OC and Gillette ’58 TV Special TTO, both with a fresh Persona Platinum
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest Prototype Menthol
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Eucalyotus Soap
Lather: Prairie Creations Teatree KISS cream
Brush: Semogue TSN 2012 LE
Razors: Merkur 45C and Bakelite Slant, both with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest 80 Below
I have found one more reason to pity the “cart’s and canned goo”-crowd… at least the part of them that uses no or just one aftershave they picked up at the mega-mart.
The reason? Krampert’s Finest 80 Below.
Few things feels better on a warm, humid and generally muggy morning than a splash of icy menthol… like sticking my face in the freezer!
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Teatree Soap
Lather: Arko shave stick
Brush: Turkish No7
Razors: Merkur 45C and Bakelite Slant, both with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest 80 Below
YMMV, but as far as I’m concerned the most important part of getting the Ultimate Shave™ is the mindset you go in with. Personally I don’t consider getting a BBS – a baby butt smooth, ie perfect shave with no trace of hair and no nicks – a necessity for getting an Ultimate Shave™ – to me the Ultimate Shave™ is a shave that feels great, make me feel invigorated and put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
I gotten shaves like that with my pot-metal Yuma razor, using whatever blade was on top of the stack, the love-it-or-loathe-it Arko shave stick and my cheap as shit Turkish “horse-hair” brush… but I’ve also gotten it with every other razor, brush and soap/croap/cream I own as well.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Peppermint Soap
Lather: RazoRock XXX
Brush: Vie Long 14033 mixed horse-boar
Razors: Merkur 45C and Bakelite Slant, both with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest 80 Below
Pre-shave: Dr Bronners Liquid Peppermint Soap
Lather: Arko Cool Mint cream
Brush: Turkish #6
Razors: Merkur 45C and Bakelite Slant, both with a Wilkinson Sword
Post-shave: Cold water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest 80 Below
I was reminded of a post I wrote last september, on the subject of walled gardens…
If you embrace traditional wetshaving, you are using what is – for all intents and purposes – an open source system of grooming: all the relevant patents and so forth is fallen into the public domain, which means anyone is free to start making razors and the blades for them. The only thing you need to achieve success in the marketplace is a good product at a good price… which means a lot of small scale artisans and manufacturers has to be in it for the sake of the customers, since the return on investment will be low.
P&G and the other big multinationals wants us to use their proprietary hardware (and software), which gives them control of the supply and therefore the cost – to the benefit of their bottom line (as should be expected, since they are in business to make money). New cartridges and other gizmos will be introduced regularly, to keep the buyers in the walled garden… by hook or by crook.
Or in other words, people who start a business to create products for the traditional crowd – and I’m thinking the hardware side of things – can often be compared to the people who write open source software. They want to create (and sell) a great product that people with special interests will use.
On the other hand the people who runs a business aimed at the ‘modern’ shaver – and again I’m thinking about the hardware – can be compared to such entities as Microsoft, Apple, and SAP AG… they are in it to make money – and there is nothing wrong about that.