Spooky shave of the day 31st October

Razor: Ever Ready 1914
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Vie-Long #12705B
Lather: Pereira Shavery Shaving Cream w/ Activated Charcoal and and a touch of Oway softening shaving cream
Aftershave: Barber No3 Marmara
Additional Care: Alum Block, Gentlemen of Sweden Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

PS: Remember the unbreakable bowl from Pereira I reviewed a little while ago? It’s now available via Indiegogo, for a quite reasonable price too.

Pereira’s unbreakable shave bowl with free shipping

Wondering about supporting Pereira Shavery’s crowdfunder and get one of the unbreakable shaving bowls they are offering? What if I told you that you have the opportunity to get it with free shipping?

That’s right; there is a limited number of perks available that means you can get the bowl without having to pay shipping. They will go fast, I’m sure, so don’t ponder too long 🙂

Just follow this link to get it.

Weird patents: “Toilet-brush”

Sometimes a patent covers an invention which is so obviously an improvement on the state of the art that you wonder why no one have though about it before… and other times it covers an invention that history have passed by. George L Street Jr’s patent from August 1908 is one of the later.

The title of the patent is “toilet-brush”, but reading the patent makes it abundantly clear that what it means is a brushed used for a person performing one’s toilette and not for cleaning a potty. The meaning of words can drift over time…

Returning to the patent, it is claimed to be a “a certain new and useful Improvement” over previous brushes used for personal grooming, “especially applicable to shaving and tooth brushes”. As to why the brushes used for personal grooming needed to be improved, lets turn to the text of the patent:

One of the objects of the invention is to eliminate the use of a shaving cup, and cake or stick or of any detergent and holder therefor, such as is liable by repeated use to accumulate and harbor impurities and disease producing’ germs…

As to how this was to be achieved… for starters, the brushes were designed to allow easy cleaning of the base of the bristles (aka: the glue bump). This was supposedly achieved by making the brush capable of being opened up; the drawings that accompanies the text shows hinges along one side of the handle.

Freedom from the perceived bio-hazard on your shaving soap or in your shaving cup came from the ability to place soap directly inside the brush after opening it up. To quote from the patent text:

…an attenuated, pliant body of soap or detergent of proper size for a single use and which soap or detergent will lie .within or between the bristles and partake of their movement…

One version of the brush showed in the drawing includes a storage space in the handle for several of the soap wafers – useful, one would imagine, for a travel brush.

The patent also describe how the soap wafer would be made from a pliable material such as paraffined paper partially covered in soap, since soap by itself isn’t structurally sound and would disintegrate before a lather could be worked up.

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see why Mr George L Street Jr’s brush didn’t stick around… not only is the danger of germs on our soaps significantly less than the patentee seems to have believed, but a shaving brush with one or two small hinges is an invitation for a broken brush. You would also be locked in to a single source of shaving soap; however this was probably less of a worry in 1908 than most of traditional wetshavers would consider it in 2018.

No shave of the day 29th October

There is something… almost sinful about going to a professional barber for a straight razor shave. The hot towels, the massage, the pre-shave oil, the lather, the post-shave massage with a face tonic…

…and, off course, the fact that my cheeks are so smooth even the day after that I don’t have to shave on a Monday morning!

PS: Remember the unbreakable bowl from Pereira I reviewed a little while ago? It’s now available via Indiegogo, for a quite reasonable price too.

No shave, but a PSA of sorts

For various reasons – mostly to do with an idea for tomorrow – I’m not shaving today.. but I can take the time to tell you all that if you want in on the Pereira Shavery unbreakable lather bowl crowdfunder and get the bowl with 50% off shipping, you need to act soon – not only are the offer limited in number, but it only last a couple of days more.

I’m considering chipping in myself, even if I’m lucky enough to have one of these as an early sample… I wouldn’t mind a second one in a different colour, as well as more of Pereira’s soap.

Shave of the day 24th October

Razor: GEM Micromatic Clug Pruf
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Vie-Long #14033
Lather: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum Soap
Aftershave: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Additional Care: Alum Block, Scotch Porter Beard Balm, Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

PS: Remember the unbreakable bowl from Pereira I reviewed a little while ago? It’s now available via Indiegogo, for a quite reasonable price too.

Shave of the day 22nd October

Razor: GEM Micromatic Clug Pruf
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Wilkinson Sword Badger
Lather: Brutalt Bra TSN LE / Norwegian Wood
Aftershave: Proraso Wood and Spice
Additional Care: Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

Shave of the day 20th October

Razor: Schick “Lady Eversharp”
Blade: Schick Injector
Brush: X A
Lather: Mike’s Natural Soaps Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper
Aftershave: BullDog Sensitive Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, Gentlemen of Sweden Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb