Some thoughts on shaving with a limited palette

Recently I’ve been enduring a major bathroom renovation. As in tearing the bathrooms down to studs and redoing everything – pipes, wiring, walls, the works. Which was needed – the old waste water pipes were cast iron and almost rusted out – but still left me shaving out of the GoBag for several weeks.

Now, I do change out what goes in the GoBag ever so often. But even so it is a limited palette. Doubly so when comparing to the fairly big rotation I normally have – 25+ razors, sevenish brushes, and I don’t even want to count how many soaps and creams. But, to harp on the point, for several weeks my palette was a single razor, a single brush, and two soaps. Oh, and an aftershave and a preshave.

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Wallace’s Overly Fancy Brush and Brush Warmer.

In 1887, Mr Arthur Henry Wallace of Houghton, Michigan came up with what he described as a new and useful improvement in shaving apparatus. And by shaving apparatus, Wallace clearly meant a doodad to hold and heat a brush.

Wallace’s doohickey was compact enough to be carried in a pocket or stowed away in a satchel. It would, he claimed, fulfil all the requirements for which it is intended. As long as the requirements is limited to forming a water reservoir, having a lamp to heat it, and having a built in shaving brush that wouldn’t touch the table when you put it down…

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Shave of the day 31st May 2023

Razor: Gillette Old Type

Blade: Astra Green

Brush: Vie-Long #12705B

Pre-Shave: O Way Softening Shaving Cream

Lather: Asylum Shave Works Frankincense & Myrrh

Aftershave: Asylum Shave Works Frankincense & Myrrh

Additional Care: Alum Block

SOTD 2023 05 31

Another enjoyable shave. Life is grand, y’all!

Spring loaded hoe razor

At about the same time as the original Gillette safety razors were offered for sale, Henrie Clauss filed a patent for a spring loaded hoe razor. It was a reasonable straight forward razor, using a single edged Christy-style blade. So let us have a look at what made it stand out from the crowd.

Like so many razor patents, the patent text describes the invention as containing “new and useful improvements”. And while it might have been novel – or at least novel enough for a patent – I’m unsure of the usefulness.

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Shave of the noon 26th May 2023

Razor: Gillette Old ca. 1921

Blade: Astra Green

Brush: Vie-Long #13051M

Pre-Shave: O Way Softening Shaving Cream

Lather: Pereira Shavery Orange Blossom w/ activated charcoal

Aftershave: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum

Additional Care: Alum Block

SOTD 2023 05 27

First shave in redone bathroom!

Memorial weekend free e-book offer

Memorial day is upon us, and while I’m not in the US I do realise that a lot of my readers are.. and Memorial day is both the start of summer and a log weekend. So to help y’all pass the time in the sun, I’m offering free copies of my second book.

From May 26th and until May 30th you can go to Amazon (US, UK, or wherever) and grab a free Kindle copy of

Another 80 razor and shaving patents:
Further semi-curated selections of important, interesting, inessential, and plain odd shaving related patents

Shave of the evening 24th May 2023

Razor: Gillette Old Type “Khaki”

Blade: Treet Platinum

Brush: Omega #50014 Travel

Pre-Shave: Proraso Pre Shave Cream

Lather: BEA Shavestick

Aftershave: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum

Additional Care:Ā Alum Travel StickĀ & Oak SOS Beard Oil

SOTD 2023 05 24

Still shaving from the GoBag, but the end is in sight!