A little while ago I got my hands on a trio of razor blade sharpeners, and my plan is to do a light clean and restore before making a few tests to see if they still work as advertised… stay tuned!
An upcoming project
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Shave of the day 11th February
Razor: Gillette Slim
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Semogue TSN LE 2012
Lather: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum Soap
Aftershave: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Additional Care: Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser, Alum Block, Scotch Porter Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
Shave of the day 8th February
Razor: Gillette Single Ring
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Gustavo Rimano Manchurian Badger, imitation horn
Lather: Nivea Mild, and a touch of Oway softening shaving cream
Aftershave: BullDog Sensitive Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser, Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Oil, Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
1800 blogposts and a lather shot
I just realised that this is the 1800th post on my blog… I mean, it shouldn’t be too surprising, since five posts a week for almost seven years adds up. Still, it’s a nice almost-round number to reach.
This is yesterdays lather – Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum Acadian Spice Shaving Soap on a VieLong #12705B natural white horse brush – after the third pass. Love how creamy and stiff it turned out, and the fact that is didn’t collapse at all.
Shave of the day 6th February
Razor: Gillette Single Ring
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Vie-Long #12705B
Lather: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum Soap
Aftershave: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Additional Care: Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser, Alum Block, Scotch Porter Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
Bessegg razor – made in Norway during the War
A lot of Norwegian Museums is part of what they call “The Digital Museum”, where you can search and browse the collections without having to actually go to a museum you didn’t even know existed in the first place.
As – for instance – the museum at Tana, located in one of the few buildings in Finnmark that wasn’t burn down by the retreating Nazis in 1944… I had never ever heard about the place until I was poking around trying to find more images of Norwegian razor blades and found this instead:
Click to make bigger – it’s worth a closer look.
It’s an advertisement for a razor manufactured in Norway! While I cannot make out any date printed on it, it’s most likely from the War. The text translates as:
On top:
The first Norwegian!
In the little box to the right of the drawing:
A new (torn word – perhaps ‘product’?)
The Besegg razor have a smooth protecting edge instead of the normal teeth.
The protective edge provides a perfectly efficient safety.
Under the drawing:
BESEGG RAZOR
A BETTER SHAVE
Left side of the table:
ADVANTAGES
1. Better, easier, more comfortable shaves
2. Greater safety
3. Easier cleaning
4. Solid, exact and beautiful construction
5. Made in Norway
Right side of the table:
PRICES
Sports model – 5 kroner
Standard model – 6 kroner
Gift model #1 – 10 kroner
Gift model #2 – 12 kroner
For the normal style of razor blades
Bottom:
THE RAZOR WITHOUT TEETH
The very small print:
Printed at Fabritius, Oslo / Besegg Manufacture Inc., Oslo
I’m fairly convinced the actual razor was a knock off or a near copy of a foreign design, or a chimera of different design elements from foreign razors.
5 kroner back in ’44 would be the equivalent of about 112 kroner today, or about 13.25 USD. However; the average yearly income was – according to my sources – 4260 kroner, so the cheapest model would cost 0.12% of your yearly income… not a small amount when you do the math.
Sidebar / fun factoid: Fabritius was a long established printer in Oslo, operating from 1844 to 1991.
Shave of the day 4th February
Razor: Gillette Single Ring
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Vie-Long #14033
Lather: Pereira Shavery Orange Blossom w/ activated charcoal
Aftershave: Proraso Wood and Spice
Additional Care: Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser, Alum Block, Scotch Porter Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
Shave of the day 1st February
Razor: Asylum Shave Works Evolution
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Wilkinson Sword Badger
Lather: Mike’s Natural Soaps Orange, Cedarwood & Black Pepper Shavestick
Aftershave: Barber No3 Marmara
Additional Care: Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser, Alum Block, Gentlemen of Sweden Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
“Why don’t she shave” – body shaming to sell hair removal
Over the years companies and individuals have used many underhanded tricks so sell stuff, but one that really gets my goat is body shaming… preying on the insecurities of people to separate them from their money. This is one of the worst examples – from the 30’s – I’ve come across in a while, but the whole modern concept of ladies shaving started out as body shaming to sell razors (and blades) to the ‘other half” of the population…
I would have liked if we – as a society – had outgrown these kinds of underhanded tricks from advertisers, but you only have to look around to realise that it’s worse than ever these days.
Shave of the day 30th January
Razor: Asylum Shave Works Evolution
Blade: Astra Green
Brush: Vie-Long #13051M
Lather: Wet Shaving Products Pre-production Sample
Aftershave: BullDog Original Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser, Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb
