Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Citrus Soap
Lather: Last of my Orange Essential Oil Shave Soap
Brush: Vie-Long #12705B natural white pure horse
Razor: German (likely Merkur) Bakelite Slant with a fresh Super-Max Stainless
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum Aftershave
Beard care: Big Red Beard Factory Oil and Big Red No7 Beard Comb
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint Soap
Lather: Mama Bear’s Awakening
Brush: Semogue “The Shave Nook 2012 Limited Edition” mixed boar-badger brush
Razor: Merkur 45C Bakelite with a Derby
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest 80 below
Beard care: Big Red Beard Factory Oil and Big Red No7 Beard Comb
…the Third Reich invaded Norway. In my line of work such dates tends to be noticed, and my mind is on things not terrible related to shaving today.
April 9th 1940 marked the start of a two month long campaign that ended in the Norwegian Armed Forces in Norway surrendering. It was the longest campaign after being invaded in 1940 – Poland fell in four weeks, France in six… but Norway, with the numerically smallest, barely trained and even worse equiped army in Europe at the time held out for eight. Granted, our geography makes it easy to defend – but our soldiers and volunteers for the most part simply did not give up.
For those unfamiliar with this – in the grand scheme of things – minor part of history, here is a few links:
Operation Weserübung, Norwegian Campaign, HNoMS Pol III, Battle of Drøbak Sound, Battle of Hegra Fortress, Battle of Vinjesvingen, Battles of Narvik, Battle of Dombås, and German occupation of Norway – Wikipedia
The king’s defiance, and chaotic escape and Norway to recall loss of freedom – NewsInEnglish.no
It sounds like a cliché, but freedom isn’t free. Sometimes it must be protected against enemies from outside the nation, sometimes it must be protected against enemies from the inside the nation – but it must be protected regardless.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Citrus Soap
Lather: Mike’s Natural Lemongrass & Eucalyptus Soap
Brush: Vie-Long #13051M purse horse brush
Razor: Merkur 45C Bakelite with a fresh Derby
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Proraso Liquid Cream After Shave
Beard care: Big Red Beard Factory Oil and Big Red No7 Beard Comb
…is WAY too excited about shaving cream. Only a select few artisan shaving soaps warrants this level of wide eyed excitement.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Peppermint Soap
Lather: Arko Cool Mint shaving cream
Brush: Vie-Long #14033 mixed horse-badger brush
Razor: Merkur 45C Bakelite with a fresh Derby
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest 80 below
Beard care: Big Red Beard Factory Oil and Big Red No7 Beard Comb
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Citrus Soap
Lather: Orange Essential Oil Shave Soap
Brush: Vie-Long #12705B natural white pure horse
Razor: Phillips Philite with a Feather
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Thayers Original Witch Hazel
Beard care: Big Red Beard Factory Oil and Big Red No7 Beard Comb
Canned goo can be messy… as can brushless creams. But fear not, Mr P Solaini’s patented shaving cream applicator was invented to solve that problem – if a problem it is.
It is well known that when the spreading of lotions to the face or body requires the use of the hand the operation is both wasteful and extremely messy. Brushes have been used for this purpose, however they are not satisfactory in applying an even coating of the lotion or shaving cream to the face or body and, additionally, such brushes are extremely expensive.
So far Mr Solaini… my experience is that brushes are just the thing for applying an even layer, and there are a large number of great-but-inexpensive brushes available 50 years after the patent.
[B]rushes … do not readily adapt themselves to the wide variety of lotions and shaving creams now available to the consumer. … The gaseous bomb dispensed lotions, creams or shaving soaps are soft and require gentle application to the skin while the creams dispensed in jars or tubes are much thicker…
Okay, you got us there – a shaving brush is often not that great for the canned goo. So what is the solution?
…the present invention comprises various forms of a rubber or plastic material applicator which is fiat in conguration and either an integral handle member or an adjustable handle member cooperating with slot and gripping means on the applicator to provide different forces and angles of applying a spreading force from the hand to the spreading end of the applicator.
Uhm… that is a spatula. I got several in my kitchen drawer but while it might be just the thing for not making a mess from the canned goo, I really don’t see how I can use it to whip up a good lather from a tube of shaving cream.
Pre-shave: Dr Bronner’s Liquid Euclayptus Soap
Lather: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum Acadian Spice Shaving Soap
Brush: Semogue “The Shave Nook 2012 Limited Edition” mixed boar-badger
Razor: Phillips Philite with a fresh Feather
Post-shave: Cool water rinse, alum, and Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Beard care: Big Red Beard Oil (Factory) and Big Red No7 Beard Comb
A fair number of fellow shavers over on my favourite shave forum thinks that the BiC Sensitive is pretty good razors for being plastic disposables… so when I spotted a bag over at our local tools / work clothes / household goods store for a little more than a bottle of soda, I had to pick it up.
Having used one for a week, I’m somewhat on the fence about them. They are not horrible in the way that carts are for me, in other words no shave bumps and rashes, but they feel fairly flimsy and way too light… probably to be expected from disposables costing next to nothing, but it does mean I can’t find a space for them in my den.
I’ll give another one a go next time I’m travelling. If I don’t like them for that use, I have free razors to hand out to the conscripts that shows up unshaven on mondays and claims to have forgotten their razors at home…