Tag Archives: Thoughts while shaving

Looking back

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This attempt at documenting my wetshaving journey have been up less than a year – first post went up early in April – but I come a long way since then. Not only have the amount of things in my shave den exploded, but so has the number of hits on this blog – off to a slow start with less than 40 hits the first month, quickly growing to about five hundred a month before a new spike in December. All told not far from 4000 hits so far, which is not bad for a blog that is 3/5ths about what lather and razor I used at any given day…
It’s been fun so far – and I’ll keep writing this blog as long as I enjoy shaving and I has the time to do so. Have a Happy and Well Shaven New Year!

Wishlist for 2013

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We’re getting up on a new year, and it’s time to take stock of the gear in my den to see what ‘holes’ that ‘needs’ filling.

I didn’t find a lot of gaps, really.

I got my eye on one or two new brushes; a Omega 343167 synthetic and a Vie-Long 14033M unbleached horse.I would love to get my hands on an affordable and agreeable open comb twist to open razor – not to mention an affordable and agreeable open comb slant. Apart from that… nothing, with the exception of soaps and creams.

At least until my ADs starts playing up again…

Flashback time!

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I was gong through the blog I wrote while I was deployed to southern Sudan / South Sudan, and found the first public thing I wrote about the joys of traditional shaving:

I wrote:

It is something very satisfying to whip up your own lather before shaving… to see a tiny bit of shaving cream and a few drops of water turn into a nice, thick, rich and nice smelling lather. The slightly cool feel as the eucalyptus and menthol lather first touches, and then covers, most of the face – and then taking it off with long, controlled strokes with my old fashioned safety razor. A quick splash of water, and then the sting of the alum as it finds the small nicks and scratches that I couldn’t see in the mirror.

It don’t matter if the lather cup I use is a bright pink snack bow from Ikea. It don’t matter if my brush is a reasonably cheap one from Body Shop. It don’t even matter that my bathroom is a ‘three toilets, three showers’ shared ablution container that – frankly – is a bit run down. What matters is that it’s five minutes of ManTime, and a link to my more or less daily routine at home. Try that with a spray can full of foam and plastic razors with five blades…

I might be a couple of years older by now, my skills honed somewhat, and my ‘nook might be at home with a significantly larger stash of gear… but I still like my ManTime.

A suggested 20$ starter kit for new wetshavers

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A while ago – well, several months ago – I came up with a suggested 10$ starter kit. Now it’s time again, and I’m doubling the ante. As the last time, postage is NOT included; mostly because postage varies wildly depending on where you are in the world.

Total cost as listed is either 20.07$ or 19.52$, depending on your choice of blades. The first option will give a new wetshaver more blades to experiment with, and I have good experiences with all of them. The second option will give a new wetshaver fewer blades, and of only one brand, but it’s a very good blade – my current fall back blade in fact.

Like in the 10$ kit I have opted for the Turkish No6 – I honestly feel that you cannot beat it in the low cost end of the brush market. The quality can be a bit spotty, that is true, but the rewamped model seems to be more solidly constructed than the old one and it is a solid performer.

I have not added any pre or post shave treatments to the suggested kit – I wanted to put in a bottle of Krampert’s Finest but that would have added another 50% to the cost… but then again changing the pre and post shave isn’t critical if you’re changing from cartridges to DE. What you done so far will still work – perhaps a bit more care taken to wash and rinse before shaving.

In addition I would suggest borrowing a small bowl from the kitchen to make lather in, as well as setting aside a few hours to go online and read up on how to get a Damn Fine Shave.

Are you content?

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Krampers – all around swell guy and the brain behind what might be best Bay Rum aftershave money can buy – asked the question on my favorite shave forum yesterday; “Is anyone else content?“

At first I didn’t quite get what he was asking, but his well written little piece slowly bumped my gray matter into motion… Gut reaction was “off course I am”.. but as I was reading I started to wonder… Given that I still keep an eye out for more razors, more brushes, more soaps and more blades.. am I content? Could I stop acquiring more gear for my den RIGHT NOW and be happy with my shave?

I wont stop keeping an eye out for treasures, but with the question is rephrased like that I realised that I am truly content with my shaves these days. More than content, in fact I am looking forward to my morning ritual; in sharp contrast to the situation back before I took up traditional wetshaving with brush, soap and a DE razor. What used to be a chore has become a peaceful breathing space in my life. What was best avoided or at best rushed trough has become something to look forward to and to enjoy.

New razors will most likely be procured – not because I believe it’ll will give me a better shave, but because it’ll add a bit of variation to my shaves. New soaps will be tried – not because I’m unhappy with the two dozen or so soaps and creams I have, but because trying soaps is fun. A new brush or two will find their way to my den at some point – not because the brushes I have now don’t make good lather, but because I think I might enjoy trying a mid-range horse or a pure badger. New after shaves… actually, no – Kramperts Finest is too good to change.

So yes, I AM content. New gear will arrive in due time, but that has more to do with the fact that I am a tinkerer at heart. I am content with my shaves, secure in the knowledge that I enjoy shaving a lot more than most people ever will.

Mission accomplished

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The last few days I have been on the Go, shaving out of my GoBag and sharing a bathroom with two dozen or so other guys. The downside – apart from being away from my den – is that I have had to pack my kit up and down each time I shave. The upside is that at least two of the guys now are pondering switching from canned go and multiblade horrors to more traditional wetshaving gear.

I would call that “mission accomplished”

The trial of shaving…

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Sharing a bathroom with lots of guys can be a test of patience – or sometimes a test of how much warm water there is.

On the bright side, a ice cold shave really wakes me up.

Early chill

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A bit early this morning when I went out; -6°C. Not terrible cold, but cold for being this part of Norway this early. Still, the splash of Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum I put on my face just before popping out felt great – and the chill brought out the fragrance in a new way.

Mixing and matching

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<Backdated – Real Life sometimes means no Internet for me>
Sometimes when I’m on the Go, I can pack more than just the GoBag – so this time around I brought a tube of Arko Ice Mint along with the Lea Shave Stick that lives in my GoBag.

Mixing the two lathers was fun and rewarding; rubbed the shave stick on my face as usual, put a bit of cream on the brush and went to town. Was rewarded with a thicker, denser lather than either product makes on their own, and plenty of it too.

Going to experiment a bit when I get home to find other fun combos to try out… as it is right now, I got a grand total of four shave sticks (Lea, ARKO, GzD and Derby) and four creams (ARKO Cool Mint, Dalen d’Men Energetic, Derby Lavender and Proraso Eucalyptus and Menthol). Unless they changed math since I went to school, that should give me sixteen combos to try out – and to make sure to give it a fair test, each combo should be tried more than once.

Sounds like a fun project!

Cheap brushes and how they are made

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Another backdated post – such is life.

One of the members over at my favorite wetshaving forum pointed us all to a little thing he wrote about cheap brushes and how they are NOT made by machine. The discussion it sparked is an interesting read as well.

It’s an interesting read – I did honestly assume that cheap and cheerful brushes were at least machine assembled, even if I did assume (correctly in that instance) that the hairs were graded by people. And while machine made brushes might hold true for the ones made with man made fibers*, it’s apparently not true when it comes to boar and badger brushes.

I guess that even in 2012 labour is cheap enough in China to not make it worthwhile inventing a knot-making machine…

*) Not to far fetched an idea; some of the really cheap brushes are made with nylon – all the softness and backbone of a painters brush…