Yesterday, I was shopping in the supermarket and taking a look at the cost of replacement blades for my Wilkinson Sword Quattro Titanium razor. After the shop assistant had asked me if I was alright and having assured her I was not having a stroke, I resolved myself to seeing if there was a more cost effective way of shaving. Having tried electric razors in the past (and not been impressed) I have decided to venture into the grounds of "traditional" shaving.
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| A picture of Benjamin Disraeli.... for no good reason. |
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This generally means one of two choices. Either the straight edge "cutthroat" razor, or the double edged single blade "safety" razor that King Camp Gillette (yes that's his real name) started selling in 1903. Well, I've gone for the less life threatening of the two.
Choose Your Weapons Gentlemen!
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| Merkur HD 34C |
First up, the razor itself.
I have decided to go for the highly recommended Merkur HD 34C in Chrome. I have read a few sites about using such razors and there seems to be general agreement this is a great starting point for the beginner, as it's well made (German) and is a forgiving piece of equipment. Let's hope so.
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| A packet of blades. Duh. |
Next up is the type of blade that you use, and let's face it, they need to be damn cheap, the whole reason for looking into this in the first place. But there are apparently many different types of double edged blades! Who knew?
Blades apparently differ with their coating, their bevel angles and all sorts of other things, but I'm just looking for something that won't cut my head off.
Well, the weapon of choice here is the Derby Extra. They're supposed to be good for the beginner, as some blades are insanely sharp and only for experts who have the technique down to a tee (blades by Feather for example).
A pack of 10 will set you back £1.50. Needless to say that's a marked improvement on the £6 it said in the supermarket for a 4 pack of blades for my existing razor.
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| At least it's not real ivory |
Now for the brush. Traditional shaving brushes are made from Badger hair, and even different parts of the fur have a different feel. I have no idea if they actually kill the Badger in the process or just have a bunch of bald ones running around, so if anyone can shed any light on that I'd like to know. In any case I have gone for a following "Pure Badger" brush that uses hair from most of the pelt and is regarded as the standard starting point. Hand made in Sheffield apparently.
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| Creamy |
Last on the list is the shaving cream. Now, apparently the stuff you get in a can from your supermarket of choice has all sorts of nasty chemicals in it, so the traditional shaver has to look for a more traditional product. They come in 2 sorts, either a shaving soap, or a shaving cream, whichever you use is up to personal preference. I have gone for the cream, and have selected the rather tasty sound avocado variety. Which "flavour" you choose is down to personal preference, but you can get ones that contain eucalyptus that give you that cool feeling afterwards, or lemon and lime so you smell like a citrus fruit orchard.
So, that stuff is all on order as a "starter kit" from an online retailer. I'm forewarned and forearmed with some lovely YouTube videos and will be updating you in later blogs to see if I manage to rip my own face off, or, just the hairy bits I'm aiming for.
Stay tuned.
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