Thread: Shaving while traveling

Other people might have better suggestions, but when I travel, this is all I take:

• A stick of Arko. No bowl, less mess, and it lasts FOREVER. Plus has amazing lubrication for a soap. Wet your face, rub it on, then take a wet brush to it. If you've never used it before, it will surprise you how much lather explodes on your face once the brush hits it.
• Safety razor and a pack of feathers. Takes up much less space than a straight and a strop. Plus, when I'm traveling, I usually don't have time to prep/strop/shave/clean etc. like I want to when I shave with a straight.
• Rag
• Brush (there's actually some pretty cool ones out there just for travel.)
• Alum block
• Pinaud Clubman
• The smallest bag they'll fit in. There's some awesome ones made just for shaving that hold everything in place.
• A bowl (if it'll fit. but really not necessary when you use a stick of arko. but certainly nice to have though.)

Since you are not flying...
I would be in the Feather DX Folding, Pro or Kai PINK blades - camp.
Soap is a stick, Palmalove or Tabac.
Brush is a 1305 with paint chipping issues and a plastic holder.
Face lather, 2 pass max (N-S & S-N)

Takes a few carefull shaves to get the hang of the DX.
Very efficient - though they (for me at least) lack the Soul that a regular straight seems to bring.
Oh yeah, don't forget the wound care kit, that liquid bandage stuff can come in handy...

Smooth shaving...

Bare bones shave kit for travel for me would be a shave stick in a container, either Arko or Palmolive, a DE with spare blades and a synthetic shave brush. If you have water hardness trouble bottled water is handy. I also usually have an alum stick and aftershave too but they are not totally necessary for a good shave. Here is a good vid on using an Arko shave stick.

Bob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z248xt0GciM

My travel-rig poem.

A little hone:



A little strop:



A door so razors:



Cannot drop:



With apologies to departed Chuckles the Clown we recall...

"A little song
A litte dance
A litte seltzer
Down your pants."

Lol, well played sir, thanks for all the great tips so far, I have been carrying a merkur 1904 and edwin jagger pure badger with mostly DR Harris for soap/cream, absolutely loving the sandlewood and arlington fragrances. I have seen some interesting brushes from Muhle and others that use a synthetic hair and have considered giving it a whirl, I hear they dry much much faster and are a little less maintenance intensive, not to mention less expensive to replace should they grow legs and walk off, anyone had any experience with them?

I purchased a L'Occitan Synthetic Plisson brush and love it for travel, got it for $30 when they were on sale before the holidays. I also have an Omega Hi-Brush which has a little more back bone but isn't as nice on the face. It is also a bit springy and likes to fling lather. Both work great for travel though. They will completely dry in just a few hours.
BTW: I hear the Muhle synthetics are best of both worlds. Very soft tips with good back bone. ShaveBuster has has a few videos on synthetics, I think he even compares the Plisson and Muhle in one.

Originally Posted by 18WheelsOfSteel

I have seen some interesting brushes from Muhle and others that use a synthetic hair and have considered giving it a whirl, I hear they dry much much faster and are a little less maintenance intensive, not to mention less expensive to replace should they grow legs and walk off, anyone had any experience with them?

The Mühle Silvertip Fibre (v.2.) was the one that I was referring to in my previous reply.

Good brush with the right amount of backbone, works equally well with soaps and creams.
Sizes range from S, M and L to XL (19, 21, 23 and 25 mm knot respectively).

My own preference is the XL, but this one appears to be available only in a single model with either black, white or imitation horn handle.

Some shavers like the pampering softeness of the L'Occitane-Plisson synthetic, but I prefer brushes with some backbone that the L'Occitane-Plisson sorely lacks.


Incidentally, Mühle make also the very convenient grey plastic travel tube for shaving
brushes that I use all the time when travelling.
If I take a safety razor, I have it usually disassembled, but Mühle also offers a nifty safety razor head cover that allows you to leave the blade in the razor when traveling without running the risk to cut the contents of your bag to shreds.


B.

Yes, I have been using a few different synthetic shave brushes. They include a Muhle XL that I had the knot reset to a lower loft in a custom handle, a Muhle travel brush, a Simpsons Chubby 2 and a Simpsons Classic 1 with travel tube, a Plisson and a custom brush with a Virginia Sheng knot. Personally I like them for travel and use at home although I do also have badger and boar brushes. They easily lather any soap/cream/shave stick I have ever used and dry very quickly.

I found that I had to modify the way I made lather with the synthetics otherwise I would have water running down my hand and wrist. They do not hold water the same way as natural fiber knots do. So I start with a dryer brush by just running the tips across the water and start my lather that way adding more the same way as I go to keep building the lather until I have the lather I want. Other than that little change technique they have been great to use.

I would agree with beluga's comment on the Plisson for the same reason, I prefer more backbone. That is not to say the Plisson will not lather up a storm, it will, but it is not my preference in face feel while using.

A synthetic brush in a container and an Arko or Palmolive shave stick in a container is about as convenient as it gets for me in a travel kit.

Bob

Good comments.... Recently I traveled to France and Belguim and took with me Valobra Stick which has first-rate skincare quality and excellent glide for both straight or safety razor use. Also I used Molinard Rasoline for both a pre-shave and for my primary shaving cream. Rasoline is a French made foam-less shaving cream but I find it very useful as a pre-shave foamless cream as well due to its mild scent and it's super slick foundation-- super slick and versatile in other words. One of my trusty straight blades accompanied me in my carry-on luggage and I carried my safety razor in my carry-on with DE blades in my check-on luggage. While in France I purchased some Martin De Candre which was a fringe benefit of course!!!

I am beyond jealous, haven't been to Europe in years, did you get to visit anywhere of special significance while there, or any wetshaving manufacturer shops?