Thread: Hi from Leeds and Reading, UK

It's fairly evident that I need to look around for a brush and some soap. I know there's a shop in Leeds that specialises in straight and safety razors, so I may head in there after my exam in a few days time to see what I can find

Hi & welcome to SRP. You will find that there are many helpful people on here to answer any questions you might have. As you already know, you will need a brush, soap, a soap mug & most importantly a strop. You will need to know how to strop & you can use an old wide belt if you have one & a butter knife to practice with while you wait on a straight razor & all of your other supplies which you will be able to get fairly cheap if you shop around. The Palmolive I have is in a tube & is an excellent soap but there are many others also. The Palmolive I have is made in Italy. I don't know what kind of stores you have there in the UK or if there are resale shops or antique stores to buy a good used straight razor from but know what to look for even though you said you would stay away from there, just some friendly advice. Don't buy anything with a lot of hone wear or rusty blades or one with a chipped or cracked blade. You can find a decent deal on eBay if you know what to look for. For now your straight razor with the disposable blade will work because you can start with a new blade. There are a few members here from the UK so you might be able to find one close to you that can be of some good help to you & even be a mentor for you. Here are a couple of links for you if you have not seen them yet. If you have seen these already then please disregard them. I know you said you have looked through the Library here. The first one is razors to avoid:

Brands of Straight Razors to Avoid - Straight Razor Place Library

This next link is one that has good brands of razors that you would want to own:

Good Straight Razor Brands - Straight Razor Place Library

I hope these are helpful to you. It is good to have you here with us, so enjoy the site & feel free to ask anything you want. We are here to help out in any way we can. Good luck my friend.

Traditional Shaving Company in Leeds (assuming this is the one you mean) have plenty of good gear and well priced. They have quite a slick site to with free delivery in the UK, not to mention you always get a couple of sweets in the box which my wife loves so she doesn't mind so much if I ever get parcels from them lol. The only downside is if you are wanting a brush they only stock badger brushes so if you want a good one they can be quite expensive on the other hand boar or horse hair brushes are relativly cheap. If you do want a badger brush for quality but don't want to pay the premium a lot of those carry have a look at New Forest Brushes, excellent brushes without the premium price tag.

While your looking at soaps don't forget to have a look at the artisan makers as well both in the UK and US, as there are some top class soaps about out there. My favourite at the minute is Wickham Super Smooth but these are so subjective it's easy to spend all your money on them to find the one you like best.

Mike

Originally Posted by Angelcynn

Traditional Shaving Company in Leeds (assuming this is the one you mean) have plenty of good gear and well priced. They have quite a slick site to with free delivery in the UK, not to mention you always get a couple of sweets in the box which my wife loves so she doesn't mind so much if I ever get parcels from them lol. The only downside is if you are wanting a brush they only stock badger brushes so if you want a good one they can be quite expensive on the other hand boar or horse hair brushes are relativly cheap. If you do want a badger brush for quality but don't want to pay the premium a lot of those carry have a look at New Forest Brushes, excellent brushes without the premium price tag.

While your looking at soaps don't forget to have a look at the artisan makers as well both in the UK and US, as there are some top class soaps about out there. My favourite at the minute is Wickham Super Smooth but these are so subjective it's easy to spend all your money on them to find the one you like best.

Mike

That is indeed the company I mean. Seeing as I walk past them every time I go to uni, I may drop in to have a look at what they have. I'll take a look around to see what there is before I commit to anything.

Hi and welcome,
Nice to see another UK member.

As mentioned Palmolive shave sticks are great and only 49p at Tesco and Wilkinsons (Thats all I use when using safety razors)

Signature Soaps Limited (Powered by CubeCart)
The above link is a local artisan (based in Bolton) I have the Eucalyptus and Lavender soap and its very good with a fresh modern kinda scent, It's a big container 190g for £7.50 Ive been using mine for a couple of months now and hardly made a dent in it. Its easy to lather as well.

As mentioned Omega boar brushes are great value they may take a few shaves to break in and remove the original animal scent lol but I like mine.

I only want to say the following:
As a wee lad, I was 7 years old at the time, my father enlisted me in LUSCOS.
That was back in 74.
I've been a member ever since...

Welcome to SRP!

(LUSCOS is short for Leeds United Supporter club of Scandinavia)

Welcome to our forum! Hope you have a great time!

Welcome to SRP!

Hi and welcome, if you need help just ask here you'll get all the answers you need.

Originally Posted by Birnando

I only want to say the following:
As a wee lad, I was 7 years old at the time, my father enlisted me in LUSCOS.
That was back in 74.
I've been a member ever since...

Welcome to SRP!

(LUSCOS is short for Leeds United Supporter club of Scandinavia)

I'm yet to be able to call myself a supporter of Leeds United, coming from Reading. I do, however, check how they do in their matches!