Thread: Hotel Shaving

I went traveling for a few days with the wife. I was always curious about what it would be like to straight shave in a hotel. I ended up straight shaving twice. I usually use a DE. I thought it would be extremely difficult. It was not.

I brought my TM travel strop and a slipstone; just in case. I did not need the stone.

I thought that shaving with a straight would be a time issue. It really is not. While my wife is in the bathroom, I can strop. Once the razor is stropped, it is just a matter of shaving carefully and slowly. I shave while my wife continues to get ready, and packs her bags.

One night my wife told me I should shave because we had to get up early, and it would be one less thing to do. A straight shave is great the night before, because it will last late into the next day.

The second time, I was planning on doing a DE shave. But it was in the morning, and all my shave gear was in another bag in the car. Stropping was a pain, because the bathroom door would not close properly. It kept opening while I was stropping. I had to hold one foot against the door. My shaving cream, and brush were also in the car. i had to use soap. It kept drying on me. It was a very thin lather. I went slow. The shave was not particularly close, but I was able to do it.
I still had my face when I was finished. One of my pimples spurted blood for 10 minutes, but other than that it was fine.

I shave more in hotels than I do at home. One thing I do miss most of all is the warm lather from my scuttle. One of these days I may start packing one.

I travel with a few razors and a pasted paddle strop. If you use quality cream or soap, the shave will be fine.

I'm actually in a hotel right now finishing a glass of scotch and will shave yet tonight. It does save time in the morning and helps me unwind from the day.

Dave

Depending on how long I am going to be gone I will take 2 or 3 razors. The rest of my gear includes a small strop, 1 tube of cream, normally 2 or 3 soaps, my vulfix best badger (it is a 21mm and travels nice a whole lot better than the 28mm), alum block, a couple of after shaves, and a heavy mug that has short sides. I can't get myself to pack my scuttle I don't want to break it. I just got back from a 2 week trip and shaved almost every day with no problems at all. Most all of my gear fits nicely into my shaving bag.

K frequently straight razor shave when I am out On the road. the only time that I have a problem is when I get an efficiency and the bathroo
is tiny. I even bring along a scuttle. I can't go without it. I even like to bring my t&h shave oil. It is great to shave at night. It takes. My mind off of whatever happened at work that day.

Here is a tip for all of those who like to travel with a nice variety of shave cream.

Put a little of each kind into a baby food jar. It's about the size of a golf ball, made of glass with a metal lid and rubber seal. I take 3 with me and they take next to no room, stay fresh and don't leak.

My daughter has just started eating baby food, but I'm sure I'll have a surplus in the near future if anyone is interested.

I may post my SOTD in the morning if I get up in time showing my setup.

Dave

I travel a lot too, and get good straight razor shaves in hotel rooms. My kit for 4 days is:
2 straight razors
One barber hone in case a touch up is needed
Travel badger brush
Very small Rubbermaid tupper with shave soap melted in it. (Walgreens)
Brush stand
strop (Red Imp with canvas and leather sides)
L'Occitan pre shave oil in very small bottle.
I get hot lather by putting hot water in the tupper with the soap to warm it, while I fill the sink with hot water.I soak the brush in the sink. Sometimes the drain won't close and I can't do that, so I soak the brush in the tupper with the soap cake. Soak my face several times with a hot washcloth dipped in the sink, rub in pre-shave oil, then pour off hot water from soap and whip up hot lather. Lather face, then strop. Shave, cold water, aftershave balm (L'Occitan post shave in a tube) Good to go!

I have found that in the US there is usually a small single cup coffee pot. I run a cup of water only and let it heat a cup (or glass if cup not available), dump out hte water and make the lather in the hot cup. For almost the last year (1 year in july) I have done all my shaving with a straight both at home and away.

The only trouble I have is when I have to fly. I hate checking my bags as they never seem to arrive as they should.

I really like just taking one razor, lately a Mastro Regrind and put it in the TI brown leather holder with the pouch for the razor and the smaller TI paddle strop. Awesome set up for the road. I also take a little Rooney travel brush and most often either a CF sample size of cream or Proraso in the green tub.

This set up has really worked well whether in hotels, friends and families homes and even camping for the last couple years.

Lynn

I shave with a feather and super blades when I stay in a hotel.
It's not as nice as a real straight, but much more convenient -> not caring about humidity, stropping, honing, ...
Additionally, if I should lose my luggage, it wouldn't miff me more than losing my toothbrush. They're both equally soulless.

I've gravitated to a setup quite similar to Lynn's, only my razor is a TI Special Coiffeur 1937 and my lathering agent is contained in one of the aluminum screw top cans of soap from Vintage Blades. The TI razor because it was cheap, in case of loss or damage - only a minor problem, and it honed up to be sharper than sin. And the soap/tin I bought because it was a travel container and it contains, I believe, Goldman-Dachs soap which happens to work really well for me even though I'm used to making lather in much larger bowls and mugs.

I do miss a larger hanging strop, but the smallish TI paddle does seem to work OK and the backside of it is massaged with TI paste so I don't need to carry a barber's hone for touch up. What did Paladin say, "have shaving gear, will travel?" ...something like that...

One other thing, my TI razor and paddle holder gizmo is black - the color of the inside of my grip - making it at times almost invisible. Making the sound frequently heard in my lodging of choice, the slapping of the forehead with the (sanitized) comment, "oh dear, have I forgotten my razor?"