Thread: Novelist's Shave Kit

Gentlemen,

If you were to go away to a quaint chateau in Province or to a rustic cottage in Scotland to write your long awaited novel, what shave kit would you take along?

The products should be reasonably priced and accessible, not some $10,000 straight razor you've always dreamed about. Down-to-earth, realistic products. Straight razors only, please. Here is my choice, which is within my means and simple tastes:

1. Straight razor: Thiers-Issard Flying Tudor Rose 5/8 with snakewood scales (what the hell, I finally ordered this from Classic Shaving).
2. Brush: Medium-sized Edwin Jagger silver tip.
3. Shave cream: Taylor of Bond Street Rose (or you may substitute soap).
4. Coolant: Thayer's super witch hazel.
5. Balm: Trumper coral skin food.
6. Aftershave: Trumper Spanish Leather (or you may substitute cologne).
7. Free choice: Whatever I might have left off.
8. Good medicine: Single malt scotch.

Now I'm ready to begin the novel: "It was a cold and rainy day . . ."

Regards,

Obie

For the zen-like concentration necessary, I'd have to go for the primo stuff:

Razor: Towa Wedge
Lather: Penhaligon's English Fern
Brush: Betty the Beautiful Boar
Aftershave: The Shave Den Mayan Gold AS Milk
Talc: Yardley Sandalwood

"It was the best of shaves, it was the worst of shaves..."

1. Straight razor: My 6/8 double notched Greaves wedge
2. Brush: My Semogue 730 Silvertip
3. Shave cream and matching soap: Tough decision between Oak & Moss or Bay Rum (both from CarrieM)
4. Coolant: Witch Hazel
5. Balm: Nivea ES
6. Aftershave: Either Ogallala Bay Rum or Oak & Mass AS Gel, depending on which uberlather I went with
7. Free choice: My Tony Miller Strop, of course
8. Good medicine: A nice Highland Scotch

1. Razor: My (W)Heatley 1/4 Hollow French Point with original horn scales - can't beat that Sheffield steel!
2. Brush: Semogue 2015 Silvertip (the only one I have experience with other than my Tweezerman)
3. Soap and cream: Body Shop Maca Root Cream and my Col. Conk Bay Rum (I nuked it well when melting it into my bowl so the scent is gone, resulting in uberlathers that smell purely of the Maca Root)
4. Coolant: I don't use one, unless you count cold water
5. Balm: GFT Lime Skin Food
6. AS: Ogallala Bay Rum Aftershave and Toner
7. Free Choice: Nivea for Men exfoliating face scrub
8. Good Medicine: A good anejo Tequila and a caballito glass or cognac snifter to drink it from

The opening sentence: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, is probably getting sick of lonely women trying to marry him"

He stumbled forward and peered, bleary eyed at the face in the mirror which looked back, not with a look of tired bewilderment, but disdainful ugliness. There was an astonishingly dissimilar outward appearance to the inward feeling that morning. Perhaps it was the several glasses of gin he'd poured down last night which brought the dichotomy into focus. Perhaps it was the beginning of the next chapter which was troubling him and which prompted pouring the gin in the first place. Or maybe it was some combination of the two, but whichever it was, he couldn't remember when this difference was as striking. Pulling his eyes from the unsettling creature in the glass which surveyed him threateningly he looked down upon the tools he was about to use on it:

An Omega boar bristle brush which had just broken in nicely so as to provide fantastic lather yet retain solid 'backbone' was soaking in an old coffee mug. Although he was up at his usual time it felt so early that he could scarcely remember putting it there, but there it was nonetheless with piping hot water from the wood stove at the other end of the cottage which had been burning through the night and still hot in the morning. Behind the brush sat a bar of Leatherneck shaving soap in a shallow dish. The soap maker, Colleen has an especially finely tuned nose and the warm, musky scent of the bar calmed him, eased the tension from the prior moment's stare down with the barbarian whom he had named simply Ugly Man although he was fairly sure the beast wasn't quite human really. He'd thought long and hard about whether he should bring this bar of soap or the Gentlemen's Oak and Moss cream and although it is an equally fine product, somewhat more floral with overtones of moss and lavender made by the self same artisan, the final decision was made while thinking about Ugly Man who he would square off with mornings while sequestered. Ultimately the Leatherneck said "I'm ready for you now", and that was reassuring. Especially when he was still groggy in the early dawn glow which drifted through the trees and into the cabin. It was a difficult decision, but the right one for this process. The act of checking the implements and products for the shave had started to bring him to awareness and he could feel Ugly Man's forcefulness begin to falter. "Heh", he voiced aloud victoriously to himself. He was winning already and he knew it. The Ugly Man knew it too.

His razor had begun to pull slightly earlier in the week so he ran it across his Honemaster barber hone to touch it up and it was sure to deliver a superb shave this morning. Ugly Man shuddered slightly as he picked up the razor and gently teased the blade from its resting place within the desert ironwood scales to reveal a hundred and fifty year old, seven eighths inch wide, half hollow ground, sway back, spike tip, Wade & Butcher straight razor. He had never gotten a better shave from anything else. All the other articles could go hang if they had to. As long as the right razor was in place things simply couldn't go too wrongly. Hanging above was a dual red latigo, canvas strop made for him some years ago by his friend Tony. Tony was a generally quiet man in person, but his leather work positively sang with care, attention and quality. As he began stropping the razor he thought absentmindedly about the rest of his arsenal. After splashing his face at the end of the shave with the cold spring water which came through the pipes to the faucet he would use Colleen's first run test menthol after shave to banish sleep from his mind. This stuff was poweful. No stinging on the newly shaved face, just a clear cool sensation which shot straight up the sinuses. Using it was like a religious experience and Ugly Man whimpered at the thought of it. Finally, the Lush brand Celestial facial moisturiser would give his troubled complexion a smooth ride through the day so that any visitor would never suspect the Ugly Man creature ever lived here in this cabin with him. The next chapter didn't seem so daunting to him now as it had last night. He was too tired to see it clearly then, but it felt like it was coming into focus this morning. What a little rest can do.

Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty. That's it, the stropping was done. He closed the blade into its scales, set it down on the counter and strode across the cabin to the stove where a pot of Chinese pu-ehr tea had been steeping since before his morning constitutional. Some discomforts can be born for an extra moment to more swiftly dispel others. The ritual of stoking the fire with a fresh log and scooping tea into the pot had become common routine to him and he hardly noticed his bladder during it any more. Lifting the tea pot to his tea cup he thought, "Now you die", about Ugly Man and imagined its scream of terror. A chapter waited impatiently in the future and this was going to be a good day.

X

Good luck following that post. /thread

Having just come back from a short trip to the Baltic Sea coast, here's what I took with me (and possible alternatives).

1. Straight razor: Mehl, Hermann "Special" 7/8 - Straight Razor Place Wiki.
2. Brush: Heinrich L. Thäter - Rasierpinsel Reiseetui, Silberspitze.
3. Shave cream: Bay Rum, Orange, Lime, Sandalwood (all from CarrieM, for which many thanks). I'd usually bring my CF Lime, though.
4. Balm: Something CF.
5. Strop: Old Traditional" - Streichriemen für Rasiermesser, handgearbeitet
6. Good medicine: Avene Dermo K for Men, 100% ingrown relief within hours.

i would take the one i feel most comfortable with- so as to be able to have the best shave possible, so that I can concentrate on the novel...

If I were to write a novel it would take quite a while so I would have to pack planning to stay there for ever and I am too accustom to a different brush, razor strop and soap/cream that if I could only have one of each I would develop writers block. Hence I would need to pack a suite case just for my shave gear and probably take a week or more selecting 28 - 35 razors, enough for one a day for a month, and I'm not sure that would be enough. It would be easier for me to just stay home! Think I'm kidding? Ask CarrieM.

Originally Posted by Obie

Gentlemen,

If you were to go away to a quaint chateau in Province or to a rustic cottage in Scotland to write your long awaited novel, what shave kit would you take along?

The products should be reasonably priced and accessible, not some $10,000 straight razor you've always dreamed about. Down-to-earth, realistic products. Straight razors only, please. Here is my choice, which is within my means and simple tastes:

1. Straight razor: Thiers-Issard Flying Tudor Rose 5/8 with snakewood scales (what the hell, I finally ordered this from Classic Shaving).
2. Brush: Medium-sized Edwin Jagger silver tip.
3. Shave cream: Taylor of Bond Street Rose (or you may substitute soap).
4. Coolant: Thayer's super witch hazel.
5. Balm: Trumper coral skin food.
6. Aftershave: Trumper Spanish Leather (or you may substitute cologne).
7. Free choice: Whatever I might have left off.
8. Good medicine: Single malt scotch.

Well, for sure you forgot the strop(s). And unless you plan on writing a novel in less than a week, a barber's hone or pasted paddle strops. Alum block, and styptic pencil, and bandaids.
And a backup razor. If you take it, you won't need it. But if you don't, Murphy says you'll chip your blade on the faucet the first day and end up growing a beard.