Thread: Travel Kit?

I just got back from three weeks traveling out of the country, in Israel. It was my first time away since I abandoned canned shave cream and disposables. I found I had to pack differently, and began to see my "shaving kit" differently as well.

I'd love to hear how the travelers on the group handle extended travel. Do you have a separate "travel strop?" Keep a separate bag ready to go?

I hope this is the right part of the board for this question!

I travel with a travel strop - a new old stock Le Grelot paddle strop. It works very well, although it uses vegetable tanned leather like the modern TI ones. I use a small 18mm Art of Shaving pure badger shaving brush and normally take either a tube of Prorasso cream or a tub of Prorasso soap.

Most importantly the razor. I take a plastic handled Dovo and another plastic handled vintage Wapienica. These are great razors and while they are relatively cheap, they are easily replaceable should I happen to lose or damage them. I never travel with my expensive or rare razors.

Ps, I go to Israel at least once a year, great place.

i take my DE.. and don't pack blades.. that way i can take everything on carryon.. i pack the wee scot in a prescription pill bottle.. small tube of c.o. bigelow and my aftershave is poured into a 2 ounce spray bottle.. my entire shaving setup can be carried in one hand.. the rest of my hygiene kit all fits in the small pouch of my backpack.. just a small tube of toothpaste, toothbrush, comb, nail clippers, and a 2 ounce bottle of dr. bronners soap.. used for both shampoo and body wash.. i just need to find a smaller tube of brylcreem now.

Facing 3 weeks of absence made me think a lot. Here's what I ended up with:

• Combination Barber Hone ("The Winner")
• Tin Mug (lighter than ceramic)
• Melted 2 pucks of VDH Deluxe and poured them into the mug
• My Illinois 127 strop
• 7 Razors in the SRD 7 Day leather pack
• Nivea AS Balm with SPF 20 sunscreen
• Travel Brush with a stand that fits in the tube the brush comes in

This worked okay, but I never really felt organized because my shaving bag, which formerly only held a disposable and a little can of shave cream, just wasn't up to the challenge. I have a new toiletries bag that I think will be a better choice. I also plan to make a short strop for trips. Probably I could have left the barber hone at home. With 7 razors, even if I dinged a couple, I could make it with the others. Or bring the hone and just 2-3 razors.

Going DE for trips is an idea too. I hate it that I can't take my straights in my carry on, but that's life!

Scipio--what takes you to Israel every year?

I always worry about travelling with straight razors and how easily I could get it out of shave readiness by dinging it on a sink I am not used to using, or getting one stolen in a hotel room. I always travel with a DE razor because of the convenience, but I always think about how I would travel with straights. Maybe next time I will try bringing both and see how it goes.

Indeed, a straight can be damaged, but you can also ruin a DE razor by dropping it even from a very short distance. Once the DE is dinged, nothing will make it work right. You can carry more than one straight and have a back-up.

Gentlemen:

I have a British military-style roll up wet pack that holds everything. Here's the menu:

1. I take two straights. One is a Wostenholm 4/8" hollow point and a great little shaver. My second straight is either a Dovo "Pearlex" 5/8" round point or a Boker "King Cutter," which is an okay shaver.

2. My backup is Merkur travel double edge that breaks apart and fits in a leather pouch small enough to hold in one's palm. I have changed the shave head to a Muhle-Pinsel, which I prefer to Merkur. The blades are either Feather or Gillette 7 O'Clock yellow pack.

3. The strop is a Tony Miller short 2-inch, and a good one. The leather lace works quite well for hanging on the door knob. The strop is packed with my luggage and not in the wet pack. I lay it on top so that it is not bent or rolled.

4. For brush, I have an Edwin Jagger pure badger 19 mm. with its own travel tube for storage.

5. I have a good supply of topnotch sample shaving creams and balms from various companies. When I run out of them, my standby shaving creams are Pre de Provence or Institute Karite in tubes.

6. My wife found me a tiny plastic pin box, smaller than a matchbox, and it holds my Edwin Jagger alum block perfectly.

7. Several aftershaves go into miniature bottles.

8. The rest of the toiletries are tucked in their own pockets in the wet pack.

Well, what can I say? I might as well travel like a gentlemen. In three weeks I head out to California for a week of some stage work and the wet pack is anxious to get on the road.

Regards,
Obie

I have a bag, which fits in a case or in my rucksack, it has a zippy bit at the front which has nail clippers, nail scissors, teazers, mirror, comb and toothbrush, everything else fits in the main section, a single razor in a leather case, my plastic bowl I got from my barber, a tube of palmolive, skinfood, toothpaste, alum block and an assortment of little bottles containing smelly concoctions

The strop doesn't fit, a neil miller paddle, that does fit in my rucksack and in a case.

Geek

I am often on the road. I like to keep it simple, and travel light.

- one razor
- one (small) barber hone
- one block of alumin
- one strop
- one bar of shaving soap
- one small bottle of Tabac

I never found I needed anything else. And if I did, I could probably find it wherever I was at the time.

I have the typical toiletry bag that goes into the travel bag, inside the toiletry bag goes the shave gear; 1 Antoni Tadross 6/8, puck soap in a dish, bay rum in a bottle, 1 strop coiled with the leather on the outside of the coil and a barbers hone of choice.