Entries from December 2010 ↓

Greetings everyone, this is the last post I am going to make here in 2010, with the festive season rapidly approaching there are more important demands on my time. Service will resume in the new year and I would like to thank everyone who has visited here and read something, which is getting to be rather a lot of people. In the interim I will still be contributing to the Pogonotomy forum, which has some interesting discussions going on.

There are now 173 articles here at Bruce on Shaving, which is a respectable body of work. The search function using the box on the right hand side is really useful if there is something specific you want to know. There are 456 comments, which is a fantastic contribution from visitors to this site. Well done and thank you.

Looking at Google analytics shows that web traffic here is on a steadily upwards path, almost a straight line. Which is unsurprising as this is a reflection of ever increasing web presence, rather than any marketing effort, which tends to produce spikes. Total visitors here are now (since July 7th) 43,303 with 94,376 pageviews (and remember there are 10 articles per page when you don’t view them directly). Average time on site is 4.34 minutes, which is a long time in internet terms and shows that the content is being read. More visitors come from the USA than the next dozen countries put together.

Looking at the one month period November 11 to December 12 shows 15,591 visits, 33,650 page views, 2.16 page views/visit and 4.29 minutes average time on site. This is about half way towards my initial target and is not too bad considering the marketing budget is zero. If you do have the opportunity to mention this site in any way online it would be mightily appreciated.

So between now and January please have a fantastic festive season. And keep on enjoying the luxury of traditional shaving!

Regular readers will know that there are two strong recurring themes in the articles here. The first is the near infinite choice that is to be enjoyed in traditional shaving. In every aspect of the shave you are presented with almost limitless options. The second theme is that of personal choice. Do what suits you, even if nobody else on planet earth is doing the same thing. There is no wrong and right, just use the available kit to remove your stubble in any way you want.

Whilst these themes make traditional shaving an endless treasure of discovery they can also be a little bit daunting. How do you choose what to use and how to use it?

One thing is to look at what other people are doing and saying. Often this is pretty rubbish. Firstly because everything is so personal to yourself, secondly because people tend to praise stuff they own and have spent good money on. I read some of the online user reviews of stuff and often they are just very wrong. All IMHO and YMMV of course. The Weishi razor is a very good example of this, it cuts excellently but only if you get the angle right. So when people say that the Weishi doesn’t cut very well is it the razor or is it their technique?

The best method is to evaluate yourself. This is so subjective that the only way is to use kit side by side. Use one razor on one side of your face and a different razor on the other side of your face (making sure they both have the same blade in them). Likewise with brushes, this morning I compared the Indian Disco boar bristle and the Turkish Jaguar boar bristle brushes, yesterday a Rooney prototype and a Morris & Forndran. This subjective, side by side comparison is incredibly revealing and comes up with results that you wouldn’t expect.

Also a good technique is to have a reference piece of kit, something you know very well indeed that you can use as a yardstick to compare against. I use the Edwin Jagger DE89L, the Iridium blade, the Simpson’s Duke and Mitchell’s Wool Fat soap as my references. All good standards.

It is also sensible to only evaluate one new thing at a time. If you are trying a new brush out you don’t want to be trying a new blade at the same time. It is too much to take in. Take it steadily and work your way methodically through new kit. Giving each new item plenty of outings to get a true measure of how it works for you.

One very good characteristic of the online shaving community is swapping, loaning or just giving kit to other shavers to try. This allows people to experiment with a far wider range of stuff.

Then there is knowing what you are looking for when you evaluate something. With razor blades it is supposedly sharpness, smoothness and durability. But there is more, something subjective. Sometimes with some blades in some razors I feel as if they are on the edge of digging in, nothing to do with the three factors, just something personal to me.

Likewise with razors, people go on about aggression but to me this is a long way from the whole story. Aggression is about blade exposure, but different shave heads vary in far more than this, when they are in action they are working in 3D, not the 2D of blade exposure. And they are moving, not static. It is for these reasons that some shave heads feel far milder than their cutting ability would have you think they should. The Eclipse Red Ring and the Edwin Jagger DE89L are both like this. All IMHO, it could well be different for you.

It is with brushes that we have the greatest variety, even two Simpson’s of the same model coming consecutively down the production line will behave differently. And how they are used varies wildly. Hard soap, soft soap, cream. Thin lather thick lather. Minimal application or father Christmas style. Face lather, bowl lather or hand lather. Painting or scrubbing. I could place my brushes in order of my personal preference and I can guarantee that you would place them in a different order.

Another thing to remember is that you change yourself. As you experiment your technique and understanding evolve. I can prove this; dig out an old piece of shaving kit that you haven’t used for a long time and give it a go. I bet it behaves somewhat differently than your memory of it was having you expect.

And finally a word about price. Expensive does not mean good. Palmolive shave sticks are one of the best shaving soaps in existence yet cost less than 50 pence, there is a Turkish horse hair brush for $2.45 that works better (for me) than some pretty expensive English badger shaving brushes. And the Lord L6 razor is exceptionally cheap and exceptionally good.

In conclusion you only know about something by using it on your face. And even then you need to compare it back to back with other kit to get a true measure. All IMHO and YMMV.

On some traditional shaving forums you are not allowed to mention one of the most important double edged razors in production today, the iKon. This is truly amazing and totally devalues the community that has done it. If iKon was an isolated case it would be bad enough, but it isn’t. Some of the most important people in traditional shaving are banned and you are not allowed to talk about some of the most important companies. Connaught shaving, Frank shaving brushes, New Forest shaving brushes, The Leisureguy’s Guide, Nanny’s Silly Soap Company, the list goes on and on.

The Pogonotomy forum is different because there is no silly politics. Vendors don’t have to pay to be allowed to post. People are not given lifetime bans on a whim. Members are free to discuss all the suppliers and all the manufacturers involved in supplying us with our kit. There are no power mad moderators.

Not only that, every member of the Pogonotomy forum is treated with respect by everyone else. There are no cliques, no bullying, no personal attacks. Everyone is behaving towards others as they would like to be treated themselves. So from a standing start with no marketing budget Pogonotomy is already as busy as some of the long established shaving forums. Hardly surprising really.

There are already well over 1,000 posts in some very interesting discussions. Obviously I have contributed a lot to get things going, but less than one in six posts is mine. If there is anything about real shaving that you would like to discuss just go there now and start a thread. Judging on the forum so far you will get some quality replies.

Another thing that is great is that we are getting posts from some of the key people in the industry, people with vast experience who know what is going on. This adds an authority to the forum that other places, who have banned these people, are lacking. For instance we know that Greg at iKon is working on some exciting new razor developments. He is not allowed to talk about this in some places (in fact nobody is) yet is free to do so at the Pogonotomy forum.

After an initial flurry the forum has settled down to a steady and interesting level of input from over 100 members, with new people joining all the time as the word gets around. The input is totally global with no national bias looked for or wanted. Most of the products we use are available globally so there is no need for Xenophobia.

Overall, for me, this has been a very pleasant surprise indeed. The members have built a great community very quickly because they have wanted to. Let’s keep up the good work.

Firstly a disclaimer, the variety of traditional shaving kit on sale is so vast that the choices are effectively infinite. And because you are different to the next man so what kit is best for you will be different, this is part of the joy of shaving this way, you can customise to your own exact personal likes and requirements. So what follows is just one man’s opinion, yours may differ substantially. Also because I am UK based this is reflected in some of the choices, however the interwebs have made us one big global community so this is not the problem it once was.

Soaps and creams.

Russian shaving creams and balms. Svoboda, Tet A Tet, Comme Il Faut, Viking, Everest, Phyto Expert

Basically creams are just soaps with water added to make them easier to use. So hard soaps are much more concentrated and can work out far cheaper per shave even if they cost more.

One of the very best soaps in the world is the Palmolive shaving stick that you can often get for under £1 in English supermarkets. Just rub it into your stubble like a big crayon then whip up into a fantastic lather with a shaving brush. The brush will then have enough charge left in it for second and third passes. This is not available in America so American traditional shavers buy it at a far higher price on eBay or bring home masses of sticks when they come here on holiday. I have done some great transatlantic equipment swaps for these sticks.

An excellent low cost cream is Ingrams which you can buy in many chemists and supermarkets. Loaded with menthol this is superb in the summer. Once again impressive value for money.

Going a bit upmarket there is Mitchell’s Wool Fat (MWF) shaving soap. This stuff is a legend and is really good for your skin. Keep it in a sealed container between shaves. Mantic59 has just done a YouTube video on how to get the best out of it. It is actually very cheap to use as a puck lasts a very long time indeed, buy online. Also it prefers a brush with a bit of backbone, like a Vulfix 404 boar/badger mix.

If you are a cream person then the step up from Ingrams is probably Body Shop Maca Root which is truly lush and is available on any high street. Sometimes they have it on offer which is a good time to stock up.

Then there are the St James’s soaps and creams from the male grooming shops in London (and online). The best value creams here are Taylors of Old Bond Street (TOBS) who have a range of different flavours. It is good to visit their Jermyn Street shop and smell them all to see what you like. About £6 for a tub.

My favourite hard soap is Trumper’s Violet. This is expensive but lasts a long time. It lathers up much more easily than MWF and the violet is very soothing.

If you want 100% natural stuff then there are artisan shaving soap makers. The best respected in England is Nanny’s Silly Soap Company (online). Beware some artisan soap makers just add bentic clay to an ordinary soap to make their shaving soaps and the results are frankly rubbish.

Beyond the above there are thousands of different creams and soaps available around the world. The Russian creams, especially Svoboda, are excellent as are the Indian creams, most famously Godrej menthol mist, which is a bit special. The Italian soaps and creams from companies like Proraso and Cella have excellent reputations and I like them a lot.

Shaving brushes.

These are the most expensive part of traditional shaving. A top brush from a top manufacturer will be about £80 and upwards, but will last at least 30 years as your only brush. If you have several brushes it will last for ever. However there are far cheaper options as we will discover. Some people have large collections of brushes.

The brush has two components, the handle and the knot. With handles wood will not last as long as plastic, no matter how it is treated.The knot has very many variables which effect the way it works. One very obvious characteristic is the variation from floppiness to backbone.

Diameter at the base. This is the knot size. Too big eats cream/soap too small is more work to use.
Loft is the height of the bristles from the handle. They also go some way into the handle.
Knot shape. Flat top, bulb and fan are the main shapes. Most are a combination some way between these.
Hair variety. Badger, boar, horse and synthetic. Each behaves differently, each has followers.
Hair grade. Each of the above varieties is available in many grades and you tend to get what you pay for.
Knot density, how tightly packed the hairs are.

And you thought it was going to be simple!

Boar brushes tend to have more backbone which makes them work well with soaps. A good boar brush doesn’t have trimmed ends to its bristles and so with use they split and the brush becomes softer. This “running in” process can take several weeks and reveals the full performance of the brush. An excellent cheap boar brush is the Jaguar from Turkey, bought online for £5ish. The detail finish is not brilliant, but the brush is. After that the main brands of quality pure boar brushes are Semogue in Portugal and Omega in Italy. These are great brushes and you get what you pay for in the range. They are an online purchase. I have both. Allow £20 for a good model.

There is also the Vulfix 404 boar/badger mix brush which is just a beautiful and brilliant all round brush and is something of a bargain at less than £10 from these people.

Badger brushes tend to be softer and more expensive. Nearly all the hair for them comes from China, where badgers are vermin. The Chinese graduated to making whole knots and then whole brushes.

The bargain is to buy a Frank Shaving Finest Badger (not the silvertip) for about £10 from Ian Tang in China on eBay. He has good customer service and the brushes take about 10 days to arrive, they look beautiful and are well presented. There are a range of knot sizes, shapes and lofts. I bought three of these brushes then Ian sent me two to review for my blog. The value and quality is such that they have taken the traditional shaving world by storm and with lots of positive feedback.
You can buy brushes with the retailers name on them, Trumpers, Taylors of Old Bond Street etc. Don’t. You don’t know who the manufacturer is. Better to buy one with the makers name on it. The two great, famous, British brands are Rooney and Simpsons.
Rooney are in London and make very small quantities of fantastic hand crafted brushes.
Simpsons are owned by Vulfix on the Isle of Man and make somewhat larger quantities of equally fantastic brushes across a huge range, from £20 to several hundred pounds. Models like the Persian Jar, Polo, Chubby, Milk Churn and Wee Scot are classics. I have just two Simpson’s brushes. Buy them at good prices here.
If you want to spend lots of money then Plisson in France (which Napoleon used) make exquisite bulb shaped brushes from European badger for several hundred pounds.

Horse used to be the most used brush hair before anthrax scares moved people onto boar bristle. They are fantastic brushes and have the benefit that no animals are harmed in making them, the hairs come from natural grooming.
This Turkish brush for just $2.45 is simply amazing. The biggest bargain in shaving. The detail finish is not perfect but the brush really performs.
Next up are Vie Long from Spain which you can buy here.  About 10 Euros will get you an excellent “Barber Brush” (which I have), a few Euros more and you are into their very nice branded range.

Synthetic brushes are useful in that they dry out instantly so are good for travelling. There are two sorts.
Firstly there are the simple nylon strand brushes. The £5.50 Body Shop model is a perfect example.
Then there is “synthetic badger”. The theory is that these all come from Omega in Italy, no matter what brand names is on them. They are £30+ and they are excellent.

For a bit of further reading there is Fido’s shaving brush blog  which you can find in the blogroll on the right here.

Razors.

Different razors perform and handle completely differently to each other, like different cars. And there are adjustable razors that are a bit like having a gearbox, you can alter the thickness of each slice of hair that they take, but the fundamental characteristics of that razor don’t change.
As ever I can’t over-emphasise that the choice is personal. What you use and how you use it is entirely up to you, the options are infinite. This is the exact opposite of what the big global shaving companies try and impose on you with their patent protected multibladed system razors.
There are two main routes you can go down, vintage razor or current production razor, let’s deal with them separately.

Vintage razors.
These are rocketing in value. But ask round friends and family and see what turns up.
With over 100 years of production there are a lot of different models to choose from but most are made by Gillette.
The Tech is a simple three part razor. Handle and two part head that just screw together. Often found in travel kits. Gives a very good and mild shave. Plentiful and cheap, everyone should have one.
The Super Speed is a succession of models with twist to open butterfly doors. These are the backbone of the traditional shaving revival. Mild shavers except for the model with a red tip to its handle which is a medium shaver.
The adjustables. Fat boy, Slim and Super Adjustable. Just dial in the aggression you want. Between passes or mid pass. Less common and going up in value fast.
There are plenty more but these are the main ones. Avoid old razors with toothed heads, except to collect till later.

Current production.
Start with a Weishi off eBay or a Wilkinson Sword Classic in black delrin from Boots for less than £5. These are very mild and won’t bite. Even when you are up the learning curve they are still good for a buffing and polishing third pass. There are also the Lord razors from Egypt which are less mild and which are exceptional value. Then there are the Edwin Jagger razors that have taken over from the Merkur 34C to become the “standard” traditional razor. The new Edwin Jagger head, which they seemingly co-developed with Muhle in Germany, is amazing. It feels bullet proof, as if it will never bite, yet it very effectively and effortlessly slices through the stubble. It is easy enough for beginners yet rewards the more experienced. And the razor is beautifully made, a real piece of craftsmanship and engineering for about £20.
If you want to spend more get an iKon, handmade in Thailand, buy the tooth headed model. More money still and you want the Mergress conversion of the Merkur Progress adjustable. Made in small batches you go on a waiting list, they sell out in one hour once released. Finally there is the Feather Stainless Steel from Japan which is yet more expensive.
When you get expert you might want to try a Merkur Slant Bar, probably the most powerful shaving tool known to man. So efficient that they are perfect for people with very strong beard growth and sensitive skin.
There are plenty of others like the Joris and the Goodfella but the above list is IMHO a good guide.

Blades.

These are critical, because they do the cutting and there is a lot of difference between the different brands.
The three characteristics to look for are sharpness, smoothness and blade life. Like everything else to do with traditional shaving the experience is personal and varies from person to person. Some make a Feather blade last one shave, some make it last nine. Also different blades behave differently in different models of razor. The sharper the blade the better, then it can cut your stubble with the least trauma to your face.

Supermarket blades tend to be Personna, from Israel and Wilkinson Sword, from Germany. These are perfectly good blades and cannot really be faulted. However DE blades are so cheap that it is normal to buy them in 100s off eBay or from specialist retailers like Connaught, who also do sampler packs which are a really good idea as they allow you to try different blades to find out what works for you.

Probably the best razor blades that you can buy are the dozen or so brands that come out of Petersburg Products International (PPI) in Russia, that is 65% owned by Gillette. These include Astra, Sputnik, Permasharp, Polsilver, Rotbart, Nacet, Minora and the several different variations of the Gillette brand. They have just discontinued making Iridiums which were pretty legendary in the shaving community.

Gillette also makes DE blades in Vietnam, India and Brazil. These have excellent reputations but not as good as PPI.

Feather and Kai blades from Japan are immensely sharp but less smooth than PPI blades. Also they are very expensive. A Feather blade in a slant bar razor is supposed to be the absolute ultimate way to shave!
Lord in Alexandria, Egypt make several billion good quality blades a year under several brand names. Shark is the one with the best reputation. Though they are probably all the same!
Derby from Turkey are smooth and regarded as a good beginners blade, as are Personna from Israel. But you would probably be better off with a PPI blade.
If you want the best value for money then get Super-Max from Vidyut Metallics Limited in India, the world’s second biggest blade manufacturer. These are good and can be picked up at half the price of PPI blades.

One to avoid IMHO is Merkur blades from Germany, which are not as good as their razors.

Finally there is the shavepocalypse. The time when because of reducing demand the DE production lines are closed down. This has become more likely with the launch of the very low cost Gillette Guard system razor for developing countries which is targeted at DE users. This is why many traditional shavers have a stash of thousands of blades. They don’t cost much and take little space. Also they shoot up in value when a brand is discontinued as we have seen with Personna 74s, Gillette “Swedes” and now with Iridiums.

This article gives you a good place to start, but the choice out there is close to infinite, which is part of the joy of traditional shaving. So experiment, try different things and use what works best for you, even if it doesn’t work for anyone else!

Many of you will recognise the picture above of some old shaving brushes I have picked up on my travels. I decided it was time to do something about them and as I am all thumbs this meant finding someone for the restoration job, so I contacted Fido again. He told me that “beejay”, who was making my custom Yew brush at the time, would also be the best man for any restoration job.

So I sat on my hands and waited for my custom brush to arrive, after it did and I saw what a fantastic job “beejay” had done I emailed him: “….which brush do you think is the best candidate, perhaps the “Rooney” on the left of the back row or the tall brush with the dark bristles in the middle of the back row? Is it best for me to buy my own knot from TGN or for you to supply one? If the former then I need to send you the brush first so you can tell me what size to buy.”

He emailed me back: “….Re restoration, either or both would probably restore very nicely. I charge £20-£25 plus the knot at cost so it’s probably best if you choose your preferred knot from Tony. (The charge depends on the amount of work required) they can be slow going at times these old brushes! Once I get the old knot/s out, I can let you know the size required and you can order from him. Let me know if/when you’re ready.” So I went and took some picture of both of the brushes so you can see the “before” condition. Then I posted them to “beejay”.

There were two things that I decided to explore here. One was to increase the diameter of the knot in the Boots (Rooney?) the second was to try and source my knots from someone other than The Golden Knib, just to see what variety was in the market. One supplier I looked at was iKon who sell the same knots that they use in their custom brushes. Here is how they are described on the iKon website: “Classic Chubby Size – Short Loft – 24mm knot, 45mm height – these are hands down the highest quality loose knots you can purchase w/o having them custom made yourself. Use for brush restorations or when making your own shaving handles”

Once he had received the brushes “beejay” emailed me: “I’m hoping to make a start on the two brushes this weekend so should be able to let you know the hole size and depth. I think I’ll be able to enlarge the Boots one to accept a 24mm knot but it depends on the condition of the material inside. Does the Ikon height of 45mm include or exclude the height of the plug? The tall brush is in a sorry state. I don’t know yet if the inner filling which is a plaster of sorts will be stable after I get the old knot out. I may need to take it all out and replace with an alternative fill. The wood base is also in a sorry state so it would probably be easier to make a new one, unless you particularly want the old one left in which case I can take it back a bit and re finish it. You’re likely to lose the stamp on the bottom though so that alone almost suggests a new one could be the way to go. The edges are also pretty chewed up. Your decision of course and we can discuss properly after I’ve actually done some done some work on it. Please don’t order the new knots until we see what condition the handles are in after removing the old ones.”

iKon 24mm stubby silvertip badger shaving brush knot

He followed this up a couple of days later with: “Had a good look at the brushes today, but haven’t removed the old knots yet. The Boots one is fitted with a 19mm knot but could accommodate a 24mm and although the hole would be quite a bit wider It should still look in balance. The other Brush is fitted with a 24mm knot as per the one in your Yew brush. The Ikon knot you’re looking at with a total height of 45mm will therefore eventually fit both handles so you can see it in both before you decide on final placement.” So I ordered the iKon knot.

For the second knot I decided to try and buy one from Frank Shaving, so I emailed Ian Tang. He emailed me back and told me that not only would he do this for free, he would build the knot to my exact specifications. I thought about this and the truth is that the knot in my original $9.99 Finest Badger is just outstanding, so I asked Ian if he could please replicate this but with a 24mm diameter.

“Beejay” soon gave me a progress report on the Boots (Rooney?) butterscotch: “Old knot removed from your Boots brush, cleaned the inside and widened the hole to accept a 24mm diameter knot as you requested. I’ve also taken the hole down to a depth of 18mm but this can be filled or made deeper to suit. I’ve attached some pics including one with a knot to give you an idea of how it could look.  It’s a 70mm x 24mm set at 52mm I’ll wait til you tell me knot loft for this one before I start cleaning as I may need to re-chuck it to alter the hole depth and that could mar the surface slightly.”

This was followed by an update on the other brush, which turns out to be a Rubberset: “Thought you might like you see the Rubberset brush to date. Old knot now completely removed and I’ve removed all traces of the original filler and glue from the inside. The wooden plug/ base will be replaced probably in Beech. I thought about threading it to fit the other part but not advisable as its likely to swell when wet. I think the threaded part was a universal component to accept the multitude of bases this company turned out and and wooden parts would just have been jam fitted. Nice to see how they were put together though. I’ll use the new plug to form the base for the new knot you supply so I need to know now if possible before I turn this, what loft you want the new knot to be set at. It will accept a 24mm base as I mentioned in my earlier e-mail. Meanwhile, I’ll start the cleaning process and see what need to be done to bring this back to best possible condition. I’m going for a full, back to new if possible restore with this one, where as the Boots one will be more sympathetic due to the Butterscotch ageing.”

Frank Shaving (L) and iKon 24mm badger knots

Frank Shaving (L) and iKon (R) shaving brush knots

Eventually the parcels arrived from Thailand and China with two beautiful knots in them, and look at just how different they are from each other. Holding them against each other they have identical diameters at the base, but look at them side by side and you can see the enormous differences. These are going to make two very interesting brushes.

Once “beejay” had received both knots we had to decide which knot went in which handle. He emailed me with the above photos and the following: “The Ikon knot is showing sitting on the base of its plug, any deeper and it really pulls the hair very tightly together and I think the brush would be too firm. Even a couple of mm would make a difference with this knot. My suggestion would be to set it as it shows but your decision of course. The Frank knot is set around 48/49 in both handles and looks nicely balanced. At that loft I would hope it wouldn’t be too floppy for you. I can of course set it higher/lower in either handle if you wish. I haven’t turned the new wood base for the Rubberset yet as the height of this (The bit that goes into the black upper part) will be governed by the knot you decide. For what it’s worth, I like the look of the Boots/Frank combination. Purely personal opinion as they look pretty good whichever way you go.” He is the expert so I took his advice.

“Beejay” then got on with the job and sent me the above photos along with the following: “I’ve got the new handle done for the Rubberset and I’ve polished the Boots handle ready now to set the FS knot. The Boots will be set at 48.5mm loft as per the attached photo. The Rubberset is pretty much to the depth of the plug. The new handle is made from old seasoned Beech and I’ve given it just a hint of colour but not as yellow as the old one. The old handle was varnished and the new one has been sealed with 2 coats of thinned melamine and the given a further 2 coats of regular melamine. It’ll get another two coats before it goes out to you, probably Wednesday. The final finish will be closer to a satin finish, not a high gloss unless you want a gloss? I would ask you to give the Rubberset a further 72 hours just to let the melamine fully cure.” So it was only a few days away from getting my brushes back.

So now I have these two fantastic, unique brushes. The Boots (Rooney?) brush is a much valued “butterscotch”. The handle was made from a phenolic plastic called Catalin which was widely used between 1938 and 1946. It was originally white and has assumed its current colour because the phenolic resin is converted gradually into phenyl alcohol, which is brown, when exposed to ultraviolet light. The Rubberset brush is possibly even older, the company was set up in 1873 and patented their “Genuine Rubberset Process” in 1878, they made very large quantities of shaving brushes in Newark NJ but today they are primarily a paint brush manufacturer and have given up on shaving..

1908 Rubberset shaving brush advertisement

Bloom after one use

Beejay's fine work. A custom shaving brush and two restorations

Back home amongst friends

So what have we got here? If you look at the picture of the two knots side by side and then look at the two finished brushes you will see that the Frank Shaving knot in the Boots handle seems to have shrunk, this is because beejay has mounted it deeper within the handle. This has made for a very interesting brush, it has all the superb qualities of a Frank Shaving Finest Badger brush but with a couple of bonuses. The bigger knot at 24mm means there is just more of everything and the deep mounting gives it more backbone. The iKon knot in the Rubberset also has lots of backbone, but this time it comes from a combination of sheer density, the bulb shape of the knot and the 24mm knot diameter.

You may think that the move up from a 20mm to a 24mm knot is not much but a 20mm knot is 314 square mm in cross sectional area whilst a 24mm knot is 452 square mm. So it is 50% bigger. Add to that the fact that it can support a higher loft (everything else being equal) and you have a significantly bigger brush. This explains the way Simpson’s and Rooney prices ramp up so steeply with size.

In use these two brushes are surprisingly similar to each other, far more so than a cursory look at the knots would have you believe. They are both equally soft at the tips, they both load and release lather much the same and they both paint the same sized swathe across the face. The difference comes when you push the brushes in towards the skin, here the Frank/Boots combination is a little bit more of a mop, and with the Rubberset/iKon combination resistance is met a little earlier. But they are both fantastic pieces of kit and are superb additions to my little collection of brushes.

So there you have it. For not much money you can bring a beautiful old brush to life and in doing so create something that is unique and special that will give decades of luxurious use.

Firstly a quick recap. Like many I shave with three passes, with the three razor method I select a razor for each pass that is optimised for the job. This, quite obviously really, gives a quicker and better shave and the few people who have tried it agree.

This is very definitely not the same as using an adjustable razor and turning it down between each pass. There is far more to how a razor works than just mere blade exposure. So by selecting a different razor for each pass you get to use a whole pile of characteristics that are optimised for what you are doing.

One feature of the three razor method is that the blades last a very long time because they are only being asked to do a third of the work, it is only now that I have needed to change my blades again, so I have decided to try a different set of razors as well.

The right tool for each job

The first time I tried the 3 razor method I used the following combination:
1) Merkur 39C Slant Sledgehammer with Iridium blade.
2) Edwin Jagger DE89L with Iridium blade.
3) Weishi with Iridium blade.

Next it was time to experiment with the blade as well as the razor:
1) Mergress opened out to 5+ with a Feather New High-Stainless blade.
2) Eclipse Red Ring with an Iridium Super blade.
3) Wilkinson Sword Classic with a Personna Platinum blade.

This was interesting, there is definitely some merit in using different blades as well as different razors. The disappointment here was the Eclipse Red Ring which for the second pass, reducing, job was not as good as the Edwin Jagger DE89L. The revelation was the Wilkinson Sword Classic, Personna combination which could buff and polish away with gay abandon. And the Mergress was just brilliant, but then so was the 39C, both relentlessly despatching lots of stubble in very short order indeed.

So now it is time to experiment with vintage Gillette razors with the following combination:
1) Gillette long handled Super Adjustable turned up to 9 with a Kai blade. The Super Adjustable has a far wider range of adjustment than the earlier Fat Boy and Slim models and it is one of my favourite all round razors. The Kai blade is extremely sharp and in this razor it is free to do what it does best. A powerful combination.
2) Gillette red tipped Super Speed with an Astra Superior Stainless blade. The red tip is the most aggressive Super Speed but compared with the first pass razors that I have been using it is still fairly mild. The Astra is a Petersburg Products International blade so is both smooth and sharp, it could very well just be an Iridium in a different wrapper. This combination has to be very effective for a reducing second pass.
3) 1930s fat handled Gillette Tech (with the triangular cut outs) and a Super Max blade. These early Techs are not quite so mild as the later ones but they are still very benign. The Super Max blade is also not so aggressive, so this should be a good buffing and polishing combination.

After a couple of shaves this is working very well indeed, the red tipped Super Speed/Astra combination standing out in the reducing, second pass, role. This is all very interesting and great fun. Obviously my experiences and opinions are personal to me. Different combinations and methods may well work better for you. This is part of the joy of traditional shaving, we have near infinite choice to use what is best just for ourselves.

India is a country with hundreds of millions of wet shavers, many of them still using double edged razors. So, naturally, it is the source for much traditional shaving kit that we are familiar with in the West, lots of different shaving creams including the famous Godrej, razors from Parker and blades from Vidyut and Malhotra. All that’s missing is a brush. So I was intrigued when I found that Connaught Shaving were selling an Indian brush on a well known auction website. £4.70 and it was mine.

The brush certainly looks very different with a two part handle, the base of which is lathe turned wood on top of which there is a black aluminium “socket”. It is made by Single Sons (India) Regd. in Delhi, who also make brushes under the Taiwan Shaver brand name. Interestingly they have a web site which seems to be mainly geared up to tell us that they are ISO certified. However they say: “Single Sons (India) is established since 1948 and is into manufacturing of beauty salonequipments.We thank you for using and appreciating our products since last 60 years, we are proud to serve you with our best quality products to enhance your personality.Also we thank you for making our brands India’s most trusted brands in beauty salon equipments.”

Taking my vernier to it the wooden base has a height of 43mm and the aluminium socket a height of 25mm for an overall handle height of 68mm. The knot has a 20mm diameter and a 59mm loft. So the overall height of the brush is a towering 127mm. The overall finish is quite good with a nice grain to the varnished wooden handle. It is no Rooney but it is a whole lot better than a Jaguar or a Turkish horse hair brush. However the finish is not a good indicator of how good the brush actually is, as the two Turkish brushes have proven.

Boar bristle shaving brushes from Disco, Omega, Semogue, Jaguar and Vulfix

So what is it like to use? Well to start with it is pretty smelly so it might have been an idea to shampoo it a couple of times before initial use, also it is a bit of a shedder to start with, nothing too bad but maybe half a dozen hairs in the first shave. The brush has a relatively small contact area which, combined with the very long handle, makes it very “pointy”. Once the bristles are wet the brush becomes quite floppy, which works well with the shaving creams which dominate in India. You could easily see this brush being used in a barber’s shop.

So should you buy one? Well at the price I paid it would be interesting and fun, but in my opinion the best cheap boar brush is still the Jaguar and the best cheap brush overall is the Turkish horse hair brush. And for just a little bit more you could have a Frank Shaving Finest Badger or a Vulfix 404 boar/badger mix, both of which are in a different world.

Energizer are a massive American conglomerate who own the Schick and Wilkinsons Sword brands. So obviously they want to maximise their profits by selling us multibladed system razors, which is why they are currently investing hundreds of millions into getting us to use their new Hydro razor which I have already written about here.

Against this background I find it amazing that they still supply traditional double edged (DE) razors, this is something that Gillette, who dominate the market, gave up in the West years ago. The razor in question is called the Wilkinson Sword Classic and it is a very nice piece of kit. Everyone should have one.

The Classic is made primarily out of black Delrin plastic with a metal rod up the handle to give it good mass and balance. The head is PTFE coated to work smoothly and is a little wider than most, as it protects the shaver from the blade’s side tabs. Inside the head the blade is located on a slot which is the best method and ensures total rigidity. The handle is quite long and has a fantastic design that allows a very good shaving grip indeed.

It is a mild shaver and, if you have mastered the basics of DE shaving technique, it just never bites. I think a lot of multibladed system razor users buy one of these to try because of the cheaper blade price so it would be nice if it came with DE shaving instructions. Also, perhaps, a lot of more experienced DE shavers look down on the Classic because it is so cheap. Their mistake.

There is a lot more to how a DE razor head works than mere blade exposure. So it is with the Classic, if you move it to an angle where it could dig in then the profile of the head seems to lift the blade edge away from your skin. This gives it a very strange feeling on your face as you experiment with the shaving angle because sometimes it feels like there is no blade there.

I use the Classic primarily as a third pass razor, after most of the stubble has already been removed with more aggressive razors. With it you can get as close a shave as you could ever possibly want. It will buff against the grain with enthusiasm in a way that you just would not dare attempting with most other razors. It really will give you that perfect smoothness.

Then there is the price. Around £4 (or less if you shop round) with 5 blades included. This is an incredible bargain that rates alongside Palmolive shaving sticks, Super-Max blades and Turkish horse hair shaving brushes. All superb quality products that some brand snobs would miss out on just because they are ridiculously low priced.

Disclaimer. I paid for my own Wilkinson Sword Classic razor.

Some of the biggest names in traditional shaving manufacture nothing, they are merely retailers, they put their brand name on a range of products made by other people. And the most prolific suppliers to these brands are Progress Vulfix, the brush maker, on the Isle of Man and Creightons of Peterborough in England who make some of the best and most expensive shaving creams.

Whether you are shopping in St James’s in London, at an upmarket American grooming supplier or from a famous global brand the chances are very high that what you buy is made by Creightons. But there is a way to buy Creightons products without paying a premium for a fancy brand, because Creightons have three of their own brands. Bottom of the heap is The Real Shaving Co with straightforward products that can be bought at low prices from discount retailers. Next comes The Natural Grooming Co brand in disconcertingly similar packaging, this is much the same but without the parabens and with “more organic ingredients”. The top brand is St James of London, which alludes to where many of Creightons’ customers have their shops, these premium products are available at upmarket retailers like Waitrose or by mail order directly from Creightons.

Creightons marketing people very kindly sent me a box of The Real Shaving Co goodies to sample (I already had bought and use some of them) so it only seems fair that I tell you about my experiences.

Professional Formula Daily Facial Scrub. For years the girls have been exfoliating with body and face scrubs. Basically these are creams with something mildly abrasive added. Something like apricot seeds. Rub it in and it removes some of the dead skin cells, which is, seemingly, a good thing. Previous generations (like the Romans) used pumice stones for the same purpose but these would be a bit rough on the face. And now as part of the explosion in male grooming we have face scrubs for men. I find that using one of these before shaving has a significant and profound effect. The shave becomes a whole lot easier, everything just works better. And the end result is a closer and smoother shave. I don’t do this every day but do it when I want to look especially well groomed.

The Real Shaving Company version of such a scrub does the job just right, it is easy to use and is not too aggressive, it is only very lightly perfumed and just does the job.

Pre-Shave Self Heating Face Mask. This stuff is intriguing, on the pack it says “hot towel style treatment to soften beard & prepare skin for shaving.” The instructions say massage in a liberal amount and leave for 5 minutes. When you apply it to your skin there is a brief burst of warmth that is not too hot and the cream contains exfoliant granules so the massage works the same as a face scrub. There is a fair bit of glycerine and tea tree in the formula so it is going to be kind to your face.

When I tried it the mask worked exactly as advertised and it came off quite easily in the shower (which is where I usually shave), but obviously it adds more time and procedure to the whole shaving process. Online this is what we English call a Marmite product, you either love it or hate it. I think I come into the former camp and will keep this as a weekend treat.

Professional Formula Shave Cream double concentrated. Absolutely excellent stuff and with advertising law being what it is how do they get twice the effect of normal creams? I am no industrial chemist but it looks like they took two routes. Firstly most soaps are sodium salts of fatty acids. It looks like Creightons used neat Stearic acid and Myristic acid instead of the tallow and palm oil that they usually come from, in other words more concentrated ingredients. Secondly shaving creams are basically soaps that are softened with water to make them easier to use. It looks like Creightons used a whole lot more potassium salts than sodium salts here. These potassium salts are much softer so less water is necessary, thus increasing the concentration.

Post Shave Soothing Balm. This has Glycerin, Lanolin, Aloe and Tea Tree in it, so lots of good stuff. It absorbs quickly and leaves your face smooth with no shinyness. A very good alternative to the Nivea, which is what many would buy at this price point.

Conclusion. Good to very good products at very reasonable prices indeed (if you shop round). They are very lightly and inoffensively perfumed and the plastic tubes they come in are very convenient for travelling.

Paraben watch. There is none in the shaving cream. All the other three have parabens in them. These can be avoided by buying The Natural Grooming Co products from the same manufacturer, except for the Self Heating Face Mask, which is only available in this brand.

Disclaimer. I did not pay for these products.

Rooney shaving brushes are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. They do not publicise their physical address and contact details and they have no proper website. Yet several retailers sell extensive ranges of their expensive shaving brushes, sometimes under the Rooney name and sometimes with the name of the retailer on them. I have an old butterscotch brush that was originally sold by Boots in England which is almost certainly a Rooney.

Shaving brushes have been made and sold with the Rooney name for over 300 years (over 200 years made in England, another century or so before that in Brownville, Galway, Ireland) and they have been some of the best and most expensive brushes available. The absolute epitome of classic English shaving brushes. In recent times they have been experimenting with different ranges (all handmade in England with the knots handmade in England), which widens their appeal to shavers and gives collectors more to buy. The Heritage range is even more classical than their already classical standard range.

But now they have suddenly come over all psychedelic with a range of brushes that you need sunglasses on to look at. The handles have been turned out of some very interesting rods, the shapes and the colouring working together to bring something very new and different to the shaving world. You can buy them here. These have only been made in very small quantities.

It just so happens that I was able to buy a couple of Rooney prototypes, one of which which is closely related to this new range. This brush was described thus: Super Badger shaving brush. Hand made shaving brush prototype made by a large British brush maker. Real great face lathering, nice and dense.

Rooney Super Badger is a specific grade, it is Silvertip hair that has been re-graded and re-dressed in England. To do this the badger hair is sorted and short and twisted hairs are removed, leaving the hair softer and whiter, which gives the brush better water holding and lathering capabilities. The knot is then made (in England) using confidential proprietary techniques that have been handed down over the years and which make Rooney brushes unique.

The second brush is also Super Badger but with a shorter loft and a transluscent pearl handle with a chromed base.

Lets take the vernier to both of these brushes. Firstly the candy stripe has a 25mm knot with a 51mm loft, the handle height is 58mm. Then the chrome based brush, this has a 23mm knot with a 47mm loft and a 46mm high handle.

So what are they like to use? Both of these brushes have extremely dense knots that pretty much define them. To pack so much very fine, high quality silvertip hair into a knot is a recipe to give it a very large capacity indeed. And so it proves, lift either of these out of a bowl of water and they are surprisingly heavy with the sheer weight of water they have picked up. They both load up very easily and both release their lather very easily. They hold enough for a lot of passes, they still look pretty full of lather after three. So your consumption of cream or soap is going to go up if you use one.

Where they differ is on the face. They are both ultra soft mops that initially feel like they have no backbone, but press them in and the sheer density makes itself felt. The candy stripe is by far the bigger mop and splays a whole lot further before you hit that backbone. Any bigger and you would be using it to paint rooms. Because it has a smaller knot and splays less the chrome bottomed brush paints a narrower path across your face, but this is no Wee Scot, it still has a lot of hair and a lot of lather.

Rooney Prototype Badger Shaving Brushes After Blooming

In conclusion it is always nice to own something “one off” that is totally unique. To own an exclusive, prototype shaving brush by one of the world’s leading manufacturers is a bit special. To have been lucky enough to be able to buy two was a fantastic opportunity.

Disclaimer: I bought and paid for both of these brushes.