I'm Back with a Bang...

So it's been an eventful week over here, what with floods, big projects at work, and a mini-vacation, I haven't really been up to blogging much. But Now that things are settling down, I've got stuff to say!


Tsuyu is drawing to a close, apparently...though the 2 feet of rain we've got so far this week would seem to argue against that fact...and I figure it's about time to change things up a bit. Which is good timing, because on my little vacation in the Big City, I picked up some new stuff. Yay new stuff!


First off is a face familiar to most wetshavers, a puck of Art of Shaving Sandalwood soap. AOS is, of course, a famous name in wetshaving and the soap is generally described as excellent. Many people say it's identical to the Valobra Shave Stick, which means it should be a truly great shave soap. The sandalwood scent on this one is not too strong coming out of the box, but that's meaningless...it's on the face where it counts, and I can't wait to give it a try! Especially since I paid WAY too much...I was excited to actually find wetshaving goods in a shop, so my resistance was weakened.

The same thing would explain my next purchase, a BADGER BRUSH!!!! Why would I buy one of these, when I am an avowed Boar lover? Because 1.) It was in a real live shop (see above) 2.) It has a lovely maple handle and 2.) It was really well-priced--about $25 for a 22mm knot Badger brush with a matching stand. I'm still not sure what to do with it, but it's nice to look at! It's from Marks & Web, a Japanese company, which makes me happy. I like finding signs of style and life in the Japanese shaving culture, and they had some excellent smelling and well formulated organic soaps that also caught my eye. I'll probably pick some up off the net before too long.


And finally, there's a new soap: Narcissist for Men Shaving and Facial soap. This is sold by a Japanese company called Tree of Life, which is apparently an Organic/Ayurvedic toiletry company. The soap itself lists its country of origin as America, and the ingredients aren't too far off base: Soap Base (Olive Oil, Palm Oil, and Coconut oil), Bentonite clay, Fragrance, Almond Oil, Castor Oil, Shea Butter and Tocopherol. The olive oil worries me, but again, just finding this stuff made me lose a bit of self control, so it came home with me.

The scent coming off this one is very clean and simple, a touch of cedar perhaps--something like D.R. Harris Marlborough, but not as full or as interesting. I'm curious how it does, and I'll give it a try today.

I'll try this stuff out over the coming week and give you guys a complete rundown--I'm hoping I might have found some new winners!

Also, be on the lookout for the post-Tsuyu roundup, and a new projuct I've just finished up.

Enjoy your shaves!

Ciao, BI

Well...one of the big ones has said goodbye to the world of wetshaving.

When I first started wetshaving, one of the first purchases I made was a box from Giovanni Abrate at Barbieria Italiana. Giovanni had arguably the widest selection of wetshaving goods on the net, not to mention imported toiletries and custom soaps and creams. He was the North American Flagship vendor for Omega brushes--a great range of stuff there. He also introduced Boreal brushes to the US market, and was a great supplier for the Boar Brotherhood. He had blades other vendors had never HEARD of, and his line of cottage soaps and creams are considered by many to be benchmarks among smaller vendor products. Unfortunately, due to time constraints and recent health problems, it appears that Mr. Abrate has decided to suspend Barbiere Italiana indefinitely.

I'm sorry to hear it, but I can see that life happens and sometimes, important sacrifices must be made. I can say that, in the few interactions I had with Mr. Abrate, he was a true gentleman and an amazing source of information about shaving and shaving products. His service was old school in the best sense--personal, and engaged. It is unfortunate that the net-market doesn't really tolerate that kind of service; people are too impatient, and too distant, to engage at that level. A sad state of affairs.

The message board at BI is still running, and the catalogue of the store is still up so you can poke around and see what you're missing. The good news is that the product hole left by the loss of BI is quickly being filled by a new online vendor, Shoebox Shaveshop. Many of the products which had been BI exclusives are now available there--not surprising, as the owner was an avid customer of Mr. Abrate's, and a constant poster on the message board. So the loss is not total, though it is profound.

Thanks, Giovanni, and be well.

And The Packages Come Rolling In...

The results of my shopping spree have started to arrive. It's fun time!

The first to arrive, and perhaps my favorite, is this:
A Beardsley and Avon "Empire" straight razor with a double concave grind...an awesome, enormous blade with so much steel it feels like driving a truck around your face. It's not exactly sharp enough to shave yet, but it will be. Oh yes, it will be. (Pictures from the seller on Ebay).


A closeup of the blade, something I hope to clean up a little bit...but I like the etching. I wonder if there's any way to preserve it?



Next up is another box from good old Mr. Mayhew at Connaught Shaving. A beautiful bowl of dark oak, with a puck of Mitchell's Wool Fat; the bowl is not the best for lathering, but it's a great display piece (bottom right in the picture)


I also got a big old bottle of Paul's Three Crowns Indian Sandalwood Aftershave Milk. This stuff is GREAT for really bad shaves--it soothes and calms like you wouldn't believe.


Still on the way is a puck of D.R. Harris Marlborough shave soap, a container of Bronnley's English Fern talcum powder (Yes, talcum powder. Shut up, ok?) and a bottle of Trumper's Wild Fern EdT.

The last is a bit of a new interest of mine. I've come to be quite interested in scents...learning about "top notes" and "heart notes" and "drydown", the difference between tree moss and oak moss, and whatnot (if you wish to do the same, I recommend www.basenotes.net, a great resource for learning about the world of fragrance. God help me.). And it's all because of Penhaligon's English fern--the first Eau du Toilet I've ever found that I really, REALLY like. And so I got a wee bit obsessed with it...it turns out, of course, to be incredible expensive, and the company is more than a wee bit difficult to deal with. SO I settled for the next best thing, a bottle of Trumper's Wild Fern, a very similar take on the Fougere of legend. And then, of course, I got the Bronnley's talc in English fern to put a little frosting on that old cake of madness.

A Research Shopping Trip

My Wife and I got a new car (YAY!) and it showed up the day before yesterday. We took a road trip to The Big City, and while we were there I checked out the shaving goods available.

It wasn't pretty.


We went to Kokura, which is a nice big city in northern Kyushu. It's not huge, but it has some major department stores, which are about the only places to find good shaving supplies in Japan.

First, I went to The Body Shop. I was finally able to pick up a tube of their Maca Root Shave cream for 1,630 yen, about $16. Not bad...

Next, to a big department store--Izutsuya. Shaving supplies are usually found in the cutlery sections, cased along with row after row of fine hand-forged Japanese knives. Maybe it's to help justify the prices...Apart from the usual Schick and Gillette multi-blade cartridge shavers, they had ONE DE razor, a Merkur Futur. For 11,000 yen. That's 110 bucks. For a razor that retails in the US and Europe for around $55-$60. Eep.

They also had Merkur DE blades for 825 yen a pack, and a no-name Tanuki hair brush for 7,000. (Their no-name boar was 3000...). Eep again.

SO we moved on, to the big Isetan department store next to the station...which, in the year since we had last been to Kokura, had been bought out by Izutsuya. D'Oh!

The cutlery section again...and there's a bit more selection this time.

There was Futur again (same price as before) and also a gold Merkur Slant Bar.


For 11,000 yen. Which is odd, as the Slant usually sells for quite a bit less than the Futur...

They also had a couple of Plisson brushes. This Pure Black hexagon (Retail 40 Euros) was selling for 12,000 yen:


And this one (I think) for the same price:


Over priced, over priced over priced. I guess products ARE available, if you are willing to pay double the price of importing them from the US or Europe. Thank God for the internet, is all I can say.