Father's Day : Shaving up!

Now, let's talk shaving stuff.

Why you should be interested
Right now there's a swing away from the handy-dandy disposable razor and shaving-cream-in-a-can. Men of all generations are getting into their morning ritual and looking for better, more luxurious ways of doing things. Women get to pamper themselves all the time, why shouldn't men?

More importantly why should shaving be an every-day ordeal, when there are simple ways to make it much more pleasant? A lot of men find that "old-fashioned" razors irritate their skin less than fancy electric shavers and are cheaper than disposable razors. There are products that had fallen out of fashion that are making a comeback. Why? Because they make shaving more pleasant.

C-M's 1752 fine face care products:
I bring this bunch of products up mostly because you can get the whole range of products in the same scent (very important to some people) and also because it has one really neat product, the preshave oil. It's really good for sensitive skin, helping to prevent ingrown hairs and protect against razor burn. It's a combination of castor oil, olive oil, and sweet almond oil with some other beneficial extracts. Most people hear castor oil and think of swallowing it to, er... "keep things moving." I can see where the thought of rubbing it on your face would be a little strange. What most people don't know is that castor oil is anti-inflammatory when you rub it into the skin, which makes it great for keeping down irritation. (Castor oil is also awesome for sore back muscles. Just rub it in, then lay on a heating pad. The oil will soak in entirely and your back will feel so much better in the morning. Amazing.)

Our C-M 1752 shaving products (preshave oil, shaving cream, shave soaps, aftershave balm) are available in either Sandalwood or Almond scents. I think either one is wonderful, but I've had some people disagree with me. Almond products are more lightly scented, I find it to be a very clean smell. On the other hand, I've had at least one customer in the store telling me that he didn't feel that it was "masculine enough" which is why he preferred Sandalwood. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

Think you might want to get into this but you have no idea what to get?
If you're looking for a place to start, I'd start with something that can be enjoyed with regular shaving equipment. A badger brush and some sort of shaving cream, either a shave soap (in a lovely wooden bowl) or a little tub of shaving cream, which is wonderful for men who don't have as much time in the morning. Give us a call about the C-M Classic Shave Set, which we don't have on the website at present. It has the shave soap in a wooden bowl, a badger brush and a stand for the brush.

If the man in your life is already getting into this, look at what he already has and try to go with that. Maybe he needs a new shaving brush, or he's never tried using a preshave oil. Some new blades for his razor, maybe. 

Maybe you (or your guy) might want to try a different scent of shave soap. I've been talking about Caswell-Massey a lot recently because of the promotion going on right now. But we also carry Col. Ichabod Conk shaving products.  Their almond scent is a little sweeter and lighter than C-M's. Conk has a great traditional scent, Bay-Rum. It's perhaps a little old-fashioned, but I love it.

There are a few things that set Conk apart from C-M. The first is that their soap is glycerin based, which keeps the scent a little lighter and works better with some skin types. It lets them have the classic amber soap scent, as well as fun scents like lime. The second is that the amber, almond, and bay-rum scents are available in two different sizes, so that you can use your own shaving mug. Or, our third thing, the way that Conk soaps are packaged lets you use the resealable plastic as a shaving mug, if you aren't interested in making that investment right now.

If you are interested in  shaving mugs, though, Conk brings us several options some with ducks and ships and "Dad" on them. We also have a few barbershop style shaving scuttles.What's a scuttle? Read all about it here.

Conk also carries brushes, like this useful travel brush, and some accessories like a mustache comb and razors stones. Speaking of brushes and razors, Conk knows that a wet brush should never be closed up, and the best way to dry it is hanging fuzzy side down. So we also have a couple of brush stands that will also hold your safety razor.

And that brings us to the most important thing for shaving: razors! Conk has some fancy track razors in chrome and gold finishes, which you'd recognize as "normal" razors with disposable blades. Very nice, but right now there are a lot of men who have started using safety razors (pictured at left). All of our safety razors are made by Merkur in Germany, for the Conk company. I keep trying to get my husband to start shaving more so that it'd be worth getting him of these, but he sadly going through a  hirsute phase.