Beyond The Suds
Boys and Their B.L.A.D.E.S. (Part 2--Lather Up)
by Carrie
Darren and I were asked to give a talk on shaving at the recent Alabama Soap & Candle Meeting. Our presentation was entitled, "Boys and Their B.L.A.D.E.S.: Gaining a Cutting Edge in the Wet Shaving Community" and this series of blog posts shares some of the highlights from our session. Today's post is Part 2---Lather Up. (Check out Part 1 here.)
Darren led into the "Lather Up" section by explaining the difference between shaving hardware vs. software. (For those unfamiliar with the terms, the classification basically has to do with tools/equipment vs. consumables.) His presentation on hardware included a few minutes worth of displaying and explaining the variety of razors (double edge, single edge, injectors, straights, and shavettes), brushes (boar, badger, horse, and synthetic), and blades.
(Funny side note: Later that evening, when we were back at the hotel room, Darren realized that there was one thing he had forgotten to pack: blades. So the very person who just hours prior had given a presentation on traditional wet shaving now had to go down the hotel's front desk to source a disposable razor. Irony at it's best!)
For the software portion, Darren mentioned that the obvious product that comes to mind is shaving soap, but that's really just the tip of the iceberg for many shavers. Software can also include additional men's grooming products such as bath soap, shampoo, deodorant, pre-shave oil, aftershave balm, aftershave splash, beard oil, bath bombs (yes, true!), and lotion. Most of the women were pretty surprised to discover that these men actually read the labels of the products they are purchasing, and that many of them are fairly knowledgeable about various ingredients.
And from there, Darren moved into the next section...Acronyms of Traditional Wet Shaving.
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Before closing out, I wanted to share a link to a well-written, very thorough article on shaving brushes. Sharpologist (Mark, aka "Mantic59") explains the elements of a shaving brush, advantages/disadvantages of the different types, and then shares his criteria and picks for the best brushes currently on the market. For shaving newbies (or shaving spouses), this is a very helpful overview of the various brushes. For the seasoned shaver, it's a great refresher and might also give you an idea for a new piece of hardware to try out.
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