A Great Trade

[mantic]

My wife and I visited her parents this weekend. We hadn't seen them in several months, and various birthdays, holidays, and anniversarys have gone by, so it ended up being partly a gift-fest. My father-in-law recently returned to wet shaving on the advice of his doctor, as his skin was very sensitive to electric shavers, so I gave him a badger brush to replace the cheap boar brush he was using (I also asked Trumper and Truefitt & Hill to send him their sample set, which he received last week, so it was a great coincidence) and some hard shaving soaps.

Imagine my suprise when he presented me with *my* present--a shaving soap scuttle! Although it had an American-style football theme to it, it appears to be porcelean and not of recent manufacture. He said he found it at a local Salvation Army store!

I'll have to take some digital pics and post them somewhere for y'all.

--Mark

[AACJ]

So where are the pics Mark?

My wife and I visited her parents this weekend. We hadn't seen them in several months, and various birthdays, holidays, and anniversarys have gone by, so it ended up being partly a gift-fest. My father-in-law recently returned to wet shaving on the advice of his doctor, as his skin was very sensitive to electric shavers, so I gave him a badger brush to replace the cheap boar brush he was using (I also asked Trumper and Truefitt & Hill to send him their sample set, which he received last week, so it was a great coincidence) and some hard shaving soaps.

Imagine my suprise when he presented me with *my* present--a shaving soap scuttle! Although it had an American-style football theme to it, it appears to be porcelean and not of recent manufacture. He said he found it at a local Salvation Army store!

I'll have to take some digital pics and post them somewhere for y'all.

--Mark

[rustyblade]

Mantic, buy Trumper's Oxford Blue/O&G or T&H scuttle soap to fill that scuttle with. Scuttles make for a much more traditional shaving experience. You will have to use a smaller brush though!

[Racso_MS]

Not wanting to take away from the thread, but Mark you mentioned asking Trumper and Truefitt&Hill to send your F-I-L a sample pack.

Sue sent me some samples when I first started posting on this forum and Tryphon (Giovanni) had some samples he offered to us as give aways of which he sent me two. Sue's was great and I'm still working on one of Gio's.

I've never asked anyone to send me samples and was wondering how do you ask in a polite way without sounding like you're taking advantage of the company. It would be nice to sample some different soaps (etc) before paying out a lot of money and deciding you don't like it. Also how many companies give free samples? Do you hand write a request, email, fax or what is the best method? And the verbiage to me would seem awkward...("Please send me some samples of your shaving cream") or do you have to specify the product?

Just thought I'd ask.

Thanks.

[mantic]

So where are the pics Mark?

Wow, I forgot about this thread. Anyway, I'm working on a video about keeping your lather warm that will include traditional soap scuttles like the one I got, as well as the Moss Scuttle and a few other things.

--Mark

[mantic]

Not wanting to take away from the thread, but Mark you mentioned asking Trumper and Truefitt&Hill to send your F-I-L a sample pack.

Sue sent me some samples when I first started posting on this forum and Tryphon (Giovanni) had some samples he offered to us as give aways of which he sent me two. Sue's was great and I'm still working on one of Gio's.

I've never asked anyone to send me samples and was wondering how do you ask in a polite way without sounding like you're taking advantage of the company. It would be nice to sample some different soaps (etc) before paying out a lot of money and deciding you don't like it. Also how many companies give free samples? Do you hand write a request, email, fax or what is the best method? And the verbiage to me would seem awkward...("Please send me some samples of your shaving cream") or do you have to specify the product?

Just thought I'd ask.

Thanks.

Oscar--

At the time of the original post, Trumper and T&H both had links on their webpages to request samples. My verbage was simply "Could you please send me some samples of your shaving creams?" and left it up to them what to send. Trumper used to send a really nice sample kit containing most/all of their shave creams, Skin Food, and cologne/EDT lines. They've since really pared back on that, including charging for it now. Similarly, T&H used to be quite generous with their samples; now they just send a small pack of 1805 and maybe a small tube of pre-shave oil.

(Though I will give T&H credit: a year ago I gave a traditional shaving seminar to a group of college students. I contacted several manufacturers directly about it and asked for their assistance with products. T&H very generously sent me a large box full of 1805 sample packs and pre-shave tubes, along with some marketing materials. BTW Men-U was also very helpful.)

--Mark