SMF

My wife and I have a couple of 1 week trips planned and I have been looking for a simple kit. After reading here about the Noxema/Kai disposables I thought I would give them a try. Here is my travel gear so far. Pretty good shave today with 2 passes and some clean up. I suppose things can change after some more experimentation.

Regards, Basil

Basil, travel represents one of the larger dilemmas a wet shaver can face. Many travel with disposable razors similar to yours, so that's OK, but the cream and AS you show might not pass muster with our pals at the TSA if you are flying.

The limit is 3.4 ounces (100 ml) with very little wiggle room. I have personally seen larger bottles of something clearly depleted to almost empty not pass muster (IE - 5 ounce bottle less than half full).

You are on the right track, though.

Disposables do work (fairly well) when traveling and have a couple of advantages, you don't mind if one gets lost and you can get more wherever you go.

My wife picked up a couple of packs of assorted clear jars and bottles which I will be using to add creams to my travel bag. The one package came in a quite strong yet handy zip-lock bag to breeze through security with. I am going through my Bic Sensitives a lot lately as I have been on the road quite a bit with my recent job change.

Thanks for mentioning the sizes of the cream and after shave. To be honest, I hadn't thought about it. One of our trips will involve some flying. Since we'll be going for a week we will check bags so I guess it should not be a problem.

Basil

pausted wrote:Thanks for mentioning the sizes of the cream and after shave. To be honest, I hadn't thought about it. One of our trips will involve some flying. Since we'll be going for a week we will check bags so I guess it should not be a problem.

Basil

Checked bags won't be a problem - take what you want. It's carry-on where they get antsy.

Gene, I love your signature lines.

Basil, If you can tolerate the razor, Travel Techs are inexpensive and it's easy to pack enough blades for quite a bit of shaving. OK, having written that, I really don't like a TT, but when I add a shim or 2 to the razor, now it becomes something that quite useable. If it's lost it's no big deal, they're everywhere on ebay for cheap.

After the last training I went to I refurbished mine by making a new case for it. I haven't traveled since so I suppose it worked.

New "hard" holder and goat leather.


This is the case it was in. Some sort of pressed leather dust or some such.


New compared to the old. I can put a lot more blades in the new case and it's just fractionally larger. Plus I can keep a blade in the razor with no problems with the new case. Plus I can replace the razor head with an OLD or a NEW and have a razor I can actually enjoy shaving with (with 1 shim).

I've purchased a couple of 30 ml and 60 ml squeezable and re-fillable soft plastic tubes, which work very well. I've decanted some of my hair gel into one, shaving cream into another and aftershave balm into one more. It's all "legal" for carry on an airplane and allows me to take my favourite gunk with me. I don't like to fly without a carry-on containing my shaving kit, prescriptions and a change of clothes; my checked bag has too often gone astray, especially when I have a connecting flight through Munich or Frankfurt.

Rufus wrote:I've purchased a couple of 30 ml and 60 ml squeezable and re-fillable soft plastic tubes, which work very well. I've decanted some of my hair gel into one, shaving cream into another and aftershave balm into one more. It's all "legal" for carry on an airplane and allows me to take my favourite gunk with me. I don't like to fly without a carry-on containing my shaving kit, prescriptions and a change of clothes; my checked bag has too often gone astray, especially when I have a connecting flight through Munich or Frankfurt.

Thanks for that Brian.

I never tried to decant a cream into a squeeze bottle, but it's a marvelous idea.

I have some Nivea cream (bought in Canada, and mentioned in another thread this week) that is the right size. Sometimes I travel with a shave stick, but they don't really perform like I need...can't figure out why.

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions. I have a travel tech that I have used before. Don't much care for the short handle, although it gives a good shave. My plan is just to experiment with a very minimal kit: disposable razor, brushless cream and after shave. I don't have any legitimate reason to go this light. I'm just doing it for the fun of it. If I decide to carry it on, I'll decant the cream and aftershave into smaller containers.

Thanks again,
Basil

Those Noxzema/Kai Twin disposables are just the ticket for me when traveling. Good, cheap and disposable.

I too have purchased some plastic refillable tubes. Great for squeezing in your favorite brushless cream.

The TSA doesn't care (I think) about shaving soap pucks and certainly not about brushes, so that's a good air travel option as well.

The real conundrum is the razor. Do NOT take a DE Razor through security. You certainly cannot get blades through.

I have found, FWIW, that the Schick Hydro 3 is an excellent travel razor. TSA compliant. Light. Cheap. Quick, comfortable shaves. Recommended.

Basil,

Your Travel Gear is a bit minimalistic for me, I typically pack a dopp kit with:

Rooney Travel brush
Harris Soap stick
Some kind of light, cream AS (Neutrogena ...)
Gillette tech
2 blades
1 Cologne

This is fine if you check your bag, however, it is obviously a problem to try to get through security with DE blades (I've tried it, and they take them away ... ).

I know some folks use the Bic disposables <-- these do NOT work well for me.

Anyone have suggestions for GOOD travel-friendly disposables?

... Steve

I will still put in a vote for the Hydro 3. It's a cartridge, not a disposable, but it is fully TSA-compliant. I travel a lot by air, and it's how I handle the carry-on problem. No hassles at security; very comfortable and convenient shaves.

If I may be permitted a momentary rant, I honestly can't truly accept the validity of all this TSA stuff. First, they've now started pushing a fairly high percentage through as "Pre-Check" status -- which gets minimal screening. If (say) 25% don't get thoroughly screened, is the screening really all that vital in the first place? Second, can anyone honestly believe that a passenger with ill-intent would be able to mount a serious assault on an aircraft wielding a Double-edge Safety Razor? Just a dumb rule, IMO. Third, these idiotic screening rules have been forced on a long-suffering traveling public at the same time that the airlines have starting charging baggage fees, thus, in effect, drastically increasing the aggregate amount of carry-on luggage. It's really a double-bind, and it seems as if it's designed to hassle, rather than protect, the traveler. Fourth, as we recently saw with the tragedy involving the mentally disturbed German pilot, there are far more urgent safety priorities that have nothing whatever to do with TSA screening. A deeply troubled pilot is far more dangerous than a DE razor or a 5 oz. tube of shaving cream!

In short, the longer I deal with TSA screening, the less confidence I have that it is anything other than a huge, government-imposed nuisance, which serves little (if any) valid purpose except to lull the traveling public into believing that SOMETHING is being done to protect them.

OK, excuse me, now I'll go back to filling up my little travel bottles with toiletry liquids, leaving behind my DE razor, trying to jam it all into one teensy-tiny little plastic bag, etc., etc. It's that or walk, I guess!

BF, just don't say that and let TSA hear you.

It's all a smoke screen to make the skulls full of mush think something is being done. Agreed, it's just smoke and mirrors.

Really, strip searching 80 year old pensioners ... really?

Thankfully, I almost never travel by air.

BeatlesFan wrote:
In short, the longer I deal with TSA screening, the less confidence I have that it is anything other than a huge, government-imposed nuisance, which serves little (if any) valid purpose except to lull the traveling public into believing that SOMETHING is being done to protect them.

TSA and other agencies' measures evidently aim also to create a pyschological (rather than physical) deterrent and at the same time impress a sense of security upon the travelling public.
Occasionally, this may manifest itself in bizarre ways.

Google the term "Security Theater".



B.

My minimum travel kit:

- Feather AC DX (without blade if necessary)
- Spare Feather AC Professional blade
- Synthetic shaving brush in plastic container
- Shaving stick
- El. Toothbrush
- Toothpaste

The container for the electric toothbrush can also hold a disassembled three-piece DE razor, as some kind of DE blade can usually be obtained at the other end.


B.

My usual travel kit is:

- Merkur 34C + iKon Bulldog 85mm handle
- A couple of SI blades
- Shaving stick (La Toja, at the moment)
- Azulen by O Boticário aftershave balm
- Marvis travel toothpaste
- Travel toothbrush

I usually spend more time on my shaving kit for a trip than anything else, often ending up with the perfect compact toiletries bag and a case crammed full at the last minute with the wrong things. . .

For carry-on I've arrived at the Feather F-II as my TSA acceptable razor that does both my face and my head very nicely
A tube of Arko or a soap stick serves the purpose well for carry-on - Taylor's Sandalwood usually
I pack my nice brush (Olde Apothecary Finest Sabrooney) because it's nice
Small Revlon compact mirror for head shaving duty
I have a travel size Trumper's Limes Skin Food, sometimes I don't bother packing it
That's it, for the most part, along with toothbrush and toothpaste I'm ready to fly the unfriendly skies, unpack and wonder why I only packed one pair of socks and grabbed too many t-shirts and stuffed them in my bag

If I had to fly I'd take
Soap stick or Coates tubes
EJ Synthetic brush
Noxzema disposables
444 ASB tube