The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Thoughts and input on anything related to wet shaving or men's grooming.
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KAV
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The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by KAV »

As I was shaving this morning, I looked at my kit with a sense of satisfaction and order. My mug, brush and razor all have matching Ivory components. The blades; in fair supply stored like Mauser 98s in an old war movie and a few bottles of scent gleaming in many colours, kaleidoscope like as a well ordered bar.
I shaved with the assurance of hand muscles trained to the right angle and tension over areas once scene to bloody post battle gore.
Ah hubris; what I used to do and think.
1. banded shaving brushes referred to the number of ridges in the handle.
2. I had to carefully count how many passes I took with each side of the blade. I even contemplated marking my first MERKUR HD until it developed a pit in the chrome on one side :cry:
3. Aftershaves that didn't last were inferior. This was an early lesson in High School. I poured a good half bottle of LILAC VEGETAL on before track practice. I usually outran almost everybody. Coach was amazed how FAST people were passing me to get upwind. Now I avoid COLOGNES that last to long, like Bois de Portugal ( lovely $$$$tuff)
4. I WAS GOING TO Save money :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: actually, I have been recipient of far to many magnificient gifts from many here. When I actually get an order off to BULLGOOSE or PIF to someone I feel such small reciprocity on my part :oops:
5. unlike so many other hobbies, who's ranks take great sadistic pleasure watching new people struggle or act smug in their knowledge ( often STILL WRONG) I was going to pass on all I've learned.
* My nephews use electrics and think I will be found dead from a slashed jugular someday-but dear Pyewacket is still involved in my morning ritual.

Add your own- if you dare =D>
brothers
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Re: The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by brothers »

This is a tough one. . . gonna require a wee bit of self-examination. :D
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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Squire
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Re: The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by Squire »

I believe it was Napoleon lll who ordered Lilac Vegetal developed as a distinctive scent for his house calvary. I'm convinced he was punishing them. That or he didn't trust 'em and wanted to smell 'em coming.
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Squire
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M6Classic
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Re: The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by M6Classic »

I can't remember its name, but forty or forty-five years ago there was a pharmacy in the Waldorf Astoria along Lexington Avenue. I entered because they had a dazzling display in the window of every size Plisson plexiglass HMW from #8 to...I don't know...#500. I was already a wet shaver and had a nice badger from Hoffritz, but these beautiful brushes held a magnetic attraction for me, they issued an ethereal glow. I just couldn't leave the shop without one. I decided to spend all the money I had on me (maybe $25) on the biggest brush I could afford (a #20). What did I know, I was only twenty or twenty-one and responded preponderantly to lust. I immediately became one of the Illuminati of the Plisson Plexiglass Cult and I used that brush exclusively for about thirty-five years. That's not quite true. There was the later dalliance with a Chubby 3 that spoke to me in Curzon Street, but that is another story for another time.

Buzz
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Squire
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Re: The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by Squire »

Well if you're gonna lust after something . . .
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Squire
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KAV
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Re: The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by KAV »

Squire, There is a classic british book on horsemanship by a cavalry officer later killed in the famous charge of the light brigades. It is little read today, but I remember one caustic comment in it. He said the French cavalry was in such poor condition they could literally SMELL them approaching with a good wind :^o
ShadowsDad
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Re: The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by ShadowsDad »

I was going to ask if they couldn't smell the horses coming without first dousing them with LV. Possibly it was the first use of gas warfare, or would it have been psychological warfare?
Brian

Maker of Kramperts Finest Bay Rum and Frostbite
Or find it here: Italian Barber, West Coast Shaving, Barclay Crocker, The Old Town Shaving Company at Stats, Maggard Razors; Leavitt & Peirce, Harvard Square
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Squire
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Re: The silly thinks I thought and did at first

Post by Squire »

Reminds me of an incident involving a distant relative, Maj. Gen George E. Pickett, when his name was linked to that disastrous charge at Gettysburg which prompted Abraham Lincoln to remark that between courage and foolhardiness there was but a thin line.
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Squire
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