Badger & Blade

My troubles with Badger & Blade are well documented and I have no wish to add more about my personal case. It's past, and I have no wish to be involved there any more. But as a member of several shaving forums I still like to know what's going on around the internet shaving community.

I knew about this thread, but I only recently took a look at it in detail. It's quite remarkable. Joel, the man behind B&B, registered as a member of this forum and submitted some most interesting posts making offers to disaffected former members of his site and giving his take on the issues raised by the thread.

Take a look here:

Pogonotomy Shaving forum - thread about B&B.

If not a member you will need to register to access the link. To do that, you go to:

Pogonotomy Forum

Sorry about this, I hadn't realised when I first published this post that the thread can only be accessed by forum members. But it does make interesting reading! The thread is in the General off topic area and titled "Who else here was banned for life by B&B"

The power of the internet

My little New Forest Brushes venture has only been made possible through the power of the internet. The research and study of information readily available through use of the internet, the ability to create and use a simple website plus sites like Paypal and Ebay make it possible for anyone to start up a small international business these days. And they need not stay small - many big name businesses have started and thrived since the internet was first established. New Forest Brushes now has customers in many countries - including some surprising ones! This is the latest list of countries to which brushes have been shipped:

Argentina

Australia

Belgium

Brazil

Canada

China

Croatia

Czech Republic

Denmark

Egypt

France

Germany

Greece

Hungary

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Latvia

Netherlands

Norway

Portugal

Russia

Singapore

Slovenia

South Africa

Spain

Sweden

Thailand

United Kingdom

United States

Rotating too often?

An essential aspect of treating shaving as a special interest or hobby is building up a collection of products to use. So most of us end up with perhaps too much of everything. So we tend to change things often - be it razors, blades, brushes, creams, soaps and so on. By doing so we may enjoy the variety but I sometimes think we end up not getting the best out of what we have. Each product takes time to understand how to best use it. If we change things frequently perhaps we run the risk of never quite getting what we are after - a smooth comfortable and enjoyable shave. I'm going to start extending the time I use each combination of products. Just for a change!

Today's shave

Castle Forbes Lavender shaving cream is simply superb. Wonderful aroma and so little needed to create lather very easily. DR Harris Arlington aftershave milk is a recent addition  I'm really enjoying. Jagger Chatsworth/ red personna and a New Forest Finest Silvertip 2213 completed the line up that produced a delightful shaving experience. But then it's like that most days for us shaving enthusiasts!

TSR meet

Thousands of enthusiasts post on shaving forums. Few ever meet. Some will always have reservations about meeting people who post anonymously on the internet. The Shaving Room is a UK based shaving forums. One of the members, Mikael from Sweden, intended to visit London this August and suggested that members of the forum might like to join him and visit some of the famous london Barber/Gentleman's shops followed by a few drinks in a London Pub.

So on Saturday 6 August 2011  a small group of us met up with Mikael and visited Trumpers. Taylors of Bond Street, DR Harris and Truefitt & Hill. We followed up with a few drinks at The Chequers Pub in Duke Street. We all had a great time. A few gifts were exchanged, we had a raffle that raised some money for charity, bought a few more things we didn't need and returned home having made a few more friends. If you are a member of a shaving forum and it's feasible to arrange a meet, go for it!

A few reminders of the day:

Blooming silvertips

Shavers comment often on the bloom of a shaving brush. Some tend to bloom more than others. The silvertips most of all. Here's a New Forest Finest Silvertip - with a 22mm knot and 50mm loft. I'll compare in a future post with a two band brush.

New Forest Finest Silvertip