Body Shop Macca Root

                         

The day I used up the last of this, I bought three more - for the price of two - from The Body Shop. Enough said.

The Old Apothecary

If ever you visit Lyndhurst in the New Forest, this shop is well worth a visit. Among its range of bath and beauty products is a collection of shaving products. They don't include New Forest shaving brushes - they can only be obtained direct from the manufacturer!

Here's their website:

The Old Apothecary 

Village Barber

Since joining Twitter I have been discovering just how many shaving related websites can be found on the internet. This is well worth a look, particularly the videos.

Villagebarber.com

Kent V16 vintage shaving brush

I bought this brush which was unused several months ago. On my 70th birthday yesterday, I finally decided to use the brush. I knew someday that someone wouldn't be able to resist it so thought it may as well be me.

So how did it perform? It's an amazing brush. Far too big and heavy for regular use. The density of the knot ensured that it was relatively easy to control both the creation of lather and it's application. I painted it on, but I managed a bit of a scrub for the first pass before smoothing over. As expected, the tips are silky smooth.
I managed my usual three passes. Squeezing out what was left was a messy business - so much lather!

Using the brush was quite a novelty and I'm glad I did. But this isn't a practical brush. It's really a display piece. And that's what it will be. Perhaps I'll leave it in my cabinet and make a point of taking it out for my 75th - if I'm still here, then each 5 years thereafter. So when it's passed on it won't have had much use and might appeal to a collector!

Some before and after pics:

The unused brush

The knot unused

The knot after use

The used brush

Or perhaps I'll make it my regular birthday brush?

Avoid brush damage .....

This is good advice:

Avoid brush damage and protect your investment.

Styptic pencil

However careful you are, occasionally you will nick or cut yourself while shaving. I did today, so I was really pleased I had one of these little sticks in my stash:

I got mine in my local Superdrug store.