All Natural Alt-Innsbruck Aftershaves with Fine Virginia Tobacco

Alt-Innsbruck Eau de Cologne/Aftershave with real Virginia Tobacco

Alt-Innsbruck cologne and aftershave is one of those rare finds. We're proudly stocking some of their marvelous products, made with natural ingredients such as mint oil, menthol and camphor, and scented with the finest Virginia Tobacco. Their masculine scent is priced by cigar lovers and is the result of a turn-of-the-century Austrian recipe, originating in Innsbruck and kept unchanged since.

Shaving Stands on the Cheap

If you are the crafty kind (kudos to you BTW, that's a set of abilities I was not gifted with) head over to Instructables for two recipes for shaving stands on the cheap.

This stand is made out of a wire coat hanger and will hold a razor and a brush.

This other stand is for the more ambitious DIYer. It will hold the same two basic implements but it also works well at delimiting a space for other shave-related paraphernalia.

Probably a good work-around for the single guy, but I really don't see my wife letting me display either of these on our bathroom counter. But that's another topic altogether.

Razor & Brush Stands at Fendrihan Shaving

Quality Shave-Wares and Shaving Creams by Cyril R Salter

Cyril R Salter 3-Piece Shaving Set

New at the Fendrihan Shaving Shop, the Cyril R Salter grooming line. This established London family company specializing in the manufacture of wet-shaving products, is renowned for its uncompromising quality since its foundation in the 1940s.

You'll find their shaving creams in various fragrances, shaving soaps and other grooming products such as shaving sets and real horn hair combs. Enjoy!

Shaving with a Pumice Stone?

28th October 1960: Eric Sykes reviving the mass shaving machine, a nineteenth century invention, for a television series called Brainwaves.

(Photo by Ken Howard/BIPs/Getty Images)

No, it's not some new fad but a rather painful-sounding way of doing away with your facial hair in the time of the Roman Empire.

In an article I read for a previous post I found a reference to barbers in the Bible, but that was hardly the beginning of shaving. We've been trying to get rid of, or at least style, our whiskers since those faraway prehistoric times.

Some times have definitely been harsher than others, as shaving implements have included clamshells, flint knives, shark teeth, volcanic glass, well I guess we can say it involved some experimentation.

If you'd like to put your morning shave into context, head on to the full article on CNN and see how shaving evolved into the more pleasant incarnation we know today.

And as it is so aptly put at the article's closing, now that we've come so far...

...it's just a matter of time before we're all shaving with a 17-bladed behemoth

Pashana Hair Tonics, a Touch of Vintage

Pashana Blue Orchid Scalp Tonic

Head over to the store for some traditional hair tonics from Pashana. Don't be fooled by the hip packaging, Pashana has represented excellence in hair tonics since its inception in London's barbering district around 1910. Its traditional recipes based on essential oils have made it a staple of London's exclusive barbering trade.

I'm a hair tonic junkie myself (I don't drink it, just apply it on the scalp) and I haven't checked if their use is on the rise or not, but I'd like to see that happen. Tonics are a classic and nothing beats the way they feel on the scalp. I've gone trough different phases where I've used all sort of hair concoctions, but I'm sticking to my old tonic.

Roosters

Roosters Men's Grooming Center in Ohio

I was writing the last post when I happened upon a reference about Roosters Men's Grooming Center. This is a franchise based in the U.S. that started out in 1999 with a barbershop in Michigan.

Owner Joe Grondin wanted to go back to the real barbershop experience, complete with tricolor barber pole, oversized leather chairs and services for men only. The concept took off and at some point became a franchise.

You can head over to their site to check out their services, locations or take a virtual tour. While looking at it I spied some Clubman talc on one of the stations (way to go) and several bottles carrying the Roosters brand, so I guess they stock the stores with some private-label concoctions that might in turn be provided by some of the major grooming labels.

The stations are neat and the chairs are awesome. If anyone has made it to one of these stores, let me know how the service and the atmosphere are, I'd be interested to know. Some of the shop locations have web sites of their own. You can find the directory here.

The Right to Wield a Razor

I found this awesome article at the Austin American-Statesman about a turf war being fought in Texas among barbers and cosmetologists over who has the right to shave your face. Way too long to summarize it here and definitely worth a read, so go over there and read it. But here are some facts from it that just blew my mind:

• Legally, barbers are the only profession that has the right to shave a man's face.
• A barber's training includes the 14 distinct strokes of the classic straight-razor shave.
• Barbers are mentioned in the Bible; now that's a long time ago ( I had to google this one since studying the holy book is not one of my credentials. It turned out to be Ezekiel 5:1 and it reads "Now, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair.")
• Barbers are in short supply (in the State of Texas there are nearly 110,000 licensed cosmetologists but only 13,000 barbers) and they make little money compared to stylists, since men's haircuts and shaves command only a small amount of what is charged for ladies' styling or coloring.
• There is no legal definition for "shave" or "razor", which complicates matters when trying to decide who can wield a razor and give you a shave.

Straight Razors at the Fendrihan Shaving Store

Erasmic Lather Shave Cream and Soap

Erasmic is a British purveyor of traditional preparations for wet-shaving, dating back to the 1880s. We've just added their renowned shaving cream and travel shaving stick. Hope you enjoy them.

Dominica Bay Rum Aftershaves

Dominica Bay Rum Lime Aftershave

We are proud to introduce two Dominica Bay Rum products over at the store.

The original West Indies Bay Rum is double-distilled and appreciated for its cooling, toning, conditioning, refreshing, pore-tightening and skin-stimulating properties. It can be used as an aftershave, a cologne or a body lotion. It also comes with the addition of the light, crisp fragrance of limes.

The Brushanator

The new Clarisonic for men

Old trusty badger brush, beware!

Combining the talents of an electric toothbrush with a synthetic shaving brush, the Clarisonic promises to upgrade both your shave and your face to a whole new level.

The device has been around for a while, in pink and white versions, and mainly proposed for cleansing and exfoliating purposes. But in a astute marketing turn, it is now available in a sober charcoal casing and ready to help men improve that daily shave. It promises to rid your face of dead cells and become the ultimate tool to lather on your shaving cream.

Retailing for $195, and with brush heads that should be changed every 3-4 months, at $25 a pop, I can't help but conjure images of cunning execs with curling smiles. "Gentlemen, we've just come up with a brand new product to stretch that R&D buck. And all we have to do is change the color and slap a picture of a guy on the box".

But that's just the cynic in me. The theory behind it seems OK; vibration + soft bristles = clean, healthy skin. And bristles are an ideal carrier for shaving foam or soap.

Of course, the benefits of the Clarisonic are patent when compared to regular face washing and hand-applying of shaving soap; but it's not proven yet to be an improvement on the hand-powered badger brush.

Via The Star

For Elite Shavers

Merkur 34C with a Western Diamondback Rattlesnake skin handle

I wanted to give a nod to woodworker extraordinaire Bob Quinn over at Elite Razor. He has been turning pieces of wood into wondrous creations for over 25 years. Check out his up-scaled Merkur razors and badger shaving brushes. Make sure to explore the site, there are custom creations all over the place. It's guaranteed to make you gawp. He'll even turn a special keepsake (a piece of furniture of sentimental value to you, for example) into a custom razor or brush.

Fendrihan - Classic Safety Razors

The Blade Equation

Adam Tschorn goes from bearded to shorn

Adam Tschorn of Los Angeles Times asks "How many blades are enough?". To take his question further I may ask "How many blades are too many?"

However you feel about it, Adam does bring up questions I hadn't thought about concerning the blade race. Such as, how we're forced into accepting one more blade at a time because our cartridges are not available anymore or are hard to find. And the resistance to change some of us might experience.

Even as a wet-shaver, it is hard to ignore the super-bladers. As many problems as they caused me in the past, I used them for a good number of years and got huge number of shaves out of them. And that's the reality for most of us. Last year, Americans spent some $177.8 million on 3- and 5-blade cartridges; not a pittance.

Also related to this author, here is a link about his transformation from bearded to shorn.

Fendrihan - Single Edge Safety Razors