For USA shavers, exchange rates are really good for buying from UK vendors now

[jimmyrules712]

Pound to USD exchange rates are a lot better than they used to be and I recently noticed that several products are cheaper to buy from UK vendors and ship to USA than what they cost to buy from US vendors.

Got all of the below from Connaught for about $90 total shipped. Excluding the Omega Jade brush (which is exclusive to Connaught) I paid about $65 shipped for all the soap and cream shown. US retailers would charge about $140 for the same items. Delivery took about a week and a half.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

You could probably buy Britain - it can’t be worth much any more.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I am getting up there in age.. but I remember when the Pound Sterling was worth $5.

 

[CCS]

I bought the Connaught Jade a couple months ago for something like $21-22 shipped. I bought my Muhle Rocca R95 birch razor and matching STF brush from shaving.ie also about a month ago for something like $170 shipped. What I can't seem to find is a Muhle in white or olive wood 25mm STF from anyone over there at a discount.

 

[5whiskey]

Oh wow. Hasn't the pound been at 2 USD roughly forever now?

 

[rbscebu]

.... I paid about $65 shipped for all the soap and cream shown. US retailers would charge about $140 for the same items. Delivery took about a week and a half.

Where is that "buy American" spirit?

 

[NorthernSoul]

Here is a graph showing the exchange rate over the past 10 years:

There was a low point in September & October this year, roughly $1.08 = 1 GB Pound. Slight uptrend since then.

 

[Cezar]

Each to their own, but I firmly believe that if you live in North America and aren’t using products from North American artisans, you are doing yourself a serious injustice.

 

[jimmyrules712]

Where is that "buy American" spirit?

I am drawn to classic products that have been around for decades and unfortunately there’s not much like that left for American shaving soap. I do have 2 American artisan soaps (Stirling and B&M).

 

[Robert6891]

Where is that "buy American" spirit?

Waiting for stuff to be made in America again, lol.
Even stuff made here is mostly made from materials from other countries.

 

[CCS]

Each to their own, but I firmly believe that if you live in North America and aren’t using products from North American artisans, you are doing yourself a serious injustice.

"North American Artisans", snicker... The best stuff has always come from Great Britain, France, Italy, and German. The injustice would be buying the truly bizarre offerings from these johnny come lately outfits and marketed based on the labels and questionable prose like tawdry novels.

 

[Lane101]

Pound to USD exchange rates are a lot better than they used to be and I recently noticed that several products are cheaper to buy from UK vendors and ship to USA than what they cost to buy from US vendors.

Got all of the below from Connaught for about $90 total shipped. Excluding the Omega Jade brush (which is exclusive to Connaught) I paid about $65 shipped for all the soap and cream shown. US retailers would charge about $140 for the same items. Delivery took about a week and a half.

View attachment 1558680

Great buy! We've a whole thread on this via the link below. So long as you can hit the thresholds for free shipping the pricing from Connaught in U.S. dollars is excellent. Note that the exchange rate is starting to go up a bit and U.K. inflation may effect pricing. Since my posts in the thread below the Connaught price for MWF went up from 5.25 GBP (ex VAT) to 6.25 GBP. Still an excellent value vs. other retailers.

We've similar tastes. In my recent Connaught orders I've picked up some D.R. Harris Windsor, MWF, Tabac, LEA shave sticks and a tube of the LEA creme (menthol version). Also some Cyril R. Salter pucks that are the exact same base as the D.R. Harris soaps. Great soaps and creams, enjoy!

Connaught Shaving and Rising U.S. $/U.K. Pound Exchange Rate = Amazing Shave Soap & Cream Pricing for U.S. Buyers

I was just reviewing the Connaught Shaving website for shaving soaps and discovered that many items are priced far below what we have to pay when purchasing from U.S. based sources. While the airfreight charges will offset the savings for small orders anyone purchasing more than 60 British...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[Cezar]

"North American Artisans", snicker... The best stuff has always come from Great Britain, France, Italy, and German. The injustice would be buying the truly bizarre offerings from these johnny come lately outfits and marketed based on the labels and questionable prose like tawdry novels.

That is your perspective. I respectfully disagree.

My perspective is that we are blessed on this side of the pond to have a vibrant and thriving wet shaving culture which has emerged in the last decade or so. Our artisan producers push the boundaries to deliver absolutely top tier products. And we are able to buy these products at competitive prices, unlike folks overseas who pay double or more for the same.

As I said in my original post, each to their own. If you enjoy the legacy products from the UK and Europe, that’s fine.

Happy shaves.

 

[CCS]

That is your perspective. I respectfully disagree.

My perspective is that we are blessed on this side of the pond to have a vibrant and thriving wet shaving culture which has emerged in the last decade or so. Our artisan producers push the boundaries to deliver absolutely top tier products. And we are able to buy these products at competitive prices, unlike folks overseas who pay double or more for the same.

As I said in my original post, each to their own. If you enjoy the legacy products from the UK and Europe, that’s fine.

Happy shaves.

You don't have to "respectfully" disagree. Your opinion to me is about as useful as mine is to you. Welcome to wetshaving 101.

 

[jimmyrules712]

Here are some short reviews of the products I've tested.

The first products I tried were the Speick, DRH, and Lea shave sticks. I like the Speick scent a lot. The DRH Arlington scent is ok, not really for me but other people probably like it. Lea is almost scentless. I've used Arko sticks off and on for years so I'm accustomed to the format. I learned from these sticks that Arko is a bit of an anomaly due to how soft it is and shave sticks don't really work for me for harder soaps. I have a beard so only shave my neck and all these sticks are really too hard to get enough product on my neck from rubbing them on my stubble without irritating my skin. On all of these my lather was subpar, 2 out of 5, mostly due to not getting enough product on my face. I know these could be grated into tubs and used that way but I have too many good soaps to bother. These will all go on BST eventually.

Next I tried Cella. I was not prepared for how strong the cherry scent is in this so when I initially took off the lid and smelled it I was a bit repulsed. My concerns about the smell quickly went away as I began to build lather on my face. It took very little effort to quickly build up an overabundance of top tier quality, 5 out of 5, lather on par with the best soaps I've used. I liked the lather so much the smell began to grow on me. This will go in my permanent rotation although the red tub it comes in is way too small to load a brush from so I moved it to a larger empty tub I have.

Next I tried the Lea Classic cream (in the metal tube). Holy menthol overload. By far the most mentholated soap / cream I've ever used. The scent is OK, not my favorite but I don't hate it. The lather quality is pretty good, maybe a 4 out of 5. I have several other creams I like the scent of better and that equal or exceed the performance of this so I'll probably put this on BST.

Next I tried Palmolive Cream (not pictured in my original Connaught order but acquired around the same time). This is the standard version sold in Germany in the green tube (not mentholated). The best thing this cream has going for it is price. It's among the least expensive available in Europe and not too expensive to import to the USA either. The smell reminds me of the products I use to clean my toilet, which is not ideal. I really like the smell of Arko by comparison so my bar isn't that high. the lather quality was adequate, maybe a 3/5 to 4/5. If I liked the scent better I might hang on to this due to how inexpensive it is but it will go on BST.

Next i tried Speick Cream (not pictured in my original Connaught order but acquired around the same time). Really nice scent. Pretty good lather which I would rank 4/5. Expensive for what you get in a really small tube. I will probably keep it in rotation because I like the scent and the lather quality is decent and it's a good compact size for traveling but due to how expensive per shave it is I won't use it really often.

Next I tried to humongous tube of Lea Professional cream. This may just be my new favorite cream of all time besting everything else I've used. The smell is a perfect "barbershop" scent. It's the barbershop smell that all other barbershop soaps are trying to imitate except you can tell all the other ones are trying too hard and this one just is the original scent. The lather quality was excellent, 5/5, all in cushion, slickness, and face feel. The value is also terrific since you get 250 grams for ~$5. Obviously this will go into my permanent rotation and honestly I would happily use this going forward and nothing else. Don't sleep on this cream.

Most recently I tried the Tabac puck, which is the newer non-tallow version. The smell was exactly what everyone says it is so I wasn't surprised. If the performance were top tier I could live with the smell but I'm certainly not drawn to it. The performance was average, 3/5. Perhaps if they still made the tallow version I would like it better but I don't see any reason to keep this.

I still have the TOBS cream, MWF puck, and DRH puck to try so reviews for those will come soon.

 

[jimmyrules712]

Tried the DR Harris Windsor soap last night. I have hard water so triple milled soaps are always hit and miss for me but I was happy that the lather I got from this soap was fantastic and the scent is excellent. It's a keeper for sure. Night and day improvement over the lather I got from the non-tallow Tabac puck. I'll be comparing it to MWF tonight so that should be interesting.