Help - Present for a guy with sensitive skin

[lala]

Hi, sorry if this is in the wrong place, and for asking so many questions. I was wondering if anyone could offer any advice on getting some shaving supplies as a gift? My boyfriend has really sensitive skin and tends to get a lot of ingrown hairs, and also his hair line goes really low on his neck where the skin is tender. He always says shaving really hurts, so when he mentioned a few months ago that he wanted a shaving brush I did a bit of research and jumped on the idea as it seemed it might improve the shaving experience for him. Mainly I'm looking for affordable products from places based in the UK, as I don't have a huge amount of money to spend on something I'm not 100% sure if he'll like yet. I'm sure you all know some good starter products?
I have bought a brush, its an Edwin Jagger synthetic one for Crabtree and Evelyn. Is that definitely a good one to start out with?
I was also wondering if anyone knows a good brand of shaving soap/cream for sensitive skin that's affordable. I mean maybe £10 or so, is that unrealistic? I'm a bit overwhelmed by the choice there so any pointers would be great.
As for a safety razor, I'm considering it, but I just don't know if it's the kind of thing that's worth getting on a budget or not. Would one in the region of £20ish (such as this which would match the brush I got!) be any good to start with?
Thanks in advance :-D

 

[Pine.Clad.Hills]

I am really new to this myself, so I am probably not the one to give advice. I can say this tho... I am sure you can get a good cream for that price and maybe even less. Second thing is I took a look at the site you pointed too for the DE razor and went to the brushes.. I am not sure if that is where you purchased the brush or not, but in my opinion if you are going to pay that price for synthetic, why not get the real thing? Badger. It will hold more water.. I am not sure the benefits to synthetic.. But I don't believe there are many and maybe none that out weight the many benefits of a good badger brush.

I am sure many more will be along to give you better advice then me.. This is a great place for help and info... Good luck with the purchase I am sure your boyfriend is going to be EXTREMELY pleased.. What a cool girl you are

 

[lala]

Thanks for the quick reply!
I did get the brush there, the main reason for getting synthetic is because he's vegan. The more I think about it the more I feel he wouldn't really mind badger (he doesn't usually worry about animal products apart from food) but I just really didn't want to risk my awesome gift being unusable. It was also reduced, full price it was out of my range. I had thought from reading around that a decent synthetic was comparable to best badger as well. Now I'm wondering if I made the wrong choice.. I don't really want to take a huge dive in quality. I wish I'd known there was somewhere I could ask about it before..

 

[insomb]

lala: I have really sensitive skin... so far the best I've tried has been Pre de Provence. I also tried Art of Shaving unscented, Lab Series, Carly's natural soap, Cella, Classic brand unscented... and a few others I just got in the mail but I don't know which are vegan and which aren't... Mama Bear's has vegan choices but I believe they are in the U.S... still the cost would probably even out. I think Kells original might also be vegan friendly but you might wanna' double check.

 

[Luc]

Welcome to B&B!

Don't worry, ask as many question as you need to!

The razor that you are showing in your original post is a very good razor. I did not try that model myself but I am sure one of the Gents who tried it will give you an idea. Edwin Jagger are excellent products. There's a review in the review section:

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?ltr=E&t=86894

For where to shop, have a look at Wiki, there's a page for the UK

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/UK_High_Street_shopping

Finally, which products? At this stage, you can either get a sampler with different products or one shaving cream or shaving soap. If you get a sampler, Geo F. Trumper has a good one (good value/price)

http://www.trumpers.com/product_detail.cfm?ProductID=111547656

I would recommend getting one shaving soap or shaving cream as when you start with a DE, the same setup/equipement will help you learn quicker. A shaving cream is usually easier to work with than a shaving soap.

If you want something good and a shaving soap, I would get a "Tabac" those a great.

In the creams... I see the English Shaving company sells Proraso, go for that one. The one in a tube or in a bowl, not the can.

If he has sensitive skin, Proraso white bowl is the one to take.