"What are you doing? Trying to pick a razor to match your hat?"
"No, dear, but that's a great idea!"
I confess, that shortly after making fun of the wet shaving travel conundrum with a cheesy Allman Brothers parody, I found myself picking out gear for a three night stay a long drive away from home. I'd be in a cottage with hot tap water, a sink and a medicine cabinet. Probably bowls and mugs, too.
So, out comes the vintage travel kit. Gold mini handled Tech, micro nylon brush, micro shave stick, a small glass vial of talc and another of Ivory Club aftershave. There was also a brass tube that had held a mini toothbrush, but I found it held a full sized ball end Tech handle just fine.
Palmolive shave stick. Tweezerman brush. I'd purchased a soap holder that I'd planned on using to hold the brush and stick, but it was too small for the brush. Hey, it had enough room for the shave stick and a TTO razor. I let the youngest boy pick one, and he opted for the "one with the ham on the handle", the Red Tip.
I also packed along a styptic pencil in a case that used to house a 3/8"-16 taper tap, and a ASR Personna dispenser that had been reloaded with Lord Shark Super Stainless blades. A mini Purell bottle got pressed in to service as an Old Spice cologne decanter, and I was set.
I needed a way to protect the Tweezerman. I recalled reading something here about toilet tissue tubes, and after the generous application of some Gorilla brand black duct tape, a custom brush tube was born. I planned to blame the TP surplus on the floor on the cat when we returned.
My lessons learned from the three shaves on the trip, and the gear issues attendant -
My only gripe, besides the loss of a few pennies worth of Ivory Club was the shave stick. It worked great, but it would be nice to have a vintage container. The aluminum foil I used to wrap it clashed with my custom duct tape and toilet tube travel brush container.
Oh, got one BBS shave with the Red Tip, two DF shaves with the Tech. The styptic pencil stayed in the tap case, and the wife thinks I'm completely insane.
All in all, a great trip, and when I got home, there was a puck of vintage Old Spice shaving soap waiting for me in the mail.
Life is good.
"No, dear, but that's a great idea!"
I confess, that shortly after making fun of the wet shaving travel conundrum with a cheesy Allman Brothers parody, I found myself picking out gear for a three night stay a long drive away from home. I'd be in a cottage with hot tap water, a sink and a medicine cabinet. Probably bowls and mugs, too.
So, out comes the vintage travel kit. Gold mini handled Tech, micro nylon brush, micro shave stick, a small glass vial of talc and another of Ivory Club aftershave. There was also a brass tube that had held a mini toothbrush, but I found it held a full sized ball end Tech handle just fine.
Palmolive shave stick. Tweezerman brush. I'd purchased a soap holder that I'd planned on using to hold the brush and stick, but it was too small for the brush. Hey, it had enough room for the shave stick and a TTO razor. I let the youngest boy pick one, and he opted for the "one with the ham on the handle", the Red Tip.
I also packed along a styptic pencil in a case that used to house a 3/8"-16 taper tap, and a ASR Personna dispenser that had been reloaded with Lord Shark Super Stainless blades. A mini Purell bottle got pressed in to service as an Old Spice cologne decanter, and I was set.
I needed a way to protect the Tweezerman. I recalled reading something here about toilet tissue tubes, and after the generous application of some Gorilla brand black duct tape, a custom brush tube was born. I planned to blame the TP surplus on the floor on the cat when we returned.
My lessons learned from the three shaves on the trip, and the gear issues attendant -
- Palmolive shave sticks are great, on the road or at home.
- The longer handle made using the Tech a joy rather than a challenge.
- Vintage glass vials have vintage cork seals. The Ivory Club mostly self decanted en route.
- I had a travel bottle of Dickinson's witch hazel in my kit. Redundancy is good.
- Putting your favorite blades in a dispenser with a built in blade bank is a great plan for car trips. Carry-on air travelers need not apply.
- I couldn't bring myself to use the vintage nylon mini brush when the Tweezeran was so handy. Ditto for the mini shave stick I'd recharged with VDH, the Palmolive was too good to pass up. It's no wonder that vintage travel kits are often available in excellent condition, you'd only use them in a severe pinch.
My only gripe, besides the loss of a few pennies worth of Ivory Club was the shave stick. It worked great, but it would be nice to have a vintage container. The aluminum foil I used to wrap it clashed with my custom duct tape and toilet tube travel brush container.
Oh, got one BBS shave with the Red Tip, two DF shaves with the Tech. The styptic pencil stayed in the tap case, and the wife thinks I'm completely insane.
All in all, a great trip, and when I got home, there was a puck of vintage Old Spice shaving soap waiting for me in the mail.
Life is good.
