Taking a trip with the intention of shaving while away from home requires just a bit of thought when packing up ones shave gear, especially in these days of high airport security.
Last Spring, I had a very unusual and illuminating shaving experience while on such a trip. I had my traveling badger shave brush, a puck of my homemade shave soap and a Mach 3 handle with a packet of Mach 3 cartridges. I assumed that Id be able to find a suitable vessel in our hotel room for the preparation of my shaving lather.
As it turned out, the only vessel in our hotel room capable of accommodating my shave soap puck was a styrofoam coffee cup. Added to that was the discovery that our hotel seemed to have no limits on how scalding hot its hot water could get. At home, my hot water tank is calibrated to produce water no hotter than 125º F.
The combination of the styrofoam cup together with the scalding hot tap water proved inspirational in the production of hot lather, a sensation that I had never before experienced. It was entirely seductive.
The hot lather softened and moistened my beard like never before. Despite my clear preference for Feather blades at home, I was delightfully surprised at how easily the Mach 3 blade plowed through my day old growth. The hot lather promoted a skin totally free of shave irritation. The same luxurious result occurred on days two and three.
When we arrived home, I resolved to continue using tempered lather on my face and neck while shaving. Toward this end, I discovered several web sites that offered shaving scuttles, including Georgetown Pottery in the U.S., Sara Bonnyman Pottery in Nova Scotia and a third one in Germany. All the scuttles were double-walled ceramic mugs with spouts capable of receiving hot water. I settled on the Georgetown Pottery scuttle as my hot lather vessel of choice.
The double-walled ceramic scuttle proved to be a great disappointment. The hot water used itself up in the heating of the ceramic, both inner wall and outer wall. There remained very little heat energy to be absorbed by the shaving lather. Dismayed by the poor existing options in the wet shaving marketplace, I returned the scuttle to Georgetown Pottery for a refund.
I still wanted hot lather for shaving. It was clearly far superior to room temperature lather. Out of this necessity, I evolved an electrically heated shaving mug, two pending patents and two trademarks. For the past three months, Ive been in shaven heaven.
Last Spring, I had a very unusual and illuminating shaving experience while on such a trip. I had my traveling badger shave brush, a puck of my homemade shave soap and a Mach 3 handle with a packet of Mach 3 cartridges. I assumed that Id be able to find a suitable vessel in our hotel room for the preparation of my shaving lather.
As it turned out, the only vessel in our hotel room capable of accommodating my shave soap puck was a styrofoam coffee cup. Added to that was the discovery that our hotel seemed to have no limits on how scalding hot its hot water could get. At home, my hot water tank is calibrated to produce water no hotter than 125º F.
The combination of the styrofoam cup together with the scalding hot tap water proved inspirational in the production of hot lather, a sensation that I had never before experienced. It was entirely seductive.
The hot lather softened and moistened my beard like never before. Despite my clear preference for Feather blades at home, I was delightfully surprised at how easily the Mach 3 blade plowed through my day old growth. The hot lather promoted a skin totally free of shave irritation. The same luxurious result occurred on days two and three.
When we arrived home, I resolved to continue using tempered lather on my face and neck while shaving. Toward this end, I discovered several web sites that offered shaving scuttles, including Georgetown Pottery in the U.S., Sara Bonnyman Pottery in Nova Scotia and a third one in Germany. All the scuttles were double-walled ceramic mugs with spouts capable of receiving hot water. I settled on the Georgetown Pottery scuttle as my hot lather vessel of choice.
The double-walled ceramic scuttle proved to be a great disappointment. The hot water used itself up in the heating of the ceramic, both inner wall and outer wall. There remained very little heat energy to be absorbed by the shaving lather. Dismayed by the poor existing options in the wet shaving marketplace, I returned the scuttle to Georgetown Pottery for a refund.
I still wanted hot lather for shaving. It was clearly far superior to room temperature lather. Out of this necessity, I evolved an electrically heated shaving mug, two pending patents and two trademarks. For the past three months, Ive been in shaven heaven.
