Shaving Kit Giveaway

My favorite gear is my shaver heaven soaps. Being from Australia, and having a soap maker from Australia i have really enjoyed using these soaps and not having to pay high international postage. It is a great hobby and having a local artisan soap maker, making a great product, giving great service and keeping the amount I spend down makes me enjoy it even more.

Thanks for this Awesome giveaway Chris!!
My most cherished piece of gear is a brush of the gods I carved myself from a branch of Coffee wood from the coffee plantation from my mom's house in El Salvador. I visited my family due to my father's illness (he's doing well now) and I went with my mother to collect some of the wood that was left from the crop rotation. I sanded it myself and my 6 year old boy helped me with it.
Such a personal and fond brush that I will cherish dearly.
What a great hobby!!!!
Below is a photo:
[Image: d066f9d091bfe7ed8341eb2927ad9fc8.jpg]


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My most prized piece of gear is my custom PAV brush. It was my first piece of custom gear and a defining moment for me. It was at that moment I went down the "rabbit hole" and have since been sucked into the wet shaving vortex.

I have just started my wet shaving experience a few months ago and couldn't be happier. Like most people probably did, my first order consisted of an Escali Pure Badger shave brush, the Edwin Jagger DE89, and one tub of Taylor of Old Bond Street Sandalwood shave cream. It was love at first shave! 
After honing my skills for a month or so, it was time to start venturing out to see what else was available. I started with blades since the razor had only come with a pack of five and I got some Feather blades. After that came a new brush, the Edwin Jagger Best Badger. It was a beautiful brush, it just wasn't for me. After starting out as a bowl lather-er, I moved onto face lathering and this brush just wasn't the one to get the job done so it was sent back. To replace that one, I went the boar hair route and got the Semogue 620. Love it.
It was now time to try some some shaving soaps. The first for me was Proraso (white container). Great shave soap. I had also pick up an organic soap from a farmer's market. Bad idea. I think it was just plain washing soap that was marketed as shave soap. The guy was pushing some bentonite clay that was in it for slickness, but I just couldn't produce anything other than diapering lather. I have also recently picked up a can of The Men's Soap Shop (Bergamot) which I am still on the fence about. I just can't produce a Great lather with it.
With all that being said, my top shaving items are...

Razor - Edwin Jagger DE89
Brush - Semogue 620
Soap/Cream - Proraso (white container)
After shave - Nivea Men post shave balm

My most prized piece of gear would have to be my L'Occitane Plisson brush.
I started with a cheap pure badger and after a while it got scratchy and started causing skin issues so I moved to an Omega 10066 (thanks to Nick Shaves).
The Omega was fantastic, still is, but after watching countless videos of how you rant and rave about how amazing Plisson's are I just had to see for myself.
The Plisson was "expensive" compared to the other brushes i've owned but OMG it really stepped up my shaving game.
Even if I don't get picked, that's ok, just to have the chance to say thank you for "recommending" that brush.

Daily Shave Gear:
Edwin Jagger DE89lbl
Personna Blue Blades
L'Occitane Plisson brush
Stirling Shave Soap
Stirling Post Shave Balm

My favorite piece of gear is my edwin jagger de89lbl. This is the first de razor i've purchased and love the look of this razor. Although, I'm looking for something more aggressive.

I would have to say that my finest piece of hardware is my Merkur Futur.  I had heard some polarizing feedback regarding this razor and I absolutely love it.  It can be cumbersome to use at first, but having the ability to adjust the scale of cut is ingenious.  If you want to use an aggressive or non aggressive blade (i.e. Feather or a Derby), it provides a scale of closeness to fit each blade.  More importantly than the hardware, is the networking and support that I've received from Nick Shaves, Leonard Ybarro, Christopher Bailey, Ricco's Corner, Busta and many more! Thanks Guys! 

Steven Farris
1981 Royal Oak Drive
Uniontown, Ohio 44685

Thanks for the opportunity for this great giveaway Christopher. I love you'r videos. sofa sessions "love seat sessions" are really good.I enjoy watching them. Its hard to choose one product in my den but i will provide you with my top 4 products and tell you why they are so near and dear to me.

1. 1977 Black Beauty. This razor was purchased by my father new in 1977. and this is the first razor i have used to get into wet shaving. Not only was it my first razor that i have used its also my birth year razor. So that razor is really special to me.

2. Granpa's Straight razors from Italy. After my grandpa passed away back in early 2000. I always wanted something that reminded me of my grandfather. Because growing up in united states and him living in Italy. I really didnt get to spend that much time with him. Only a month or so each year when i travel over there to visit. So about 4 years ago i traveled back to Italy and visit my grandparents house and there small farm. My aunt surprised me with his daily shaving bag. Included in there was 4 straight razors and a strop and and a few old brushes and soap pucks. The razors were in bad shape so currently i have been having them restored one by one. going to try to have the strop restored also by my uncle who is an old school leather guy in italy. I am so looking forward to having these straights being brought back to life.
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3. My father in laws straight razors. Even tho i only knew my father in law leonardo since 2009 and we got along great but i didnt get to really know him and his family history on migrating from Italy to USA. But after he passed away this passed October. But a few months ago I was in his office at one of his rental buildings cleaning it up and getting organised i came across this a leather travel bag in once of his draws and it looked like it has been there for a long time. And i looked inside and it had 2 straight razors, strop, hair clippers and combs etc. And i was in shock because both of the straight razors were made by the same company as my grandfathers razors. They are pretty much twins. As i asked my mother inlaw a few questions. she told me when My father in law came over from italy. He own a barbers shop. So both of those razors are going to be restored back to new.

4.  these soaps i will always have in my den. Proraso Green. This is the first soap that i have used when i started wet shaving. this soap is where it began. This is the soap i used to learn how to lather with a brush and how to wet shave. boy did it take a long time to get used to it. wheepers\cuts heaven. but i am glad that i stuck to it. and the second soap is Saponificio Varesino  Aromatic Fern . Love this soap because it reminds me of my grandfather. ever time i visited italy and i was with my grandpa working in the fields there was this scent that i smelt all the time. and this soap reminds me of my grandpa. So everytime i used this soap it reminds me of my NONO "Grandpa" and it puts a smile on my face.


Sorry for the long post.

Thank you and happy shaves.

Vincenzo

Bonjour from Montreal.

I appreciate your integrity. I find your videos very informative and a joy to watch. If someone would have told me a few weeks ago that I would be watching wet shaving videos several times a week, I would call them crazy. I enjoy your honesty.

I am in a tight spot financially right now, so I cannot buy any expensive razors for the moment. I've started wet shaving with a Gillette Rocket... many decades ago. I own also an EJ89, a Gillette New OC and Merkur 37C Slant. My favourite is the open comb.

I wasn't aware this forum existed until you made me discover it, just like the many artisan soaps makers. I was under the impression only half a dozen of companies made shaving soaps (Proraso, the 3 T's). This is fun.

My most prized piece of gear I would have to say is my Dovo silver steel straight with ebony scales. I say this razor because it is how I got into wet shaving. During my time of learning about traditional shaving (and how to do it without decapitating myself!), it opened my eyes to the community and the great people in it. I don't have a lot of gear, but it has been a "gateway drug" for me to explore soaps and DE razors as well.
Chris from Virginia