Grease Monk said:
I'm ok with a $40 investment in a brush since these things can last a lifetime. My issue is with the use of badgers which I hear is an endangered species. Still thinking about it though.
There might be certain kinds of badger that are endangered but not all badgers. The high price is more a function of very low demand than anything else i feel. And they would not be using endangered badger because it would make an already expensive, niche product that much more expensive. There are different grades of badger hair, the back, the neck and its belly. The finer the hair the more the water retention, the softer the feel and the quicker it is to make a lather.
Grease Monk said:
Nice, I'll check it out as well. If you get to it first, let us know your feedback. Also, do you have any idea what brand it was?
It's an indian brand called Biotique. Their range is mostly for women with the men's section quite
limited, there also have an
after shave balm. They even have a gel. Here is the
shaving cream. The $ prices quoted there are ridiculous, its Rs.180 MRP for each. A bit higher than the usual tubes you get here that avg in the Rs.50 range.
There are foreign brands but those go for Rs.500 and upwards especially designer stuff, little bit much for my tastes, i want a good product i care less about paying for the name of the guy who attaches his name to it like with the alcoholic after-shaves. It would be cheaper to buy them from abroad than pay the heavy import duties+ even heftier shop margins that get levied on them here.
Abroad the selection is mind-boggling. Everyone seems to have caught onto this aromoatherapy thing so the push is to make things smell as natural as possible. So you pay more for the fragrance than a necessarily better quality product because its a niche targeted product. Think herbal or citrus even flowery. Seems odd that men would want something like this but i've seen several blogs of quite elderly gentlemen, defnitely married with kids also recommending them.
Grease Monk said:
As far as closing up pores goes, I would prefer to use an alcohol-free toner since it also clears out any soap gunk stuck in them as well. The only advantage over toner is that it acts as a disinfectant.
I don't believe that Alum is a disinfectant. Its used to purify water but the way it works is to attract any residue towards it rather than to kill any germs in the water. Thereby making the water more clear.
Same with toning skin, it closes up pores just making it less likely to get an infection. Alum does not kill any germs or at least i've not read anything that supports this.
As to clearing up soap gunk, i would wash several times with water to remove it and not rely on the alum to close up pores with soap inside, thats just asking for trouble.
Grease Monk said:
Have never got an infection free shave from a barber.
You must have very sensitive skin then.
Grease Monk said:
Yes they do a fine job of giving a close shave,
I beg to differ on that, no way a two pass will be as close as a four pass. Plus you know your face better than a barber. If you pay Rs.200 instead of Rs.20, for a shave then i would expect a fine job.
Grease Monk said:
but there is no soaking step to soften the beard
This is true to a certain extent but bear in mind to soften the beard requires soaking for at least three minutes. If you use a hot towel for prep then you get the same effect but they don't do this in the barber shops i go to. Nothing beats having a shower and then shaving.
But this guy put some cream on my chin and then used a brush on my face for a good few minutes to make a lather out of it. He concentrated a lot on the chin area before working it elsewhere. His prep was good but the shave was too quick. That's as good as you can get if you start from scratch.
Grease Monk said:
and most use foam out of a can\machine, which have crap lubricity.
The foam does not provide lubriucity, it only acts as a cushion, its water that does the lubricity. Now if you look at the gels they also have artificial lubricants in them because they are to be used with multi-blade razors and the leading cause for irritation is too many blades passing over the same area.
If you need extra lubrication then you can simulate this same effect with any shaving cream by adding a little bit of water based lubricant. It's known as KY jelly abroad but any pharamacy should have an equivalent here. I want to try this as i can still not get my neck area entirely clear without razor burn.
Grease Monk said:
My skin is pretty oily so I need light moisturizing. Cant get away with spash aftershave's though since it overdries my skin leading to irritation. Right now I'm using Neutrogena's oil-free moisture w/ SPF15. Seems to be doing a good job.
Pretty expensive tho isn't it for the neutrogena. I think the cheapest mositurizer you can get is coconut oil but that will be troublesome with oily skin.
