Thanks to a bunch of things (including weird shipping delays), I’ve been receiving a few orders during Anniversary Month.
Now I know that I’ve really said that I don’t need anything else, I have also said that if the opportunity presents itself, I’ll take advantage.
Something you’ll see somewhere down the road will be a set of comparison shaves with the Treet blades. Treet is a brand that is currently made entirely in Pakistan, and has a pretty wide range of safety razor blades. I got single tucks of 9 of their blades and look forward to trying them out. The reviews of them online are varied, from bad to really good, but in a hobby that claims to embrace the YMMV (your mileage may vary) concept in believing that someone’s bad blade is someone else’s great blade, that may not mean much. Most of their blades are uncoated stainless or carbon steel, with just a couple teflon coated and one platinum coated blade among them.
The Treet Corporation was started, as its website states, in pre-partioned India (later Pakistan)–check your history for the whys and wherefores of that one if you don’t understand it. Thanks to frequent international trips, the leader of the company established a relationship with the American Safety Razor Company, which resulted in the creation of the Treet Razor Blade Company. Eventually, Treet outgrew the plant where they were producing the razor blades and started manufacturing Ford cars there, and that started a pretty wide diversification for the business. Their website also says they only started exporting razor blades in 1996
It isn’t clear to me if the Treet Razor Blade Company is wholly or partially still owned by the American Safety Razor Company, but that entity went bankrupt in 2010 and was purchased by the Energizer company. Yes, that Energizer. So there’s a chance that these 9 razor blade brands (and all of the Personnas I have) connect to the Energizer Bunny.
I also picked up a few Durablade blades, which are comprised of a bunch of their affiliated brands like Champion, Clifton, and Sharp. You’ll also see those in weeks to come.
I just recently received my latest Proraso shipment, which travelled from New Jersey to the Chicago area, back to New Jersey, back to the Chicago area, and finally to me here in Minneapolis. Frequent flyer miles aside, this included a bunch of beard products (which I do have plans to feature here at some point), but also a fourth after shave balm, but probably not the one you were thinking of…unless you’ve already looked at the lead photo there at the top.
Yes, I got a bottle of the Azur Lime single-blade after shave balm. You’ll recall that I ordered some Azur Lime shaving cream from a vendor on eBay, and I really love the scent. I’ve got the same fragrance in three beard care products from Proraso, so it will help for a constant motif of scent on my face. The Azur Lime shaving product line was intended to be a professional series, and was for a while, but then production of the pre-shave and lather stopped, but for some reason the after shave still goes on. Maybe some day I’ll track down some pre-shave, but I kind of doubt it.
Right now, the plan to use it for the first time, with the Azur Lime cream, of course, is next week.
I also made a purchase from Stirling Soap. I’d reached out after seeing that they were refunding some customers who bought after shave from them that was produced incorrectly. I bought some, wasn’t sure if it was a bad batch or not, but emailed them anyway, the they got back to me and gave me a $5 credit for use in their store. Then my birthday happened and they gave me a birthday bonus credit, and I combined the two for a purchase that includes a couple of their most popular lathers, along with a couple of cooling after shave balms.
Also arriving is a kind of splurge. I mean not really, but kind of. One topic of discussion in the shaving forums is the use (and/or need for) an alum block. There basically are two different types: pressed and cut. A pressed block is just that: a bunch of mined(?) alum is dumped into a form and pressed into a cube or block. The other is again, as the name implies: it’s a solid block, cut from a larger block. I’ve had a small pressed block from Stirling for probably about 18 months now, and it’s starting to show signs of its pressing, where using it results in small crumbs of it falling off into the sink. So I’ve ordered a solid block, and at that, one coming from what is widely regarded as the best brand of alum on the planet: Osma. They’re made in France.
A while back, I read that Stirling Soap Co. was offering refunds to customers who had purchased what turned out to be a batch of after shave balm that wasn’t made properly–missing and ingredient, or used an ingredient that was mislabeled or something like that? You’ll recall that last Summer, I think, I purchased some Stirling unscented aftershave balm from Maggard’s or the Razor Company, I can’t be troubled to actually look up the order at the moment, and noted in the review that it was a thicker and more lotion-like feel that didn’t absorb like I liked my balms to do. Well, I reached out, dropped an email to Stirling, and got a response back saying that yes, they indeed were offering money back to such cases, and they credited me with $5 in my account on their site.
I’d been mulling over what to use the $5 credit for over a couple of months, and then my birthday happened, and they credited me points that I could redeem for more credit, and that prompted a bigger order than I might otherwise have placed.
I ended up getting their unscented menthol and unscented glacial aftershave balms (and yes, these feel much better, just in a quick dab on the neck), along with two lather samples I see used a lot online: I, Rich Moose, and Margaritas In the Arctic, along with two tins to store them in. It should be noted that these are the first two Stirling scented soaps I’ve purchased, and they do much to reinforce my feeling that Stirling as a whole likes to strongly (or perhaps overly) scent their products. At least it’s much too powerful for my liking, but I know lots of people love them and that’s fine. It’s because of that love that I decided I needed to get some samples and see what all the fuss is about.
So yes, the Anniversary Month mail call haul includes: 2 bottles of beard oil, one bottle of beard balm, 3 aftershaves, 1 alum block, a bunch of new blades, a sample bath soap, and 2 shaving soaps. All of the shaving-appropriate items have been recorded in the spreadsheet and will make their appearances in due time. But let’s be honest, with all of the new lathers I’ve brought in this year, it’s likely that I’ll still be debuting new lathers into next year. And that’s without any more purchases.
For those keeping score at home, I’ve got the following quantities in inventory: 12 razors (one of them likely destined for permanent retirement), 9 brushes (one not used very often), 71 blade brands, 12 pre-shave products (I recently finished the Edwin Jagger pre-shave, so that’s dropped the number), 24 aftershave balms, 2 alum blocks, and 78 lathers. Again (or still), I’m set for a while in terms of how much stuff I have for shaving, and I won’t be running out any decade soon.