The Trip
On Friday I returned from a five-day whirl-wind tour of colleges on the northeast coast (of the United States) with and for the youngest child in our family. It was a rather last-minute trip, having only about a week of planning. Because last-minute air fares are rather expensive, we chose to one-way rent a car, drive from the metro-Detroit area to the various colleges, and then fly home from Boston.Because I am a one-bag carry-on-luggage-only passenger, I had to pack not only light but also with air-travel regulations in mind -- meaning no double-edge razor blades. Also, light packing tends to encourage light-weight packing, meaning bringing a disposable plastic razor rather than anything made of metal.
My Travel Shaving Kit
So my shaving kit included only the following items:- One Gillette twin-bladed, pivoting-head disposable cartridge razor
- A small stick of my home-made shave soap in a plastic pill bottle from the pharmacy
These are shown in the photo:
Things I Left Behind
What I DID NOT BRING were the following items:
- Shaving brush
- Other pre-shave products
- After-shave balms or lotions
- Styptic pencil
- Alum block
My Travel Shaving Routine
My daily shaves all looked like this:
- Splash cool water onto beard and rub. Repeat two more times.
- Rub shave-soap stick on wet beard.
- With wet hands, rub beard to make a thin, creamy lather on beard.
- Use a regional and anti-raking shave pattern to shave close, adding water as necessary to the existing lather.
- Add more water as necessary and do final touch ups after my entire face was shaved.
- Rinse with cool water.
- Dry with towel.
- To freshly-shaved face, apply some hand lotion provided by the hotel.
Shave Outcomes
I have to admit that my travel shaves were uniformly top drawer. Absolute minimal insult to skin, yet very close. I had no regrets about the shaving accessories that I chose to bring, and I also had no regrets about the gear I left behind.
This minimalist gear of disposable razor and small shave-soap stick is going to remain my standard air-travel shaving kit for the foreseeable future.
Now does that mean that I'm going to abandon my double-edge shaving gear? Absolutely not. When I'm at home, I'm a committed DE shaver because it's the ecologically-responsible thing to do. It's also the cost-effective method to use. Over the long haul, shaving like Grandad is the right thing to do for my bank account and the world.
Happy shaving!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to some technical difficulties, I had to delete the above article and repost it. As a result, a useful comment from TGatzaJr was lost. I have re-created it here:
ReplyDeleteConcerning the razor, you might want to consider the Dorco Pace. A twin blade with a reusable handle. Could reduce the amount of disposable waste. http://www.dorcousa.com/pace-comfort-thin-ii-tna3006/ Traveling without the styptic pencil is brave indeed! For me, that's the first thing that gets packed!
Thanks for the razor suggestion. Although I probably have a sufficient inventory of disposables for the foreseeable future, if I need more, I'll very seriously consider your suggestion. I hope others do too! Regarding the styptic pencil, actually my own soap is sufficiently protecting that, when paired with a twin-bladed cartridge, I can get a very close shave with little risk of blood shed. On the other hand, if I were traveling with a DE, I would bring the styptic.
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