Maggard Meet 2017

It was a fun afternoon yesterday at the 2017 Maggard Meet in Adrian, Michigan. The Maggard store is impressive in its square footage and the vast array of wet-shaving implements and accessories. They even have an in-store barber in his own room adjacent to the sales floor.

Complementing the normal space, services, and inventory of the Maggard facilities were a number of vendors promoting their wares and offering many samples and friendly discussion. Vendors came from several states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and even California.

The attendance was excellent, and I enjoyed talking shaving and other things with several of my fellow attendees. There were also a couple of recognizable faces from shaving videos on youtube.com. These included Mantic59 from Sharpologist.com and Matt from RazorEmporium.com.

This panorama photo is of the main 1st-floor sales area at Maggard Razors, and was taken from the stairway that goes
upstairs to the room in which vendors had their displays and where the buffet luncheon was served.

There was a nice buffet luncheon included with the price of admission ($12), with plenty of tasty food and drink -- even a voucher for a glass of any one of several artisan-crafted beer options.

UPDATE: Mantic59 was looking fit and trim at the event. I, on the other hand, made an unfortunate sartorial decision, wearing that sweater vest that made me look rather bulky around the middle. My vanity requires that I state for the record that I have a 32-inch waist, and am extremely fit and lean. Sorry, I just had to say it.

This was my first visit to Maggard Razors' actual store, and if you can swing it, it's worth the trip. If that's not feasible, then it's certainly worth becoming familiar with their web-based store at maggardrazors.com.

I left with a nice gift bag full of soap, aftershave, and balm samples, which I intend to try as I can -- so many products, so little time. ;-) I also won one of their many prize-give-away drawings, receiving two large tins of shave soap.

Lastly, I discussed with Brad Maggard (MaggardRazors.com), Mantic59 (Sharpologist.com), and Matt (RazorEmporium.com) as well as another generous and enthusiastic straight shaver (Big John) my long interest in shaving with a traditional straight razor (for ecological reasons: there's nothing to throw away or even recycle). As a result, with the guidance of Brad Maggard, I took the plunge. I bought a strop and an unpretentious 5/8 vintage straight that he had restored and sharpened.

Mantic59 agreed to publish on Sharpologist.com my traditional-straight-razor experience, learnings, and barber-razor comparisons. I'll let you know when that article is available, and I'll post a link to it within my blog, of course.

Happy shaving!

Razor Garage Sale Continues!!!

I'm continuing to reduce my inventory of razors, seeking a win-win solution. I win because I simplify my shaving gear, and you win because you get a good razor at a reduced cost.

Many have already taken advantage of the offerings. Don't wait or you may miss a good bargain.
Keep in mind that there is about $4 of packaging and mailing costs embedded in the prices of my DE garage-sale razors (the straight is a little less expensive to mail because it's flatter), and there really isn't a lemon in the bunch.