I must admit to not being too sentimental, but I made my bowl, on a day out, during a great time in my life, so there were lots of other memories tied up in my bowl. It won't be the same buying one, but do you have any shaving bowl recommendations please?
I picked this baby up a thrift store. Perfect size fits in the palm of my hand, I sliced the inside of the bowl to help the mix. A good place to look.
Yeah, that. ^^^ It was a concern of mine when I bought it, but I've now been using it for years and none of my brushes show any degradation. There is a school of thought that maintains that ridges add nothing to the lather making process. Ridges might not add anything, but the textured bottom of a suribachi makes lather nicely, and the size of a 4.5-5" bowl is perfect for shaving.
I've got a white ceramic bowl I bought from Target for $1.95. Fits in my hand perfectly, doesn't take a lot of space, lathers just fine.
Sorry for your loss. I like chowder/soup mugs due to their wider mouth and lower walls. Easy to find at thrift stores, Goodwill, yard sales, maybe even your own kitchen cabinet.
I just saw a Scandnavian, designer shaving mug for £52, it reminded me exactly of a soup mug. I couldn't believe it; it wasn't even nice!
First OS mug I saw for sale in a shop was $25.00. I passed it by shaking my head. Within days I found one at Goodwill that I swooped up for 79 cents with tax! Those textured suribachi have caught my eye. For less than ten bucks new I am working up a case of SBAD!
I kinda like the Captains Choice bowls, but they are $22 or so and then you have to pay shipping to the UK. I've noticed, there are a great number of shaving products available in the US, the choice over here seems very limited.
What about a Turkish copper bowl as found on Ebay and some retailing shave sites. I was thinking about it myself.
I went looking for that copper bowl Red Rider and was surprised to find lots of other stuff I liked in the same site ... oops http://www.bestshave.net/copper-shaving-cupbowl-p-187.html
