Evening gents, This is my first time here, been lurking other big wetshaving forums before but as I understood it this is where most europeans gather. On other forums I see hobbyists and small time business's advertise their products high and low. Problem is all of them are in America. Where are all the European small timers? I love to support the underdog and to try new things, would be awesome if we've got the same "culture" in Europe as they do in the states. Well met
Seems like the largest majority of our supplies and tools comes from overseas, I had no idea it was hard to get supplies over there.
It's not hard, most of the major companies are european. But it doesn't seem like the hobby-scene if that's what you want to call it is non existant. If you want like handmade items that truly no one have the exact same kind of, it seems like you have to import from outside of eu...
Side note: it's interesting that, as you say, most Europeans on forums frequent this one. I've seen that we have a fair amount of international diversity, but that's pretty dang cool.
That's probably why the hobbiest/vendor scene is so small in Europe, all of the big boys stuff is already there and traditional wet shaving is old hat to a lot of Europeans, I guess.
Just out of curiosity, how are Van Der Hagen products thought of in Europe? Is Edwin Jagger a popular razor there? Do you guys seek out the Vintage Gillettes and others? What is , in your opinion, the ratio of traditional wetshavers compaired to cartridge users in Europe?
Williams Warrior: Yeah but that's what should spark it. We already got the massmarketed stuff, time for the unique things! Cool Breeze: As for me, I've never heard of Van Der Hagen before. I've not been in to wet shaving for that long though. EJ is a very popular brand here. Some do, I don't think the vintage scene is nearly as big as in the states though. I'd say 1/10 wetshaves, at best. All of these answers are from a Swede though, no idea about the rest of eu
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Van Der Hagen is a U.S. brand of products from Liberty Hill, Texas. 15390 Hwy 29 West #305 Liberty Hill, Texas 78642 Some time ago, the family owned the Surrey name. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/vdh-boar-brushes.34934/#post-612989 http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/vdh-boar-brushes.34934/#post-612990 Here is a quote about their origins and how they set up shop in the U.S. years ago I don't know whether they export products to Europe or not.
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Who? It's not something you come across here. At least not where I frequent and alas I haven't been able to find them either online. I like the VDH, less so for the SLS uses, but scent and performance can't be beaten for the price you pay on every corner. Mühle is more popular here. It seems that way to me. Also a bit cheaper, so maybe that's why. I found both EJ and Mühle in my search, but ended with the Mühle back then due to price and availability. Also like the handle a bit better, but that wasn't the deciding factor. I know in the US it's the direct opposite. I seek mostly vintage Gillette. Love the Gillette's, less so for the other manufacturers. The ratio between cartridge users in Denmark and traditional shavers are a billion to zero. Or something like that. I think it's more developed further south (Germany, France, Italy?) and perhaps especially in Eastern Europe. Sadly not here. I'm an outcast on that account. Of course, Denmark is not the entire Europe and we tend to be a funny little country that has to do stuff in a complete other way than the rest of the Europe. So it's only my view from here
Welcome to The Shave Den, Doxster! Europeans artisans are indeed well represented in the wetshaving community. There are many smaller European forums in their respective languages and local artisans and hobbyist can likely be found there. The American based forums tend to be the international ones also & as was mentioned we have a strong artisan community due to our lack of domestic mainstream products - so that maybe why it is disproportionately representative at first glance. I speak a bit of Spanish and on the Spanish forums you can find artisan soap-makers (Jabonman soap); brush turners (El Druida) and UFO razor handles, for example. By the way Sweden has some great vintage straight razors
I know, I read somewhere they came to America from a windmill cow farm or somthing. I was just wondering because it is sold in stores across America. Williams is the only other soap I know of that is so widely sold here. I just wondered if it was as popular in Eu.
Here you go GD. needed was a high-quality shave brush and frothy shave soap in a bowl to catch a dame's attention, Pappy van der Hagen and his family moved from Lith, Holland to the "land of opportunity:" America. It was here, the spirit of van der Hagen Enterprises was born and here, where it continues to thrive.
I think it's just that you haven't come across the right posts. There's an old thread here: http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/shave-shopping-index.1275/ which lists two in Germany: Olivia's Handmade Soaps http://www.olivia-seife.de/index.php Germany: home of Olivia (a member here) and her homemade shaving soaps, spa soaps, goat milk soaps and other skincare products. 1000 & 1 Seife http://www.1001seife.de/ Berlin, Germany: Manufacturer of Tabula Rasa and supplier of ESTEBAN, Coté Bastide, Valobra, Claus Porto and ACCA KAPPA. There's a thread on another forum, http://shavenook.com/thread-europe-america, which lists: - Nanny's Silly Soaps (UK); - JabonMan (Spain); - Jabones Mé (Spain); - Calani - Savon des Volcans (France); - Le Père Lucien (France); - Tabula Rasa (Germany - hey, here's someone stirring a pot! ); - Haslinger (Austria) - StoBa Rasierseife (Austria)
tuxxdk: I think Merkur is the bigger brand in Sweden by far, Muhle is popular here as well though. I might have been a bit optimistic when saying 1/10 wetshaves, I like you feel pretty alone with this interest. Titan: Shame I only speak Swedish and English hehe. I'll look up the ones you mentioned though, thank you. gzp: That's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for! Thanks alot!
