Maggard Razors Meetup!!!

Ok right off the bat, I have to say if you missed it, you missed a piece of shaving history!  This day is sure to go down as the first of many meetups to come!  It was great!  It was awesome getting to meet people I previously only knew through Facebook groups or my blog!  It was also pretty cool being recognized from the blog 🙂  Things like that inspire me to keep it going!

First, the new building.  It is a fantastic historical building right downtown Adrian.  It’s funny that it is right across the street from the old spot, so they didn’t use a moving van, just a “box parade” LOL Here’s a look at the front of the building:

And yes that entire thing is all Maggard Razors.  The new store is easily 5-6 times the size of the old shop.  And does it look good inside!  Check these out!

Beautiful right?  And what’s even cooler, I was surprised by the fact that they have a fully functional barbershop inside the store!  See below:

Talk about coming up fast!  Maggard Razors has turned into a full fledged destination.  And we definitely kept them busy today!  Cassie was moving so fast she was a blur!

And every time i looked up from shopping Brad was holding court with a new group of customers!  Definitely in his element…

The Maggard Razors crew put out the foodbag for us also!  Pulled pork, and an awesome chicken cheese soup that seemed to be very popular (except for with their daughter 😉 ).  The food was served in the upper portion fo the building, which was very spacious and has tons of potential for future events!

Speaking of shopping, you know I didn’t leave empty handed!  But more on my haul in a future post 😉

 

Finally, I have to say it was great meeting some of you guys in person!  Paul Thebert, Maria Arman it was great finally meeting you guys!  John Beeman its always great to see you! And eveyone else I met, so glad you guys came out and made this a great event.  And thanks to all the vendors who contributed!

Well I’m bushed so I’ll stop here, just wanted to get this post out tonight.  Have a great Sunday tomorrow!!

 

SOTD 4/6 A Suave Monday

Pre: Maggard Razors PSO – Lime
Brush: Shea Moisture Synthetic Brush
Soap:  Suavecito Shaving Creme
Razor: ’61 Gillette Adjustable “Fat Boy” aka Mr. Big Stuff
Blade:  Laser Super Platinum (4)
Splash:   Humphreys Alcohol Free Cucumber Melon Witch Hazel Facial Toner
Post: Gillette Lotion ASB & Aqua Velva Classic Ice Blue AS

Definitely a Spring morning today!  Bright & sunny.  Mild temp.  Light breeze.  Birds singing.  Yes it was a good walk this morning.  A good start to the new work week after a fantastic Easter celebration with family and friends!  I don’t know about you, but I ingested way too much BBQ ribs, roast, chicken, brats,sweet potato casserole, cabbage, etc etc!  Gonna have to do some extra walking this week to burn that off LOL

Gave the Suavecito cream another stab.  I hate to see that almost full jar just sitting there un-used.  I mean it LOOKS like it should be great.  But unfortunately it’s not for me.  I know there are folks out there who like this soap, but I’m just not one of them.  I didn’t even try to lather it based on previous experience.  This time I tried using it straight from the jar and just brushed on a thin layer.  It does go on fairly easily and shaves decently.  it has good slickness, but zero cushioning.  I did end up with a really close and smooth shave, but there is some irritation in a couple of places.  I don’t totally attribute the irritation to the soap, as the blade wasn’t quite as sharp as it could have been.

Speaking of the blade, the Laser was on it’s 4th shave.  I probably should have ditched it after the 3rd.  It wasn’t bad but it was noticeably less sharp and I had to do some buffing in several areas to get as smooth as I like.  Ended up BBS with no errors or blood.  So even though I wasn’t happy with the soap, still overall a good Monday shave!

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run the walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” – MLK

Labor Day Incoming!

Things have been looking pretty good for me lately, shave-wise. Found some good razors in the wild, had some really good shaves. Had some not so good ones, but nothing I would call horrible. Gaining more & more shave knowledge and skill. Overall pretty darn good times, I’d say.

Well they got just a bit better today! My shaving bud, John B. recently advised me he was probably going to make a trip to Maggard Razors and asked if I need anything to save me shipping. Nice guy right? So I placed a small order with him and promptly forgot about it, until a couple days later he emailed me to tell me he would be dropping off my items. He also took that opportunity to gloat about the gold Super Adjustable he found in the wild for a ridiculously low price. Nice guy right? LOL

Anyway, today he stopped buy to deliver the items below:

Maggard Razors – Lime & Bergamot soap (which I think is my favorite MR soap), Col. Conks Famous Glycerine Shave Soap – Bay Rum, and a 3rd item which I had not ordered. While he was out, he came across a couple of Old Spice mugs in great condition. Knowing I wanted one, he grabbed it for me! To say I am thrilled would be an understatement.  It’s a “Late” Grand Turk-1786 glass mug circa ’64 – ’78.  Friends like that ROCK! So I get to kick off this week with new stuff to try! I’m blessed 🙂

A tale of two beaches…

I didn’t post an SOTD today as my day started very early and didn’t end until about 8p tonight.  Suffice to say I am worn out.  But as the same time I am totally elated!  Let me explain why…

Initial plans for today were to shoot over to South Haven to check out the Blueberry Festival.  For those that don’t know, South Haven is a touristy marina town with a couple of really nice beaches.  SW Michigan in general is know for its fine sand beaches.  Anyway once we arrived and had our fill of the Blueberry Fest (Art Fair inthe park, Farmers market in another park, live music, walking the boardwalk and downtown area) we decided to visit the beach.  The weather was superb.  Long story short, we decided to do a beach/marina tour!  So we hit Blue Star Highway, which runs parallel to Lake Michigan, and were off!

Had no idea just how twisty and convoluted Blue Star Highway is.  But beautiful scenic wise.  Although mostly lined with gorgeous lake front property, there were spots that afforded spectacular unobstructed views of Lake Michigan.  We found a couple of marinas in  small towns along the way.  And a couple of small but nice, secluded beaches that I will definitely have to re-visit sometime soon.  Ended up in Holland at Holland State Park beach.  One of SW Michigans premier beaches.  And it was PACKED today.  Even so, the beach is so huge that we still found a spot near the water.  Very enjoyable experience.  The water is still a tad cold for me.  In the low 60s or so.

That aside, the real reason for my excite wasn’t the beaches.  See, on our way down Blue Star Highway we stumbled upon a dilapidated old building with a weathered “Antiques” sign out front and what looked like a junk yard in the front yard. So of course we pulled in.  After digging through all kinds of stuff (the guy had some really strange items also), I found some cases in an out building off to the side.  The second case I looked in had these:

Only $5 each!  So of course I wanted them.  After a preliminary function check, I snatched them both up.  As you can see they were both pretty grungy and beat up, but both were mechanically sound!  Once I finally got home, I gave them a preliminary soaking and cleaning.  They didn’t turn out too bad:

Turns out I found a ’37-38 Gillette Senator and I think a ’40s Gillette Super Speed.  Nice right?  Like I said they both have a decent amount of plate loss, the Senator the worse of the two, but they both work perfectly.

I did notice that the Senator doors open in a  slightly different fashion than the Super Speeds.  You unscrew the knob a bit, then push it “in”, then the doors open.  It closes securely and smoothly.  So I’m very happy with this find.  Thats back to back finds two weekends in a row!  I think my luck is changing 😉

 

Today Was A Good Day….

No, I’m not channeling Ice Cube.  Today really turned out to be a great day!  Other than being relatively stress free, it was a beautiful if humid day outside.  I woke up in a good mood, had a great shave and started my day.

When I was finally able to take my lunch break, I walked over to the Post Office to pick up my Maggard Razors order.  It technically wasn’t due till tomorrow but it was there and I wasn’t waiting!   While I was there I checked my PO Box also, and what did I fine?  A package from my Facebook bud Pete S.!  I had totally forgotten he said he was sending me some samples of soaps he had.   BONUS!!

So both packages in hand I headed back to work.  I had plenty of time so I moving at a leisurely pace.  There are a couple of antique stores along the way I was walking, but previous visits always came up empty.  But so what.  I ventured in anyway.  The owner was on the phone so I just wandered around, looking in the cases that held their “smalls”.  After a complete circuit of the store… nothing.  It’s what I expected so I wasn’t really disappointed.  By that time she had finished her call.  So I stopped to chit chat.  She remembered me from my previous visit, and remembered I was looking for razors.  She confirmed she didn’t have anything currently but a beat up GEM for $24.  No thanks.  So I asked her to keep a look out for adjustables and straights for me.  Suddenly her eyes got real big!  She said “Wait!  A lady just brought in a straight razor!”.  She asked if I wanted to see it.  DUH!!  So she grabs it and voila!  It’s in great condition… and it’s only $16!  The owner admitted that if it was hers she would have priced it at $25.  So I snatched it up LOL

SO not only did I get my Maggard order, and some bonus samples, but I found my first vintage razor “in the wild”!  Today was a great day!

First from Maggard Razors…

• Derby Shaving Cream / Lemon
• Arko Men / Cool
• Maggard Razors / Fougere Souvage sample
• Maggard Razors / Orange Menthol sample

The Pete S. samples…

• How To Grow A Mustach / Frost Byte sample
• TOBS / Almond sample
• TOBS / Jermyn St. sample
• TOBS / Mr. Taylor sample
• Soap Commander Refreshment / Ice Tea sample

And my antique acquisition!
It’s marked “C.W. Rackliffe Holyoke Mass.” and on the flip side “Made in Germany”.

So I’m going to be busy this week 😉

Road Trip to Adrian, MI

I’ve attempted to make this trip a few weeks earlier but the fates conspired against me.  But this morning all the moons were aligned and the sun was shining so I hit the road!  It was perfect driving weather and with a mellow music background the 2 hrs melted away pretty quickly.  Using Google Navigator put me directly in front of the shop no problem.  I was at Maggard Razors!

First impression, though small retail-wise, it was larger than I anticipated.  And boy was it stocked!  They had so many names I recognized from seeing folks SOTDs daily.  It was information overload!  It took me a good twenty minutes of just looking at everything before I could even START picking stuff out…

Yep, that’s I 😉  As you can see the shelves were pretty full.  I believe I was standing in front of the TOBS, Edwin Jager, and Trumpers shelves.  Behind me in the glass case where some really high end products.  To the left of those was a full compliment of razors.  Maggard, Parker, and more.  I didn’t really spend much time looking at them admittedly.  Once I had taken in the store, I observed the staff.  Both Cassie and Brad, and two other employees (one was their daughter?), were buzzing around the shop like worker bees.  Work was obviously going on, but Brad immediately acknowledged me with a welcoming smile!  He seemed genuinley happy to see me in his store.  That’s the type of business that I want to give my money too.  He & Cassie both made me feel like they valued my business.  They have a fan for as long as they are in business!

So eventually I got around to purchasing some things.  I have to admit I was tempted to empty my wallet right then and there but I am proud to say I exercised some restraint, and only picked up some of the items on my want list and one new thing to try.  The Haul:

• Maggard Razors Pre-shave Oil / Lime – out of the six samples I’ve tried, this scent was my favorite.
• Fine Classic After Shave / Platinum – How could I not get some of this with like 85% of the online community clamoring about how good it smells? 😉  I haven’t worn it yet, but in the bottle it smells great!  American Blend comes next!
• RazoRock / Brain Freeze – again, how could I not try a RazoRock soap?  Plus I wanted to try a menthol heavy soap so two birds, one soap… lol
• Ogallala Bay Rum Shaving Stick / Bay Rum & Lemon Grass – I’ve also wanted to try a shaving stick.  It’s was between the Arko stick and this one.  I absolutely love this scent.  Hopefully it lathers well.

After the purchase and goodbyes, we spent sometime walking around Adrian.  Nice looking little town, not much going on, on a Saturday early afternoon.  Stopped and had lunch at the Alpha Koney Island.  I have to give them a shout out because that Gyro I had was AWESOME!  I swear they put a good 1/4 pound of Feta on that thing!  Super messy and super tastey!  When I make it back to Adrian, I will be stopping at Alpha again.  Just as we were headed back home, the sky opened up and dumped a monsoon of water on us.  Stayed that way until about 10 miles from home and then the sun returned.  Perfect.

Soaps – The Mini Reviews

Since I am reaching the end of round 3 of all of my soap samples, I thought I’d post some opinions of the ones I’ve used so far.  Remember these are the opinions of a relative new-ish shaver so your mileage may vary.  I was going to score them but I figure just my observations would be more useful.  Mostly I’ll describe the scents as they were all pretty decent lathers, unless I specifically say different.

The format I’ll use is – NAME / SCENT – Review.

Musgo Real / Lime Basil –  I liked the scent on this one.  I wasn’t a sweet lime like most lime scents.  More of a vegetable scent with lime undertones.  Lathered well, but seemed to dry on the skin faster than others.

Geo. F. Trumpers / Almond – THE best almond scent out of the bunch!  If I find a better almond I’ll be shocked.  Decent lather with nice glide.  Very easy to whip up.  Rotation bound.

Dr. Harris / Windsor – The scent wasn’t bad but too subtle.  Vanished almost as soon as the lather hit my skin.  Very rich lather though.  Excellent glide.

Maggard Razors / Lime & Bergamot – My absolute favorite scent so far and the best of the lime scents!  Also a very easy lather. Scent stayed with me a  bit after the shave but didn’t overpower the after shave.  Will be adding to the rotation.

Edwin Jager / Limes & Pomegranate – Really like this scent also.  Was a bit sweeter smell than the Maggard lime.  This one will most likely find is way into my rotation eventually.
Proraso White / Green Tea & Oats – Not much going on scent-wise.  Lots of rich, creamy lather though! Razor slid through it with ease.  Another future purchase.
Taylor of Old Bond Street / Sandalwood / Avocado / Coconut / St. James – All of the TOBS scents are great lathers.  TOBS is a classic soap popular with most shavers.  Out of the scents I’ve tried I prefer the coconut.  It’s a fresh coconut scent, not like candy coconut.  Just realized I haven’t actually used the St. James yet but I do like the scent also.
The Los Angeles Shaving Soap Company / Woody Lavender –  I don’t know that I am a big fan of lavender.  I don’t dislike it but it’s not really one of my favorites.  Average lather.  Not bad but not impressive either.
Art of Shaving / Unscented – This cream lathers well.  It’s unscented so I can throw on any after shave and not have to worry about scent conflicts.  That’s probably its biggest pro for me.  Otherwise there are better and cheaper soaps out there.
Coates / Original Almond for Dry Skin –  Another great almond scent!  Also a great lather!  Too bad it’s be discontinued.  Otherwise it would definitely be in my rotation.
C.O. Bigelow / Eucalyptus – My first menthol cream.  The menthol is not super pronounced but its there and I feel it.  Nicely cooling.  Also has a nice cool scent.  Decent lather.  Whips up nice with my badger brush.
Arko / Classic (puck) –  What can I really say about Arko?  I actually like the soapy, Irish Spring-like scent.  The puck version doesn’t really lather that well for me.  The lather I get is thin and disappears fast on the skin.  I’m told the cream version is better lather-wise.
That’s what I have gone through so far.  I plan on picking up some more samples in the near future.  If you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them!  Stay tuned for the next Mini Reviews – Maggard Pre-Shave Oils…

 

 

Local Wanderings…

We have several Walgreens in my town.  As such, I have been shopping with them for years and am intimately familiar with their inventory.  Today I stopped in the “new” Walgreens that recently went up not far from my loft.  It’s a new concept Walgreens, with a totally new, more open layout.  Consequently I now know where nothing is.  So anyway, I wandered in today as my Mother wanted a snack (we were out garage sale-ing).  While she was picking up her goodies, I naturally sauntered over to the shave section.

“THINGS DONE CHANGED!”

To say the least!  Not only is the section much larger but the selection has increased greatly!  Todays finds – Brut green, blue, and black (which I had heard was discontinued), Florida Water, Aqua Velva Musk, and more.  Still no razors (other than Microtouch) or blades.  Or any decent soaps.  But they are definitely moving in the right direction.  Made me happy LOL

I didn’t buy anything (saving to order from Maggard Razors) but I did notice someone had opened a bottle of the Florida Water.  Being an inquisitive sort, I took a whiff.  WHOA!  What the… that stuff is AWFUL!  So glad I didn’t buy a bottle on impulse like I started too.  Man that really stunk to me.  Sorry FW fans but peee eew!

SO.. that one is off my list.  But I may sneak back later and grab the AV Musk 😉

Funny how things work out…

Yesterday, I had decided I wanted to try out some of these classic after shaves I see a lot of wet shavers using.  So I was in the process of deciding what I was going to order and who I was going to order it from.  I’m pretty much committed to ordering the bulk of my shaving needs online as my town, a nice mid sized multi-college town, is a virtual desert when it comes to good shaving stuff.  So anyway I had decided on something from Clubman, and maybe a bay rum from Ogallala.  I had decided to order from Maggard Razors, as I have ordered from them before and gotten excellent service, they are somewhat local to me (approx. 2 hrs away), and they seem to be nice folks.  I’ll talk more about them in a later post.

This morning while running errands, I happened to stop in Walgreens.  I actually needed some talc, but I stopped in the shaving isle out of habit.  And what do I see staring at me from the top shelf?

Awesome! I know Walgreens stock fairly well, so I know this is a new item.  Looks like they are heading in the right direction!  So, long story short, I grabbed it.  I’m still going to order the other because variety is the spice of life right?

Mail Call…

So guess what I got in the mail today?  This!

It’s a PAL Adjustable SE razor.  Similar in function to the Schick Injector razors.  I’ve wanted on ever since I first saw one.  I may have mentioned that earlier LOL  So anyway this guy in one of the Facebook shaving groups I’m in, offered to send me one, for free.  Just because he had an extra he wasn’t using.  How cool is that!  So now I get to clean it up and get it all shiny again.  I’ll post more pics once I’m done.  Saturday project!