- Joined
- Monday May 1, 2017
- Location
- London
Forget sight seeing or going to restaurants, the main intentions of going to any 'foreign' nation is....
BUYING SHAVING EQUIPMENT. Well, buying more shaving equipment to be exact.
I've listed a few prices here and there and the exchange rate from INR to GPB is around £1 to 90 INR
I returned a few days ago from a trip to Kolkata, India and had the opportunity to buy a few bits and pieces, and to see what kind of markets are out there for shaving. For a start it is very different to the one in the UK. Difficult to gauge an exact impression of things, but I got an idea that consumer shaving (ie shaving one's face at home) is a market yet to fully develop as many seem to just have the occasional shave (once a week or so?) at a local barber, where the costs are often around that or less than a disposable razor, for example a Gillette Presto or Gillette Guard (a 2 blade disposable razor) is 22 INR and the few local barbers near where I were staying charged 20 INR for a shave.
The Gillette Guard seemed to be the widely available razor, many local shops seemed to sell it. As for DE blades, it seemed most 'consumer' shops sold Gillette Wilkinson Sword blades in the 5 pack (15 INR) and very occasionally Gillette Super Platinum (55 INR). Most retailers seemed absolutely perplexed I would have any intention to buy more than one pack at a time! In the town I was staying in, I managed to find a Barber's wholesaler and they had a much wider range of blades that included near the whole range of Zorrik blades, a few Supermax ones, Gillette Permasharp & GWS (10 packs) where I also managed to pick up an Alum Block for 10 INR!
I managed to find a few Supermarket type places, akin to a Sainsbury's but in India, which felt a bit odd to frequent that a decent selection of splashes and creams, including ones by Gillette, Old Spice and Dettol. The Dettol and Old Spice shaving creams are actually pretty decent, some of the better shaving creams I have used. It was nice to see the old Gillette Cool Wave splash available for purchase, it's a splash I have a lot of affection for as it was probably the first ever one I bought/used over 20 years when I first started shaving and it could be purchased in UK high street retailers.
For my trip out there I took a shaving kit with me which consisted of a Omega S10065, a Palmolive Soap Stick (that I gave to a cousin), a Rimei Tech, Dapper Dan's Menthol & Eucalyptus Shaving Balm & Eyup Sabri Tobacco Aftershave. Using the Omega Synth brush made me realise how much I missed my boar brushes.
Here are a few pictures.
In the house I was staying at, I found a rogue old boar Palmolive brush which had seen better days resting on a out of the way window sill that had once belonged to my uncle (no longer of this mortal realm). Aside from this brush there seemed to be no other objects belonging to him in the house.
Ok, on to the things I managed to pick up.
First of all the ubiquitous Gillette Guards
As a fan of old Techs, I couldn't miss the chance to pick up what seems to be the only Tech the company still currently makes. The plastic Permasharp razor is pretty flimsy but at 22 INR I picked one up nonetheless as I thought it could be interesting to see what such a cheap DE razor could be like.
A few packs of blades I picked up.
A few creams
And a few Splashes, both the Gillette ones are 50ml and the Old Spice is 100ml.
***
Thanks for reading and if you made it this far in to my post!
BUYING SHAVING EQUIPMENT. Well, buying more shaving equipment to be exact.
I've listed a few prices here and there and the exchange rate from INR to GPB is around £1 to 90 INR
I returned a few days ago from a trip to Kolkata, India and had the opportunity to buy a few bits and pieces, and to see what kind of markets are out there for shaving. For a start it is very different to the one in the UK. Difficult to gauge an exact impression of things, but I got an idea that consumer shaving (ie shaving one's face at home) is a market yet to fully develop as many seem to just have the occasional shave (once a week or so?) at a local barber, where the costs are often around that or less than a disposable razor, for example a Gillette Presto or Gillette Guard (a 2 blade disposable razor) is 22 INR and the few local barbers near where I were staying charged 20 INR for a shave.
The Gillette Guard seemed to be the widely available razor, many local shops seemed to sell it. As for DE blades, it seemed most 'consumer' shops sold Gillette Wilkinson Sword blades in the 5 pack (15 INR) and very occasionally Gillette Super Platinum (55 INR). Most retailers seemed absolutely perplexed I would have any intention to buy more than one pack at a time! In the town I was staying in, I managed to find a Barber's wholesaler and they had a much wider range of blades that included near the whole range of Zorrik blades, a few Supermax ones, Gillette Permasharp & GWS (10 packs) where I also managed to pick up an Alum Block for 10 INR!
I managed to find a few Supermarket type places, akin to a Sainsbury's but in India, which felt a bit odd to frequent that a decent selection of splashes and creams, including ones by Gillette, Old Spice and Dettol. The Dettol and Old Spice shaving creams are actually pretty decent, some of the better shaving creams I have used. It was nice to see the old Gillette Cool Wave splash available for purchase, it's a splash I have a lot of affection for as it was probably the first ever one I bought/used over 20 years when I first started shaving and it could be purchased in UK high street retailers.
For my trip out there I took a shaving kit with me which consisted of a Omega S10065, a Palmolive Soap Stick (that I gave to a cousin), a Rimei Tech, Dapper Dan's Menthol & Eucalyptus Shaving Balm & Eyup Sabri Tobacco Aftershave. Using the Omega Synth brush made me realise how much I missed my boar brushes.
Here are a few pictures.
In the house I was staying at, I found a rogue old boar Palmolive brush which had seen better days resting on a out of the way window sill that had once belonged to my uncle (no longer of this mortal realm). Aside from this brush there seemed to be no other objects belonging to him in the house.
Ok, on to the things I managed to pick up.
First of all the ubiquitous Gillette Guards
As a fan of old Techs, I couldn't miss the chance to pick up what seems to be the only Tech the company still currently makes. The plastic Permasharp razor is pretty flimsy but at 22 INR I picked one up nonetheless as I thought it could be interesting to see what such a cheap DE razor could be like.
A few packs of blades I picked up.
A few creams
And a few Splashes, both the Gillette ones are 50ml and the Old Spice is 100ml.
***
Thanks for reading and if you made it this far in to my post!