My Trip to India...

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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.
42123

Ok, on to the things I managed to pick up.

First of all the ubiquitous Gillette Guards
42125

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.
42124

A few packs of blades I picked up.
4212642127

A few creams
42128

And a few Splashes, both the Gillette ones are 50ml and the Old Spice is 100ml.
42129

***

Thanks for reading and if you made it this far in to my post!
 
Curious as to what a 100 blade hanger of the Gillette 7 O'Clock SP's cost. Also, are your GWS made in India or China? It says on the obverse of the tuck.

The 7OC Blacks would be 550 INR for a ten pack I imagine, with the pack I bought has 10 blades in the tuck. I have both the Indian made and Chinese made GWS. From what I gathered the Indian made ones are ones seemed to be favoured by barbers and the 5 pack MIC ones are more for the consumer markets.
 
That's a great post, thank you for sharing your experience.
So while shopping did you come across any other safety razors for sale if so how much?
Were the shaving brushes widely available? What kind of quality were they?
 
That's a great post, thank you for sharing your experience.
So while shopping did you come across any other safety razors for sale if so how much?
Were the shaving brushes widely available? What kind of quality were they?

I didn't see any other DE razors for sale, well I think there might have been the black version of the Green Permasharp razor.

As for brushes, the only one I saw for sale was the synthetic Gillette brush for sale, which was about 50 INR. In one shop I saw another cream I didn't recognise and I can't remember the name that came free with a brush that looked roughly the same quality as the Gillette one.

I had a shave in a barbershop and the barber used a brush with boar bristles, with a plain wooden handle. That was the only time I saw a boar brush but I have no idea what it was!
 
I spent 4 months in India in the mid-nineties. Enjoyed it immensely as a young man can. I didn't buy a single item of shaving gear. Every few days I would find a local barber and get what I now identify as a shavette handle shave. We were obsessed with making sure a new blade was inserted, but oddly in recollection, completely comfortable with any old bloke waving a sharp blade across our face.

I can categorically say that no shave went without some some anecdote arising from it. It might be an extraordinary lather performance, a weird neck massage, an elaborate exhibition to secure a chai tea from the shop next door - not necessarily an earth shattering story, but never a mundane sequences of events.

I can't recall the exact cost - it varied quite widely depending on location or time of day. However, even at the top end it was remarkable value, and I have retained a very fond memory of my regular barber shaves in India.
 
Thanks for the great post Supermangs. Where abouts in India did you go?

I can categorically say that no shave went without some some anecdote arising from it. It might be an extraordinary lather performance, a weird neck massage, an elaborate exhibition to secure a chai tea from the shop next door - not necessarily an earth shattering story, but never a mundane sequences of events.

I can see what you mean about collecting anecdotes, I found the chaos of India to be conducive for gathering memorable experiences.
 
Old spice & Gillette cool wave are among my favourite aftershaves .

Did you find the Indian old spice to have an unusual warming effect when used?

Almost like a mild deep heat.
 
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.
View attachment 42123

Ok, on to the things I managed to pick up.

First of all the ubiquitous Gillette Guards
View attachment 42125

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.
View attachment 42124

A few packs of blades I picked up.
View attachment 42126View attachment 42127

A few creams
View attachment 42128

And a few Splashes, both the Gillette ones are 50ml and the Old Spice is 100ml.
View attachment 42129

***

Thanks for reading and if you made it this far in to my post!

Janta aftershave, that's something I am curious to see...
 
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