Van der Hagen's luxury shaving items @vanderhagenent « advicesisters.com for life, love and happiness

Advicesisters.com mostly might be focused on things that make life easier, more fun and more successful for women, but we also have a lot of male readers. And for that reason, we also want to share with our male readers those “little things” that help make life easier and more pleasurable. And it helps if they are a bargain, too!

I’ve found a company that brings high quality, great looking shaving products and sets to mass market, but at prices that are really bargains. The Dutch company Van Der Hagen’s shaving products really look impressive, but they’re impressively inexpensive.

I had planned to save the Van Der Hagen Big Blue Shave Set shown in the photo, above, for a holiday gift guide suggestion, but Van Der Hagen is just too special to keep under wraps that long. So I’m sharing my news about the company, now. When you read this, remember the name “Van der Hagen” when it’s time to get started on your holiday shopping. For some, it’s not too early to do that now, anyway.

You can purchase the Van Der Hagen razors, brushes, soaps and so forth individually, but the sets are really nicely boxed for gift giving or for the man who just wants and entire all in one purchase (you save money buying the sets). There is a luxury line and a premium line, but the quality is there in all the products.

The Big Blue Van Der Hagen Complete Safety Razor Shave Set shown above retails for about $90.oo but there are more modest sets such as the set in the orange box that comes with everything but the safety razor (the razor alone runs about $25.00) for just $40.00. and for just $11.00 you can get the green boxed set (with a less luxe brush mug, plus a shaving soap). Like a fine scotch, van der Hagen’s shave soaps are handmade, batch by batch. Impressive!

But for a holiday gift, for a birthday gift, or just to say “I love you” to a special someone, this big blue Shaving set is a great gift for a guy. It has everything he needs for a luxurious, traditional shave:

Chrome-plated brass construction safety razor with butterfly opening mechanism
Handsome Monogrammed Badger-hair Shaving Brush
Heavy Duty Chrome-plated combination razor and brush stand
Specially-designed classic monogrammed apothecary Mug
Hypo-allergenic shave soap with over 10% Glycerin and emollient Shea, mango, and Cocoa Butters
Pack of 5 premium stainless steel, ice-tempered, teflon coated, double-edge razor blades

The packaging on these sets is more than just nice. The graphics show you everything inside the box. And the box has an inner foam core so nothing will be broken if you are mailing your gift or traveling with it.

Men aren’t fans of “fussy,” so everything fits together and is just what he needs and nothing more. There is a shiny, silvery, chrome-plated metal stand (with black acrylic accent). it is nicely weighted so it won’t tip over, and it has a covered, padded bottom so it won’t scratch the sink. The shiny, silvery safety razor (comes with 5 extra blades) sits on one end of the stand and the badger hair shaving brush sits on the other.

The apothecary mug is black is a traditional shape with a little handle, and it’s large. Nestled inside the mug (and also well packaged in plastic is a scented luxury shaving soap (hypoallergenic with over 10% glycerin & emollient shea, mango & cocoa butter) that our male tester said created nice lather, and gave off a light, fresh scent that was masculine and “pleasant.” The brush on the blue set has a plastic handle (too bad it isn’t wood) but that makes it much easier to clean, and the badget bristles are beautifully shaped. (tip: to check a brush’s shape, invert the head on a hard surface. If the bristles fan out in a smooth shape, it’s a good one. The bristles are soft enough to feel luxurious, but stiff enough to make the kind of lather you need from a cake soap. It also has a thin metal collar holding the bristles to the handle, so that the bristles don’t fall out easily with use.

Why would a man want to display his shaving stuff? For single guys, this set shows his good grooming, his good taste and a sense of style. For a man who has a partner, it is a luxury addition to the bathroom for both of them.

In the era of soapy spray cans of shaving cream and disposable razors (or at least razors that are made of plastic), using a safety razor might take a bit of getting used to, but according to aficionados they really give the best and closest shaves. On the back of the Van der Hagen box there is a “How To ” for experiencing a traditional shave with a brush and a cake of shaving soap, and also instruction on how to change the blades on the safety razor. Just in case you’re not the type to save boxes, here are the instruction for getting lather from a cake of shaving soap, and for changing the blade on a safety razor:

Shaving Instructions:

Push the soap out of the clamshell container and place it in the apothecary mug (windmill logo facing down). Wet the badger hair with warm tap water and gently shake off the excess.
Move the brush in a circular motion over the shave soap until the desired lather is achieved. The volume and thickness of the lather can be adjusted by the volume of water left on the badger hair. More water equals greater lather. Too much water equals thinner lather.
Using the brush, apply the lather to the beard area.
After shaving, rinse off any remaining soap. Rinse the brush under warm tap water, shake off the excess water and hang upside down on the shave stand to dry.

Changing the Blade on the Safety Razor:

1. Twist the bottom of the handle to open the razor’z quick-change butterfly head.

2. Remove a blade from the dispenser and discard the paper wrap.

3. Carefully place the blade in the head of the razor and twist the bottom of the handle until the head closes completely.

4. The short handle offers better control while the single blade provides superior trimming and minimizes the chance of ingrown hairs.

You can find Van Der Hagen products and sets at drug and mass market retailers nationwide and online. For more information visit the Van Der Hagen Web Site.