Why NZ Shaving?

Traditional wet shaving, that is using a shaving soap or cream and a shaving brush to create a lather - most often in conjunction with a straight, single edge or double edge razor, continues to be appreciated by men the world over. For those of us who grew up in the "system" shaving era (multi-bladed cartridge razors and canned foam) it often comes as a surprise how a vastly superior shaving method, using high quality tools, offering luxury and comfort, was displaced by cheap injection moulded disposable junk, irritation, and turned a pleasurable experience into a dreaded chore.

The answer is surprisingly simple. Traditional wet shaving ain't all it's cracked up to be, at first. Of course once you have mastered the basics, researched online, ordered various products  and had them shipped to your door, watched tutorial videos on how to create a lather, watched tutorial videos on how to angle the razor properly, sought advice from such great wet shaving communities as badgerandblade etc, etc... are you starting to see where this is going? Traditional wet shaving takes time and practice to master. System shaving doesn't, it's fool proof. And it works, it does the job; for some it does it well, for some it does it adequately, for some it does it poorly but they persist and go on with their lives.  When system shaving was introduced, it found a niche with men who did not have the benefit of the internet, global trade, online reviews, tips and advice and who found the old style of shaving to be a tedious chore, that delivered at best tolerable results, because they had never learned to do it properly. System shaving offered a solution that they gratefully accepted.

Oh and marketing, lots of marketing. And money/patents/thatsortofthing

So, why a New Zealand specific blog on traditional wet shaving? Because the wealth of information available online has some gaps. Gaps pertaining to products, stores, vendor recommendations. Cleaning tips, for instance, are great but not when they tell you to use "Scrubbing Bubbles" a US product unavailable in NZ stores. Vendor recommendations can become irrelevant if the great price offered on a given product is outweighed by excessive shipping costs to New Zealand. I never could find a resource online that gave me some New Zealand specific information on wet shaving, and subsequently have spent a lot of time researching online, footing it around brick and mortar stores to see what is available to New Zealand wet shavers and have a very solid foundation on which to build a blog all about how to get started and continue wet shaving in New Zealand.