As you know, we always keep a very close eye on what is happening with our customers and what the latest trends and developments are. Of course, we focus on shaving, beards, and men's grooming. We like to share this with you so you can always join the conversation at the coffee machine at work or at a birthday party. As you are used to from us, you don't have to do anything at all. You should always decide for yourself whether or not to follow a trend.
Artisanal shaving products
Many men love (h)onest and beautiful artisanal products, such as craft-brewed beer and regional cheeses and sausages. It is no coincidence that you increasingly find these products in supermarket shelves. But what is artisanal? It is about small-scale manual (local) production and the use of as many pure and natural ingredients or components as possible. Products are made in a traditional way with great attention to quality.
Old-school wet shavers appreciate beautifully artisanal produced shaving items, such as open razors, safety razors, and badger hair shaving brushes or synthetic hair. An artisanal shaving soap, shaving cream, and corresponding after shave also belong in that category. We often hear from our customers that once you have shaved with these shaving products, you don't go back to regular drugstore shaving soaps and after shave balms.
In recent years, there have been more and more artisanal shaving brands, such as Le Pere Lucien, Wickham Soap Co., and De Scheermonnik in the shaving market. In another blog article, we talked about the enormous popularity of American brands: Ariana & Evans, Stirling Soap Co., and Zingari Man. Often it is an enthusiastic entrepreneur who develops and produces shaving products with great dedication and passion. There are also some small family businesses that make shaving soaps on a large scale and in an artisanal way, such as Martin de Candre, Saponificio Varesino, and Saponificio Bignoli.
The charm of these brands is that there is a lot of experimentation with ingredients and scents. Many shaving soaps, shaving creams, and aftershave products have very pronounced aromas. Some producers, such as Biolijf and Meissner Tremonia, use plant-based essential oils for the scents, such as lavender oil, mint oil, and cedarwood oil. Most artisanal brands use synthetic fragrance oils. These fragrances are added to the shaving product in very small amounts.
The ingredients below are commonly used in shaving soaps or shaving creams:
- animal tallow, such as pork and beef fat
- lanolin (sheep wool fat)
- castor oil
- shea butter
- coconut oil
- jojoba oil
Some important characteristics of artisanal shaving products:
- small-scale (manual) production;
- natural animal fats and/or vegetable oils;
- strongly perfumed;
- perfumed with synthetic fragrance oils;
- shaving creams have a firm composition;
- sustainable packaging, such as glass and recycled plastic;
- striking packaging design.
Artisanal shaving brands
Below are some shaving brands per country:
Netherlands
- Biolijf
- The Shaving Monk
Germany
- Meissner Tremonia
France
- E&S Traditional Shaving
- Father Lucien
- Martin de Candre
Italy
- Saponificio Bignoli
- Saponificio Varesino
United Kingdom
- Phoenix & Beau
- Wickham Soap Co.
United States of America
- Ariana & Evans
- Stirling Soap Co.
- Zingari Man
