Wet Shaving in Indonesia

[Anglian]

Mach 3 and Gillette foamy, I bought Four in Lotte Mart 29,000rp for four throw away, I think they marked the price wrong, still I won't lose any sleep about it, but they seem to last forever

 

[jstar]

Schick Quatro here.

Back in France, they are called Wilkinson Quatro. Different brand name, same 4 blades and wire guard.

In fact Schick and Wilkinson Sword are the same (older companies merged by the parent company); the latter is the name used in Europe. So of course they are compatible in replacement blades etc. Could be interesting for those from the EU who took their favorite Wilkinson system like Quatro or Hydro 5.

 

[Vicissidude]

I recently ordered a bunch of stuff from West Coast Shaving in the US. Shipping was just under $20 for the lot. This included a DE razor, brush, assorted blades, alum, and a couple soaps. This is the online retailer I found with the best selection and willing to ship to Indonesia. Probably the most popular retailer in the US right now is Maggard Razors who are known for excellent customer service and very reasonable worldwide shipping, but they told me they quit taking orders from Indonesia because they had too many fraudulent orders. Way to go, thieving assholes, wherever you are.
So here are the retailers I found that you might find helpful:

http://www.westcoastshaving.com/ (US)

https://topofthechain.ca/ (CA) - A smaller selection, but they have some popular artisan soaps and for razors they carry Merkur and Edwin Jagger. If you contact them, they'll ship to Indonesia (~10 USD for under 1/2kg and ~$12 over).

http://connaughtshaving.com/ (UK) - Shipping to Indonesia starts at 10 GBP.

http://tryablade.com/ (US) - Make your own blade sampler pack, worldwide shipping $5.


Also check out Ebay. Lots of razor and blade options with cheap or free shipping. You can find some more generic creams and soaps like Proraso easily, but artisan soaps seem to be overpriced or not available. For anyone on Reddit (you need a VPN), there is a subreddit r/shave_bazaar where users buy, sell, and trade shaving supplies.

 

[Vicissidude]

Pretty much the only thing readily available in Indonesia if you insist on shaving like a f***ing man is Thayers brand witch hazel. Love that stuff. There's a good selection on Tokopedia.

 

[El_Goretto]

That's very good info, thank you!

 

[fastpitch17]

Pretty much the only thing readily available in Indonesia if you insist on shaving like a f***ing man is Thayers brand witch hazel. Love that stuff.

As opposed to, what?

 

[Vicissidude]

You can find Astra blades on tokopedia too.

Sure enough you can! Good to know, thanks! Silly me, I didn't find them before because I was searching for "blades," but you can find them if you search "silet cukur" or just "astra platinum." Good prices and faster than ordering abroad if you like the standard Astra SPs.

 

[Vicissidude]

As opposed to, what?

That was meant as a (partially) tongue-in-cheek statement. But to answer your question: ...as opposed to shaving with an overpriced supermarket cartridge razor like my sister does.

To each his/her own. Sorry, I thought this thread was about wet shaving, which means using a real blade.

 

[fastpitch17]

To each his/her own. Sorry, I thought this thread was about wet shaving, which means using a real blade.

Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I just never realized the wet shaving was only for your idea of a f***ing man. good to know. I was just curious as what what any person that didn't wet shave would be referred to. I need to explain to people just what I am since I am not a f***ing man.

 

[Vicissidude]

Haha wow.... Sorry! Please don't take anything I say so seriously. Sarcasm doesn't come across well in these forums, I'm reminded again. Or perhaps some just don't appreciate it.

And apologies to everyone else for derailing a great thread a bit with my stupid sense of humor.

 

[vocalneal]

Go to an Indonesian barber and see what he uses. Probably a brush and some soap. So when in Rome...

I haven't ever used any shaving product in an aerosol can. Triple blade razors used to be everywhere where I lived.

 

[waarmstrong]

Please forgive FP; he is under the mistaken impression that shaving is mundane daily task to be accomplished as quickly as possible, rather than an differentiating event to be savored by a choice few with the savvy to appreciate the distinction.

 

[nosox]

Please forgive FP; he is under the mistaken impression that shaving is mundane daily task to be accomplished as quickly as possible, rather than an differentiating event to be savored by a choice few with the savvy to appreciate the distinction.

that leaves me out, my mach three, used dry weekly cartridges last a year or so each.

 

[fastpitch17]

Yes indeed. I probably need some forgiveness but not in the shaving catagory. I understand it must be desirable for some to maintain their baby smooth effeminate skin. I'll just stick with the rugged man skin.

 

[Vanhelsing]

The jagged edge of a broken bourbon bottle, or the torn lid of my tobacco tin in a pinch.

 

[Silet]

Hello, I joined your forum to post here. I hope I can be of help to you in finding at least some supplies to suit your needs.
I suppose I had better start with my shaving experience(s) so you can understand where I am coming from but maybe not where I am going because I really don't know myself theses days.

When I first started shaving, many Moons ago now, there were only two real options, a straight edge/cut throat and the safety razor. There were a few other single blade options but really the safety razor or DE safety razor was my only option.

The razor blades on offer were limited at the local store to mainly Gillette Blue along with perhaps 7 O'clock and occasionally Persona. In general Gillette held the market.

As a young teenager I struggled with this shaving job and besides a few cuts I suffered severe irritation.
The blades then were all carbon steel and had to be removed from the razor after shaving and dried, otherwise they would rust (even overnight) and be useless.

Then along came Wilkinson with the Sword Edge Stainless, That blade revolutionised shaving at a stroke, and hit Gillette et al with a bombshell. The blade and shaving war between Gillette and Wilkinson had begun and still continues today.

Even though the Wilkinson Sword was a major breakthrough, I still struggled and eventually moved on to electric shavers and used various models of these for over 20 years. Then I slowly drifted back to a wet shave via the Gillette Vector and then the Gillette Sensor.

The Sensor became my No 1 razor and remained so until it's withdrawal from the market by Gillette.

One day around a year or so ago now, my wife went to the supermarket with my Sensor blades on here shopping list and was met with "Stok Habis". So to cut a long story short she came home with a Schick Quattro. The Quattro gave a very good shave, I don't deny but it didn't reach the places my old Sensor did like on my top lip and where it met the centre of my nostrils it was vitually impossible to shave and as I informed Gillette when I complained about the Sensor being withdrawn, I don't have a removable nose. Gillette suggested I change to A Mach 3 but I had already tried this earlier and dumped it to remain with my Sensor.

Now the Sensor was gone, I decided to go back in the main to a DE Safety Razor and bought myself an Edwin Jagger as in the OP from Amazon via Hargadunia and set myself up with some blades soap and brush and the rest of what I required. I'm still collecting by the way to add to what I have.

I saw your thread here and thought maybe I could help a little and pass a few things on. It seems some are paying a lot more for certain items than they need to.

For sure Indonesia is no Jermyn Street and it is far from complete but it does have some things to offer, I assure you.

I decided to post what can be obtained in Indonesia (and if not from outside) soley with a Debit Card from one of the four main banks here, those being BCA, BNI, BRI and Mandiri.

Everything I post will be available using one of those banks debit cards, using a Visa, Maestro, Cirrus, PayPal etc. or leaving the country will not be necessary. The reason for this constraint is that some people here have no option or choice other than to use the debit cards mentioned.

I'll try to go in my subsequent posts through most things that might be needed along with possible alternatives that you may either choose or not choose to try.

Shaving is a personal thing and what suits one does not always suit another. We all have different faces and different skin conditions and sensitivity so any comments I make about any product apart from its availability will in the main be subjective to me and may not apply to you.

Most of the goods/items I post about will be available on line here from your home or phone etc from BukaLapak, Lazadia or Hargadunia.

If I want something I look at these three sites in the order given above.

I didn't really know where to start with the order of my posts, originally I wrongly assumed I could do it in one post but that's impossible. I then decided to do the posts with regards to the methods of shavng but then reading the threads I changed it a bit so that I start of with blades available, of course these will be DE as the multi blade razors have no blade choice, you buy the blade to fit the razor you have.

As I wrote earlier, I'll try to cover most things and be as comprehensive as possible but of course I cannot be exhaustive on everything.

I'll try to keep each post to a certain subject and or area so that you won't need to go hrough many posts to find what you wish, if it is there that is.

So in my next post, I will write about DE blades and the availability of them within Indonesia or at least if not from within Indonesia they can with the debit cards mentioned all delivered to your door.

 

[Silet]

Blades.

Below I will list the DE Safety Razor blades available within Indonesia from BukaLapak's sellers. If the blade you want is not on the list then I suggest you try Hargaduniaas it is doubtful Lazada will have it.

I will though give links to both Hargadunia's and Lazada's pages for your perusal should you wish to look.

When searching for blades on BukaLapak you need to search for Silet Cukur to get a list but you will also get other things besides at times such as windscreen wiper blades and boots (for some reason).

If you know and want the availability of a particular blade the search that by blade name, eg Silet Derby or Silet Astra etc.

Before I start I should mention (as I forgot earlier) That I have a "no-name" safety razor that I bought eons ago along with an Edwin Jagger DE89 that I bought in February this year via Hargadunia. This is just in case I need to mention them when if necessary comparing blades. I have a couple of others and one awaiting delivery but I will come on to those in my razor post.

Before I list the blades I'll start with what I bought here:- (all prices Rp/blade number)

SuperMax Chromium Rp 31500/100 (at the moment not available)
Derby Extra Rp 55000/100
Derby Premium (new 2016) Rp 50000//100
Gillette "Wilkinson Sword Edge" Rp 116000/100

So what blades are available here on your doorstep with a small JNE fee of around Rp 9000 and at what cost ? I think you may be surprised.

All the following are available from BukaLapak vendors as I write (in no specfic order):-

Gillette Sword Rp 23000/5 ( I do not know the provenance of this blade, to the best of my knowledge "Sword Blades" are either Gillette Wilkinson's Sword or Wilkinson's Sword Classic)

Gillette Goal Rp 15000/5 (crazy or what ?)

Tiger Rp 31000/100 ( looking at the package these blades are more than likely carbon steel and therefore if so will need care to prevent rusting)

Treet Classic Rp 75000/200

Laser Super Stainless Rp 60000/100

Dorco Stainless Red Box Rp 50000/100
Stainless Red Box HQ Rp 65000/100 (made in Vietnam under licence)
Stainless Prime Rp 50000/100

Lord Rp 6000/6 = (Rp 100000/100)

SuperMax Platinum Rp 95000/200 = (Rp 47500/100)

Astra Superior Platinum Rp 105000/100

London Bridge Rp 6000/5 ( Gillette Goal's sibling, another crazy price)

Zorik Rp 80000/100

Derby Extra Rp 55000/100

Derby Premium (new as of 2016 I think) 50000/100


So not a bad selection really in Indonesia. If you must have a specific blade not listed such as Persons or Feather then you will find them amongst others such as Gillette Wilkinson's Sword and Wilkinson's Sword Classic on Hargadunia. Lazada have other blades bbut not known names mainly Chinese origin.

Hargadunia https://hargadunia.com/search/razor blades

Lazada http://www.lazada.co.id/catalog/?q=de safety razor blades&searchclickposition=prod4

Lazada is difficult here to search, even narrowing it down spurious results come up. More expensive than Bukaapak for same blade.

Well that just about winds up my info on DE Razor Blades. I hope it has proved useful and will save you a bit of money.

 

[dafluff]

Well that just about winds up my info on DE Razor Blades. I hope it has proved useful and will save you a bit of money.

Thanks so much for this. Just the mention of hargadunia is going to make things much more easy to obtain, and not just for razor blades!

 

[Anglian]

Blades.

Below I will list the DE Safety Razor blades available within Indonesia from BukaLapak's sellers. If the blade you want is not on the list then I suggest you try Hargaduniaas it is doubtful Lazada will have it.

I will though give links to both Hargadunia's and Lazada's pages for your perusal should you wish to look.

When searching for blades on BukaLapak you need to search for Silet Cukur to get a list but you will also get other things besides at times such as windscreen wiper blades and boots (for some reason).

If you know and want the availability of a particular blade the search that by blade name, eg Silet Derby or Silet Astra etc.

Before I start I should mention (as I forgot earlier) That I have a "no-name" safety razor that I bought eons ago along with an Edwin Jagger DE89 that I bought in February this year via Hargadunia. This is just in case I need to mention them when if necessary comparing blades. I have a couple of others and one awaiting delivery but I will come on to those in my razor post.

Before I list the blades I'll start with what I bought here:- (all prices Rp/blade number)

SuperMax Chromium Rp 31500/100 (at the moment not available)
Derby Extra Rp 55000/100
Derby Premium (new 2016) Rp 50000//100
Gillette "Wilkinson Sword Edge" Rp 116000/100

So what blades are available here on your doorstep with a small JNE fee of around Rp 9000 and at what cost ? I think you may be surprised.

All the following are available from BukaLapak vendors as I write (in no specfic order):-

Gillette Sword Rp 23000/5 ( I do not know the provenance of this blade, to the best of my knowledge "Sword Blades" are either Gillette Wilkinson's Sword or Wilkinson's Sword Classic)

Gillette Goal Rp 15000/5 (crazy or what ?)

Tiger Rp 31000/100 ( looking at the package these blades are more than likely carbon steel and therefore if so will need care to prevent rusting)

Treet Classic Rp 75000/200

Laser Super Stainless Rp 60000/100

Dorco Stainless Red Box Rp 50000/100
Stainless Red Box HQ Rp 65000/100 (made in Vietnam under licence)
Stainless Prime Rp 50000/100

Lord Rp 6000/6 = (Rp 100000/100)

SuperMax Platinum Rp 95000/200 = (Rp 47500/100)

Astra Superior Platinum Rp 105000/100

London Bridge Rp 6000/5 ( Gillette Goal's sibling, another crazy price)

Zorik Rp 80000/100

Derby Extra Rp 55000/100

Derby Premium (new as of 2016 I think) 50000/100


So not a bad selection really in Indonesia. If you must have a specific blade not listed such as Persons or Feather then you will find them amongst others such as Gillette Wilkinson's Sword and Wilkinson's Sword Classic on Hargadunia. Lazada have other blades bbut not known names mainly Chinese origin.

Hargadunia https://hargadunia.com/search/razor blades

Lazada http://www.lazada.co.id/catalog/?q=de safety razor blades&searchclickposition=prod4

Lazada is difficult here to search, even narrowing it down spurious results come up. More expensive than Bukaapak for same blade.

Well that just about winds up my info on DE Razor Blades. I hope it has proved useful and will save you a bit of money.

Good write up there, you must be as old as me as I remember when Wilkisons sword came out, knocked the bottom out of Gillette, I think I could only get a couple of shaves from a Gillette, but Wilkinson would last all week if longer.

As an after note Wifey is away for a few days so I will give the beard a shot again, last time I tried I was in Saudi, it was going quite well till my Saudi mate said, oh you look like an Arab now, whoosh, the beard disappeared in a flash

 

[El_Goretto]

@Silet, you got me curious about hargadunia.

So what's the deal with customs? I suppose that for items below the import duty threshold it wouldn't be a problem but what about more expensive items/orders?

I was comparing buying a Chromebook through them or through Amazon directly. Note that Hargadunia actually buys the laptop from Amazon and ships it over.

Through Hargadunia, I get this:

Through Amazon I get this:

So Amazon makes it clear they comply with import duty. But hargadunia doesn't mention it anywhere. Yet in their FAQ they say that there are no additional fees and that import duty is handled by the shipper.

Something doesn't add up here: if I buy through hargadunia, either I'll get charged a large import duty (at which point I may as well buy directly from Amazon) or they somehow bypass customs which makes it illegal.

So if you have experience with hargadunia, it would be great if you could share it.