Shaving in Seoul

Hello All,

I decided to try wet shaving the old-fashioned way a couple weeks ago after trying to find a razor that was better, and cheaper, than my Fusion Proglide. The problem is, shipping from Amazon or other sites to Seoul, South Korea takes forever, and I was not blessed with an overabundance of patience. Does anyone know of any stores, chains or otherwise, that sell shaving supplies in Seoul? I saw one thread on here saying that there was not much selection in Korea, but it was from several years ago.... Just wondering if anyone has found anything new.

IDK anything about shaving in Seoul, but I would imagine in a city that size, you should be able to find lots of choices. I had an incredible opportunity to visit Seoul and tour S. Korea in 2003. Went there with my dad (decorated Korean War vet) and 6 other vets for a 10 day tour. Loved the country and the people.

There are very view and the prices will be at least double than if you bought it and paid for shipping and you will need some Korean language skills. Shipping from the US can be slow and expensive. Shipping from the US can vary from 5 days to 5 weeks. Your best options are gifts and care, Connaught, shaving.ie, Bullgoose and West Coast Shaving. It depends upon what you want to buy. If you wan to know just send me a PM.

I don't know how he does it but Whipped Dog the cheapest international shipping.

Are you shipping to an APO address or a Korean address?

welcome to B&B.

Welcome to B&B

You should not have too much difficulty finding wet shaving products in a large city. Call around and ask each call who do not stock if they can recommend a shop to you. This is a double whammy. First it will tell the shop owner that there is interest and they are losing customers and may consider stocking wet shaving items. Second it will inform you of where the shops are that stock wet shaving products

Drop into the Shave Wiki and read over some of the shaving articles. http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/ You will find a LOT of useful info in there.

If you have not already done so, stop into the Hall of Fame and tell everyone a little about yourself

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/forumdisplay.php/30-Hall-of-Fame

Go Bruins!

George86 said:

Hello All,

I decided to try wet shaving the old-fashioned way a couple weeks ago after trying to find a razor that was better, and cheaper, than my Fusion Proglide. The problem is, shipping from Amazon or other sites to Seoul, South Korea takes forever, and I was not blessed with an overabundance of patience. Does anyone know of any stores, chains or otherwise, that sell shaving supplies in Seoul? I saw one thread on here saying that there was not much selection in Korea, but it was from several years ago.... Just wondering if anyone has found anything new.

Click to expand...

k9ted said:

Go Bruins!

Click to expand...

Thank you for your brave military service.....View attachment 438263

keithmax said:

Are you shipping to an APO address or a Korean address?

Click to expand...

I have an APO box that I'm shipping to. Right now, I'm waiting for my first order of supplies to come in, but I'm already looking at ordering some more soaps, especially since the Tabac I bought seems to be on backorder.

Do you think it would be any quicker coming from Singapore? If so there is http://www.doubleedgeshavingplace.com/ Might be worth a shot. Good luck and thank you for your service.

turtle said:

You should not have too much difficulty finding wet shaving products in a large city. Call around and ask each call who do not stock if they can recommend a shop to you. This is a double whammy. First it will tell the shop owner that there is interest and they are losing customers and may consider stocking wet shaving items. Second it will inform you of where the shops are that stock wet shaving products

Click to expand...

There are very few retailers in Seoul that sell Wet shaving supplies. Those that do bought them from Amazon. I have never even seen Dorco blades sold here other than online. I found two by searching online in Korean. I think one of the. Is out of business. All I remember them carrying were a few DE razors and one synthetic brush and no soaps or creams.

I am am not sure how APO affects shipping speed but I suspect it makes it allot slower but it will be a big cost savings for you.

So I was browsing around the shaving section at the PX on post (kind of like a tiny Wal-Mart, with limited selection), and found something I wasn't expecting. They actually carry brushes and soaps! Or more accurately, a brush and a soap. The brush is a Van Der Hagen boar brush, and the soap is also VDH. There aren't any markings on the box or the brush to give any more description, but for a combined total of $6.50, I'm not expecting much. Still, a nice random find where I wasn't expecting anything but cartridges.

The exchange also carries the Exchange Select brand (re-brand of various others), in wet shaving supplies. I have the WH, DE blades, injector blades, and Brisk AS. All good stuff. Some AAFED also sell TBS Maca Root cream, which I and some others on here like. I have also seen the tweezerman brush and TBS sysnthetic brush. Not mention the typical Drug store ***, the Clubman Styptic pencil. Sometimes you can find the whole line of Barbasol cream (yellow one is supposed to be good for the can), Nivea ASB, and essential oils you can put in the generic WH. If your AAFES still has some leftovers you may find some Jack Black or name brand wet shaving products in the beauty area by the jewelry and women's clothes. Never been to Korea, but in Germany the drugstores not Apothekes sell shaving goods,
Welcome and happy hunting. Get out and see all that you can and enjoy!

If you don't have the options that Dan describes, the different Van der Hagen soaps are perfectly fine, yeoman shave soap. They aren't luxurious with scenting, but make a perfectly fine lather that will both protect and lubricate.

The VDH brush most likely is a boar brush. If that's the case VDH boar brushes are more hit or miss in terms of quality with some of them holding together, while others don't seem to have the knots glued in very well. (he euphemistically says). Like all boar brushes, the boar bristle will require a break in time. Initially, boars seem scratchy and don't seem to hold much lather, but on a week-to-week basis, as the brush breaks in, it will improve, becoming softer and holding more lather in the knot.

Best of luck to you.

I think the thread you found was mine. I was stationed at Yongsan AG a few years ago and and asked this same question. I wasn't able to find anything anywhere, including E-Mart. I was told that shaving wasn't that big in the Asian culture, so it would be slim pickings. This was definitely what I found.

I had things shipped from West Coast Shaving and Bullgoose quite a bit. It usually took about 1.5-2 weeks, so it wasn't that bad. The good part is they're both close to major shipping hubs to that area, so it wasn't bad.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.