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CUBA !What will we find there ?

Good cigars and old cars sure , but what shaving goods will be there ?? Gillette Mejoradas ?...Maybe some things from Brazil or Argentina ,or maybe just landfill razors and canned foam ??....Won't be long before a few forum members travel there ,glad to see it open up after all these decades..
 
......although i've never been to Cuba, i would agree that malocchico is spot on.....
...........but who knows, you might find someone willing to part with their grandfather's pre-1960 shaving kit.....
........pristine Filarmonicas, and whatnot..........
 
Maybe vintage Soviet barbershop items ,DE razors and vintage blades ,straights,maybe a good Vostok watch !
 

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I went to Cuba about 5 years ago. Although the people were really nice, it was very poor and the few stores that existed were badly stocked with just a mix of whatever was available, which was not much. They did not really seem to believe in stores, except for a few places for tourists. Most Habaneros bought food from government-run outdoor produce markets. I remember walking around Havana for hours looking in stores for a cigarette lighter before I finally found one. A lot of men had facial hair. I asked the people I talked to what they used to shave and they almost all used disposables or straights, or they went to the barber to get an occasional shave. At night the streets everywhere in Havana, even in the busiest parts were tourists went were mostly dark because they did not have the electricity or lightbulbs.
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
Stomach flu. Friends mother just got back ... "Got food poisoning the last night."

Wonder if it's a Yankee send off ...

Not digging socialist chic. Be careful down there.



AA
 
Non Sequitur here... The best product I have enjoyed from Cuba is Havana Club Rum. It makes the best rum we can get stateside seem like swill! Very smooth, like the best sipping liquors.[emoji106][emoji106]
 
Stomach flu. Friends mother just got back ... "Got food poisoning the last night."

Wonder if it's a Yankee send off ...

Not digging socialist chic. Be careful down there.



AA

Most foreign countries you visit beware of eating anything uncooked.Do not eat salad or drink anything with ice in it....As Cuba opens up things will change.Even in many African hotels now you will find they do in-house reverse osmosis filtering of the water ,giving tourists a less worrysome trip.
 
^very true. I've been following this advice since living a few years in Mexico long ago. We Americans take many things for granted, clean water and safe food are right on top of the list!
 
I went to Cuba about 10 years ago, long before my interest in traditional shaving arose.
If I were to go again now, I would look in the open-air bazaars, which were plentiful in Havana.
However, the goods were exposed to the elements.
 
Hope you find something but I have very many Cuban friends who left 40-50 years ago and let me tell you: That is one very poor country. Very sad how the overwhelming majority live their lives. And there aren't very many stores. Good luck.
 
I asked the people I talked to what they used to shave and they almost all used disposables or straights, or they went to the barber to get an occasional shave.

I tend to believe that even low-priced consumables are relatively scarce and stretching the means of many Cubans.
On this basis, I venture to guess that straights are popular.
 
Fun pics of blades produced and used in Cuba during the early '60s. Note the patriotic theme and imports from the Eastern Bloc:

http://www.todocoleccion.net/colecc...a-original-patria-o-muerte-una-joya~x49540419

http://cubamaterial.com/blog/cuchillas-de-afeitar/

This article (in Spanish) from 1990 talks about rationing blades because of scarcity -- three per month for men, one per month for women:

http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-66523

This article from 2012 (also in Spanish) talks about the difficulties that Cubans face in shaving.
There were two main choices: cheap two-blade disposables (Gillette knock-offs) and DE.
Apparently elderly street vendors would snap them up in the stores for resale.

http://www.cihpress.com/2012/03/el-problema-de-afeitarse-en-cuba.html
 
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