Links
Other goods and services
Third-party wheezes that may be of interest. While we make a half-hearted attempt to keep this page up to date, we can’t guarantee these links are 100% current and take no responsibility for content.
Barbering and grooming services and supplies
Trumper’s
These venerable barbers have two shops in London and you can also buy their fine range of shaving products at this site.
Murdock
Offering traditional gentleman's barbering services at their three London premises, Murdock also have their own line of grooming products which you can buy online.
D.R. Harris
Founded in 1790, this perfumers on St James's (by Appointment to H.R.H. The Prince of Wales) offers a wide range of pleasingly old-fashioned grooming products for ladies and gentlemen hand-made in England—from aftershaves and hair fixatives to candles and “stress-relief bath oils”, plus natural sponges, tweed accessories and waterproof leather military wet packs. They'll also do you monogrammed horn brushes and combs, and now even their own cocktail bitters based, apparently, on their famous hangover-curing Pick-Me-Up.
Edwin Jagger
Why not make shaving the opulent ritual it deserves to be? These people fashion some very tasty razors, shaving brushes, et al. You can't buy at the site but you will be directed to somewhere where you can.
Lipstick & Curls
Vintage syling team, offering hair and make-up sessions, either privately or at regular clinics. They are often to be found at vintage events too.
It’s Something Hell’s
It's Something Hell’s is, or possibly was, a hairdresser/beauty parlour run by Miss Betty and Mr Ducktail in Kingly Court, off Carnaby Street. Miss Betty's vintage hairdos are the talk of the town while Mr Ducktail is very much locked in the rockabilly mould—if that's your thing he will even cut your hair with a flick-knife. However, I have a feeling that the Kingly Court studio is no more and Mr Ducktail seems to have moved the MotherKutter Kult Klub, at 48 Church Street, London NW8 8EP. Moreover, the latest posts suggest he is going back to France. Nevertheless, you still seem to be able to buy Mr Ducktail merch from this site.
The Powderpuff Girls
Website of vintage beauty stylists the Powder Puff Girls who used to have “Powder Rooms” in Shoreditch and off Carnaby Street in London, but now seem to focus on private and corporate parties, vintage styling lessons, etc.
Nina’s Hair Parlour
Founded in 2005 by Nina Butkovich-Budden, Nina's Hair Parlour was the country's first vintage hair and makeup salon and went on to acquire many film, TV, stage and celebrity plaudits. Nina has had bricks-and-mortar salons in The Cut and Alfie's Antiques Market, but following the launch of their Personal Premiere Service in 2012 the Parlour's service is now by appointment only.
Kitty’s Vintage Salon
Mobile make-up artists and hair stylists specialising in vintage styles, offering make-overs for hen parties, proms, weddings, etc.
A Sharp Slice
American website devoted, as its name suggests, to anything sharp, including a section on razors. Although there are plenty of reviews of traditional cut-throat razors it is not snobbish and equally reviews cartridge and disposable razors and offers guides to choosing the right shaving tool for you. And, as a bonus, you can learn about kitchen knives, blenders and juicers, and what to look for in a throwing axe.
Tobacco
Wilsons of Sharrow
Website of Wilsons of Sharrow, who have been grinding and blending snuff at Sharrow Mills near Sheffield since the mid-seventeenth century; the company is still owned by the Wilson family. They are purveyors both their traditional blends and modern inventions such as orange chocolate snuff. The site also sells accessories such as snuff boxes.
Snuff Store
It's good to know that this sorry age can support a business such as this, selling nothing but snuff, suff from all over the world (who knew it was such a big thing in India?) and in a wide range of flavours, including Gin and Tonic flavoured offerings. (Update: actually it looks as if the original one-man business was acquired by the sinister-sounding Mr Snuff and the site now also sells a range of chewing tobaccos and snus, including some that contain no tobacco but plenty of nicotine and others that have neither.)
Museums
The Bakelite Museum
Website of the splendid Bakelite Museum in Williton, Somerset, to which every chap should make a pilgrimage at least once in his life. It is the largest collection of vintage plastics in the world, in all manner of textures and colours, showing just how deeply bakelite affected all aspects of our lives at the time. (Update: looks as if they have had to move out of the Williton venue and are currently looking for a new place to display the collection.)
Virtual Museum of Absinthe
The former site www.absinthemuseum.com, offering everything (reliable) you could want to know about the Green Fairy, produced by absinthe sage David Nathan-Maister, then seemed be to be subsumed into oxygenee.com, a group of businesses selling absinthe, absinthe accessories and rare and high-end spirits, including tiny parcels of incredibly ancient Cognacs, whiskies, Tokay, rum, madeira, etc. Now it seems to have its own site again, although under the curatorship of Marc Thuillier from www.absinthes.com.
The Insect Circus
If you ever get a chance to see the Insect Circus' travelling museum then grasp it firmly. It tends to tour around festivals and the like. Inside this converted lorry is a lovingly constructed museum of an imagined heyday of circuses involving giant insects. The period styling and layered humour are top notch. Nowadays they also have a live show in which real acrobats dress up as insects, but this is rather missing the point, I think. Better the suggestion of the painted postcards, ephemera and artefacts such as the six-armed ant uniform, ring master's whip and the "actual" bass drum as featured on the cover of the album Captain Cicadella's Insect Circus Band (by the all-insect pop group, The Peaple, ho ho).
Miscellaneous
Imperial Telegrams
If you mourn the demise of our telegram system, rejoice. Thanks to these coves you can still send one-and a dashed handsome one at that. For £14–15 they will put together a pleasingly old-fashioned looking object, complete with vintage stamps, with your message typed out and pasted on. Of course your recipient actually receives it via Royal Mail, but it looks the part. They previously had their own site but now sell through Not on the High Street—this links takes you directly to their page. You can follow their Instagram account too.