King of Shaves

In 1993 I filled my first bottles of shaving oil at a kitchen sink. I had no idea who would end up carrying them. I made the bottles small. 10ml, a few drops, enough for a shave. That was the thinking. This week a man called Lee @walford_lee replied to one of my posts. He told me he used the oil in the army. His exercises lasted anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks. The small bottles were easy to pack, so the oil went in the kit. He isn't the only one. Over the years, servicemen have told me the same thing again and again. Thousands of them. And then the second part, which I never saw coming. When the bottle was empty, many told me they didn't bin it. They filled it with gun oil. A shaving oil bottle in a kit bag, doing a second job I never designed it for. I made a small bottle for a man's face. The army found a use for it that I'd never have thought of. Thank you, Lee. And thank you to every one of you who carried one. @KingofShaves available at shave.com

In 1993 I founded a shaving brand and called it King of Shaves. People laughed at the name. Fair enough. Say it out loud and it sounds like a pub quiz answer. What they didn't notice was what we sold first. Not a razor. Not a can of foam. A small bottle of shaving oil. A few drops. No aerosol hiss. No mountain of white froth on your chin like Father Christmas. Back then that looked mad. Shaving meant foam. Foam meant a can. The can was the ritual, and nobody questioned the ritual. But the foam was never the point. Your skin was. Every morning, millions of men drag a sharp edge across their face, half awake and in a hurry, and call the sting normal. It isn't normal. It's just familiar. Thirty-three years on, the name still makes people smile. I've made my peace with that. Everyone else started with the blade. I started with the face.

In October 1995, two years after I started a shaving company with a name some people thought was a joke, I paid £18 for shave.com. Eighteen pounds. Most people I told didn't know what a domain was. The ones who did asked why a man selling shave products needed one. The giants had the shelf space. They had the ad budgets, the slow-motion sportsmen, the blades that glide off into the sunset. They didn't have shave.com. The first man to make his name in shaving was called King. King Camp Gillette, at the start of the last century. Ninety years later another King turned up with a shaving oil, a hunch and eighteen quid. Thirty-three years on, still British. Still shaving. Still here. They owned the shelf. I owned the address. Turns out the shelf was moving to the address.

It’s called the Shwoosh from when I launched the (then) revolutionary Azor razor by @KingofShaves - I’m shaving with a finger light touch

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Another champagne race day @NorthSails @cowes_week thought I’d pop over with @KingofShaves sponsoring the daily Close Shave award. Genius. #NSCW26

King of Saves.

CMON. Patience is ALWAYS a virtue. 🦾👏👏🩵🚀 #PUSB

Come on 👍🏻👑🪒⛵️🚀 #NorthSails x @cowes_week #KOSCSNSCW200

Will King, Founder & CEO  "200 years of Cowes Week. 650 yachts, winning margins measured in inches. King of Shaves is proud to sponsor the ‘Close Shave’ award, celebrating the crews who cut it finest when it matters most, under pressure. Precision under pressure is what we’re all about—on the water and in the mirror. Good luck to everyone competing in the Cowes Week Bicentenary - fair winds, fast sailing,  may the sharpest skipper win.”