Dandy

My wife used to say that she didn't realize she was marrying a Dandy until it was too late.  You see, I decided, later in my life than most, that I needed to look a bit better than I had been.  When I lived in Suriname, I went to work in polos, khakis and boots.  I was working in General Services, which included Warehousing and Maintenance, and I figured that it was best to dress that way to keep my good clothes good.

My Ambassador at the time, a Management Officer himself, gave me some real good advice when I left.  "You need to dress for the job you want.  If you dress like a GSO, people will treat you that way."  In other words, I was dressing like I wasn't in fact a diplomat, so no one treated me that way.  (It didn't help that I shaved my head, or bleached my hair which turned orange, grew a very large goatee and in fact just stopped caring about how I looked.)  He was 100% correct.  But it wasn't until I went to London that it really started to hit home for me.

Men in London dress NICE!  They wore suits with incredibly large white stripes and pocket squares, with incredibly nice shirts and knots on their ties that are enormous.  But it works for them.  After being there a year, my friend Gee decided I need some new shirts because the ones I was wearing to work were starting to get ratty, and I looked horrible in them.

She took me to Jermyn Street.  Now, everyone knows Saville Row is where people buy suits. Not just suits, but some of the nicest suits you can buy.  Jermyn Street is like that for shirts.  Thomas Pink's flagship store is there, as is numerous other places for shirts.  We walked from shop to shop looking for the perfect place.  Finally, we ended up at Charles Tyrwhitt.  I bought three shirts from them, and have been a faithful customer since.  (They do a fantastic mail order service too.)

Since that time, I've become more and more a dandy.  Lovely English Lass bought me a shaving set with a badger hair brush to shave with, and I started buying hats and cuff links as well.  Sartorially, I think I cut a smashing figure for an overweight guy.

Recently, I went one step further in my dandy-hood.  This was, strangely, brought about by cost.  In South Africa, it is incredibly expensive to buy razors for my Gillette razor.  An 8 pack costs upwards of $80.00.  Not sure I like paying $10 a razor that doesn't last that long.  I started doing some research, and something kept coming up in all the comments about shaving.  Safety Razors are cheaper to own that a disposable razor set.  Razor blades are only about 10 cents a piece, and while it is difficult to understand how to use one, once you get the hang of it, the shave is pretty darn close.  After looking on the internet for a bit, I found that there is one made from a company called Parker.  Well, I'm going to buy that, right?

The metal razor handle was less than thirty dollars, and so far it has lived up to its reputation.  Nice clean shave, and with the help of an anti-septic stick, not bad on the cuts.  Highly recommend it for you men out there, as it'll save money in the long run, and the actually shaver will last quite a while.  (Look on eBay, as there are some from the 1930s in good working condition being sold.)

I suppose an entire blog on my being a dandy is a bit much, but it's something going on here right now.  I'll talk more later about my kids, and Lovely Little Girl going to a new school next month, and how Crazy Little Man got to meet Phineas and Ferb.  But for now I'm going to go and have some coffee and get to work.  I may not be much of a Diplomat, but I certainly look like one now.