Buzz

UPDATE:  Congratulations to Lauren L, the winner of the giveaway, and a big thank you to everyone who entered.   We have to say, it was really powerful to see how many people got involved and shared their stories and well-wishes with us – thank you and happy shaving!

People ask us all the time “how long have you guys been here?”, and it’s kind of a loaded question!

We started The Copper Hat as a business in 2009, but before we had a brick-and-mortar store, we sold our gear online and at many different outdoor markets and craft shows.  In our first few years, Brad would meet people at local coffee shops and at our apartment to get them set up with wet shaving gear.

Our first permanent store location was in Rock Bay Square, and Brad both made all of our shaving brushes and sold all of our shaving supplies out of the same 100 square foot space.  Rock Bay Square has quite the history: originally a planing mill at the turn of the century, it now houses the work spaces of dozens of creative makers including leather workers, coffee roasters, jewelers and a wicked ice cream shop!

Brad’s wood shop is still in Rock Bay Square, but in 2013 we moved our store front into a tiny space in Fan Tan Alley.  This space allowed us to be in Downtown Victoria and get to know our neighbours and clients in Chinatown.  While we loved our Fan Tan Alley space, at 80 square feet, it was getting pretty squishy.

So, in the spring of 2014, we made the leap and started fixing up a new store space, just across the street from Fan Tan Alley, in Market Square.  After a lot of painting, constructing and assembling, we were ready for The Copper Hat 4.0!  3 years ago, on June 1, 2014 to be exact, we opened the doors of our new location in Market Square.  We are so happy to call this historic and funky area home and want to celebrate our Market Square Anniversary by giving away a shave set like none other!

We wanted to focus on some of the gear that makes us unique, so we’ve included lots of Copper Hat items as well as some of our other favourites:

The Journey Silvertip Badger Shaving Brush ($119) |  All-Natural Shave Soap ($12) |  Copper Hat Post-Shave Leg Balm ($14) |  Lathering Mug by our Favourite Potter ($39) |  Anthony Gold Natural Aftershave Lotion ($14) |  1957 Gillette “Superspeed” Safety Razor ($79)

You can enter this giveaway either online or in our store.  Limit of 1 entry per person.  We will randomly select the winning name on June 30, 2017 and the winner will be announced and contacted by email.  No purchase is necessary and you don’t need to live in Victoria to win. Good luck! -Kate & Brad

The Copper Hat is a husband and wife endeavor situated in Victoria on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. We created The Copper Hat because of our own frustration that came from shaving with typical drug store supplies.

THE BEGINNING:

We each struggled with extreme skin types, one oily and one sensitive and dry. We were overwhelmed by the increasing cost of multi-blade cartridge razors and the terror cheaper razors reigned on our skin. When Brad started a job that required him to be clean shaven every day, he took matters into his own hands. He tracked down his first vintage double-edged razor and a shaving brush and, for the next several months, his most common saying to Kate was “feel how smooth my face is!” After observing Brad’s excitement, Kate began wet shaving and could also never go back to the drug store habit.

We started The Copper Hat because we know that we are not the only people who are tired of spending too much money on large blade cartridges that will just be thrown away. Although recent technology has brought us 5 blade razors, vibrating blades, and razors with built-in shave foam, the finesse of this personal care routine seems to have been lost in the fast-paced chaos of our daily lives. We craft and stock high quality brushes, razors, blades, soaps, and other shaving supplies so that you can enjoy a personalized shave that is suited to your hair and skin type.

THE JOURNEY:

We started out selling Brad’s handcrafted shaving brushes and a handful of antique safety and straight razors on our simple website.  Brad’s first “commercial” wood shop consisted of all of his tools on a rolling cart that he would wheel down the hallway out of our apartment building when he turned brushes.  Later we got more impressive and built a little wood shop into our bedroom closet!  Over the years Brad’s work shop has moved around, but it is currently housed in a very unique space in Rock Bay Square, in between a honey dispensary and 2 craft breweries!  Soon we began sharing our passion for wet shaving at local craft fairs and seasonal markets in Victoria, Vancouver and Edmonton.  We LOVE craft shows and markets, but also wanted a space from which to sell our wares all year round.  Our first permanent retail space was approximately 25 square feet and shared with Brad’s wood shop.  In the summer of 2013 we moved into our first official store front, a less than 100 square foot shop in Fan Tan Alley, Victoria.  We spent a roller coaster of a year in that space and then moved into a 300 square foot space in nearby Market Square, just off of Johnson Street.   We are currently open 7 days a week in our brick-and-mortar store and also ship all of our website orders from here.

We feel incredibly lucky to have met so many wonderful, supportive and interesting people on The Copper Hat path.  Whether you are a customer, fellow vendor or small-business owner, market coordinator, family member, friend or someone else who has cheered us on along the way, THANK YOU, we truly couldn’t have gotten The Copper Hat to this point without you!  We are passionate about grassroots economies and encourage you to support small, local businesses whenever possible.  We adore this Coast and natural environments everywhere and are so happy that through The Copper Hat we can provide people sustainable shaving practices while working within our small business community.

Thank you so much for stopping by – Happy Shaving!

Kate & Brad

Sorry folks, we’ve been rained out of the Bastion Square Market today. If you need any supplies or would like to stop by the shop, just give us a call 250-589-6594 or pop by the websitewww.thecopperhat.ca Enjoy the rain!

This is a very cool project that I feel honoured to have taken part in.  The brush in the photo was hand turned by me however the wood used is the unique part.  The wood is original Douglas Fir framing lumber taken from a renovation on the Boulder Hotel in Vancouver.  The hotel was built in 1890!  Giving us a basic date of 130 year old framing lumber not including the life of the tree before that!  This piece was so unique I had to design a logo to be engraved in the bottom to commemorate this piece of wood.  The apothecary mugs seen with the brush feature hand turned handles made of local Victoria wood called London Plain.  A gorgeous wood with a grain that more resembles ripples on a pond than wood.  All in all I’m a little jealous of the recipient on the other end of this gorgeous little package.

I do have a few more pieces of the Douglas Fir and will be working on a limited edition run of brushes similar to the Vintage Insulator brushes from a little while back.  Keep your eyes peeled!

Cheers

Brad

Our new Shop/Showroom in Victoria

We are very excited to announce the opening of our own showroom!  Our new address is 216E – 2614 Bridge st.  Located in the Rock Bay Square Building at the corner of Hillside and Bridge St. in Victoria, B.C.  Currently the store hours will be 9-3 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  The building is a unique layout so don’t hesitate to give us a call if you need any directions.

We are still always available for appointments at any time so just drop us a line and let us know what works for you.  The new store allows us to meet you there and show you more gear in a much easier way.

We hope you can stop by and say hi!

Cheers :

Kate and Brad

Introducing The Copper Hat Shave Soap!

Every shaving brush needs the perfect soap.  Unfortunately, the perfect soap can be hard to come by.  Many soaps smell great, but don’t lather quite right.  Other soaps lather great, but their harsh ingredients leave you itchy or with dry skin.  There are a lot of characteristics to consider when creating a great shaving soap.  We’ve kept all of these characteristics in mind while creating our own soap.

In the past we have both experienced dry skin, acne, and skin sensitivities.  It was very important to us that we provide shavers with a soap that moisturizes and protects skin, but never leaves a residue or makes skin oily.  We both test every batch and scent of soap and have found that even the scented soaps are gentle enough to use on sensitive skin.

In the creation of our soap we’ve chosen to use all natural ingredients and organic essential oils that respect both the planet and our skin.  The specific essential oils used have been selected for their healing and moisturizing qualities.  Our soap lathers quickly, but since it is in solid puck form, will last a long time compared to any canned foam or shave cream.

Currently we have 3 varieties of shave soap:

• Cedarwood & Sage: fondly nicknamed “The Lumberjack Soap” – a woodsy, tobacco scent with a dose of manliness!  May invoke images of wood chopping and pipe smoking!
• Benzoin & Frankincense: For those who prefer a lighter, sweeter scent.  Reminiscent of a Vancouver Island hike on the first day of spring.
• Unscented: For those with hyper-sensitive skin, the ultimate shave soap with absolutely no scent.  Rather than scented essential oils, this soap contains only aloe vera oil.

We are very excited to launch our soap into the world of wet shaving and know it will make a great addition to your shaving routine!  We do realize that lathering a soap puck can be a bit tricky for beginners… not to worry!  Every soap comes with a detailed “how to” sheet and questions about how to get the most out of your Copper Hat products are always welcome!

To mark the launch of our new soaps,  we’re giving some away!  Simply “like” this post on Facebook to have your name entered in the draw to choose one of these soaps.  We’ll give 3 away on January 15^th.

Happy Lathering!