Company History

The Old’e English Shaving Shop traces its lineage back to the City of London Old English Brushmakers established over 250 years ago.
We are proud to continue in the traditions of quality and luxury of a different era.

Victorian England saw the City of London become less of an industrial centre with the white collared population replacing the working class.

This left many craftsmen by trade with limited options of either accepting work in the country as farm labourers or immigrating to greener pastures and the possibility of better work opportunities.

A big portion of those who opted to immigrate ended up in South Africa.

Thus the original founders of The City of London Brush Makers got to hear of the great climate and enormous business potential there and decided to explore that market.

A few months later The City Of London Brush Makers opened its doors in South Africa with the English brush making business still operating in Britain. This enabled them to take full advantage of the craftsmen who remained in England while re-establishing themselves in South Africa.

The company still remains in the same family today.

We are also very privileged to have many of the descendants of the original craftsmen continue in the same tradition as their forebears - creating the same handcrafted hand finished brushes of the highest quality.

With the favourable exchange rate and the loyal support from our valued customers and employees, the company is still growing from strength to strength.

We now supply people throughout the world with our high quality handcrafted brushes.

The African Faux Ivory Company

We are extremely privileged to have a close working relationship with The African Faux Ivory Company.

After strenuous research and years of teething problems this well known company has finely perfected the ultimate faux ivory (mock/fake ivory). This ivory is used on a whole range of our brushes. All made to the same design as they were over 200 years ago in real ivory.

The Faux Ivory is in many ways the same as the genuine article with the added advantage that it does not yellow or tarnish with age. It is made of various resins from formulas known only to the African Faux Ivory Company. All articles made with this ivory have a stamp of an elephant in a circle with a line drawn through it. This is done to indicate that no animals were harmed in the aim to achieve this true ivory appearance.

The logo and stamp is the official mark of the African Faux Ivory Company. If this stamp does not appear on the brush, we did not make the brush. Let us assure you that we are against any use of natural ivory or horn.

The only concession we make is the occasional 100-150 year old shaving brush that comes up at auction. After acquiring such a brush, we usually replicate it for our own range of faux ivory.

The original is then re-polished, re-bristled and fully restored to the highest standard.

Please note that due to its rarity, such a brush is extremely expensive when it is eventually made available for sale.