The Art of Shaving Store

[jbrit25]

Just a PSA of sorts...
I was in Disney World a couple of weeks ago and stumbled into the Art of Shaving store in downtown Disney. Its like a friggin shaving boutique.  I had a look at their razors, one was a Fusion with the ball, but it was called the Lexington, came in 3 models, and it was 100-175 bucks. They even charged 90 bucks for a Mach 3. It did have a fancy black handle though. That's a lot of cash for a Gillette. They had some interesting shave products like lemon shave cream, ocean kelp shave cream, lavender pre-shave oil, etc. I was going to purchase one of the creams and it was 25 bucks for a 5oz jar. Again, hard to pull the trigger when a can of Edge is 6 bucks. On my way out I asked the young lady who worked there if they had a head product section and she looked at me like I had bubonic plague. I had no idea that shaving could get so expensive. If you are an average shaver like me, don't put this store on your Disney to do list.

[Sir Harry]

In April, when I was going through my initial consultation for SMP in Texas, I booked an appointment for a head shave and beard trim at one of the Houston locations. It cost me $55 plus tip, but the time the barber spent on my face, beard and moustache was awesome. He started with a Fusion Proglide and then used the traditional straight razor. I would say everything took an hour, but it was a nice experience and the headshave was surprisingly smooth. This may be a once a year "throwaway money" treat, but as good as it was, I think this is something I would do once a year max. Surprisingly, their barbershop is booked full on Fridays and Saturdays more often than not.

[Cave Dweller]

There is one in the mall near my house.

For the life of me, I don't know how the stores stay in business. Does any man REALLY need a $200 silver handle for his Gillette blades? And if he does buy one, how often does he return to buy something else?

[slybeard]

We have one of these in our local mall.  I have had a couple of barbershop headshaves form there, both with gift certificates from my kids.  I have never purchased any of their products.  But from what I observed, most of the sales were to people purchasing gifts.  I do not ever seeing myself paying the price for any of their products.

[Laser Man]

I've had two head shaves at "The Art of Shaving".  The pampering was nice and the shave was pretty good.  There was one strange aspect to the store I went to: there was a glass wall out into the mall, so I felt like I was on display while having my head shaved.  In fact, several times, people stopped and watched - which felt kind of creepy.

As to their products, I was given a bottle of preshave oil as a gift.  It was unscented, but had a slight herbal smell.  It was nice to use, but pricey ($10 for a 2 oz. bottle.)

[Sir Harry]

I've had two head shaves at "The Art of Shaving".  The pampering was nice and the shave was pretty good.  There was one strange aspect to the store I went to: there was a glass wall out into the mall, so I felt like I was on display while having my head shaved.  In fact, several times, people stopped and watched - which felt kind of creepy.

As to their products, I was given a bottle of preshave oil as a gift.  It was unscented, but had a slight herbal smell.  It was nice to use, but pricey ($10 for a 2 oz. bottle.)

I will agree, that some people want their headshaves to be a little more personal. The location where I went had their area in the back corner of the room so the privacy aspect was still there.

[Laser Man]

I passed the store in the Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh a couple weeks ago and it had the barber's chair in the back, so it was more private.  Seems like The Art of Shaving doesn't have a standard template for their stores.

Also, they are owned by Proctor & Gamble (who owns Gillette), so I'm guessing that most of their products are reformulated / modified Gillette products.

[Tyler]

I've had two shaves from the Art of Shaving stores; one in NYC and the other in Las Vegas.  Both were good and a great experience. Of course, nobody can shave your head as well as you can. 

As for their products, they are good to great products, depending on which one you're using.  Though, I've tried products that are equally as good for a fraction of the price.

[DC]

I have an AoS near me at The Mall at Short Hills.  So far, I've had good experiences with them, plus they have Merkur Super blades and alum blocks.  Yes, the inventory can be a bit pricey, however-like Tyler-I found their stuff to be good to great.

[baldsurfer]

The AoS near me has a sly barber and he gave me the best barber shop head shave I've ever had. The barber room is in the back of the store, so you're not "on display".

But I agree that their products are insanely expensive. And yes, AoS is owned by Gillette, which is why so many of their products are upscaled versions of Gillette products.