What's new

I have BEEN to the mountain top...

I live in the Chicago area and went to a large mall called Woodfield. AOS has a retail outlet there and I spent a wonderful half hour visiting with a quite knowledgeable young man.

They offer straight razor shaves Weds - Sat which take a half hour. They have a barber chair in the back and the works. VERY impressive place with helpful staff.
 
It is definitely a fun place to visit. I stop in from time to time to browse the shop and discuss DE shaving with them. There is a young lady that works there too who is wonderful to deal with, I believe her name is Catherine.
 
It is definitely a fun place to visit. I stop in from time to time to browse the shop and discuss DE shaving with them. There is a young lady that works there too who is wonderful to deal with, I believe her name is Catherine.

Yes, the young lady seemed terrific. The fellow likewise. I teased her, "So, I'm thinking you took the job in a men's shaving store with the idea of - ahem - perhaps meeting the guys?"

Good laughter all 'round - very good humored.

Didn't ask the price of a shave but Dominick (not his name but something like that) did show me a straight razor beginner that he encourages customers to buy first prior to laying out big bucks for a real straight razor. It cost around $50.00 or so. You take a DE blade, snap it in two and then insert one half into the "sleeve" on the straight razor and you have yourself what is essentially a straight razor with training wheels.

To be frank, I had not the least interest in straight razors. By the time I got done listening... well, I'm interested a bit. Dominick said they sell a lot of the straight razors and they run into the hundreds. He had Mercur DE's - perhaps six different ones along with probably a dozen straight razors.

Then - cue the Jaws theme song - I turned around to see what is on the other side of the store and... saw e-l-e-c-t-r-i-c razors. EEEEEEEEKKKK!

He also has lots of creams, oils, etc. I might add there is a C.O. Bigelow store right close by and they too have some shave stuff. Also note a Crabtree & Evelyn close.

Dominick wouldn't let me leave until he gave me a free sample pack of shave cream, oil, after shave. He took care of me and I'll be going back in person to buy, probably in a month or so.

Ah, I stand corrected - I DO have the prices, they were on his business card.

Royal shave $45.00

Traditional shave $30.00

Head shave $30.00

He did say reservations are recommended as it does take a half hour or so.
 
Last edited:
Didn't ask the price of a shave but Dominick (not his name but something like that) did show me a straight razor beginner that he encourages customers to buy first prior to laying out big bucks for a real straight razor. It cost around $50.00 or so. You take a DE blade, snap it in two and then insert one half into the "sleeve" on the straight razor and you have yourself what is essentially a straight razor with training wheels.

To be frank, I had not the least interest in straight razors. By the time I got done listening... well, I'm interested a bit. Dominick said they sell a lot of the straight razors and they run into the hundreds. He had Mercur DE's - perhaps six different ones along with probably a dozen straight razors.
Just be careful with using shavettes. They are not the same as using a straight (at least that is what I have read here.) The Dovo's, the ones AOS carries, are very light compared to using a real straight. I too wanted to try something like that before moving into straights, which I have not done yet, but found the Parker shavettes to be a closer resemblance to that of a true straight, although it does have its disadvantages also mainly being the short blade length you get compared to a real straight. You can find the Parker shavettes on Amazon for about half the price shipped with blades than the ones at AOS.
 
Top Bottom