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AoS brushes *** Rant Warning ***

Ok...AoS was the party responsible for starting me on this journey, and they really do sell quality shaving products. I hadn't been in one of their stores for a while, not since joining B&B. I stopped in today, and was looking at their brushes. I asked the guy in the store to show them to me, which he was glad to do. From the I was shocked. Injection molded handles with "finest badger" for 110.00? And silver tip 150 to 200? Really? I guess it just offends my tender sensibilities after seeing what Simpson and Rooney and omega's sell for...
 
They gotta turn a profit to keep the lights on and do all of the advertising. This is the way of retail sales.
 
They gotta turn a profit to keep the lights on and do all of the advertising. This is the way of retail sales.

What advertising do you speak of? I don't or haven't seen any ads on tv or magazines unless it was geared towards the wealthy or celebs. It's just like T&H charging $60.00 for a beard trim.

A beard trim for god's sake! Anyone with a pair of clippers or trimmers can do that. Your barber can do it for $5-$15, hell even the fancy upscale places do it for no more than $25. Let's call it what it is, it's just plane old price gouging.
 
They had a 40% off sale a couple of years ago part of St. Patrick's day holiday event, where you picked one of the cloves on the four-leaf clover and try to pick the 40% instead of 20%. I got really lucky and got 30%, but didn't use the coupon.

I've heard that there is no difference in performance for their brushes between the finest and silvertip. They perform the same.
 
What advertising do you speak of? I don't or haven't seen any ads on tv or magazines unless it was geared towards the wealthy or celebs. It's just like T&H charging $60.00 for a beard trim.

A beard trim for god's sake! Anyone with a pair of clippers or trimmers can do that. Your barber can do it for $5-$15, hell even the fancy upscale places do it for no more than $25. Let's call it what it is, it's just plane old price gouging.

Grand Central Station in NYC is covered in AOS ads. Only place I have seen them, but they bought a massive amount of ad space there... it was kind of crazy.
 
My aos brush that came in the starter kit has went weird I don't know I guess limp like . I am kinda disappointed in it my $5 sally beauty supply brush is still good maybe better bit maybe thats just my unsophisticated palate talking.

On the price gouging I don't get this. Barber college $5 hair cut. $5 straight shave
Floyds barber shop $24 haircut $26 straight shave
 
Grand Central Station in NYC is covered in AOS ads. Only place I have seen them, but they bought a massive amount of ad space there... it was kind of crazy.

I see their advertising in magazines and all over the Internet (big sites like CNBC and others).
 
RussianRat --

The conventional wisdom with regard to AoS is that they have good products, but are over-priced. I guess their overhead burdens drive their inflated pricing. The internets are your friend...

-- John Gehman
 
What advertising do you speak of? I don't or haven't seen any ads on tv or magazines unless it was geared towards the wealthy or celebs. It's just like T&H charging $60.00 for a beard trim.

A beard trim for god's sake! Anyone with a pair of clippers or trimmers can do that. Your barber can do it for $5-$15, hell even the fancy upscale places do it for no more than $25. Let's call it what it is, it's just plane old price gouging.

Totally NOT "price gouging" nor "profiteering"... let's call it what it really is.. OK.. it's called pricing in line with physical presence and offerings of a particular face-to-face customer experience ... you may not like the price, but i don't think a beard trim is just running your clippers over someone's beard. it includes beard shaping and whatever preshave/post-shave they do according to their site.

Hot Lather Shave / Beard Trim - The process begins with a hot towel in order to stimulate natural oils and soften the beard. Once the skin is moist, our Master Barbers liberally apply our pre-shave oil to nourish and protect the skin. After that, a badger hair brush is used to apply our original shaving cream, one that feeds the skin as much as it does protect it. The badger hair brush provides an even lather over the face and neck, both softening the whiskers and commanding them to stand at attention. Much like a good woman, who can soften a man and make him better at the same time.

Then, with the best steel razors, our Master Barbers begin to put their years of experience to work. They apply exactly the right amount of pressure in order to slide between the whiskers and the skin, giving you the closest, softest shave you have ever had. When the shave is complete, the combination of a cool towel and nourishing aftershave lotions will sooth and relax the skin. When you walk out the doors you’ll understand why we’ve been doing this for 200 years.

your paying for a particular location ambience and feeling of luxury, you probably don't see replicated at the corner barbershop on main st. that doesn't mean that you aren't having a good but different experience on main st.

a place that is supposed to be very highly rated for straight shaves or so i thought, NY Shaving Co. costs $30+tip and they are getting all kinds of flack on yelp over the more recent part of the last year, 1 star reviews, 1 pass with straight, rest with mach 3, so don't expect a wash or lots of talking during the cut; it's a no frills kind of place (hair cut),

First, let me address the poor reviews here complaining about how their faces were torn to pieces after going for a straight razor shaves: this is to be expected if you've only shaved with Mach3's or electric shavers. A straight razor a NAKED blade going across your face. There are no "lubricating strips" or whatever fancy marketing tool Gillette and Schick had you buy in to. You will get cut no matter what, and especially if you've never shaved with a straight razor or safety razor. Personally, I have shaved with a safety razor for 5 years now, off and on, more consistently in the last year though. The first few shaves after I made the switch, the alum block was my best friend. Part of it was being amateur and part of it was that my beard/face was not used to it.

Work Time Fun? ahhh, no... they are supposed to be expertly shaving me with a straight, this does not compute...

remember that professional straight shaver on dirty jobs w/ mike rowe, i'll gladly pay another $20 not get a shave like that or walk into a joint like that...
 
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When you pay 500K a year for rent, and another 250K a year for staff... you have to sell a lot of higher margin products even before you get into the black.

Anything you buy at AOS is going to carry at minimum a 300% mark-up to cost... some items will be 400-500%; you are paying for 'the experience'.
 
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