What's new

Where to shop: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Was it the AS splash or the "milky" balm? I've purchased the splash there in the past... and when I made my purchase there was no problem scanning it.
 
That's strange... like I said, I've purchased that product there in the past with no problems... oh well, I can only hope that the problem is remedied and will be a non-issue for others in the future.
 
I've recompiled the list with all of the new places and I changed the formatting a bit. The txt file has all the text and coding and is ready to go in to the first post. Please feel free to change it if you like.

Andrew
 
Hi guys I joined the site to update this thread a bit.
The older Loeb on Merivale closed and the new one has a very limited selection for Men's shaving, like most stores they cater to women and seem oblivious to the concept that men shop at grocery stores. The manager put on his best vacuous face and you could tell his brain was promising to release endorphines if he would just smile and nod sympathetically.

The Personal edge is in most of the malls and has a limited selection of shaving tools but the staff aren't exactly up to speed on the products. For example when called them to find out what DE products they had they said. "We have a Merkur" When I asked which model they said "It's a Merkur-solingen:confused1
*sigh*
 
- Men Essentials has moved to:

348 Richmond Road
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada
613.728.4MEN (4636)

- Glebe Apothecay/Glebe Pharmasave (780 Bank Street)

also carries Wilkinson Sword blades
 
Update with my experiences:

Various Shopper's Drug Marts in the downtown area:
-Proraso Green tube
-Proraso green soap (some stores)
-Aqua Velva/Brut
-'Exact Brand' DE blades. I believe these are the 'Made in USA' ASR blades.
-Omega boar brush (some stores)

Menessentials
-check their website
-> Tf&H, AoS, Col Conk, Merkur Super blades, Merkur HD
-don't buy proraso from them, it is quite expensive compared to SDM

Glebe Apothecary
-Wilkinson Sword blades
-Schick Injector blades
-Proraso: tube & soap, balm, AS splash, sensitive skin soap.
-Omega brush (boar?)
-Extra cheapo brush (synthetic?)

The Personal Edge
-Merkur HD
-a few straights
-Merkur Super blades
-Barber's Saloon soap
 
The Westboro Pharmasave:
Aqua Velva: Blue, Green, Musk, Blue ASB, Sport ASB.
Kaloderma Shaving Cream
William's Mug Shaving Soap
Wilkinson Sword blue soap bowl
Wilkinson Sword brush (it didn't say but I assume boar)
generic brand $5 brush (synthetic?)
VDH normal soap
VDH glycerin soap
VDH Boar Hair brush

There was also a VDH brush/bowlette/soap set for $16

Considering the selection of 'real' shaving stuff there must have been some blades around, I forgot to look.
 
Imperial Barbershop on Kent - Col Conk, straights, DEs, old fashioned shaves, kent brushes, pinaud, american crew - just too cool a place for words...

Ask for Victoria!

tell 'em Doug sent ya

D
 
My boss gets his hair cut there. I'm planning to go at some point, but as much as I love relaxing in a barber's chair I find it hard to get up the energy to actually go.
 
I definitely think I'm going to check out this Imperial place... not to be a cheapskate (just a starving student), but how much is a shave there? standard haircut? Oh... what I'd do for an ol' hot towel shave... knew a great place in Vancouver, but didn't know such a thing existed in Ottawa...
 
I just picked up some Fraser's cream at Bytown Beauty Supply, 1198 Bank Street. It's a small shop, with a small shave section, but they have Fraser's cream, as well as a number of booster's aftershaves. THey had a few other shave items there, but these seemed to be the best.
 
OP should update the original post here with the latest info provided in the last few posts.

MenEssentials is located on Richmond Rd, as someone mentioned.
The hot-towel shave was fine. She (the barber[ess?]) I think used a shavette-type straight; they advertise that the shave is done using a DE blade. It involved AoS pre-shave oil, some hot lather of unknown type, a couple rounds of hot towels, and Brave Soldier Code Blue AS.

I plan to check out Imperial for my next hair cut.

Kiss My Face is available at Hartman's Independent Grocer (Bank & Somerset). They had unscented, mint and peaches & cream at least twice I was in there.
 
Got a haircut at Imperial on Slater. It was fine, but definitely quite expensive. Did not get a shave but they run 20-65 bucks according to signage. Really bright, clean and modern shop though, modern-salonish almost, except it still had all the fixings of a proper barbershop.

They had a small selection of Merkur razors, Dorco and Merkur blades, a couple of brushes, Kent likely, a few other items I obviously wasn't too interested in .. but I'm pretty sure I spied some Mitchell's Wool Fat which I was glad to see!
 
I'm done with Ottawa now (moved back home to Vancouver after 4 years of school), but I did manage to sneak a shave at the Imperial Barbershop before departing.

I have only had one professional shave before then, it was a small hole-in-the-wall in Vancouver that I honestly don't remember where (Except I'm pretty sure it was somewhere on Broadway). That shave was exquisite and made me look sadly at my electric razor at home (this was before I discovered this amazing forum).

To put it bluntly, the shave at the Imperial didn't come close. I was expecting a professional (and considering I had splurged for the $65 one) luxurious shave. What I got was a hack job that left my face smooth but minus five layers of skin. The girl was your typical gum-chewing ditzy hairdresser you'd find at a cheap hair shop in a walmart... She broke pretty much every rule of wetshaving and I knew from the beginning this was going to be a mistake. She started with way way WAY to much pressure on the blade... after the first drag I was convinced that she had taken off most of my upper cheek... and then she proceeded to pass over the same area another 5-6 times before applying anymore shave cream. Towards the end of the shave it was so bad that applying more lather was beginning to sting... needless to say the application of the aftershave just about stopped my heart.

I got the shave the same day as my grad and while my face was smooth (and not yet red) for the walk across the stage, I had a red blotchy face for the next two weeks after that... I couldn't even think about picking up a razor for at least a week and a half, it was just way to irritated.

My Dad got the regular $40 shave and from what I could discern the only difference was 1 extra hot towel (which wasn't even that hot, it was just hot tap water), and twice as long under the knife (oh and probably an extra couple of layers of skin removed). Oh, and with all that hacking, she managed to miss a couple spots under my chin.

In short, I left knowing I could do a much much better (and arguably more luxurious) job myself using my shave den... and I believe that's not the point of paying someone else to do it. Why pay $65 and have to sit under some gum-smacking girl who smells way to perfumy when you can do it better yourself????
 
To update:
Menessentials now has sharks and crystal blades.
A Bath and Body Works just opened in Bayshore. Not sure what they have yet, but if anything like their US stores, they should have CO Biglow in the green tube(proraso).
 
Top Bottom