Art Of Shaving Sandalwood

I will always have a soft spot for AOS sandalwood. It was the first DE product I ever purchased, sold to me by a diligent salesman at Nordstrom's who convinced me that I needed this if I was going to get a decent shave. I purchased the Perfect Shave Sandalwood Kit for $115 (or whatever they charged back then). At the time that seemed outrageous, but when I smelled the sandalwood, I had never smelled anything like it, and so I decided to splurge.

Pros: The sandalwood is a wonderful smell. In fact sandalwood is my favorite scent for a shaving cream. As I have tried more products, I have come to prefer the more natural, earthy sandalwood smell, as opposed to this one which is sweeter, though still very enticing. It seems that a lot of people sight AOS as their first DE shaving products. I think they are probably responsible for getting people into wetshaving more than any other company, especially now that they have been bought by P&G and have standalone stores in many of your hoighty-toighty malls and a large marketing budget. The cream gives a good lather, with a reasonably close shave, and good cushion. It is also easier to work with than a lot of other creams when it comes to cream/water ratio. If I had never tried the three T's I think I would have been perfectly fine to continue on with AOS, and get some very good shaves from them.

Cons: AOS products are overpriced. There is no two ways around it, in fact there is no one way around it. When you see they are priced at twice the price of a tub of TOBS, you realize you are paying too much. Some may argue that they are in line with T&H, I would argue that T&H is a far superior product in terms of more authentic scent, and more luxurious lather. I also don't think the cream is as good as it was before it was mass marketed. They are like the big corporate Goliath of the DE world now. That makes me feel like I am paying as much for the marketing and name recognition as I am the actual product. If I bought the same product without a label on it and you asked me what I would expect to pay, I would say $15, not the $25 they charge.

I bought this from the AOS store here in Buffalo as part of a kit mainly because of the smell and the fact that it came with a brush. I’m new to wet shaving and I have very little education on the accouterments that are needed/wanted.
In short I love the smell of the PS oil, Cream and PS Balm! It helps give me a great shave BUT I think I am sensitive to it as my face burns all day. That and the price is a killer on the wallet!
I would recommend it to anyone as it’s a great product.
Sadly I think I will need to try something else. I have some samples of Jack Black and I have had no problem when I use that. The problem there is that I don’t get that great manly smell that my wife likes. (Has some GREAT benefits!)
I guess I will need to try to find a Sandal wood Cologne!

Smells Great, works well, just pricy. First Cream and still a go to for me.