I have recently ventured into the land of safety razor shaving and am truly enjoying both the experience as well as the results I am getting. My shaves and my skin in general have seemingly never looked better/smoother. Although it's been said that DE shaving will save one money in the long run, for me, that's gonna' have to be a really really really looooooong run for I've taken to this new passion/hobby like a duck takes to water.
My introductory thread:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...uot-Where-in-the-heck-have-I-been-all-my-life
I travel quite a bit on business and found myself in New Orleans this week. A city that I've been coming to about a every other month or so over the course of the last two and a half decades. With my newfound shaving hobby, I figured I'd do a little research to see where I could find some cool shaving products. My research led me to Aidan Gill. They have a shop in the Garden District as well as a second shop adjacent to Harrah's Casino in the warehouse district.
I had read the reviews/articles/yelp surrounding Aidan Gill and the general consensus was that it was a pretentious/snooty place that was grossly overpriced with respect to their shaving products. So I went in prepared for this and essentially just wanted to see what they had on hand.
Much to my surprise, the experience was nothing like what I had read. I found the staff there to be extremely knowledgeable, helpful, not too pushy or hands on, and allowed me time to browse on my own. The store on Magazine Street was extremely well stocked with all the heavy hitter brands that I've read about online; Truefitt & Hill, Castle Forbes, Geo F Trumper, Mugsoreal, D R Harris, the list goes on and on. From my online research, I had a good idea of what many of these items would cost me were I to order them online. Much to my surprise, a good number of the products were same priced as online retailers and if they weren't, they certainly weren't more than a few bucks atop the internet 'norm' if you will. This sort of blew me away. I was able to hold and smell tons of the brands/scents that to date I had only read about online.
My haul at the Magazine Street store: Truefitt & Hill 1805 shaving cream, Truefitt & Hill 1805 aftershave balm, Castle Forbes Lime, Castle Forbes Lime aftershave, Aidan Gill preshave oil, Penhaligons Talc, Silvertip badger travel brush w/case.
After having lunch in the Garden District, my wife suggested we check out the store in the warehouse district. Truth be told, I think she just wanted to hit Harrah's Casino seeing as how it was across the street. We were met with the same great reception as their store on Magazine Street. Courteous, knowledgeable, and friendly staff eager to assist.
My haul at the warehouse district store: Geo F Trumper Sandalwood, Geo F Trumper Sandalwood Skin Food, Full size Silvertip badger brush, a Mason Pearson comb, and a pack of Gillette DE blades.
Based on the somewhat negative reviews I had read on Aidan Gill, MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE could not have been any more to the contrary. I found their prices to be on par with most online retailers I've researched. And their approach to customer service was nowhere near pretentious as I was led to believe by so many of the online reviews. I travel to New Orleans on a very frequent basis. This will be one place I will visit each and every time I'm in the Big Easy!
My introductory thread:
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...uot-Where-in-the-heck-have-I-been-all-my-life
I travel quite a bit on business and found myself in New Orleans this week. A city that I've been coming to about a every other month or so over the course of the last two and a half decades. With my newfound shaving hobby, I figured I'd do a little research to see where I could find some cool shaving products. My research led me to Aidan Gill. They have a shop in the Garden District as well as a second shop adjacent to Harrah's Casino in the warehouse district.
I had read the reviews/articles/yelp surrounding Aidan Gill and the general consensus was that it was a pretentious/snooty place that was grossly overpriced with respect to their shaving products. So I went in prepared for this and essentially just wanted to see what they had on hand.
Much to my surprise, the experience was nothing like what I had read. I found the staff there to be extremely knowledgeable, helpful, not too pushy or hands on, and allowed me time to browse on my own. The store on Magazine Street was extremely well stocked with all the heavy hitter brands that I've read about online; Truefitt & Hill, Castle Forbes, Geo F Trumper, Mugsoreal, D R Harris, the list goes on and on. From my online research, I had a good idea of what many of these items would cost me were I to order them online. Much to my surprise, a good number of the products were same priced as online retailers and if they weren't, they certainly weren't more than a few bucks atop the internet 'norm' if you will. This sort of blew me away. I was able to hold and smell tons of the brands/scents that to date I had only read about online.
My haul at the Magazine Street store: Truefitt & Hill 1805 shaving cream, Truefitt & Hill 1805 aftershave balm, Castle Forbes Lime, Castle Forbes Lime aftershave, Aidan Gill preshave oil, Penhaligons Talc, Silvertip badger travel brush w/case.
After having lunch in the Garden District, my wife suggested we check out the store in the warehouse district. Truth be told, I think she just wanted to hit Harrah's Casino seeing as how it was across the street. We were met with the same great reception as their store on Magazine Street. Courteous, knowledgeable, and friendly staff eager to assist.
My haul at the warehouse district store: Geo F Trumper Sandalwood, Geo F Trumper Sandalwood Skin Food, Full size Silvertip badger brush, a Mason Pearson comb, and a pack of Gillette DE blades.
Based on the somewhat negative reviews I had read on Aidan Gill, MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE could not have been any more to the contrary. I found their prices to be on par with most online retailers I've researched. And their approach to customer service was nowhere near pretentious as I was led to believe by so many of the online reviews. I travel to New Orleans on a very frequent basis. This will be one place I will visit each and every time I'm in the Big Easy!
