Canadian lather

[PolsBirthday]

Hello all, I'm getting tired of ordering my soaps/creams online, does anyone know of a quality shaving soap that's available at the local drugstore? Walmart even? I've probably just been ignorant of my surroundings, but I don't get out much, so......

btw, I live in Canada, but there are a lot of the same stores for the U.S. folk

 

[Luc]

I haven't been in Walmart for a while but I think you can get the whole Proraso range at specific Jean Coutu... Are you looking for any kind of shaving soap/cream or Canadian made shaving soap/cream?

 

[PolsBirthday]

any kind is fine as far as I'm concerned, I've never tried a soap I didn't like.

 

[Luc]

Someone locally would be better than me to help you out. I would check Loblaws, I think they have good stuff in the Organic/natural section.

 

[RILEY]

I really like Nivea. I think its cool we can readily score it on drugstore shelves for 3 loonies.

 

[psychoshonen]

You can buy Proraso soap and cream at lots of Shoppers Drug Mart locations.

 

[Weryon]

you can buy proraso soap and cream at lots of shoppers drug mart locations.

+1

 

[Buck McFate]

If you're in Southern Ontario you can look in Shopper's Drug Mart for a pretty good selection of things: Real Shaving Company products (relatively inexpensive, quite effective and with a pleasant fragrance), Pro Rasa red and green, and the higher end stuff like Clarins for men, Shiseido, etc, though most of it seems pricey. They have the Neutrogena and Nivea lines, too. Be sure to look under the store's sneaky little flaps below each shelf to find the price. And avoid their only choice for DE blades, Gillette made in Russia, which are stupid expensive for 10, something like $14.95.

Most Holt Renfrew stores have Kiehls products -- they make a very rich soap that's probably worth the money (a fair amount).

L'Occitaine carries the Cade line, which has a nice solid soap that I found does well with DE shaving. The Cade stuff in the tube is not good with the brush (or the hand) and I found it very disappointing, but the hard soap is great.

If you can find a Crabtree and Evelyn in a mall near you, they have a number of soaps highlighting some pretty traditional fragrances if that's what you like, but they are really rich and provide a good shave. The Nomad line is pretty good.

If you can get to downtown Toronto you can look for Toronto Beauty and Barber Supply on the northwest corner of Bay and Dundas streets. He's really good for blades, at least. He has Merkur, Feather, Personna and sells the Merkur razors, though they aren't cheap. He seems kind of hip to the interest in DE and says he's trying to source new stuff. I can't tell you about any soaps or aftershaves there, though I suspect you might be dealing with a lot of alcohol. But if that doesn't bother you (and it looks like it's just fine with a lot of folks around this website), you can find Lilac Vegetal and some of the other Pinaud products there, too.

If you can find one, Main Drug Marts have the old Wilkinson Sword soaps in bowls and sometimes Wilkinson Sword Blades.

Lastly, Loblaws carries the Kiss My Face line in about four fragrances in the store's organic section. They're light and smooth and smell great.

Good hunting.

 

[Doc4]

Hello all, I'm getting tired of ordering my soaps/creams online, does anyone know of a quality shaving soap that's available at the local drugstore? Walmart even? I've probably just been ignorant of my surroundings, but I don't get out much, so......

btw, I live in Canada, but there are a lot of the same stores for the U.S. folk

You can probably find William's soap everywhere.

The selection of creams is much better than soaps when it comes to canadian B&Ms; London Drugs tends to carry much of the Proraso line.

 

[REB]

Are there any Canadian products we should try?

 

[scooby074]

Are there any Canadian products we should try?

JM Frasers. Probably the best cream ive used. Dont let the price fool you, its deceptively cheap for the quality. Ill also recommend Boosters aftershave. Both quality canadian made items.

PolsBirthday: All good advice so far. Shoppers for Prorasso and Real shaving. Carried right across the country.

Walmart for Wilkinson sword and Nivea (Florena) creams. Dont buy their DE blades though.

TBBS for Jm frasers cream and feather blades.

Theres a few other places in TO if you get there, a search on B&B will give you lots of options, like Trufitt and Hill (prices are high at their TO store, and the Atrium at Bay has a tobacco shop that carries shaving stuff, but when my father was there last month, he said the selection was lacking).

Theres also MensEssentials in Ottawa if you get that way.

Sally Beauty stores also carry some of the Clubman line, but no creams that i know of.

Art of Shave is becoming pretty easy to get as well. A search on their website will get you a local retailer.

 

[Doc4]

Are there any Canadian products we should try?

Aqua Velva "Original Sport" (the green one) aftershave is not a "canadian product" in the same sense as Booster, but you can't get it in the States and it's the best of the Velva aftershaves.

 

[stroppy]

TBBS for Jm frasers cream and feather blades.

Hey, I didn't know TBBS carried Feathers. You don't happen to know the price on them, do you?

Regards,

Les

 

[AdrianR]

Don't forget to read (or add to) the wiki articles for Canucks

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Canada_Shopping_-_City_Specific
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Canada_Shopping_and_Suppliers

 

[puzle]

in the Exchange Tower (downtown to) there is Sleuth & Statesmen that have lots of soaps and creams.

 

[scooby074]

Hey, I didn't know TBBS carried Feathers. You don't happen to know the price on them, do you?

Regards,

Les

Price was around 8$. Dont know if they have any more yet me and dad cleaned them out (I imagine they do , that was a couple months ago)

 

[scooby074]

Don't forget to read (or add to) the wiki articles for Canucks

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Canada_Shopping_-_City_Specific
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Canada_Shopping_and_Suppliers

Adrian, I have a thread here http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=83194 Thats sort of a list of places to buy here in NS.

I cant figure out how to put this info in your wiki pages. THe thread is kind of all over the place so putting it in the wiki would help to organize. If you want to do that it would be great (or post here on how to add it and ill do it). I tried clicking on "edit " in the wiki under halifax but it didnt look right.

 

[toucanlamp]

You can probably find some decent stuff if you look hard, but I've almost always found that when you find some popular product on here in a barber shop or store etc. you are going to be paying a fortune for it, ie. they had a Merkur Futur at some shop in the mall for $139.99 and TOBS creams for 44.99 per tub.

You can get basic stuff to make do like Proraso - blades is a different story, DE blades in the grocery store are retardedly priced, like a dollar per blade for the personna kind of blades.

I don't see how you would get tired from online shopping, it's the only kind that doesn't require you to go anywhere! I've bought pretty much all my stuff from the online store Fendrihan and I don't think anyone knows of any Canadian retailers that have anything like that selection for anywhere near the prices.

Stores just aren't a good place because maybe 0.1%, probably less, of men still shave with a DE razor and brush. It just isn't economical for them to carry much because it sits on the shelves forever. And, when the sales volume is so low, the only way they can justify it is with really high margins.

 

[Suzuki]

The only decent place I've found for hardware is TBBS - decent selection of DEs, Brushes, some straights and strops and blades - all at reasonable prices, but still higher than most e-tailers. They also have the full line of Booster and Fraser creams, as well as a small selection of Clubman products - again at good prices.

In terms of software, Shoppers Drug Mart is great - Proraso soaps, creams, Omega brushes, AV, The Real Shaving Company line and a good selection of aftershaves. They also have some good facial products and a nice aftershave gel and balm as well.

Ethnic grocers may also be a good source of some products.

Another shop is the Highland Farm store at Dufferin and Steels - Proraso and Omega products (full range) at good prices. They also sell the big bottles of all of the AV products available in Canada (original, musk and the excellent original sport).

The other B&M stores are typically only found in larger cities and I've found them very expensive - especially on the hardware. If you catch a sale, they're not so bad, but retail prices are often 50% higher than etailers.

Hope this helps.