My wife and I just returned from a trip to France. We intended to stay 21 days but our stay was extended because Hurricane Sandy resulted in us being rerouted from Newark Airport to Dulles, in Virginia.
By way of background, the last time I was in Europe was about six years ago when I spent some time in Italy and a few days in Nice and Cannes. Shopping for various shaving products proved to be a lot different today than six years ago. The value of the dollar has declined significantly in the last few years and U.S. currency does not go far. Coupled with a VAT tax of 19.6%, many French shaving products are very expensive. Also, my last visit was before I joined B&B and to quote my wife became a shaving fanatic.
One surprise was that I could find witch hazel in only a few pharmacy stores and one of two natural health stores. Plus, the selection of DE razor blades is minimal. It seems that the Gillette cart razors are the razors of choice.
In Paris we visited three large department stores: Printemps, Gallery LaFayette, and Bon Marche. The first thing that strikes you about Paris department stores is their massive size. I have never seen stores as large as these and I spent more than 35 years in the retail industry in the U.S. Plus, each one had a separate store for men. The clothing and accessory sections in each store is simply incredible.
Printemps was the only department store to have extensive mens shaving section. The store had a number of straight razors, one or two DE razors (Merkur and EJ) and quite a few lines of soaps and creams including MdC, GFT, TOBS, T&H, etc. However, the AS fragrance selection was VERY extensive. Gallery LaFayette had little in the way of shaving supplies but did have an extensive AS and fragrance section.
I could not find any shaving supplies in Bon Marche but did find an incredible fountain pen department. Brands such as Mont Blanc, Parker, Waterman, Pelican, Pilot, and Caran dAche. In fact, one entire cabinet was dedicated to Caran dAche pens with some costing over $800. The most incredible pen, however, was a Graf Von Faber Castel solid gold fountain pen costing just under $5,000.
One place where bargains abound is in the Carrefour market. Thanks to some recommendations from B&B members I picked up some Monsavon shaving soap and Williams shaving cream. The soap cost less than $4. My first try with the Monsavon soap was not the best. I used a HIS synthetic brush which did not produce a rich or thick lather. However, when I switched to my T&H travel brush (a combo of badger and bristle) the lather became excellent. I ended up buying all the soaps on hand: four! Obviously, Frenchmen don't use this soap that much if the amount of shelf space is any indication. The creams had even less space allocated - four inches wide. There were two tubes of Williams and Palmolive. The cost was less than $2 each. Having tried Palmolive in the past and having a few tubes in reserve, I opted for the Williams. Williams produced a great lather. On a Sunday I made a superlather of Monsavon and Williams and the results were outstanding.
We also visited a perfumeuer in Grasse: Fragonard. There we toured the facility and learned how soaps, fragrances, and aftershaves are made. The aftershaves are made as a balm but the scent stays with you for hours. In my opinion, the quality was the best I have ever experienced. Unfortunately, they don't ship to the US but I understand they have a store in NYC. I ended up buying two aftershaves to meet my wife's purchase of two perfumes. Plus, we bought many bath soaps. French bath and body soaps are incredibly good. Even the inexpensive soaps we bought at Carrefour were superb.
Badger shaving brushes are readily available at stores that carry shaving supplies. However, animal products have been phased out of many French products. At Franganord the person giving the tour said that only vegetable products now are used in their products. I asked why they stopped using animal products and she admitted that various religious and animal rights groups put pressure on them to make these changes. Much to my surprise she admitted that the soap products were 'almost as good' as when they were made from tallow but that the political pressure was so great they had to make the changes.
By way of background, the last time I was in Europe was about six years ago when I spent some time in Italy and a few days in Nice and Cannes. Shopping for various shaving products proved to be a lot different today than six years ago. The value of the dollar has declined significantly in the last few years and U.S. currency does not go far. Coupled with a VAT tax of 19.6%, many French shaving products are very expensive. Also, my last visit was before I joined B&B and to quote my wife became a shaving fanatic.
One surprise was that I could find witch hazel in only a few pharmacy stores and one of two natural health stores. Plus, the selection of DE razor blades is minimal. It seems that the Gillette cart razors are the razors of choice.
In Paris we visited three large department stores: Printemps, Gallery LaFayette, and Bon Marche. The first thing that strikes you about Paris department stores is their massive size. I have never seen stores as large as these and I spent more than 35 years in the retail industry in the U.S. Plus, each one had a separate store for men. The clothing and accessory sections in each store is simply incredible.
Printemps was the only department store to have extensive mens shaving section. The store had a number of straight razors, one or two DE razors (Merkur and EJ) and quite a few lines of soaps and creams including MdC, GFT, TOBS, T&H, etc. However, the AS fragrance selection was VERY extensive. Gallery LaFayette had little in the way of shaving supplies but did have an extensive AS and fragrance section.
I could not find any shaving supplies in Bon Marche but did find an incredible fountain pen department. Brands such as Mont Blanc, Parker, Waterman, Pelican, Pilot, and Caran dAche. In fact, one entire cabinet was dedicated to Caran dAche pens with some costing over $800. The most incredible pen, however, was a Graf Von Faber Castel solid gold fountain pen costing just under $5,000.
One place where bargains abound is in the Carrefour market. Thanks to some recommendations from B&B members I picked up some Monsavon shaving soap and Williams shaving cream. The soap cost less than $4. My first try with the Monsavon soap was not the best. I used a HIS synthetic brush which did not produce a rich or thick lather. However, when I switched to my T&H travel brush (a combo of badger and bristle) the lather became excellent. I ended up buying all the soaps on hand: four! Obviously, Frenchmen don't use this soap that much if the amount of shelf space is any indication. The creams had even less space allocated - four inches wide. There were two tubes of Williams and Palmolive. The cost was less than $2 each. Having tried Palmolive in the past and having a few tubes in reserve, I opted for the Williams. Williams produced a great lather. On a Sunday I made a superlather of Monsavon and Williams and the results were outstanding.
We also visited a perfumeuer in Grasse: Fragonard. There we toured the facility and learned how soaps, fragrances, and aftershaves are made. The aftershaves are made as a balm but the scent stays with you for hours. In my opinion, the quality was the best I have ever experienced. Unfortunately, they don't ship to the US but I understand they have a store in NYC. I ended up buying two aftershaves to meet my wife's purchase of two perfumes. Plus, we bought many bath soaps. French bath and body soaps are incredibly good. Even the inexpensive soaps we bought at Carrefour were superb.
Badger shaving brushes are readily available at stores that carry shaving supplies. However, animal products have been phased out of many French products. At Franganord the person giving the tour said that only vegetable products now are used in their products. I asked why they stopped using animal products and she admitted that various religious and animal rights groups put pressure on them to make these changes. Much to my surprise she admitted that the soap products were 'almost as good' as when they were made from tallow but that the political pressure was so great they had to make the changes.
