BREAKING NEWS: The Art of Shaving has been acquired by Proctor & Gamble. Read more in AdAge if you're interested. 

File under "Things that make you go hmmm..."

Last week, we announced a new feature called Gotta See It -- our attempt to highlight products that are virtually impossible to do justice...virtually. In my eagerness to post something about the amazing Australian Saltwater Hornback Crocodile Belt, I didn't consider the possibility that I might want to write about how something smelled rather than just how it looked. 

So in just our second edition of "Gotta See It", we're instead promoting a "Gotta Smell It" product. Specifically, The Art of Shaving's Lemon scented Eau de Toilette.

Perhaps it escaped my attention because it was released months after their Sandalwood fragrance. Perhaps I didn't think I would like it despite the fact that I have used - and enjoyed - the lemon-scented Pre-Shave Oil and Shaving Cream. Regardless, a customer in the store sprayed a little of the Lemon in the air, and mentioned how much he liked it. I came over and hit myself with a little sample, and I must say, it had a really nice fragrance; definitely not as lemon-y as I would have thought.

Obviously, $70 is a decent chunk of change to spend on a cologne you've never smelled. But if you pop into an Art of Shaving store, I would highly recommend you try it out...and then buy it from us to save the sales tax ;-)

How much do you want to bet that "the guy who has everything" does not have a Sterling Silver Razor Set? Does he really need a $2K+ razor set? That's beside the point -- the premise is that even the guy who has everything doesn't really have everything. More broadly, one rule of thumb

Within the umbrella of our Men's Grooming department, you can pretty much divide the products up into 3 categories: grooming tools (razors, badger brushes, etc.), grooming products (shave creams, aftershave balms, etc.), and kits/gift sets (travel kits, starter kits, etc.). Today, we'll focus on grooming tools which includes razors, brushes, and razor & brush sets.

Buying grooming products for a gentleman should be pretty well restricted to mothers or wives/partners buying for him. His executive assistant or fraternity brother from college buying it for him will only telegraph the fact that he is dirty and he stinks. Then again, perhaps that's a message needs to hear. Instead, focus on grooming tools or kits.

Grooming tools are definitely the most popular men's grooming gift for a couple reasons:

1. Considering the number of times a man will shave in his life (let's assume 4x a week from 18-68 for nice round numbers and you get 10,400 shaves). Anything that makes a daily ritual more enjoyable is a welcome gift. 
2. He will be reminded daily of you and your gift, and with a razor or brush, it will last for years, if not decades.
   
3. Grooming tools are very masculine. Just the word "badger" in "badger brush" evokes imagery of Neanderthal man hunting down the little creatures for their precious hairs and then affixing them to a piece of wood with tree sap to improve his daily shave.
   
4. Chances are he's using the razor that came with the blades at the drug store where he bought it. He probably doesn't own a badger brush, and if he has had one, he can probably use a new one (a life in the bathroom will take its toll eventually).
   

Grooming kits are a great way to introduce him to a new brand, or to new products, but we'll make that case another day. Our assortment of some of the best grooming products & tools in the world can be found here...

Every week it gets more painful to fill up at the pump. With most commodities at all-time highs, there might be some comfort in having the ability to buy oil for $30 or less. The only catch is that it's not quite a "barrel". I started using a pre-shave oil about five years ago and I must say that it has revolutionized my shaving experience. Every man has those days when no matter how careful their preparations, they still have a painful shave. But most ingrown hairs, shaving irritations, redness, and renegade whiskers can all be tamed by simply using a dime-sized dab of pre-shave oil. For those of you who did not have a debonair grandfather or father to show you the secret to a perfect shave, let me recap...[Read More]

Gentlemen -- our faithful readers, customers, and fans -- we have let you down. It is now November 26th, and we are just getting around to telling you about MOVEMBER! The truth is, we were warned a couple weeks back, but we honestly thought it was just a grooming company's ploy to sell more products. Turns out, it's a real movement aimed at increasing awareness of prostate cancer.

What is Movember? Well, "Mo" is Australian slang for moustache, and so Movember begins on November 1st, when a "Mo Bro" registers his clean shaven face. He then spends the month growing (and grooming) his Mo. The month culminates in a Movember party, currently scheduled for 7 cities. If all goes well, we'll be hosting one next year in San Francisco!

Why the need? According to their site (and who are we to argue), prostate cancer is the most common non-skin cancer in the U.S. with one in six American men developing the disease and 27,000 men dying of the disease every year.

Spend a couple minutes on the official Movember website, and we suspect we'll see you growin' a Mo next year with us!