Local Stores that carry wet shaving stuff

CVS here by my house carries Clubman AS, Burts Bees, Williams, and VDH. I love the clubman!

 

No blades at the grocery or drugstores here!

I moved from San Diego, CA about 3 years ago to Cebu, Philippines. While for the most part I love it there is certainly alot of adjusting required. Imagine my shock when I could not find any razor blades in the Supermarket checkout lines, not on the shelves nor at any of the Pharmacies or Personal care store selling makeup and mens cologne etc.! If I wanted a package of blades for my Trac III, the only way I could get them is to buy another Trac III. The stores here rarely carry any replacement blades. I go months without seeing any. So I have bought alot of handles and just get whatever blade I can find when they have them. So far it is mostly Vector Plus. For me a terrible blade. I have for the first time in my life a running battle with razor burn and bumps using these blades and sometimes the same blade for weeks or months.

I foundout why they don't sell many razors or blades here. Talking to my wife and observing my 4 grown brothers-in law and father in law. Philipinos here don't shave! Instead on a Saturday or Sunday they will go out in the sun with a handmirror and use a pair of tweezers to pluck out the few facial hairs they can find. Only a few have razors to trim a little mustache they might grow. They use the same blade for year or so. No wonder no space is wasted for shaving products. Women shave their legs more often than men shave and that is not very often or widely done either. Plucking is the thing mostly.

Just some interesting (for me) cultural information. Some cultural teasers...they also rarely have running hot water, toilet seats and frequently no toilet paper (in the toilets) although they buy alot of the later for other reasons. Think on that!!! Yet this is a country with one of the highest personal hygiene codes. Just different methods. And I'm still learning about many more little cultural differences. I know many of my Filipino family and friends are out there laughing their heads off at me right now about what I found so difficult to adjust to.

Well that just leaves the internet for me to buy shaving products. Going back to an old DE and have ordered several samples of DE blades. Unfortunatly, most shipping takes 4 to 6 weeks here the mail is really, really slow.

Sorry for the long rant. I probably should put this stuff in a blog instead.

 

EVer treid the Kife Center in College Park, MD Maj3289? Can get some good stuff there at reasonable prices.

 

"Harmon" they carry wilkinson sword blades ,Van Der Hagen soap, bowl, and brush.

 

I noticed yesterday that our local CVS carries Clubman aftershave and talc.

 

jbcohen, didn't know about it, thanks and will do.
getting my stuff locally is important to my experience of DE shaving.

 

a great way I've found is to go to websites like Yelp.com These site are public review and rating sites where you can rate everything from Restaurants and Bars to Salons and Barber Shops and everything else that can be reviewed and rated. I live near Chicago and "yelped" classic shave, barber shop, and straight shave. The results pulled up barber shops who you can call up and ask where they get their supplies or if they sell things there. You'd be surprised how rural these sites go. It's worth a try.

 

Anyone know where to get shaving supplies in Tulsa, OK. ? Help, help !

 

A post on another forum, made a few years back, noted the following in Utica Square shopping center at 21st Street and Utica:

Crabtree and Evelyn
Phone: 918-745-1108
Monday - Saturday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Closed Sunday

Bath and Body Works
Phone: 918-748-9353
Monday - Saturday
10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Sunday
Noon – 5 p.m

Ted's Pipe Shop
Phone: 918-742-4996
Monday - Friday
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Closed Sunday

And:

Ace Barber & Beauty Supply
3rd Street and Utica
Phone: 918-584-7040

Shoot, it looks like you have as many brick-and-mortar wetshaving suppliers near you as I have near me, and that is a lot.

In addition to the above, Is there a local Art of Shaving store? Failing that, Macy's carries a few Art of Shaving items, at least the one near me does. Cutlery shops often carry at least some wetshaving supplies, as well. You might try a few of these in your area.

Edit:

Not to mention all the online stores, which are only a few mouse clicks away, including:

• Shoebox Shaveshop
• Italian Barber
• Connaught Shaving
• Razor Blades & More
• Bullgoose Shaving
• Try a Blade

 

L'Occitane has a good number of stores around the world. They make L'Occitane Cade, one of my favorite soaps.

 

Truth.
I was in a mall for the first time in years picking up my new iPad Air 2(brag alert) at the Apple Store. I walked past both a L'Occitane and Art of Shaving.

 

Soft products are around. I find L'Occitane and Body Shop in a lot of malls near me. Bath Body Works of course. Some of the Targets near me have creamo (never tried it) and the nivea AS balm. Walmart has good prices on Old Spice and Aqua Velva AS, as well as creamo. If you have a Crabtree and Evelyn they have some stuff. Check your local high end barbers. You may overpay sometimes but one in my area carries TOBS and several of the normal places carry Clubman. I check every beauty supply place I run across and have found several clubman items, some Lucky Tiger, and a few others I haven't heard of. Bed Bath and Beyond only has good selections at certain bigger, newer stores. I found one once that had tons of stuff but cant remember where it was for the life of me. Also check any old pharmacy that isn't a chain. I found Wilkinson Sword blades and Williams mug soap at a couple. If you have an Ulta near you they have some AoS products.

The hardest thing to find is blades and brushes. L'Occitane has a nice synthetic brush for $30 that is getting harder to find and the VDH luxury kits at some walmarts have decent brushes but short of that you are struggling. You can get Personna blades made in isreal at some Krogers and I found the WS I mentioned earlier. The rest are suspect at best. I am lucky and have an actual barber supply place that has merkur safety razors, omega brushes, feather and personna blue blades, and proraso for only about 10% more than amazon prices.

 

Thanks shaver x ! I will be checking these out and will let you know what I found, most of the places mentioned are pretty close to one another

 

We just got our first Winco recently. They carry Williams, as well as an inexpensive Tea Tree Oil blend that makes a decent Pre Shave Oil.

 

I am fortunate to live 40 minutes from Adrian, MI (Maggard). I have long wondered why so many large cities don't have stores like that or Merz or Pastuer in NYC.

 

Not much in NE Indiana, CVS does carry Clubman aftershave and talc. Have been wanting to make a road trip to Maggards though.

 

Here in the southeast, Lowe's Foods has Israeli blades(labelled Top-Care, I believe) for around $1.50/10. They also carry some other things such as Williams soap. The blades seem similar to those at the big chain pharmacies, where they go for$7-8.

 

Whole foods usually has potassium alum deodorant sticks that are the same as shave blocks. $7-8 at mine for a 4.25 Oz stick

 

I know the only stores that sell wet shave products around here are the art of shaving and the navy exchange

 

Every drug, grocery and large box store like Walmart and Target I've ever been in carry wet shaving supplies. So do most truck stops and convenience stores.