Mailbag: Art of Shaving Lavendar Scented Shave Cream

Reader Sonny La Roma sent along this review of the "Art of Shaving" Lavendar Scented Shave Cream.

The Art of Shaving is a full service salon for men located in NYC as well as a few other cities including Las Vegas. The market their own skin and haircare products that are sold via their salons and thru Barney's as well.

I have been using their Lavendar Scented Shave Cream for the last 5 years and love it.

Major pros: High emolient content makes for a smooth and effortless shave. No drag at all on scalp. No nicks because of terrific glide factor. Lavendar scent is great.

Cons: A bit pricey. Standard tub is $22

Sounds nice.

Snarking the Fusion

In case my previous post on the Gillette Fusion wasn't snarky enough, the Independent chimes in with their own comments about the newly-announced razor system.

I don't know how much R & D went into Fusion, and P & G wishes it probably didn't. But I am sure it was a cast of thousands of highly trained razor boffins, and I am sure they examined every possible permutation of razor and chin before coming up with the genius idea: add another blade!

I have the feeling there will be many more cynical comments about the 5-blade Fusion soon.

Never enough blades

Until the 1970s, safety razors used a single blade. Then came the double-bladed cartridge razors, which carried us to the 90s. Then we got the 3-blade Gillette Mach 3. Then we got the 4-blade Schick Quattro.

Many people found the explosion in the number of blades to be rather silly. When the Mach 3 came out, there were lots of jokes about razors with a huge number of blades. Those jokes continued when the Quattro came out. Personally, I figured that the trend couldn't last too long, as there just isn't enough room to cram in a lot more blades without making the razor unwieldy. Surely, I thought, four blades would be the end of it.

Turns out I was wrong and the jokers were right. Gillette has announced a five-blade razor. It's called the Fusion, and they've put together a flashy little site to promote it. And there's plenty of early commentary about it as well.

It won't be available until early next year, and I'm sure there will be a big media blitz to alert us once it's available.

Odds are, I'll be trying one out when they're available, just so I can post a review of it. It's going to have to be pretty freaking amazing to get a good review, though. My cynicism meter's on high right now. I'm almost certain we'll soon see stories about new law suits, and then the announcement of a 6-blader with a laser-guidance system.

The power of 4

A couple of months back, Schick took Gillette to court over their advertising claims about the M3Power razor. The court ruled that Gillette's advertising was misleading, and ordered them to stop making certain claims in their ads.

Now that the Schick Quattro Power has been announced, they're starting their own advertising campaign. I haven't seen any TV ads yet, but a reader sent me a link to a promotional website: That's the Power of 4.

It's set up like an informercial. For those of you who thought that the M3Power's claims weren't exaggerated enough, Schick's got what you're looking for. Warning: Site contains Kato Kaelin.

Schick Quattro Power announced

Looks like Schick is joining Gillette in the 'stick a battery in your razor' club.

The Schick Quattro Power Razor is designed to reduce cut force and give a more comfortable shave, the company said. It will sell for around $10.99 for a razor kit, which includes a razor, cartridge, stand and a AAA battery.

Thus far, no word use of the word "micropulses".