Look what just landed at Trader Joe's

Great points T-bone, I was being a little narrow minded but I do think if people have a good experience the first time they try something they are more likely to want to repeat the experience.

Hrfdez, I got my son into wet shaving a few years back and he's now a dedicated brush and DE blade man. He uses decent products - I'm not sure he would have stuck with it if I'd given him inferior products. I think his generation (21 yrs old) is reviving traditional manliness in lots of things not just shaving, have a look at www.artofmanliness.com which I learned about from my son. I wish I had something like that when I was growing up, I had to figure it out the hard way. Bogart movies. Being a father is a hard job and there is a lot of information,knowledge and traditions we have to pass on to our sons and daughters too. Hard part is we don't always have the answers ourselves depending on our own upbringing so I look at resources like artofmanliness as part of the village required to raise our sons into fine young men. It helps me be a better man even in middle age. I'm not perfect but I'm moving in that direction. Another 100 years or so and I figure I'll be there
Mark

Great points T-bone, I was being a little narrow minded but I do think if people have a good experience the first time they try something they are more likely to want to repeat the experience.  

Hrfdez, I got my son into wet shaving a few years back and he's now a dedicated brush and DE blade man.  He uses decent products - I'm not sure he would have stuck with it if I'd given him inferior products.  I think his generation (21 yrs old) is reviving traditional manliness in lots of things not just shaving, have a look at www.artofmanliness.com which I learned about from my son.  I wish I had something like that when I was growing up, I had to figure it out the hard way.  Bogart movies.  Being a father is a hard job and there is a lot of information,knowledge and traditions we have to pass on to our sons and daughters too.  Hard part is we don't always have the answers ourselves depending on our own upbringing so I look at resources like artofmanliness as part of the village required to raise our sons into fine young men.  It helps me be a better man even in middle age.  I'm not perfect but I'm moving in that direction. Another 100 years or so and I figure I'll be there
Mark

I see what you mean, makes sense.

Busta has a review of this kit...

https://youtu.be/yitfQgy3Nc4

After listening to the video it seems like a safe bet for $10. Might have to try it just for the heck of it.

I don't know, I wish Busta would have just come out and said "don't waste your money" because that's what it seemed like he was thinking. To me, you could spend less than double the price of that kit and be light years ahead in terms of performance of the soap and brush. That "soap" looked pretty bad. Just my 2 cents...

I bought this same soap and balm under a different brand name at my local Dollar Store. It's a yogurty type runny cream that won't lather. It's Chinese made garbage. The balm is terrible also. it's pretty greasy, and won't soak in. I'm glad I only paid 2 bucks for both.

Clayton

I don't know, I wish Busta would have just come out and said "don't waste your money" because that's what it seemed like he was thinking. To me, you could spend less than double the price of that kit and be light years ahead in terms of performance of the soap and brush. That "soap" looked pretty bad. Just my 2 cents...

Jeff, that was my thought, as a well. Can you imagine the difference between that kit and some of the quality reasonably priced products our merchants sell.

What makes this sad is that Trader Joe's is known for quality reasonably priced products and I think a lot of first timers will be very disappointed and go no farther. Assuming the two reviews here will reflect an overall concensus then I hope T.J's rethinks this. It may only be a holiday product, though, and then simply disappear from their shelves.

I don't know, I wish Busta would have just come out and said "don't waste your money" because that's what it seemed like he was thinking. To me, you could spend less than double the price of that kit and be light years ahead in terms of performance of the soap and brush. That "soap" looked pretty bad. Just my 2 cents...

Jeff, that was my thought, as a well. Can you imagine the difference between that kit and some of the quality reasonably priced products our merchants sell.

What makes this sad is that Trader Joe's is known for quality reasonably priced products and I think a lot of first timers will be very disappointed and go no farther. Assuming the two reviews here will reflect an overall concensus then I hope T.J's rethinks this. It may only be a holiday product, though, and then simply disappear from their shelves.

^This was another point I wanted to make as well. It would be a shame if this was somebody's first foray into proper wet shaving and they decided to continue with canned goop based on their experience with these subpar products.

Worst case this is the gateway drug that gets more folks into traditional wet shaving. If TJ's had nothing on their shelves they'd be doing nothing to spark interest in anyone's mind about the possibility that there could be something better out there. To my way of thinking this is one more step towards seeing a lot of the products we love on large retailers shelves.

You guys will never guess what I got for Christmas. LOL!