The Art of Shaving turned shaving into a ritual.

The Art of Shaving is a lesson in turning a chore into a ritual. It was founded in 1996 in New York by the married couple Eric Malka and Myriam Zaoui, who also wrote a 2002 book of the same name. Their idea was to elevate wet shaving into a considered, luxurious, apothecary-style experience — the opposite of a rushed cartridge shave.

The brand’s signature is its trademarked education system, “The 4 Elements of the Perfect Shave”: Prepare (pre-shave oil), Lather (rich shaving cream, badger brush), Shave (with the grain), and Moisturise (after-shave balm). Its scents — Sandalwood (the flagship), Lavender and Unscented — and its Barber Spa in-store shaving experience (the “Royal Shave” by a master barber) made the ritual tangible.

The Art of Shaving was acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2009, entering P&G’s grooming/Gillette orbit (P&G had bought Gillette separately in 2005). (Honest notes: it is an American brand founded in New York (though its founders were French- and Moroccan-born), and both are co-founders — not just Malka; the P&G acquisition was 2009, distinct from the Gillette deal (2005); its physical stores have essentially closed — P&G began shutting them in 2020 and the last standalone store closed in early 2024, so it now survives mainly as a product line, not a mall-store chain; and no official brand hex is published. Note too that P&G later also acquired Bevel (2018), so it owns both a luxury-heritage and a Black-men’s shaving brand.)

The Art of Shaving lives in an amber-and-black apothecary palette. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

The Art of Shaving’s identity is luxurious, classic and apothecary — an apothecary black, a warm cream, an amber glass, a walnut wood, and an aged brass. The palette reads like a heritage barber’s cabinet: amber bottles, dark wood, brass fixtures and aged-label cream. It signals a considered, premium shaving ritual rather than convenience. The honest caveat: with no published brand hex, these tones are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is an amber-and-black palette signals luxury apothecary ritual. The Art of Shaving’s world reads as warm and premium. For designers, it is a reminder that amber-glass and walnut tones with brass accents, on cream, evoke a heritage apothecary and a slowed-down ritual, matching a brand built on the 4 Elements. The takeaways: use amber, wood and brass for apothecary luxury; slow the palette down to match a ritual; and treat any single hex as unofficial when there is no published spec.

The wordmark spirit is an apothecary serif — classic and refined.

The Art of Shaving’s identity carries a classic, refined, apothecary spirit — a “The Art of Shaving” wordmark whose elegant forms match a luxury wet-shaving house. An apothecary serif captures the mood: it is traditional and considered, the register of a heritage barber and a shaving ritual rather than convenience. Set against an amber-and-black palette, the apothecary serif feels premium and timeless — exactly the 4-Elements, Barber-Spa personality the brand carries. It is classic rather than modern, mirroring a slowed-down ritual. (The Art of Shaving’s real wordmark is a trademark we describe but do not reproduce, and the exact typeface is not something we assert.) Because the specific mark is not ours to use, the honest description is “an apothecary serif spirit,” not the Art of Shaving logo. The type behaves like the brand: classic, refined and apothecary.

The Art of Shaving stands for the ritual.

The Art of Shaving is a lesson in selling a ritual, not just products. By codifying wet shaving into the 4 Elements and teaching it — in a book, in Barber Spas, through a master-barber “Royal Shave” — it turned a daily chore into a considered, premium experience, and made itself the authority on how to shave well. That education-and-ritual position is why it commanded luxury prices and P&G’s attention, even as the retail stores later closed. The ritual, more than any single cream, is the brand.

For designers and brand-builders, The Art of Shaving offers a clear takeaway: codifying and teaching a ritual can define a premium brand. The lessons: turn a routine into a named system (the 4 Elements) you can teach and own; use experiences (a Barber Spa) to make the ritual real; and let education build authority. It is also a reminder to keep the facts honest: The Art of Shaving was founded in 1996 in New York by Eric Malka and Myriam Zaoui, is built on the trademarked 4 Elements, has been P&G-owned since 2009, and now survives mainly as a product line after its stores closed — with the palette here an unofficial interpretation. The Art of Shaving sold the ritual — proof that a ritual can be the difference.

Keep The Art of Shaving’s identity on hand — save it to a board in the Made Good inspiration library.