PAA General Thoughts?

BadDad is right. The moment you mention PAA as a reviewer, legions of trolls suddenly surface from the underworld, intent on dragging you down into the muck of rumor and hearsay.

Anybody that doesn't believe this?  Go make a thread on reddit and see what happens.  If anybody does make sure and give me a link to it.  Hours of straight comedy.  

Sadly this is true, ironically it drives so much traffic a day to our site! So thanks reddit.

I will say it odd that people call my ethics into question have us on the "bad gear" list...I have never sold bad gear and would never, ever do that. Oddly again, this bad gear list has a LEGAL disclaimer claiming it is edited by the community, thus freeing them from any backlash...yet, if you look at the "history" of the wiki, you will see it's been locked for almost a year (11 months). Yet one guys who has been making edits has had access to it recently as of 9 months ago. ethical?

I admit I made a lot of dumb mistakes in the beginning and I have apologized for what I actually did...never for the wacky bs I was accused of. I was excited and learning as I went. A fine example is my ingredient label for my 1.0 formula that was called into question in a certain forum. But we had caught that error long before that was posted, the op had the old label...i don't even think he bought it from us but it was given to him. Ingredients were out of order, however they were all in my soap. By this time 1.5 was already out and the ingredients in proper order. So by the time it was posted it was a moot point. I did respond to that post as soon as I was aware of it on pg 4 of that thread(within 24 hrs)...but seldom do people get that far it seems. I also did interview myself years ago too...that was dumb. At the time, htgam, the blog was new and I was writing 3 articles a day trying to beef it up with content. I had already reviewed many other artisans and done some interviews...I figured lets give Fran's PPF a spot. Mind you, we were not on anyone's radar and htgam was not selling anything at the time. I thought it was humorous, I now realize how incredibly dumb it was and would never go there again. Anyways, time went buy and I forgot all about it...until i was reminded. I'm still embarrassed by that and deeply sorry for that. My excitement for Fran's soap and a desire for a fat blog at the time got the better of me.

So again, I made some bad decisions and I own them. I never wanted to be a bad guy or be perceived as evil, controversial or nefarious...my mom still loves me and I try to be a good human, especially when I have such a love and passion for wet shaving and the community. Since day one PAA has been nothing buy clear and transparent in all we do in an effort to show folks we learn from our mistakes. People make mistakes, it's a given. We just ask for forgiveness just like anyone else if we offended anyone. We also welcome PMs, emails, phone calls, smoke signals, etc, with questions or concerns. We intentionally make ourselves very easy to contact.

Thanks again for a chance to hopefully provide some clarification!
D

I believe that this deserves saying:

No matter what has been tossed at Douglass, be it accusations, insinuations, or simply trying to discredit him as an artisan, I have never seen him respond with anything other than respect, and responsibility.

What I mean is...when questions and accusations have been based on a legitimate situation(such as the labels and self-interview), he has immediately OWNED those issues, apologized for it, and made the necessary adjustments to remedy the situation. This is HUGE for a vendor.

What is even bigger is this: no matter what accusations have been hurled and directed at him, and no matter who has thrown those accusations at him, he has NEVER responded in kind. He has always conducted himself in a respectable manner in one of two ways...providing the FACTUAL scenario for anyone interested to read through and decipher themselves(such as the veteran's group on facebook), or to completely disregard the accusations as troll fodder, which it is...

CaD314 , I believe the manner with which you have conducted yourself over the last 4 years of ridiculousness speaks volumes to your character. I like and use your products based on their own performance merit, but your character has made me a fan beyond the performance.

I just thought that deserved being mentioned. Of course, this is merely my perception and opinion, so feel free to disregard it as you see fit, IF you see fit...some things will never change, and I am aware of that, so...there's that...

BadDad is right. The moment you mention PAA as a reviewer, legions of trolls suddenly surface from the underworld, intent on dragging you down into the muck of rumor and hearsay.

Anybody that doesn't believe this?  Go make a thread on reddit and see what happens.  If anybody does make sure and give me a link to it.  Hours of straight comedy.  

Sadly this is true, ironically it drives so much traffic a day to our site! So thanks reddit.

I will say it odd that people call my ethics into question have us on the "bad gear" list...I have never sold bad gear and would never, ever do that. Oddly again, this bad gear list has a LEGAL disclaimer claiming it is edited by the community, thus freeing them from any backlash...yet, if you look at the "history" of the wiki, you will see it's been locked for almost a year (11 months). Yet one guys who has been making edits has had access to it recently as of 9 months ago. ethical?

I admit I made a lot of dumb mistakes in the beginning and I have apologized for what I actually did...never for the wacky bs I was accused of. I was excited and learning as I went. A fine example is my ingredient label for my 1.0 formula that was called into question in a certain forum. But we had caught that error long before that was posted, the op had the old label...i don't even think he bought it from us but it was given to him. Ingredients were out of order, however they were all in my soap. By this time 1.5 was already out and the ingredients in proper order. So by the time it was posted it was a moot point. I did respond to that post as soon as I was aware of it on pg 4 of that thread(within 24 hrs)...but seldom do people get that far it seems. I also did interview myself years ago too...that was dumb. At the time, htgam, the blog was new and I was writing 3 articles a day trying to beef it up with content. I had already reviewed many other artisans and done some interviews...I figured lets give Fran's PPF a spot. Mind you, we were not on anyone's radar and htgam was not selling anything at the time. I thought it was humorous, I now realize how incredibly dumb it was and would never go there again. Anyways, time went buy and I forgot all about it...until i was reminded. I'm still embarrassed by that and deeply sorry for that. My excitement for Fran's soap and a desire for a fat blog at the time got the better of me.

So again, I made some bad decisions and I own them. I never wanted to be a bad guy or be perceived as evil, controversial or nefarious...my mom still loves me and I try to be a good human, especially when I have such a love and passion for wet shaving and the community. Since day one PAA has been nothing buy clear and transparent in all we do in an effort to show folks we learn from our mistakes. People make mistakes, it's a given. We just ask for forgiveness just like anyone else if we offended anyone. We also welcome PMs, emails, phone calls, smoke signals, etc, with questions or concerns. We intentionally make ourselves very easy to contact.

Thanks again for a chance to hopefully provide some clarification!
D

I dont think you realize how bad your customers and the shaving community as a whole needed this exact post from you. It was written with empathy, compassion, humor aimed at yourself, and what I consider a true apology. I saw your self inflicted wounds crumble what you built. I have been openly critical of you in the past, but this is me being openly appreciative of you coming to terms with past mistakes and looking to the future having learned from them.

When this thread first started, PAA is always a easy dogpile to jump in on and I thought you showed great maturity and restraint from jumping in and, well, being the old you.

Apology accepted. I may consider owning a PAA product again after years of avoidance.

Anybody that doesn't believe this?  Go make a thread on reddit and see what happens.  If anybody does make sure and give me a link to it.  Hours of straight comedy.  

Sadly this is true, ironically it drives so much traffic a day to our site! So thanks reddit.

I will say it odd that people call my ethics into question have us on the "bad gear" list...I have never sold bad gear and would never, ever do that. Oddly again, this bad gear list has a LEGAL disclaimer claiming it is edited by the community, thus freeing them from any backlash...yet, if you look at the "history" of the wiki, you will see it's been locked for almost a year (11 months). Yet one guys who has been making edits has had access to it recently as of 9 months ago. ethical?

I admit I made a lot of dumb mistakes in the beginning and I have apologized for what I actually did...never for the wacky bs I was accused of. I was excited and learning as I went. A fine example is my ingredient label for my 1.0 formula that was called into question in a certain forum. But we had caught that error long before that was posted, the op had the old label...i don't even think he bought it from us but it was given to him. Ingredients were out of order, however they were all in my soap. By this time 1.5 was already out and the ingredients in proper order. So by the time it was posted it was a moot point. I did respond to that post as soon as I was aware of it on pg 4 of that thread(within 24 hrs)...but seldom do people get that far it seems. I also did interview myself years ago too...that was dumb. At the time, htgam, the blog was new and I was writing 3 articles a day trying to beef it up with content. I had already reviewed many other artisans and done some interviews...I figured lets give Fran's PPF a spot. Mind you, we were not on anyone's radar and htgam was not selling anything at the time. I thought it was humorous, I now realize how incredibly dumb it was and would never go there again. Anyways, time went buy and I forgot all about it...until i was reminded. I'm still embarrassed by that and deeply sorry for that. My excitement for Fran's soap and a desire for a fat blog at the time got the better of me.

So again, I made some bad decisions and I own them. I never wanted to be a bad guy or be perceived as evil, controversial or nefarious...my mom still loves me and I try to be a good human, especially when I have such a love and passion for wet shaving and the community. Since day one PAA has been nothing buy clear and transparent in all we do in an effort to show folks we learn from our mistakes. People make mistakes, it's a given. We just ask for forgiveness just like anyone else if we offended anyone. We also welcome PMs, emails, phone calls, smoke signals, etc, with questions or concerns. We intentionally make ourselves very easy to contact.

Thanks again for a chance to hopefully provide some clarification!
D

I dont think you realize how bad your customers and the shaving community as a whole needed this exact post from you. It was written with empathy, compassion, humor aimed at yourself, and what I consider a true apology. I saw your self inflicted wounds crumble what you built. I have been openly critical of you in the past, but this is me being openly appreciative of you coming to terms with past mistakes and looking to the future having learned from them.

When this thread first started, PAA is always a easy dogpile to jump in on and I thought you showed great maturity and restraint from jumping in and, well, being the old you.

Apology accepted. I may consider owning a PAA product again after years of avoidance.

Thank you sir!
Apparently I needed to say this here. Thank you, it means a lot!
Cheers
D

Can I place my next order via smoke signal?

If you can pull that off Sir I will gladly honor that with free shipping by me...pony express!

I saw anise and I couldn't do it lol.  I think sandre de drago has oud in it.  They have another oud scent also I think.  I haven't tried any new formulations from PAA though other than Crown King which I thought was freaking awesome.

Oh it has plenty of Anise scent man, Anise and Licorice.

I have my sights on the Sangre de Drago. Ouds man, love it.

Did you ever try any Oud scents from PAA? I have now tried Sangre de Drago, Coconut Oud, Enigma Machine, and Oud Spice. I can tell you that if you like Oud you have to try all of those because they are all awesome. There is also an Orange and Oud scent. I just bought the aftershave cologne samples for $1.00 each. You can get up to 9 for $1.50 shipping, and I think it goes up to $3.00 after 9.

Just the Sangre De Drago. Wow Orange and Oud? that sounds very intriguing.. Hopefully they have balms of this. I'm a balm guy and I'm listing of all this for my next purchase. Thanks mate!

Oh it has plenty of Anise scent man, Anise and Licorice.

I have my sights on the Sangre de Drago. Ouds man, love it.

Did you ever try any Oud scents from PAA? I have now tried Sangre de Drago, Coconut Oud, Enigma Machine, and Oud Spice. I can tell you that if you like Oud you have to try all of those because they are all awesome. There is also an Orange and Oud scent. I just bought the aftershave cologne samples for $1.00 each. You can get up to 9 for $1.50 shipping, and I think it goes up to $3.00 after 9.

Just the Sangre De Drago. Wow Orange and Oud? that sounds very intriguing.. Hopefully they have balms of this.  I'm a balm guy and I'm listing of all this for my next purchase. Thanks mate!

They have Sangre De Drago and the Coconut and Oud in balms, but I don't think the orange.

Hey guys,
Orange Spice and Oud shall return at a later date! I appreciate the interest!
D

Hi CaD314 nice to see you posting, thanks for the information on your aftershaves.  Your soaps and aftershaves were one of my earliest in my wet shaving adventure, under the old branding and I have a few PAAs as well.  I love The Beach and your Bay Rum, after shaves too.  When did your version 3.0 come out and are all of your soaps that version now?  I might have to update a few favourites although, I'm not having any problem with whichever version I'm using.
Thanks,
Marko

Hey guys,
Orange Spice and Oud shall return at a later date! I appreciate the interest!
D

Good to hear. I still haven't tried that one.

Hey guys,
Orange Spice and Oud shall return at a later date! I appreciate the interest!
D

Sweet, will there be a balm for us to try?