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Hair gel: $4-6
Anti-perspirant: $3-5
Cologne: $7-12
Hair shampoo: $3-5
Body "gel" (the liquid thingy you use instead of soap, don't know how it's called): $3-5
I think you can get decent dress shirts (at least business casual dress shirts) shirts for a little less; v-neck undershirts for far less ($10-$12 ea.); and decent khakis for less if you look around. The days of decent work shoes under $150 are probably gone; I'd up that # to $150-$200, and I haven't found anything even at that price point that I'd wear in quite a while.
Hair gel? I think better hair care products (e.g., American Crew) in the $15-$20 range are well worth the price. A tiny can lasts for months and the look is so much more natural than gel. Easy to save up that $20 by ditching the cheap cologne and body wash and just using plain old soap to keep yourself clean and fresh.
My husband badly needed some new clothes, and we just bought most of these things. Our budget meant that he could shop at Macy's and Carson's, a regional department store. (Better than Sears or JCPenney, not as nice as Nordstrom overall, although some of the brands were the same.) My husband used to work for a custom clothier, one who made legitimately beautiful (and expensive) clothes for men, so he is very critical about how things are made. It's been hard for him to shop at regular places, but we're pretty happy with what he ended up choosing.
I posted a while back about flat-front pants, so for you regulars who still read this forum, he finally got them! I think what happened was that the first few he tried on were all wrong (Express's pants are just too skinny), so he assumed he couldn't wear them. They look great! And they make boxer briefs that fit more snugly, and that helped too.
I left out "blazer" because we didn't need one of those. He has a nice one that I think was around $150 on sale from Jos. A. Bank. All this stuff below is not on sale--sale prices could be much lower. My husband has sworn never to wear khakis again in his life so I didn't even look at those, and he does not wear ties, so I left those out as well. We have not visited any mall/boutique stores or outlets yet.
Hair gel: $10 (I agree about using nicer stuff, like American Crew, on your hair)
Deodorant/anti-perspirant: $5
Hair shampoo: $10
Body gel: $6
Body lotion: $7
Aftershave lotion: $6
It would be VERY nice to be able to get everything in the second group in one scent or scents that did not compete with one another.
Well, all that's much cheaper than what I had in mind. Those are actually average prices. I live in Europe, maybe extra for imports? For example, belts for $30 and $60 feel very different.
Thanks for the hair gel advice, by the way, I'mm definitely look into buying a costlier one!
By the way, aftershave lotion, what does it do exactly? I just started shaving (had a beard and mustache before) a month ago, with an electric shaver my relative gave away, so I don't know much about shaving yet.
As for belts, well, I'm the kind of guy who's gonna visit all stores in 10km radius, then visit part of them again and THEN choose something. So I don't mind walking around.
Disclaimer: Not talking about the highest quality, talking about high enough quality for clothes to be pleasant to wear (high quality materials).
So this is what I see as of my current state of mind on what's a quality product:
Dress shirts: $70-100 Express
Blazers: $300-420 Club Monaco
Dress pants: $90-120 Express, Banana
Khakis: $70-100 Dockers, J Crew
Belts: $25-60 Banana Republic
Underpants: $10-20 Hanes
Shoes: $100-150 Kenneth Cole
Jeans: $75-110 Express, Guess, Gap
Socks: $3-4 Hanes
V-neck trim-fit shirts: $20-35 Hanes
Ties: $20-50 Marshalls or Ross
Hair gel: $4-6 Schwartzkof
Anti-perspirant: $3-5 Old Spice
Cologne: $7-12 Old Spice
Hair shampoo: $3-5 Pantene
Body "gel" (the liquid thingy you use instead of soap, don't know how it's called): $3-5 Old Spice & Dove
I think I've mentioned everything?
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