Traditional wet shaving market penetration? Boom? Status Quo? Game Over?

[Haggises]

You are again countering your own posts just above where you argue that shaving is not a staple. "the small subset of males who do not dry shave" It is, which is why it is in every supermarket. It is also somewhat foolish to automatically disregard 50% of the population as femaleTraditional non Shavers, as I can assure you, a great many of them do. Traditional wet shaving is a very small branch of the staple.

 

[TheButlerDidIt36]

Have only read about 50% of the previous posts, but I answered #2. As a younger guy in the early 20's in think that going forward we will see a lot of college & young professional age guys making the transition away from cart razors.

My reasoning behind this is two-fold. First, this age demographic (me included) is very quick to turn to the internet to look for solutions to lifes super simple problems. Somewhat embarrassingly, ill admit to googling "how to do x" for tasks that I already have a level of competency around just in the search for a better way. I know I personally got involved in this world by googling something along the lines of "How to shave better, less irritation" and got directed to many wet shaving forums and websites. I think that as young men enter the professional world and are expected to shave daily they will turn to the internet for alternative products, methods or techniques that work better than cart shaving.

Secondly, I think that people are becoming more aware of the "scam" that is multi blade cart razors. Now, I'm not saying there is anything inherently wrong with cart razors; they definitely fill a need in the market, but people are becoming aware that the marketing hype around them doesn't make them necessarily any better of a product for the price. As much as the general public sees young people as being irresponsible with their money, market trends point towards young people being more "value driven" than previous generations tended to be "price driven". I wouldn't be surprised to see a relatively big social media explosion in the next few years around wet shaving similar to what we have seen with the "raw denim" niche. Frankly, as an MBA student, i think there is a huge gap in the wet shaving market for a "hip" company to fill, it even could be one of the great artisans that already exist. It seems to me as though the appeal to traditional of many of the existing artisans has left them neglecting a major opportunity in the market and it's only a matter of time someone fills it.

 

[grim]

Have only read about 50% of the previous posts, but I answered #2. As a younger guy in the early 20's in think that going forward we will see a lot of college & young professional age guys making the transition away from cart razors.

One thing that might be detrimental for that segment of the market is the current fashion if the 3/4 day stubble being "in".

Whether or a TV show, or even commercials, more often we are seeing the grubby look in 20 somethings. I not sure why they think it looks good but if actors do it, it becomes emulated as a fashion trend.

 

[strat63]

It's fair to note that there is a generalized sea-change in society, though. People are trying to minimize their environmental footprint, and do not want disposables as much as they did, say, 30 years ago. What is driving the revival of some of the older technologies isn't simple nostalgia, but rather than they are both cheaper and environmentally more sound. How many people have given up their fancy percolators or Gevalia machines or Kuerigs and have gone back to the basic old simple French Press?

More and more people are buying their food directly from the farmer, at a Farmer's market or with a CSA.

More and more people are starting to go to diners or locally owned cafes rather than McDonalds or Applebees.

In a world going topsy-turvy, people are getting tired of buying stuff, throwing it out, and buying again, and more and more want things what will last.

This shared thing of ours here is growing, me thinks, largely as a piece of that larger trend, and will continue to go so, because that large trend is growing.

+1 - Was going to make this exact point myself! The past 5 or 10 years have seen a major return, by a lot of consumers, to simpler things, and I believe that will continue, whether out of the desire to simplify, or out of future necessity.