Finding quality shave gear 20-30 years from now

**huntmol** · 04-24-2010, 01:07 AM

The other day I was thinking about many aspects of this hobby that are made possible by the hard work of many different individuals with specific and unique talents. I wondered, what happens if in 20 years I want an Iwasaki razor? Or a Tony Miller strop? I'm pretty sure that wetshaving will still be popular, but what about the individual artisans and craftsmen that create all of this incredible shave gear for us to enjoy? I would list more examples, but to be honest, a ton of my favorite stuff is fairly unique and hard to come by in 2010. Just think about finding brushes, razors, hones, and strops in 2040!

So what do you think, guys? Is it the nature of the free market that if we create a demand, there will always be a supply? Or are there certain skill sets out there that are irreplaceable?

Ha, just realized that this post is a total downer. Hope it doesn't bum you out, just had a thought and wanted to hear everyone's input.

**Omnichron** · 04-24-2010, 01:29 AM

that's why I'm stocking up on GEM Juniors by the dozen!

**gsurko** · 04-24-2010, 02:58 AM

Perhaps we should encourage the youths to pursue a career in these areas. Nothing else is left in the US.

**Antique Hoosier** · 04-24-2010, 04:18 AM

What about in the year 2525?
Here is your answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izQB2...=youtube_gdata

**DE Shaver** · 04-24-2010, 06:55 AM

Like many things, if there is sufficient demand, somebody will manufacture these products and they will be still available. Although many people sounded the death knell of film photography, it is alive but is now a niche pursuit instead being mainstream. Heck, you can still buy buggy whips. Such is the fate of our hobby.

**BroJohn** · 04-24-2010, 07:49 AM

Artisans will come and go. Will G passed on. Several new soapers have since come aboard here at B&B.

The universe will continue.

-- John Gehman

**Trawlerman** · 04-25-2010, 04:23 AM

I think it's inevitable that the current crop of custom suppliers will come and go. I for one really appreciate people such as Tony Miller, CoonCat Bob, Mamma Bear etc., and really hope that in years to come they will be replaced by others who are equally talented and enthusiastic in providing us with quality shaving products.

What bothers me though is what is going to happen to the availability of things like blades and new razors? Of course the current DE's will still be around but I fear for the blade manufacturers. Here in the UK we are very much ruled by the EC and Brussels and have to put up with ever bizarre rulings on trade and Health & Safety. I can see the time very soon when DE blades are banned because somebody could cut themselves.

For my part, I will continue to enjoy DE shaving for as long as I can.

**Stubblefield** · 04-25-2010, 06:38 AM

In 25 years we'll all have personal hovercraft and shave with lasers. Sadly, I'll probably be sitting in a rest home trying to remember where I left my teeth.

but in answer to your question, I think there will always be a market for straights--a small market, but a market nonetheless. the Internet isn't going away. I'm not so sure about the DE blade--but as long as Feather and Personna continue production, there will be a market. I mention those two because they produce blades for the medical market, and I think there will still be a market for DE blades in medicine 25 years from now.

**Slivovitz** · 04-25-2010, 06:41 AM

Twenty years from now I hope to be around. Thirty is less likely. Forty would really be pushing it.

Even given an unlikely rate of breakage, I have enough razors of the kinds I like to last forty years. I'm working on a lifetime supply of DE, SE, and injector blades. I'll just have to hope that decent quality soaps and brushes will remain available. The brushes I have might last twenty years or more, at that.

If subsequent generations want to keep traditional wetshaving alive, they will. If fifty years from now, only junky, expensive cartridges and electrics are still sold, then someone will just have to have the intelligence to discover or rediscover better methods and make it happen. Traditions do die out.

**Son** · 04-25-2010, 06:42 AM

Trawlerman: "... we are very much ruled by the EC and Brussels and have to put up with ever bizarre rulings on trade and Health & Safety. I can see the time very soon when DE blades are banned because somebody could cut themselves."

Very much true!

**blade08** · 04-25-2010, 07:07 AM

Originally Posted by Trawlerman

Here in the UK we are very much ruled by the EC and Brussels and have to put up with ever bizarre rulings on trade and Health & Safety. I can see the time very soon when DE blades are banned because somebody could cut themselves.

Such a comment does not make any sense at all. Name me one "bizarre ruling on trade and Health & Safety" that has affected you in a negative way in your daily life in the UK.

Sadly these days, it seems to be some sort of a European sport to blame everything that is perceived as negative, on 'Brussels'. Ofcourse DE blades will never be banned in Europe.

**moshulu** · 04-25-2010, 07:08 AM

I don't think that there will be much shaving going on twenty years from now. Molecular biologists will have figured out how to selectively turn off hair growth in the relevant facial areas. And that will just be the beginning...

**mblakele** · 04-25-2010, 03:39 PM

If you have a nanoscale assembler on your desk (and who doesn't?) all you need is the right program to turn a NOS Swedish Gillette blade for your morning shave. The same device can, of course, construct the razor, brush, and soap or cream of your choice as well. Please remember to recycle the constituent atoms when you have finished shaving.

No, I don't really believe that nanotech will reach that level within my lifetime. But good cheap CNC could do quite a bit for almost any small-scale manufacturing that you care to name.

**DavyRay** · 04-25-2010, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by mblakele

If you have a nanoscale assembler on your desk (and who doesn't?) all you need is the right program to turn a NOS Swedish Gillette blade for your morning shave. The same device can, of course, construct the razor, brush, and soap or cream of your choice as well. Please remember to recycle the constituent atoms when you have finished shaving.

No, I don't really believe that nanotech will reach that level within my lifetime. But good cheap CNC could do quite a bit for almost any small-scale manufacturing that you care to name.

That's the spirit! In a couple of years, we could have a database of 3D scans of our favorite blades. Imagine a titanium alloy blade shaped exactly like a NOS Wade and Butcher!

Of course, we may have to clone the badgers.

**rummwa** · 04-25-2010, 03:50 PM

What about turntables and vinyl LP's, everyone thought those were gone for good . Sometimes new isn't better its just new. Someone will be saying look at this old Merkur Futur, it still looks brand new and still has the original box.

**Ignatius** · 04-25-2010, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by blade08

Such a comment does not make any sense at all. Name me one "bizarre ruling on trade and Health & Safety" that has affected you in a negative way in your daily life in the UK.

Its makes plenty of sense.

Does anybody remember the 'metric martyr'? He was a greengrocer in England who was prosecuted because he wouldn't do away with imperial measurements. A lot of old people here simply have no idea what a gram/kilo is. I remember being told by our teacher we would be the last year to have to learn both systems. Apparently its still exactly the same. Anyway, there are lots of examples of pointless and retarded EU laws like this. Have a look at UKIP's literature.

As for the future of this hobby of ours, well I fear we are already that sort of niche market that was mentioned above. How much smaller a niche it can become is anybodys guess.

**BBrad** · 04-25-2010, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by Antique Hoosier

What about in the year 2525?

If man is still alive?

If woman can survive?

We may find . . . our old Gillettes and Gems built so tough that they survived the nuclear holocost that melted all the Mach3, Fusion, and Quattro cartridges!

**beginish** · 04-25-2010, 05:17 PM

I will still be working through the stuff I have in my medicine cabinet.

**mattbikes1** · 04-25-2010, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by brojohn

artisans will come and go. Will g passed on. Several new soapers have since come aboard here at b&b.

The universe will continue.

-- john gehman

+1

**johnmrson** · 04-25-2010, 05:40 PM

If I'm still around, and hopefully I will be, I'll still be shaving with DE gear. I'll have stock piled enough of it in the next year or so to comfortably last me the rest of my life so it won't matter to me if anyone still makes it. I hope they do though, and I think they will. It's only a niche market but one that seems to comfortably support a number of manufacturers of all the requirements.