Conspiracy theory?

[awa54]

Hello all,

I am new to B&B, but not new to "real shaving", just returning after a long hiatus....

Yesterday I had my first DE shave in about twenty years, the kit was a nicely preserved 1960s Gillette thin adjustable and Lord Super Stainless blade. The result was a smoother closer shave than I have had in a long time (had been using twin or triple blade cartridge shavers depending on decade) and I didn't go overboard either, just a WTG pass and a partial XTG as cleanup.

This brings me to the "conspiracy theory" part; I gave up on my old DE razor some time in the early 1990s because I felt that the standard Gillette blades in my local drug store/grocery were not giving me a comfortable shave *ever* and were getting dull in only one or two uses. Schick blades (and even some store brands) seemed better, but were getting hard to find reliably and still felt less effective than whatever the current Gillette double blade cartridge system (was that the Sensor?). At the time (and still, looking back on it) I kind of assumed that the companies making DE blades were (to put it kindly) backing off a bit on the quality of the "old style" blades to encourage us to switch over to the more profitable cartridge systems. When this was happening I had no real way to confirm or deny my suspicion since all of my friends were using multi-blade/disposable or electric (shudder...) razors, so years later I am still wondering if anyone else had the same experience?

I know it was a long time ago, but it sure feels like the foreign DE blades are performing like I remembered American blades did back in the 1980s and certainly much better than even a fresh Mach 3 cartridge. Which in a way is confirmation of my suspicion, since the intervening years eliminate the variable of beard toughness (I was in my early 20s at that time, so beard getting thicker/tougher *could* have been a factor), although the shaving cream vs. soap & brush difference is still in the mix (I used to use edge gel, now it's soap and a brush).

I look forward to all of your theories on the past transgressions of the razor blade Illuminati ;)

David

[Go West Young Man]

I don't know, there are plenty of reports of guys using NOS blades from that era, and reporting that they still work well.
It might be an issue of better technique and better prep today winning out over the old "slap on some gel and hack away at your face" strategy we used back then?

[BBrad]

There's no doubt that cartridge systems work better with canned goo than DE. Carts were designed to give acceptable shaves under less than ideal conditions, and certainly were more profitable to the manufacturers than were DE blades.

Chris is right on the money, since part of our journey with classic shaving involves better prep and probably better products than were in use 50 years ago. We are most likely getting better shaves from DE now than our forefathers were experiencing at that time. I remember my father, back in the '60s used Gillette shaving cream, Gillette blades, a Fat Boy adjustable, and toilet paper when he shaved. Nicks and cuts were everyday occurrences then. When the Trac II came out, he jumped on it because it gave him a better shave with fewer cuts using the same convenient junk from the can.

The engineers designed a proprietary product, the manufacturing team built it profitably, and the marketing team sold both the razor and "best you can get" concept to the world. Conspiracy? Maybe . . . but the stockholders weren't complaining!

[Slipperyjoe]

I'd also agree with go west young man.. can say a lot of things about gillette but the quality of their blades is usually pretty consistent. Therefore you must be doing something right...

[Argonaut]

I think it's more to do with the prep. I tried using my DE standard set up(Merkur 34C with an Astra SP) once with the canned stuff I used to use. It was a miserable shave to say the least. To make sure it wasn't a bad blade, I used the same razor and blade for my next shave with Prorasso cream as I usually do and it was perfect. If I hadn't done it myself, I would have sworn the first shave was with a dull used blade and the second shave was with a new higher quality blade. I'm always up for a good conspiracy though, and yours would make sense.

[alex2363]

One way to find out the quality of the 70,80's,90's blades is to get some from Ebay and put them under the microscope ( I mean literally a real microscope) and see the quality of the edge and compare them to today's blades or the later blades that you have doubts about. If the blades edge is somewhat bad quality at some point in time, and that point time is the same time line that you suspect, then you may have your conspiracy theory made a reality.

[insomniac]

There's no doubt that cartridge systems work better with canned goo than DE. Carts were designed to give acceptable shaves under less than ideal conditions, and certainly were more profitable to the manufacturers than were DE blades.

+1. A few months ago, the water main to my place broke and I was without running water for a few days. I tried wetshaving using jugged water exclusively, and trying to conserve a bit... and it was a pain. It takes a lot of water to wetshave, more than I expected. Getting rid of any excess shaving cream in the razor, for instance, requires that the water have a bit of force to it.

If such an event happened to me again, I'd likely use a cart and some kind of goo or brushless cream.

[awa54]

Hmm, even back then I would always shower before shaving, but at that point in my life a shave was conducted quickly at the sink, with "goo" and less attention to detail than these days. Maybe my "conspiracy" is really a couple of factors coming together at one time to make a bad shave from a good blade...but I still remember the Schick blades being OK when I was having poor results with the Gillette Plat-plus blades.

At any rate, the good news is that I'm back to getting excellent shaves without spending $3 a go for cartridges that require lots of manufacturing and generate all sorts of packaging waste!

[Blondie]

I don't think it was as much a conspiracy theory as simple economics. When more people are buying the "newer" product, there is less incentive to maintain a level of quality for the older product. The blades we are getting now are from countries that still have a fairly large market for DE blades, hence, competition to make a better blade and grab more market share.

[Hammertime1]

I gave up the DE in the late 80's early 90's. I remember there was one brand pretty sure they were Gillette De blades that worked well for me. The stores in my area quit selling em and the other De blade offerings absoultely did not work for me. Being a kid and having to pay more for other options wasn't my first choice to spend the little money I had. That was the start of expensive and more expensive multiple blade cartridges for me. When after my last $40.00 pack of favorite cartridge baldes tore my face up on first shave or had to be tossed after one pass I had enough. It was not the first time either I had issues. Im sure part of it was what was going on with my face and not cartridges fault but on some there were visible nicks and blades were slightly twisted or bent. It reminded me of being a young shaver and having no choice but to switch. Funny how things come full circle.

[ieschwoch]

I don't think it was as much a conspiracy theory as simple economics. When more people are buying the "newer" product, there is less incentive to maintain a level of quality for the older product. The blades we are getting now are from countries that still have a fairly large market for DE blades, hence, competition to make a better blade and grab more market share.

+1

I would imagine Gillette had "product managers" for each of their major product lines that had to show profits independently. Once cartridges came out, they would be the higher-margin "flagship" product line, and so fewer resources would be going into the less profitable DE product lines. At the same time, the managers of the DE lines would still need to show profits and would thus be under pressure to cut costs and raise margins.

It would be interesting for someone to examine the edges of NOS Gillette and Schick blades under a microscope from the mid-60's until the mid-90's (when DE production stopped), and see if there are noticeable differences in the edges.

[JDTTO]

I wouldn't go as far as to call it a conspiracy, rather a product development strategy the consumer does not benefit from.

It would be a conspiracy if they would make the canned goo dehydrate your skin in a way only the moisurizer from the "system" can rehydrate it...hmm...I may be on to something.

[Chester]

I don't know, there are plenty of reports of guys using NOS blades from that era, and reporting that they still work well.

I use a lot of vintage Gillette/Schick DE blades from the 70s and 80s (including the GPPs that gave the OP a hard time), and I prefer them, quite honestly. You can get current-production blades of similar quality, these days (I like souplex and bolzano in particular), but they don't sell 'em at the corner drug store. Still, you can get some shark SCs, red IPs or treet durasharps very cheaply online, these days. It's a "need to know what you're looking for" kind of item.

Anyhow, I see no conspiracy. Cartridges didn't just spring into being out of nothing. The twin-blade was the route to take to make the exercise of shaving faster with better quality, safer to handle, more profit, and more chance for growth. When you think about it, DE shaving (& wet shaving in general) is a pretty time-consuming and cumbersome experience. I'm not surprised that a more "modern" plasticated product line was pushed.

Welcome back to DE-land!
-- Chet