Why did men stop shaving traditionally?

[santamariasteve]

This is an interesting question that has complicated and varied answers.

I think all the answers above have merit.

I wonder what the prefered method of shaving will be 100 years from now, and what will that generation be saying about us and our razors?

[TheSC]

Shifting to a tool that gives satisfactory results in less time isn't 'being lazy', it's effective time management.

Yes and no. When you need every min you have available just to accomplish your daily task; yes. However, now days 90% of the people who can't be bothered with said time sit 5+ hrs in front of a computer/TV screen doing something non productive. I think that the original cause of the decline was likely do to time constraints. When people work from sun up to sun down the last thing they wanted was to be standing in front of a mirror doing their daily shaving chore. With that decline there of course was less of the old method passed on. I never knew about DE shaving until I stumbled across it. My general consensus is it declined due to time constraints, but hasn't rose again due to the lack of word and not being the fastest method. IE my friend that will zip over in 2 min with an electric and have stubble. To each his own.

[ChiefBroom]

I think quicker and laziness are being one in the same in this thread.

I don't agree that "quicker" and "laziness" are equatable in this context. Let's say someone who typically works a 50-60 hour week (my dad's work weeks were 6 days when I was a kid) has 1-1.5 hours in the morning to allocate among shaving, push-ups/sit-ups, reading the paper, feeding the dog, sitting down to breakfast with his family, etc. If he decides that a 5-micron closer shave would be a self-indulgence not worth 10-15 minutes traded off against push-ups/sit-ups and helping out with breakfast (wife works too), that's says something about how he values time in relation to various alternative activities, but it doesn't reflect laziness. In fact, I'd say the 25 minutes it usually takes me from start to finish (including prep and clean-up) to get a BBS DE shave in the morning is self-indulgence more than a manifestation of my work/grooming ethic. I'd hate to give it up, but I sure wouldn't call anyone who decides not to do it because it takes too much time "lazy".

[bennyblade28]

Wow, I cant believe how popular this thread has become.

I guess its a combination of time and the learning curve.

Personally I have to shave for work and I hate doing it, but right now its something I am looking forward to. My face always looks and feels nice and healthy afterwards.

[TheSC]

I don't agree that "quicker" and "laziness" are equatable in this context.

I'm not saying they necessarily are. I'm saying that people who simply said lazy might have been referring to quicker. I know I was. I didn't mean someone was physically too lazy to shave with a de/straight. I meant that the process is longer and they don't want to put in the time/effort. I guess I was too lazy to go into detail

[Neognosis]

I think people who ride in automobiles instead of saddling up a horse are also lazy.

[ChiefBroom]

I'm not saying they necessarily are. I'm saying that people who simply said lazy might have been referring to quicker. I know I was. I didn't mean someone was physically too lazy to shave with a de/straight. I meant that the process is longer and they don't want to put in the time/effort. I guess I was too lazy to go into detail

I was pretty sure I understood what you meant, and my reply wasn't intended to be argumentative. You made a fair point with regard to what others might have in mind in ascribing "laziness" to non-DE shavers. And you also presented an opportunity for me to make a related point. It's all good.

[ChiefBroom]

Wow, I cant believe how popular this thread has become.

I guess its a combination of time and the learning curve.

Personally I have to shave for work and I hate doing it, but right now its something I am looking forward to. My face always looks and feels nice and healthy afterwards.

I'm closing in on 59. I started shaving in 1965 or '66. I don't remember enjoying a single shave until my first time with a DE razor this past November. I've looked forward to and enjoyed every shave since then, even the not-so-good ones. I'll probably have to use a cart again sooner or later for travel. I'm NOT looking forward to that. In fact I'm a little anxious that I might not remember how.

[Rob72]

I think people who ride in automobiles instead of saddling up a horse are also lazy.

Context is everything brother! A friend's 20 year old daughter called him stating that she needed gas money to go and pay her electric bill. The payment place was 1/2 city block away...hardly a sweat-breaking walk.

[HoosierTrooper]

I think people who ride in automobiles instead of saddling up a horse are also lazy.

And riding a horse instead of walking is also being lazy by some of the posters logic. Using a gas or electric stove instead of chopping wood and cooking in a fireplace or wood cookstove is being lazy. Saying that someone who is working full time, going to school, raising a family, doing volunteer work, serving in the military etc, is lazy because they don't use the apropriate razor according to some members is preposterous.

[turbo tom]

My first DE was a black handled SS bought new in 86 or 87. Along with it I bought a brush, mug, and soap set....no idea what brand.

I stuck with the DE razor for 12 or so years, but that mug and soap got one try....I was fresh out of boot camp and wasn't about to experiment with creating a good lather in a WWII barracks communal "head" before formation. I guess I was lazy.

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

Ease. Convenience. MARKETING.

...ditto and enough said!!!

"Don't worry about the [cuts,weepers and] nicks and pick up your life...forget all the bad things, the pain and the strife". Author Unknown

[Flatlander]

I have discussed this with my 64 year old father--a cartridge devotee. I'm 30 and a DE fan. I learned through this site, and am thankful for the help of everyone here. When I asked him why people switched, his answer was "Blood." I know I am echoing the sentiments of Tom and others, but I think that for most men of his generation, and likely the one before it was that shaving is a chore to be dispensed with, not a hobby or personal enrichment activity. Carts remove hair from your face quickly, and usually without the need for a styptic pencil. It takes a certain amount of devotion to the ART of shaving to learn how to get a great shave from a DE. I'm interested in that...most men aren't. I think that, more than advertising or conformity is the likely reason for the change in the shaving landscape.

[celestino]

Marketing. And the desire to make a profit. To "save" time.

+1

[bvance554]

Wow I can't believe we would call someone lazy for not using 'traditional' shaving methods. The truth is...we're the odd lot of people here who happen to enjoy shaving, spend too much money on it, and come on here and talk about it. Shaving is a chore to the vast majority of people and they'll use whatever is convenient to them, and that is usually going to be whatever is fed to them by the marketers. Hell I don't even know how I stumbled into this, but I enjoy it and shaving is less of a chore now, but it was purely by accident. Just because you use the latest and greatest cart and goo doesn't make you less of a man.

[Keenum]

Blood. I'm as old as some of the others on this thread who started with DE as a youth and have come full circle. I remember, with great joy, when I threw away my styptic pencil and I never looked back until forty years later and learned from this site how to do it right. In the meantime I tried cartridges and, mostly wore a beard. But the strongest memory I have from shaving in this 60's as a lad is bleeding and toilet paper on my face. I didn't change because I was lazy, I changed because I was a bad shaver and it was a mess. Also that Noxema girl who told me to take it off, take it all off.

[Slash McCoy]

Blood. I'm as old as some of the others on this thread who started with DE as a youth and have come full circle. I remember, with great joy, when I threw away my styptic pencil and I never looked back until forty years later and learned from this site how to do it right. In the meantime I tried cartridges and, mostly wore a beard. But the strongest memory I have from shaving in this 60's as a lad is bleeding and toilet paper on my face. I didn't change because I was lazy, I changed because I was a bad shaver and it was a mess. Also that Noxema girl who told me to take it off, take it all off.

I remember her! And the background music was David Rose's "The Stripper".

[ridnovir]

The marketing men behind the double blade back in the 70s were promised huge salaries if they got Joe Soap to give up his good old DE I guess!
They used every trick in the book to brainwash the male public in first world countries making them believe the double blade was amazing new technology!
The first blade lifts the hair and the second cuts it! Hang on does that mean that the first blade was less sharp? This theory has never been proven and now
we have more blades than a Ninja warrior in a plastic cartridge that costs the same as 50 DE blades!
A football hero or some other macho man appears in a TV commercial for the multi-garbage and the world is convinced!
That's both the power of persuasion and advertising and if you're stupid enough to buy it that's too bad!

+ 1

That is exactly how it happened. Humans by nature are lazy and weak and susceptible to influence (especially to clever advertising that always promises – new, better, faster easier.) Hack, women began to shave their legs and armpits because Gillette wanted to expand the market. It is only in retrospect that some of us today (most men still shave with advanced turbo 3 blade super razors and use supper fluffy can foam LOL) can appreciate the economy and superiority of traditional shaving.

[LarryDarrell]

As long as I can remember my Dad has used some model of Phillips shaver. He usually shaved in the bedroom, so not tying up the bathroom in the morning with three kids getting ready for school might have something to do with it. But I think he just prefers it as a quick, convenient way to do the job.

[ridnovir]

Originally Posted by dundak
Just imagine if you had to get up every morning at 5 am and straight shave in cold water because you had to..[/QUOTE]

I do that every day.

Dude you rock