I have to disagree, a DE for me is much faster than a cart and not much harder to use in terms of technique. DE's dont clog, and theres 2 sides! I have a problem with the stigma around DE's being difficult to use. Have you tried a Tech?
Gillette cartridge razors under assult by vintage DE razors
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I have to disagree, a DE for me is much faster than a cart and not much harder to use in terms of technique. DE's dont clog, and theres 2 sides! I have a problem with the stigma around DE's being difficult to use. Have you tried a Tech?
You know, I really hated paying the high prices for carts before I found this site but I could never get more than 3 days out of a cart. I hated it. After 3 days, it went downhill fast! 5 weeks? Yeah right. Gillette is trying to tell me that a teeny tiny piece of metal is gonna hold its edge for 5 weeks when we have straight users here (I am not one just for clarification) who need to strop and hone those nice thick blades more often than that? They must really think we are stupid (and I guess they are right in some cases....lemmings).
Well, the vast majority (and this is backed up by Gillette's research, which they do every single day....there was a program on Nat Geo awhile back. Men come in every day for shave testing) prefer the ease of use with modern cart systems. Just sayin.' Our little club where we use razors you have to consciously angle to the contours of your face isn't the most popular club on the block. By a looooooong shot.
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8 Gillette ProGlide cartridges cost $29 @ CVS online...200 Lord Super Stainless blades (blue and white box) cost $29 @ Amazon. Enough said. These pricing disparities brought me into wet shaving and I suspect the economics will gradually start to really take market share from the multi-blade cartridge sector; unfortunately, marketing/advertising is currently non-existent for wet shaving products notwithstanding wonderfully informative websites such as B&B. We are viewed upon as hobbyists by Madison Avenue ad execs.
I think your statement is contradictory: how can a product gain major market share, if there is no advertising behind it? How is the average male even going to hear about alternative shaving methods if there is no advertising/ marketing behind the product to let him know it exists?
Not everyone spends large amounts of time on the Internet. "Going Viral" can only get you so far. Word of mouth is not going to reach 100% of the people.
Thats true. I wonder, however, what might happen if 45,000 members sent letters to Gillette asking them to bring back the DE razors?
This may not be advertising:
http://shine.yahoo.com/financially-...f-80af-30b00331618e&bcmt_s=u#ugccmt-container
But it's a sign the topic has gone a bit more mainstream, in Yahoo! no less. Some of the reader comments range from the ridiculous to the sublime.
"according to the experts at The Art of Shaving, you should change your blade every three to five shaves, or up to seven shaves if you have light hair."
The Art of Shaving is owned by Proctor and Gamble (who owns Gillette). The article is a thinly veiled piece who's sole purpose is to sell more blades. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Gillette paid off the writer of the piece!!
It is interesting that they (The Art of Shaving) admit that men with sensitive skin should be using a single blade.
Multiple blades take multiple layers of skin off.?! And to think, I've been doing it wrong!
I keep a Mach3 in the drawer. It's still a great razor, and usually I'll get fourteen to twenty days out of one blade. The reason I sometimes use it? Convenience. One quick pass gives me a decent shave, so whenever I'm not in the mood for the full DE routine I'll just use my Mach3 and a good soap / AS / ASB combination - which takes care of ingrowns and razor burn. I have nothing to complain about.
Don't forget: this is a gentlemanly hobby, but there's nothing gentlemanly about being snotty.
Don't forget: this is a gentlemanly hobby, but there's nothing gentlemanly about being snotty.
I don't see how they can say it'll rust in the shower--they're all stainless steel.
Actually, I have seen an el cheapo Schick three blade knock-off rust that I kept in the shower. I used it for very minor touch ups that my electric left whenever I shaved in the shower. I must have had it in there 2 or 3 months IIRC. I got sick of shaving and yet again grew a beard and neglected to take it out. In that time it did rust a little bit. So, it can happen!
I wasn't really unhappy with the Mach3 when i jumped on board the DE train but was bored and luckily heard about it through friends. Like previous posters, I did a 1.5 pass shave, WTG plus touchups. XTG for intervies, ATG for dates.I generally got about a month out of a cart, but that was pushing it quite a bit and not doing 5 days a week.
With DE not only do i enjoy it more in a relaxing way, I have less stress about shaving. I used to thing...hmm my blade is tugging a little, so today I wont shave and I'll change the blade monday.... Now halfway through a shave I will pop out a blade I dont like for a new one without even thinking about when it was changes last, it doesnt matter, it wasnt working anymore!
Without someone to make me aware of this interesting new hobby/passtime/obsession/ritual, I'd still be on the Mach3 train. I still dont have anything against it, I have stockpile of the blades from a big box store, and keep on in my travel kit for backup.
In general I'd say any exposure to the larger population will be positive, we will get some inquisitive types like myself, some may dabble and go back but if theres a couple converts then more power to them.
21 year old here. That was my main draw to DE shaving. Simply, carts were too expensive, and I could never change cartridges ever. So now, I can change blades whenever I feel like with zero care, knowing at most they're 20c per blade. I don't use soap or shave super carefully with my DEs, and the results well, aren't worse than a cart, to say the least. The other draw to DEs is, my coordination sorta sucks, and I have a half a goatee, mustache, and sideburns, it's hard edging with a cart due to the multiple blades, but a DE it's fairly easy to know what exactly is blade and what isn't.
Also, regarding blades, you find blades you like and dislike, whereas with carts you have to change entire shaving systems.
A couple more months and my DE stuff will have paid for itself versus how much those cartridges costed since I switched in June. It wasn't the reason I switched though.
Fascinating reading. While I don't begrudge Gillette and Schick their success, which the writer of this article seems to, I do wish that they would stock some of their DE blades in grocery stores.
Interesting article! Maybe this thing is picking up steam, I thought it was kind of a niche for a small crowd, but maybe I am wrong. Maybe Gillette should start catering to this market again. It would not cost them billions in R&D, it's been done already.
This quote, in a PM from Man00ver, got me thinking, then I saw this thread.
While some of us are always looking for the cheapest blade out there, and while $15 100-packs of Astra SP's are hard to beat both quality and price-wise, many of us don't mind paying 50 cents per blade at all. Even if I use two per week, which is my normal, and I used a cartridge for a week, I am still paying $1 a week for blades versus about $3 a week for a cart, so I'm happy.
Given the popularity of vintage DE blades, the Gillette Platinum Plus, the Schick Plus Platinum, the Personna 74's, maybe they ought to give serious thought to bringing back what Man00ver calls "Golden age of wet shaving" blades. People are routinely paying $1 per vintage blade now on eBay. I use my vintage Schicks for a full week, no problem, starting on a Monday. Friday's shave is still good, and the weekend shaves are just a little less close but just as comfortable.
I think Gillette (or some other firm) should cover both ends of the market. Most men still shave. A growing number of them are liking DE's apparently. I still suspect that the majority will continue to use cartridges, but if we are that big and growing, it makes sense to cover both ends of the market. Given all the varieties of AD around here, I think a firm could make a market out of 50 cent new DE blades and do very well with it.
This quote, in a PM from Man00ver, got me thinking, then I saw this thread.
Man00ver said:
While some of us are always looking for the cheapest blade out there, and while $15 100-packs of Astra SP's are hard to beat both quality and price-wise, many of us don't mind paying 50 cents per blade at all. Even if I use two per week, which is my normal, and I used a cartridge for a week, I am still paying $1 a week for blades versus about $3 a week for a cart, so I'm happy.
Given the popularity of vintage DE blades, the Gillette Platinum Plus, the Schick Plus Platinum, the Personna 74's, maybe they ought to give serious thought to bringing back what Man00ver calls "Golden age of wet shaving" blades. People are routinely paying $1 per vintage blade now on eBay. I use my vintage Schicks for a full week, no problem, starting on a Monday. Friday's shave is still good, and the weekend shaves are just a little less close but just as comfortable.
I think Gillette (or some other firm) should cover both ends of the market. Most men still shave. A growing number of them are liking DE's apparently. I still suspect that the majority will continue to use cartridges, but if we are that big and growing, it makes sense to cover both ends of the market. Given all the varieties of AD around here, I think a firm could make a market out of 50 cent new DE blades and do very well with it.
Was in CVS yesterday and looked out of curiosity. After walking up and down the whole 60' aisle of shaving supplies I found ONE pack of CVS branded DE blades. I have no idea who makes them or how well they work but if I ever run out of Personnas or Crystals I may try them.
I believe that, among us, there tends to be a desire to go back to the older tools that are more elegant and require more effort to use.
DE/SE/straight shaving, fountain pens, mechanical watches, etc.
On that count, we'll always remain an eclectic bunch.
DE/SE/straight shaving, fountain pens, mechanical watches, etc.
On that count, we'll always remain an eclectic bunch.
It seems to me that most of the store branded blades are Personnas or Dorcos. It's been discussed in a few threads. I was quite happy shaving with Dollar General store brand blades for the first year, but I can get better blades for the same price buying in bulk online. I'll probably still buy a pack or two each year just to get the handy dandy blade bank in the back of the container.
