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James Bond and the overwhelmed straight razor company?

I will admit two things up front:

- I don't believe this fragment of a post on Quora for a minute
- I have not seen any Daniel Craig James Bond movies, past part of the first. James Bond is an ordinary dude with skills and unnatural determination, not an action hero.

So here's the quote:

Addendum: an interesting aside on Straight Razors:

Up until the early 2000s one premium straight razor company was selling less than 8000 units a year. Due to Daniel Craig/James Bond and a few economic factors, they now sell more than 3000 per WEEK, and are backordered for years.

Is there any truth here? First, is there straight razor shaving in a modern James Bond movie? Second, what "premium straight razor company" could this possibly be? Backordered for years? I don't believe it. But if I'm wrong, I'd like to know about it.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I will admit two things up front:

- I don't believe this fragment of a post on Quora for a minute
- I have not seen any Daniel Craig James Bond movies, past part of the first. James Bond is an ordinary dude with skills and unnatural determination, not an action hero.

So here's the quote:



Is there any truth here? First, is there straight razor shaving in a modern James Bond movie? Second, what "premium straight razor company" could this possibly be? Backordered for years? I don't believe it. But if I'm wrong, I'd like to know about it.
Sounds too exaggerated to be true to me. And I saw I think two Craig as Bond movies and don't remember any shaving..... But?
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
there was a shaving part and miss Moneypenny shaved Daniel Craig she was dressed in a red dress. but not sure of the brand of razor
Must've been the last one he did? I know I saw the first two he did. Lol, if he only did two, I'm just unobservant!
 
It was Skyfall. If you search "James Bond straight razor scene" on youtube it's there.

I assume the article is talking about Dovo. No idea about the accuracy of the numbers though.

Edit: I see @Ice-Man beat me to it.
 
It was Skyfall. If you search "James Bond straight razor scene" on youtube it's there.

I assume the article is talking about Dovo. No idea about the accuracy of the numbers though.

Edit: I see @Ice-Man beat me to it.


Sorry mate, I'm just quick, no it was posted on here some time ago so I knew it was on youtube. and I even noticed she was dressed in red.
 
I think there is a definite increase in things that are less modern and more hand made quality. Blame the Hipsters. Really lol! In all seriousness, I think people have a sense that the modern consumable society is lifeless and boring. Everything is disposable now, everything. Clothing, automobiles, decor, everything. Nothing has character or longevity.

A buddy of mine is a kindred spirit and he collects old cars and motorcycles. In fact he has an all original 1966 Shelby GT 350 he bought when he was in HS back in the mid 1980s. Anyways he says that this old way of life has character and meaning. Your car was your CAR! So it’s not surprising that shaving with a blade is popular now when you can get plastic disposables for pennies. A blade is the beginning, it’s the most basic. It’s refined, effective, it takes skill and patience. Dedication and practice. It has character. This is attractive in a time when most of our life is manufactured to a point of worthless disposability.
 

Legion

Staff member
It could well be true, for at least a while after the movie was released. These things become trends that very much follow popular culture.

Interest in DE’s, and wet shaving in general went through the roof when the Madmen TV show first came out.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I think there is a definite increase in things that are less modern and more hand made quality. Blame the Hipsters. Really lol! In all seriousness, I think people have a sense that the modern consumable society is lifeless and boring. Everything is disposable now, everything. Clothing, automobiles, decor, everything. Nothing has character or longevity.

A buddy of mine is a kindred spirit and he collects old cars and motorcycles. In fact he has an all original 1966 Shelby GT 350 he bought when he was in HS back in the mid 1980s. Anyways he says that this old way of life has character and meaning. Your car was your CAR! So it’s not surprising that shaving with a blade is popular now when you can get plastic disposables for pennies. A blade is the beginning, it’s the most basic. It’s refined, effective, it takes skill and patience. Dedication and practice. It has character. This is attractive in a time when most of our life is manufactured to a point of worthless disposability.
Perfectly worded my friend.
 
The younger generation don't know life, they don't value anything and it's all about how fast they can get out. Whereas a using straight you have to be focused on what your doing whereas a cartridge razor you can use without a mirror.

So to me that time we shave is our zen moment where we have to focus on what we are doing in hand, if we drop our razor it's going to be toast with damage same with a cartridge razor. But they just look at it as a lump of plastic that can be replaced, whereas with a straight it's going to cost. That's why we value our stuff and the younger generation don't.
 

steveclarkus

Goose Poop Connoisseur
I think there is a definite increase in things that are less modern and more hand made quality. Blame the Hipsters. Really lol! In all seriousness, I think people have a sense that the modern consumable society is lifeless and boring. Everything is disposable now, everything. Clothing, automobiles, decor, everything. Nothing has character or longevity.

A buddy of mine is a kindred spirit and he collects old cars and motorcycles. In fact he has an all original 1966 Shelby GT 350 he bought when he was in HS back in the mid 1980s. Anyways he says that this old way of life has character and meaning. Your car was your CAR! So it’s not surprising that shaving with a blade is popular now when you can get plastic disposables for pennies. A blade is the beginning, it’s the most basic. It’s refined, effective, it takes skill and patience. Dedication and practice. It has character. This is attractive in a time when most of our life is manufactured to a point of worthless disposability.
I believe you are right. There are deep rumblings in society now and this is just one manifestation. A lot of people are looking for things to somehow fill a void they are experiencing but not quiet understanding.
 
I will admit two things up front:

- I don't believe this fragment of a post on Quora for a minute
- I have not seen any Daniel Craig James Bond movies, past part of the first. James Bond is an ordinary dude with skills and unnatural determination, not an action hero.

So here's the quote:



Is there any truth here? First, is there straight razor shaving in a modern James Bond movie? Second, what "premium straight razor company" could this possibly be? Backordered for years? I don't believe it. But if I'm wrong, I'd like to know about it.
Agreeing with some other posters
1) The company in question was Dovo - can’t remember the original source, but it was in an article somewhere. The numbers sound about right.
2) I remember the movie - though at the time it didn’t encourage me to start using a straight
3) The quote is somewhat outdated. Anyone who has tried to find a Dovo online recently will be aware that they are readily available. I can believe that they were backlogged in the 2014-2015 timeframe. In fact Dovo applied for bankruptcy protection in 2020 and earlier this year announced that they will cease production of some products (e.g. shears) in order to focus on shaving supplies.

As someone who has worked for a company making engineered products, one of the greatest challenges is ramping production up and down to meet demand. While the scale and rapidity of the ramp vary from industry to industry, the long-term survivors are often those best able to cope with these changes in demand. A manufacturing process reliant on skilled labor (e.g. grinders) will often struggle with this, especially in a country like Germany where laying off excess production staff is highly discouraged. Of course some industries are more challenged than others. When the Chinese middle class spiked Scotch consumption a few years ago that industry was faced with the challenge of ramping up production of a product that has to sit in barrels for 6 years or so!
 
Skyfall seems like a rare positive portrayal. Straights often seem to be a trope for a menacing or bad guy ("See, I could just as easily use this on you"). See "Snow Piercer" the TV series for example, or the Brokenwood ep where it's a murder weapon.
 
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