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Anyone wonder if hype for continuance of new bases/scents will ever hit a wall?

I have been into wet shaving for almost 5 years now and I will admit, I have spent a lot of money and tried my fair share of soaps/scents/hardware throughout those years.

I feel like within the last year that I finally have reached a comfort zone and am content with the hardware and soaps/scents that I know I love and that work for me, which I am very happy for.

It's no bother to me at all of course, and I love seeing all of the creative scents and bases that have come, and continuously are being released and it just makes me wonder sometimes if it will ever hit a stopping point? I know at the end of the day there is only so much soap that we can use at any one time, haha, but also I do admire and respect the artisan's originality and aggressiveness for pushing new products, etc.

Again, this is not meant to be any kind of complaint at all, it just to me seems like it would be so expensive and overwhelming to try to keep up with all of the new products coming out.

Hope you all are well and have a great rest of your week!!
 
I can't see an end to it unless customers tire of it and even then new mugs, sorry customers, will come along. Gillette has spent over a century bringing out new and improved products that are somehow better than the rubbish they sold us previously 🤣
Like I said, I don't have any complaints about it and are happy setting back enjoying what I know I like, it's a good time to be into wet shaving, if you can't find something you like, then you have some unreachable standards, haha.
 
There are so many tried and true shaving soaps out there that I find I have zero interest in all these artisan soaps/creams I see in the daily photos posted here. I can't imagine the market is very big for any of them considering how little traffic there is on shaving forums these days compared to a decade ago but if they're making a product people enjoy and will pay for, good on them. I doubt any of them have business models that will carry them for more than a few years so buy whatever it is you like while you can. You can only pretend to reinvent the wheel so many times.
 
Bases have effectively peaked at this point. The artisans who relied on the fact that they had a better base to make up for worse scents have reached a hard wall where diminishing returns are a real problem. What you'll see now is likely a heavier focus on scents from the top dogs while the other artisans with decent scents and average bases work their way to comparable quality. For a company like Declaration Grooming, they're basically stuck with what they have atm, because they won't make any significant improvements to their base or scent at this point. Perhaps price is the new frontier once more quality brands hit that $20USD tier that seems to be the current sweet spot.
 
Bases have effectively peaked at this point. The artisans who relied on the fact that they had a better base to make up for worse scents have reached a hard wall where diminishing returns are a real problem. What you'll see now is likely a heavier focus on scents from the top dogs while the other artisans with decent scents and average bases work their way to comparable quality. For a company like Declaration Grooming, they're basically stuck with what they have atm, because they won't make any significant improvements to their base or scent at this point. Perhaps price is the new frontier once more quality brands hit that $20USD tier that seems to be the current sweet spot.
Great points, and kind of pretty much along the lines of my thoughts on the matter also.
 
Bases have effectively peaked at this point.
This. And to be honest, they have for some years now. I was always convinced 99% cant distinguish the different bases if they blind tested them. I've shifted to really looking what is in soap (try to avoid lanolin and nut oils) as well use per tub and to be honest, price.

Scents right now is where it is at, but I can only speak for myself: most scents don't match what their imaginative descriptions promise. So they mostly disappoint in that regard IMO. I've strayed a bit from chasing scents and find more and more pleasure with either Unscented soaps or single note fragrances.

I could see myself only using Esbjerg & Proraso (Green) in the future because they are easy to obtain for me & check all the other boxes.
 
This. And to be honest, they have for some years now. I was always convinced 99% cant distinguish the different bases if they blind tested them. I've shifted to really looking what is in soap (try to avoid lanolin and nut oils) as well use per tub and to be honest, price.

Scents right now is where it is at, but I can only speak for myself: most scents don't match what their imaginative descriptions promise. So they mostly disappoint in that regard IMO. I've strayed a bit from chasing scents and find more and more pleasure with either Unscented soaps or single note fragrances.

I could see myself only using Esbjerg & Proraso (Green) in the future because they are easy to obtain for me & check all the other boxes.
Yeah, they probably peaked somewhere around 2018. There have been some minor improvements from A&E, Talbot, B&M, and Mammoth, as well as some new vegan bases from those companies, but most of the progress in the scene has been as a result of new competitors entering, like Lother, MacDuffs, Spearhead, and 345 for budget options. For what it's worth, I actually can tell the difference between bases, in terms of both slickness and post-shave, so I am compelled to stick to the bases mentioned above, but the difference between those isn't sufficient to decide which soap to get.
 

Probably the only soap base (V4) I'd feel somewhat confident to pick out of the bunch I've tried, there is something to it from the look and the feel. Probably because it uses higher quality tallow than anyone else.

A&E I'd be able to pick out because of how the scent always takes a turn for the worse for me when lathering. Akin to an 18 wheeler going straight off the cliff.
 
I think that soap bases have already peaked. Some of the best soaps out there have been around for decades and are made with a handful of ingredients. Their performance is not disputed.

Today’s maker’s may include a laundry list of ingredients. But I think they are trying to stay ahead of the pack with the next “shiny thing”. Some also appear to be trying to merge shaving and skin care products. It is niche marketing and hype.

As to scents, I think that is a moving target of personal preference. But those makers that are decades old, still use scents that are relevant today. So I would say that some of the scents coming out today are complete hype as well. Will either of these things hit a will soon, I doubt it.
 
There are so many tried and true shaving soaps out there that I find I have zero interest in all these artisan soaps/creams I see in the daily photos posted here. I can't imagine the market is very big for any of them considering how little traffic there is on shaving forums these days compared to a decade ago but if they're making a product people enjoy and will pay for, good on them. I doubt any of them have business models that will carry them for more than a few years so buy whatever it is you like while you can. You can only pretend to reinvent the wheel so many times.
Suspect you are right for the majority of the artisan soap purveyors and there will be exceptions that grow large enough for longer term success. Look at Mama Bear and Col. Conk, they are still around and until I researched my retrospective didn't realize they were the hot artisan soaps 15 years ago. The best more contemporary U.S. example is Stirling that has repeatedly grown and expanded over the past decade with global retail and wholesale distribution. There are also the various European artisan manufacturers who have been around for a while.

Also agree that these are likely small businesses. See my post that includes a high-level business analysis of Stirling (link below post #82) where my ballpark estimate had them at roughly $5 million U.S. in annual sales. Given that Stirling is one of the best soap manufacturer success stories in recent history the other artisan vendors, often just an individual mixing soaps in their kitchen, are likely just a small fraction of this size. Stirling's growth strategy of expanding its assortment has limits, hence why they likely recently added coffee to their shaving and grooming product lines. The broad assortment also limits efficiency. They still use an artisan batch process and could struggle to evolve to more efficient manufacturing techniques as a wide assortment can result in low unit sales for any specific stock-keeping-unit.

 
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