Gillette Guard and the shavepocalypse?

[Holzie]

See I don't get that. I hear guys saying they take 20 minutes or more to shave, but it doesn't take me any longer to shave with a DE than it does with a cartridge razor, in fact it takes me LESS time to get a good shave. 2 passes with a DE are equal to or better than 3 with a cart for me, and I don't waste time banging out the clogs. Also I remember seeing a Gillette advertisement from somewhere around 1910 touting the ability of their new safety razor to give a 5 minute shave. If you could get a 5 minute shave with one in 1910, why should it take 20 minutes now?

I can shave just as fast with a double edge as a cart. Face Lathering with a shave stick and brush is pretty quick too

 

[Go West Young Man]

See I don't get that. I hear guys saying they take 20 minutes or more to shave, but it doesn't take me any longer to shave with a DE than it does with a cartridge razor, in fact it takes me LESS time to get a good shave.?

Old way = 90 seconds start to finish
spray foam from can - 2 seconds
smear on face = 3 seconds
one N-S pass with a Mach III = 60 seconds
cold water rinse and slap on a/s = 25 seconds.


New way =
Create lather in bowl = 1 minutes
Apply to face, let sit = 3 minutes
WTG pass = 1.5 minutes
Relather, XTG pass = 2 minutes
Relather, XTG pass = 2 minutes
Touchups = 1 minute
Warm rinse, cold rinse, apply a/s, facesturbate, admire results = 2 minutes

I'm up to 12 minutes already and I don't do a 4th pass, use witchhazel or alum, and my prep is barebones. I can do 10 minutes if I buckle down, and when my focus is off 15 minutes isn't out of the question.

 

[Pbalkan]

I personally hope that everyone panics and hoards thousands and thousands of blades.

Because.... as soon as that happens, some company will introduce the absolute perfect DE razor blade and start selling it for a penny. We'll see ads in the Mall offering 10:1 to trade for all those hoarded blades.

For me, if Gillette (or P&G) can create a better product and sell it for a profit to a satisfied consumer... more power to them!

For us, the solution is obvious.... buy their stock! P&G is 10% off it's highs right now and there appears to be an issue for Gillette-India. If Gillette is successful in putting their cartridge in the hands of all those billions of people in Asia and India...your stock will go up so much that you'll be able to afford a live-in barber!

Case closed!

(Forgive a newbie who, at age 64 just has other stuff to be worried about!)

 

[mattface]

Old way = 90 seconds start to finish
spray foam from can - 2 seconds
smear on face = 3 seconds
one N-S pass with a Mach III = 60 seconds
cold water rinse and slap on a/s = 25 seconds.


New way =
Create lather in bowl = 1 minutes
Apply to face, let sit = 3 minutes
WTG pass = 1.5 minutes
Relather, XTG pass = 2 minutes
Relather, XTG pass = 2 minutes
Touchups = 1 minute
Warm rinse, cold rinse, apply a/s, facesturbate, admire results = 2 minutes

I'm up to 12 minutes already and I don't do a 4th pass, use witchhazel or alum, and my prep is barebones. I can do 10 minutes if I buckle down, and when my focus is off 15 minutes isn't out of the question.

Hey if it works for ya more power to you, but nothing in that new way has anything to do with what kind of razor you're using. if you switched a cart in for the DE, it would still take just as long, but maybe add 30 seconds for banging out the cart. A one pass quickie shave with a DE is just as fast as a single pass with a cart.

 

[sigthorson]

They got rid of their nice metal razors in droves, and not because the blades they had then were terrible. Cartridge shaving is flat out easier, and at the time, it was seen as progress, and being a shaving Luddite just wasn't the thing to do. Purchases aren't always driven by logic or thoughtful analysis. In the early 70's being old fashioned wasn't a good thing.

It seems to me that the advertising for the Guard is along the same lines. They are selling an image as much as a shaving tool. Maybe it won't work there like it did here.

I'd hazard a guess that in terms of volume, the US market for DE blades is a pretty small one compared to the rest of the world, and if the makers of plastic cartridge razors can get the main market to switch, it's just logical to assume that choices will diminish.

Is the Atra * edit* (I meant TRAC II) really that much easier than a DE? It has no pivot head so you need to maintain proper angle just like a DE. I would think an adjustable could duplicate the blade exposure. I do remember upgrading from the non pivot head Atra to the pivot head that came next(was it the sensor?) and I admit it was some easy to move that around my face but I also remember the shave didn't feel as nice on my face.

I can see how changing the blades might have been a hassle for them so the cartridge was a nice idea for that.

edit:
I'm going to stop posting in threads that require me to remember the proper names of old Gillette cartridge razors because I really don't care about them or what they're called.

 

[sigthorson]

You have to put it in context - DE shaving takes a lot more work and time than cartridges do. You have the benefit of being a First Worlder with the internet at your fingertips to guide you as you use a comparatively inefficient and timeconsuming device as a hobby. The averge guy in the 70s, and the average 2nd or 3rd Worlder today would have no patience with your position.

I would think those guys have been using DE long enough at this point that they are good enough to not need internet guidance. If they still get nicks I think a cheap plastic thing like the guard won't solve that problem for them.

Gillette already tried to bring the Mach III there and it doesn't seem to have worked so easier doesn't seem to be the problem to solve. Cheap and affordable seems to be the problem to solve but if the guard doesn't shave better than a DE then men will just go back to the cheaper DE.

If it's actually going to sell based on image and Indian men think the guard is wonderful image wise than that will prove that I simply don't understand the Indian mindset because I really don't get the image aspect of it.

 

[sigthorson]

Found this on youtube.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uffvu0aztAA


[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uffvu0aztAA[/YOUTUBE]

 

[WilliamIam]

I shave with a straight. I'm not worried

But still wouldn't it be nice if there were non *** cartridges out there that didn't have seven blades?

I do use my DE sometimes, but not very often. How long have gillette cartridges been around? And how many retailers still sell DE blades? That reassures me.

Maybe though, we'll have to fight back and get the world DE shaving again

Since Reading David Brin's The Postman, my opinion is this:
In any kind of apocalypse - shave or otherwise - if it happens, we're all screwed (regardless of preparations) and if it doesn't, then worrying about it was a waste of time.

 

[Obi Wan]

The "Shavepocalypse" happened about twenty years ago.

+1

Unfortunately for the big G along came the internet and lots of us unsatisfied with carts for whatever reason used 'the google' and now I for one am set for life

I went to India last year and was shaved by an Indian barber with a shavette (the kind that uses half a fresh DE blade per customer) it cost £0.15 for the shave. When I enquired how much the blades cost he said a pack of 10 blades cost 10 Indian rupees which is £0.07 ( about 10 cents US, so 1 cent a blade).

I'm sure the many up and coming professionals in India are able to afford mach 3 carts (having said that they are still relatively expensive and I only saw them for sale in refill packs of 2 blades) but the average man is struggling to feed himself and his family (as are we, thank you bankers) and so has to rely on DE blades.