How did cartridge razors become so popular?

[garyg]

I started shaving circa 1962 - with a Gillette DE that adjusted (can't recall Fatboy or Slim). When I went to college around the time the OP was born I took a yellow Schick injector. But in the Age of Aquarius we didn't spend a lot of time shaving ..

Somewhere during those years the cartridge razor started showing up free in the mail in the college dorms. Combine poor college students of the massive Baby Boomer generation with free stuff that worked, kinda, & most of us didn't look back for decades.

 

[santamariasteve]

I find the answers above about the avalanche of high priced cartridge razors to be very insightful.

And yes, some upscale dress shirts now are sans pockets. I have one. I like to carry a pen in my shirt pocket, instead of the inner pocket of my blazer.

 

[Whitewolf777]

Thank you all for these posts, testimonies and analysis.
I learned a lot reading them and things make more sense now.
I recall using the Gillette sensor as well. Most certainly my first ever razor.

 

[Whitewolf777]

Correction my first razor was the contour (Atra).
I realize now that some of the Gillette DE's where still produced and available in the market.
At the time, in my early teens, I would not have dared to try one, or any of the straights still easily accessible.

 

[Andy77]

I started shaving circa 1962 - with a Gillette DE that adjusted (can't recall Fatboy or Slim). When I went to college around the time the OP was born I took a yellow Schick injector. But in the Age of Aquarius we didn't spend a lot of time shaving ..

Somewhere during those years the cartridge razor started showing up free in the mail in the college dorms. Combine poor college students of the massive Baby Boomer generation with free stuff that worked, kinda, & most of us didn't look back for decades.

Gary, this is beautifully written.

 

[California Cajun]

If I remember Leisure Guy (who wrote the Gourmet Shaving book), Personna cornered the market when they came out with stainless steel DE blades. So Gillette had to share the profits. The post-DE razors didn't have to use Personna blades so Gillette got all the profits.

I had bad luck for 40 years with multi blade or cartridges so one day in 2010 I looked for alternatives on the internet. That's when I found this forum and access to the old-style razors.

 

[Cliff]

I know we're all waiting for the new :

Definately a single pass razor.