How did cartridges ever gain popularity?
- Thread starter Van-van
- Start date
Heavily marketing a cheaper more profitable product and making it much more widely available than it's predecessor even though inferior. After a while just discontinuing the production of DEs altogether. I would guess also that due to a much shorter and easier learning curve made carts the choice for most shavers just starting out.
There were multiple factors:
1. Time - Cartridge Shaving was promoted as faster. Yes I can shave faster with a cartridge because a DE requires more skill.
2. Safety - Cartridge Shaving was promoted as even safer than before. Push because I have cut myself with cartridge razors in the past.
3. Technology - America has been interested in the latest things since it was founded.
4. Generation - The Baby Boomers wanted to be different than their parents.
Yes, it was in many ways inferior to use cartridges, but the times were different in that old technology and nostalgia was treated as garbage in the 1970s - 1990s. Nostalgia became cool when the Baby Boomers began aging and were looking back to things that use to be and younger generations looked back and saw that they could take back some of the things that worked in the past.
1. Time - Cartridge Shaving was promoted as faster. Yes I can shave faster with a cartridge because a DE requires more skill.
2. Safety - Cartridge Shaving was promoted as even safer than before. Push because I have cut myself with cartridge razors in the past.
3. Technology - America has been interested in the latest things since it was founded.
4. Generation - The Baby Boomers wanted to be different than their parents.
Yes, it was in many ways inferior to use cartridges, but the times were different in that old technology and nostalgia was treated as garbage in the 1970s - 1990s. Nostalgia became cool when the Baby Boomers began aging and were looking back to things that use to be and younger generations looked back and saw that they could take back some of the things that worked in the past.
Cigarettes sold pretty well when the advertising budgets were enormous, and doctors were paid to sell them, and no one knew any better...
If advertising didn't work, no one would do it.
If advertising didn't work, no one would do it.
Everything kind of comes down to convenience and with convenience came laziness in most cases. We forget hard work and want everything right now including fast shaving. Just pop the cartridge , press on the foam can button and 2 minutes later your done.
As we get older, we realize that convenience is not always the best for us and the older ways of doing things might actually be better for us in terms of enjoying life and gaining skills. I guess you can call that middle age crisis but at the end of the day we are what we are (humans).
As we get older, we realize that convenience is not always the best for us and the older ways of doing things might actually be better for us in terms of enjoying life and gaining skills. I guess you can call that middle age crisis but at the end of the day we are what we are (humans).
I'll say that part of it was just that dads didn't teach their sons how to shave. I have nothing to support this, just a feeling. As I checked out a DE at an antique fair, the 3 somewhat older guys sitting and watching their lot were exclaiming... "remember those things?" "yeah I used to tear my face off with those" as if finding out that DEs were still used would be less surprising than aliens landing and asking to peruse their wares.
GDCarrington makes some strong points.
Consider the timing.
On TV, cigarette ads stopped the first of the year. Lawence Welk got cancelled after sixteen years. Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee Haw all got cancelled in the "rural purge". All in the Family started.
The third moon landing occurred. The first Star Trek computer game appeared. The first coin op game appeared. The fourth moon landing featured a lunar rover.
It really was a time when plastic was king, being called old fashioned was completely uncool, and things like aerosol cans and disposables were not seen as environmental hazards by most folks.
Check out Dad in those hip Wranglers. Do you think a guy like that would pass up a twin blade plastic razor to hang on to his old DE?
Besides, cartridge shaving is like McDonald's compared to a home cooked traditional wet shave. It's faster and convenient. Combined with multi-million dollar ad campaigns, and you've got a stampede to switch over.
This is only my guess, but even back in the early days of DE Gillette instructions lamented that "not one man in ten knows how to prepare the beard for shaving", and with the earlier advent of canned foam and the introduction of TV into post WWII society, the father/son hand off of shaving knowledge probably got even shakier. The cartridge has a lower learning curve, and how many young guys, once they got OK results with a cartridge, really bothered to compare it to anything that had gone before?
What's remarkable to me is not that cartridges were so quickly accepted, it's that there should be any movement back to the old ways at all.
Consider the timing.
On TV, cigarette ads stopped the first of the year. Lawence Welk got cancelled after sixteen years. Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., and Hee Haw all got cancelled in the "rural purge". All in the Family started.
The third moon landing occurred. The first Star Trek computer game appeared. The first coin op game appeared. The fourth moon landing featured a lunar rover.
It really was a time when plastic was king, being called old fashioned was completely uncool, and things like aerosol cans and disposables were not seen as environmental hazards by most folks.
Check out Dad in those hip Wranglers. Do you think a guy like that would pass up a twin blade plastic razor to hang on to his old DE?
Besides, cartridge shaving is like McDonald's compared to a home cooked traditional wet shave. It's faster and convenient. Combined with multi-million dollar ad campaigns, and you've got a stampede to switch over.
This is only my guess, but even back in the early days of DE Gillette instructions lamented that "not one man in ten knows how to prepare the beard for shaving", and with the earlier advent of canned foam and the introduction of TV into post WWII society, the father/son hand off of shaving knowledge probably got even shakier. The cartridge has a lower learning curve, and how many young guys, once they got OK results with a cartridge, really bothered to compare it to anything that had gone before?
What's remarkable to me is not that cartridges were so quickly accepted, it's that there should be any movement back to the old ways at all.
Wow... that's all I can say is wow... those are some jeans 
I'm not. For every action, there's maybe not an equal, but opposite reaction. Eventually. And then back again.
Just one example: We jumped on the greenhouse effect in the late 80s. The media started it, it gave the scientists a platform to tell people what they've been trying to tell them for a while.
Aerosols were the villain, industry jumped in to eradicate CFC's, make more money and sell a green image at the same time. Govts made themselves look good by thumping tables and talking tough about them doing it sooner.
Then we jumped back into Aerosols, consciences clear. Gillette must have been happy.
Anyway, we're back in the same media/scientist cycle of awareness, only this time govt realise they missed out on the $$ bonanza last time. I don't know how other govts are doing it, but ours is trying to sell an industry tax and a price on Carbon, as a green policy. Some people will buy it, the industry with green themselves over, and charge us through the noise for their pollution.
Cartridge shaving is faster, more convenient and "safer" for people who are looking to decrease the amount of time and effort it takes to shave. It's true now as it was in the 70's. To paraphrase my brother when I attempted to turn him onto "classic" shaving:
"It takes me less than 3 minutes to shave. Why would I want to spend 15 minutes doing it and messing with the brush?"
Nowadays he's switched to an electric.
Most people don't even want to spend 5 minutes shaving, let alone 10 or 15, and they don't get a kick out of all the paraphernalia like we do.
Even my dad (age 67), when I got into this stuff, tried to dissuade me. "I hated those old razors and the injectors too. The best thing they ever did was the Trac II and the Sensor."
"It takes me less than 3 minutes to shave. Why would I want to spend 15 minutes doing it and messing with the brush?"
Nowadays he's switched to an electric.
Most people don't even want to spend 5 minutes shaving, let alone 10 or 15, and they don't get a kick out of all the paraphernalia like we do.
Even my dad (age 67), when I got into this stuff, tried to dissuade me. "I hated those old razors and the injectors too. The best thing they ever did was the Trac II and the Sensor."
Really? Then why is it still polluting the airwaves on my PBS station?
Really? Then why is it still polluting the airwaves on my PBS station?
It's the Lennon Sisters. They carried him....
I know that Gillette sent out free samples da da da and marketing and all, but how did people feel those first cartridge shaves and think, "good enough." Some of you did just that. What was that like, to settle?
Many switched because those shaves with cartridge razors were as good or better than the shaves they were getting with DE razors (as witnessed by the fans of Trac II, Atra, Sensor and Hydro here at B&B, as well as the few "sell-outs" who have mentioned that DE blades weren't necessarily as good then as they are now). Cartridge shaving IS faster. Cartridge shaving IS safer (though I can't speak to Atra or Trac II; I started with Sensor). Some of it _was_ marketing. As others have pointed out, it was also zeitgeist.
People value different things, with faster usually being near the top of the list. If a person values shaving faster, they are not, for example and by definition, a sell-out for valuing in action (buying a razor that shaves faster) what they value in principle.
Folks might say they "didn't know" about SE/DE/straight shaving because all that was available were cartridges. If their shaves were bad, all that means is that they valued their time to do other things more than finding a better way to shave. If you're willing to take the time, there is a better way to do EVERY damn thing.
While it's simple to point out, the issue is much more complex than you and many others make out. I _will_ agree that it is easier to settle for a simple answer.
Steve
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Wow... that's all I can say is wow... those are some jeans
On the vintage Wrangler forum, some dude just said the exact same thing about Superspeeds. ;-)
Steve
By a lot of logic in this thread we should be using straight razors. I mean in the 40's safety razors were those new fangled mass marketed razors that give inferior shaves.
Wow... that's all I can say is wow... those are some jeans
Probable here (Calgary) I know I've seen shirts like that, Stampede brings it all out.
You're off by about forty years...in 1903, the disposable blade took off, and the Great War sealed the deal by exposing millions of doughboys to Gillette and Gem razors.
I'm not so sure that the difference between an Injector or a Knack and a Trac II is as great a gulf as exists between a straight and a Double Ring. Getting rid of stropping and honing was revolutionary, while the difference between a cartridge and a disposable DE or SE blade is pretty evolutionary.
Let's not forget that the Gillette DE stayed on the market for fifteen long years after the Trac II showed up.
I asked the wife to come up with another example that might fit the "Not as good but so much easier" category. Her answer...cloth diapers vs. Disposables.
"They are better for the environment, better for the baby, and once we got out of the hospital we never looked at one again".
Notice how the baby's butt gets involved in this again?
...because it's so fun to speculate!
Really good observations, esp. those by GDCarrington, Iakona (my dad neglected to teach me much about shaving), and Topgumby.
I learned to shave with a Gillette Slim Adjustable, then later grew a beard. Used a razor only every other day to trim around the edges, so adopted the earliest twin-blade cartridge. Perfect if you didn't really need lather or anything. And that led to a lapse in my initially feeble skills.
Later, when shaving all my face, there were these razor promotions - they'd send you a razor and cartridge (or two) in the mail, unannounced. And were they ever impressive. I got something like two or three solid weeks of good shaves with the first Gillette Sensor! Later, got nearly a month with the Schick Xtreme 3! Couldn't believe it.
Now I'm no conspiracy theorist; I'm a scientist and try to always shave with Occam's Razor. Simplest explanation is probably right. But...I kept buying cartridges here and there and the performance and duration never came remotely close to matching the freebies they initially sent me. So I was forced to conclude that they *could* use exceptional steels and heat treatments to produce a very durable blade (when they wanted to get you hooked on their "system") but there was absolutely no incentive to do that on an ongoing basis.
That's what got me to reconsider. But reflecting on some of Topgumby's observations...
Why the renewed interest in DE and even straight razor shaving?
(1) Some of that might just be the swing of the pendulum. Don't think that's the main thing.
(2) Might be the baby boomer nostalgia factor cited, but I'm not convinced. Even in the '70s there was a lively interest in things tossed aside by your parents' generation as passe, but seen as having an under-appreciated value.
(3) Perhaps recent environmental and political events have led some to conclude that the easiest and quickest ways of doing things aren't always the best and can have unforeseen consequences.
It isn't just the boomers that are interested in this stuff. Please forgive the pontification, but I suspect that our recent history has created an awareness that some older or simpler ways are really better for us in the long run. Plus, some of us can see that the public is getting ripped off in a big way and resent that. All of which leads back to simpler tools and better skills.
Just rambling...shoot me down, I'm fine with that!
- Bill
Really good observations, esp. those by GDCarrington, Iakona (my dad neglected to teach me much about shaving), and Topgumby.
I learned to shave with a Gillette Slim Adjustable, then later grew a beard. Used a razor only every other day to trim around the edges, so adopted the earliest twin-blade cartridge. Perfect if you didn't really need lather or anything. And that led to a lapse in my initially feeble skills.
Later, when shaving all my face, there were these razor promotions - they'd send you a razor and cartridge (or two) in the mail, unannounced. And were they ever impressive. I got something like two or three solid weeks of good shaves with the first Gillette Sensor! Later, got nearly a month with the Schick Xtreme 3! Couldn't believe it.
Now I'm no conspiracy theorist; I'm a scientist and try to always shave with Occam's Razor. Simplest explanation is probably right. But...I kept buying cartridges here and there and the performance and duration never came remotely close to matching the freebies they initially sent me. So I was forced to conclude that they *could* use exceptional steels and heat treatments to produce a very durable blade (when they wanted to get you hooked on their "system") but there was absolutely no incentive to do that on an ongoing basis.
That's what got me to reconsider. But reflecting on some of Topgumby's observations...
Why the renewed interest in DE and even straight razor shaving?
(1) Some of that might just be the swing of the pendulum. Don't think that's the main thing.
(2) Might be the baby boomer nostalgia factor cited, but I'm not convinced. Even in the '70s there was a lively interest in things tossed aside by your parents' generation as passe, but seen as having an under-appreciated value.
(3) Perhaps recent environmental and political events have led some to conclude that the easiest and quickest ways of doing things aren't always the best and can have unforeseen consequences.
It isn't just the boomers that are interested in this stuff. Please forgive the pontification, but I suspect that our recent history has created an awareness that some older or simpler ways are really better for us in the long run. Plus, some of us can see that the public is getting ripped off in a big way and resent that. All of which leads back to simpler tools and better skills.
Just rambling...shoot me down, I'm fine with that!
- Bill
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I learned to shave with a DE razor in the early 70s, and can't recall the exact year that I went to the Trac II, or my exact reasons. It probably just wasn't that big a decision. At the time, I would never have predicted that shaving would actually become interesting to me.
When I did use a DE, the first time around, I don't remember it being all that great. I was using canned foam, didn't have any particular coaching on blade angle, and used to cut myself more often than I liked. DE shaving didn't have the mystique it seems to have acquired since then.
When I did use a DE, the first time around, I don't remember it being all that great. I was using canned foam, didn't have any particular coaching on blade angle, and used to cut myself more often than I liked. DE shaving didn't have the mystique it seems to have acquired since then.
I can't speak to why cartridges ever became popular with anyone else, but for me, that's what I used because I'm young and cartridge razors were the prevalent form of shaving when I started. Back then, my parents said to me, "Son, you need to start shaving." They never told me HOW I was supposed to shave. All they told me was that I needed to do it, and expected me to figure out the how for myself. So I went out and got a Mach 3 (I had actually received one for my 18th birthday, which my dad took for his own), some canned goo, and went at it. The results weren't too good initially, but eventually I got to the point where my shaves were acceptable, and that was that.
I never gave a thought to DE shaving back then, and I suspect most cartridge/disposable/electric shavers don't either. Because, why fix what isn't broken? Most people will strive for excellence in one or two areas of their life, but not all areas. So even if the shave I got with a cartridge wasn't perfect, it was good enough, so I never looked into anything else. We average these things out in our minds; to most people, getting a decent result with minimal effort and time is appealing, and it's hard to justify spending more effort and time for only a slightly better result. It's laziness, I suppose. Of course, it's only when you start caring about getting really good shaves that you realize how poor your cartridge shaves were in the first place. When I started getting interested in grooming in all its forms, I started looking into how to improve the quality of my shave. I thought the solution lay in simply switching to a better shave gel (like the Aveeno one), or improving my shaving technique. A bit of research eventually led me here, and to the DE.
When my dad found out about my recent exploration into traditional shaving, he said he was proud of me for recognizing the value of a well-made safety razor that will give you a lifetime of great shaves as opposed to a bright orange multi-bladed vibrating toy. He even said he'd like to get back into DE shaving himself, but he's not sure where to start. Guess that's my cue!
I never gave a thought to DE shaving back then, and I suspect most cartridge/disposable/electric shavers don't either. Because, why fix what isn't broken? Most people will strive for excellence in one or two areas of their life, but not all areas. So even if the shave I got with a cartridge wasn't perfect, it was good enough, so I never looked into anything else. We average these things out in our minds; to most people, getting a decent result with minimal effort and time is appealing, and it's hard to justify spending more effort and time for only a slightly better result. It's laziness, I suppose. Of course, it's only when you start caring about getting really good shaves that you realize how poor your cartridge shaves were in the first place. When I started getting interested in grooming in all its forms, I started looking into how to improve the quality of my shave. I thought the solution lay in simply switching to a better shave gel (like the Aveeno one), or improving my shaving technique. A bit of research eventually led me here, and to the DE.
When my dad found out about my recent exploration into traditional shaving, he said he was proud of me for recognizing the value of a well-made safety razor that will give you a lifetime of great shaves as opposed to a bright orange multi-bladed vibrating toy. He even said he'd like to get back into DE shaving himself, but he's not sure where to start. Guess that's my cue!
