I think some on B&B would
How much are safety razors 'really' making a comeback?
- Thread starter JasonJT
- Start date
I think it's a pretty small niche.
When I'm traveling around (which was possible some time in the far past) I always looked for razor shopsI think some on B&B would
I’m sure straights were being sold in high end soap stores a cutlery shops but I didn’t haunt those exotic places at such a young age.
5 years ago there were no gillette branded safety razors and blades in my local drug stores. Even though they are branded for "beard care", they are still DEs and blades. They are making a comeback, but I think we are seeing the high water mark of that comeback.
DEs work and they work better for some than cartridges. I think the price difference is really minor. In reality it is $50 to $100 per year. That isn't very much in comparison to gas prices or food prices.
It is the performance that sets the DEs apart. They work much better for me and that is why I use them.
DEs work and they work better for some than cartridges. I think the price difference is really minor. In reality it is $50 to $100 per year. That isn't very much in comparison to gas prices or food prices.
It is the performance that sets the DEs apart. They work much better for me and that is why I use them.
"Lucky" you (hehe). Here in San Diego (not exactly a sleepy town) you might see Old Spice, Clubman, Aqua Velva and Nivea creams...but that's about it. No soaps, blades or razors anywhere I've looked.
A few years ago (up to around the lockdown) they used to carry one brand of blades, one soap and one DE razor (don't remember the brands) at my local CVS, but even those are gone now. If DE razors are making a comeback, they have not arrived at San Diego yet (the razors might be waiting to be unloaded on some ship offshore
). Thank goodness for the online merchants.
Here in Germany you can get the Wilkinson Sword Classic plastic DE razor for around two or three Euros in many grocery stores and pharmacies. Palmolive, Nivea, Speick and Weleda shaving cream are widely available. You see KCG and some other DE razors and you have brushes for sale. Yes it is a little comeback. Now that we have an ecological party in the government there maybe will be a stronger emphasis on sustainability. The Greens really don't like disposable items. So there is a chance for change. We will see.
Lefonque
Even more clueless than you
I never thought about it. Maybe 
I think it's possible safety razors COULD make a comeback. For 30 years, I had no idea there were options beyond cartridge or electric. When I went looking for a new razor, I was really just thinking about getting a good shave, conveniently, for a reasonable price. I ended up with a DE because after googling shave club comparisons (Harry's vs. Dollar vs....) all of my online ads after that were suddenly for Leaf, Henson, Supply, OneBlade, West Coast Shaving, etc. So there is at least some targeted advertising. And with minimal research, I determined that a DE ticks all the boxes, with the only inconvenience being a learning curve.
But while I'd like to think I'm not that unusual in what I was looking for or how I got to a DE, I haven't seen any data to support a comeback. Grocery stores here (Jacksonville, USA) carry zero safety razors, zero blades, zero brushes, and only maybe 4 brushless creams (VDH, Cremo, a couple others) plus canned stuff. And the Google search query that @CJB3 provided doesn't seem to indicate a comeback either.
So while I feel like with a bit of advertising, safety razors could well appeal to non-enthusiasts, I haven't seen any real evidence of a substantial comeback, at least not yet.
But while I'd like to think I'm not that unusual in what I was looking for or how I got to a DE, I haven't seen any data to support a comeback. Grocery stores here (Jacksonville, USA) carry zero safety razors, zero blades, zero brushes, and only maybe 4 brushless creams (VDH, Cremo, a couple others) plus canned stuff. And the Google search query that @CJB3 provided doesn't seem to indicate a comeback either.
So while I feel like with a bit of advertising, safety razors could well appeal to non-enthusiasts, I haven't seen any real evidence of a substantial comeback, at least not yet.
I always try to get guys to make the switch over to DE safety razors. I’ve been successful once. Haha, but it doesn’t come up in convo too often though either.
A few guys I currently work with I have brought it up because of Movember and I’m also starting to dive into shaving more.
But I’ll tell you this, big shaving companies haven’t got my money from razors, cartridges of their crappy gels in 8 years and it’ll stay like that.
I have literally saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars switching to a DE razor and find shaving enjoyable.
They are making a comeback because cartridges are expensive and don't do as well after one shave..
With online shopping it is easy to research and buy. If you need a proof of concept Vander Hagen is good enough to get omentonspemd more online. Also, they are available in fine department and hardware stores like Berings here in Houston. Several varieties. I browsed the section.
With the ease of a variety pack and 100 blade purchase it is coming back for sure.
With online shopping it is easy to research and buy. If you need a proof of concept Vander Hagen is good enough to get omentonspemd more online. Also, they are available in fine department and hardware stores like Berings here in Houston. Several varieties. I browsed the section.
With the ease of a variety pack and 100 blade purchase it is coming back for sure.
I try to tell people I know who shave (not all do) about the advantages of a DE or SE razor. I usually get an intrigued look when I mention how cheap the blades are. You can see the wheels turning as they figure how much cartridges cost them. I really don’t know how many have made a permanent switch, but at least they consider it.
When I think back on the years and money I spent with various cartridge razors with different numbers of blades, it really ticks me off. I guess if I’d been getting the results the companies implied I would get, I’d just shrug it off. Paying more for inferior performance is not my thing.
Jack
When I think back on the years and money I spent with various cartridge razors with different numbers of blades, it really ticks me off. I guess if I’d been getting the results the companies implied I would get, I’d just shrug it off. Paying more for inferior performance is not my thing.
Jack
I doubt they are making much of a comeback. More popular than they’ve been in the last 50 years, but it’s a niche market.
Breakfast cereal sales have been declining for a decade because people don’t have time to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal in the morning. I don’t think there’s an expectation for men to suddenly find 5 extra minutes to shave in the morning.
There’s been relatively light disruption to shaving supplies throughout the pandemic, and razor blade prices have been stable in spite of inflation, supply chain woes, and a dearth of US distributors. Not exactly the hallmarks of a high demand market.
Breakfast cereal sales have been declining for a decade because people don’t have time to sit down and eat a bowl of cereal in the morning. I don’t think there’s an expectation for men to suddenly find 5 extra minutes to shave in the morning.
There’s been relatively light disruption to shaving supplies throughout the pandemic, and razor blade prices have been stable in spite of inflation, supply chain woes, and a dearth of US distributors. Not exactly the hallmarks of a high demand market.
It took all of my Google fu to find any relevant data, but this article projects a decline in global sales of DE blades from $1.2B in 2020 to $980M in 2026. That’s just DE blades, so it doesn’t include SE and says nothing about razor sales. Still, it sounds to me quite emphatically that no, safety razors are unfortunately not currently in the midst of a comeback.
Sounds like price hikes incoming. Might be a good excuse to stock up on hundy packs (in case anyone needed the justification)...
Had to pop in the WalMart grocery to get some deodorant (I‘m not a barbarian, regardless of my appearance) so I thought I’d check out the razor section. Many many cartridges of all sorts and prices and number of blades, absolutely no DE razor blades or razors. I really thought there would be at least one package, but I didn’t even see a place where some might be in case they were out of stock.
Thank goodness for the internet.
Jack
Thank goodness for the internet.
Jack
I'm surprised how many friends around my age shave with DE razors. But, as I've said before, I hang out with musicians and socialists (sometimes both!). Seriously, I think it's because we have a fairly high profile store locally and you can get a reasonable amount of various supplies at various stores.
That's a very pertinent assessment. The goal was convenience at the 'lowest' possible cost, and they succeded.
Not really, if only marketing could make it happen. Convenience is conducive to many things but not to shift the minds towards sustainability or product life-cycle enhancement, and history is rife with countless examples. The whole mentality behind disposables - be it writing or shaving implements - is accessibility / maintenance = infinite peace of mind. We're past the PSR on this one, unless a paradigm shift turns things around, thing is, that might not be wet shaving at all.
I only know one guy who is into wet shaving. He graduated from DEs to straights.
When I talk about my DEs with other guys they just look at me like I'm crazy. I convinced two guys to give it a try (I let them borrow razors and soap)...both of them gave me back my stuff and told me "thanks, but no thanks". One couple know me as "the shaving guy". Lesson learned -- I don't talk about shaving anymore (unless my girlfriend mentions my crazy hobby). I thought I was spreading the gospel and all it got me was almost getting committed.
The shelves in the shaving sections at Walmart, Target, Walgreens and all of the other regular retail stores that the average men and women purchase their shaving supplies from doesn’t support this.
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