How will the future affect wetshaving?

[rusirius]

So with some other comments and threads posted recently, I started thinking about this.

How will the future affect our wetshaving experience?

The first aspect of that is the relatively simple. As wetshaving gains popularity, Gillette and others are going to start to lose sales. Once that happens an inevitable reaction will take place. They'll either start a campaign to convince everyone that wetshaving is far worse then their 15 blades and goo in a can, or they'll jump on the bandwagon and start doing "re-releases" of DE razors, soaps/creams, etc. Or would they come up with some other solution?

The other aspect is a bit more tricky. How will technology play into this? Let's say a new dipilatory cream is created. It smells great, just like the English creams, won't cause burning, redness, irritation, etc. no matter how long it's left on, requires no prep, etc... You simply slather some on, wait a minute or two, rinse it off, and viola... BBS shave... No burn, no muss, no fuss... Would you try it? If it lived up to it's name could you convince yourself to continue wetshaving even though there was a much better approach available?

How about other advancements. While I personally cherish my "pampering" time in the morning wet shaving, by looking at the number of electric razor sales vs. cartridge razors, it's obvious to tell many others want to just get it done as quickly as possible. Would Gillette DARE release a technologically superior razor that would make all others obsolete? Let's say a "Laser Razor". Much like an electric razor, but somehow using laser radiation to do the shaving. Let's say this new razor could give you a BBS shave, again with absolutely no irritation, burn, etc? Or hell, maybe you just stick your face in a box, wait 10 seconds, and viola, it's done... (Might be hell on your eyebrows... ) Anyway, you get the point. No more blades to buy, no more mess, etc. Suppose Gillette has better sense, they realize what that would do to their sales... Wouldn't their competition, or a new competetor that isn't even on the scene release something similar? They're not making the sales as it is, they have nothing to lose, only to gain.

Thoughts? Comments?

 

[MasonM]

I don't know about all of that other stuff, but if Gillette were to go back to making DE razors I think they would somehow design them so that you were forced to only use their blades. After all, that's why they went to the cartridge in the first place.

 

[Jonnybc]

I don't think wetshaving will ever gain enough of a market share to worry the the big companies, even back in the old days when the first safety razor was made there were the die hards that stuck wiyth their cutthroats. I think we as wet shavers using primarily DE blades with soap/cream and a brush are in such a minority that we aren't even a consideration to Gillette, even though their name still appeard on DE blades.

As far as dipilatory creams are concerned, I will never use one. I enjoy the ritual of shaving, it's really the only pampering men give themselves in a modern world. I have no doubt that there's a market for the creams, some people get ingrowing hairs no matter what they do but I think they're in more of a minority than the DE shavers.

 

[Larry C in Texas]

Mason, good point about Gillette requiring use of their own blades if by some faint chance DE razors are ever made by them again. Profit was the motivation for cartridge systems when they were first introduced, and the desire for profit by corporations is way stronger today than 30 years ago. So, we can thank less fortunate countries where the men can't afford to spend $2.00 for a cartridge. They will still get the DE blades for their shaving needs, and we can benefit by being able to buy them.

I don't think we wetshavers, even if we grow 100X, will ever be on the radar of Gillette and their ilk. It's sorta like the few of us that wear and collect automatic watches. Seiko makes some dynamite auto watches, but they are mostly sold in the Far East. Seiko cares nothing about us in the US that love these simple affordable watches, so we have to order them from Singapore and Thailand, etc. Sound familiar?