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Is This the Golden Age of Wet Shaving?

When I started shaving in 1956 there was only a handful of DE and SE razors and not much in the way of blade selection. You were bound to what your local store carried. I was fortunate to live in the NYC area so I had a better selection than many folks. However, as best as I can recall my local stores carried only one brand of DE blades, Gillette Blues, and not much in the way of razors. There were only a few varieties of soaps and creams and as brushes were usually no-name brushes.

Actually, things got worse with the introduction of canned shaving cream and cartridges. The razor companies advertised only cartridge razors and canned shaving creams and gradually it became more difficult to find DE blades, real soap and cream, as well as DE and SE razors. I recall that one pharmacy in NYC where I worked carried two brands of shaving cream (Noxema and Kings) and one Williams and a perhaps another brand of soap.

However, everything changed with the introduction of the Internet. For the first time, I could order high-quality soaps and creams. I recall placing an order with T&H in the U.K. and waiting patiently for my order to arrive. Eventually, online stores in the U.S. popped up and things improved. Now you have numerous blades to choose from as well as many new and classic products. Just in the past 12 years, I have seen so many more new companies on the scene. Just think about all the new razors on the scene as well as numerous artisans producing soaps and creams.

When Gillette introduced cartridges and stopped producing new razors I never thought I would see a new DE razor produced.

To me, this is truly a golden age for traditional shaving. Many products to choose from at reasonable prices.
 
Not sure. The Golden Age might just as easily be when all men who shaved, everywhere on the planet, used either a straight, DE, or SE.

Cartridge razors. Yeah. Well, have you ever shaved with vintage double edge blades?

Don't they kind of...suck? Pre-1975 DE blades just suck. Is it any wonder people migrated to cartridges and disposables?

Where am I going with this? I don't know. Because I just outed my opinion of "The Golden Age" as being a time of "meh" blade sharpness and smoothness...
 
Well, have you ever shaved with vintage double edge blades?

Don't they kind of...suck? Pre-1975 DE blades just suck.
Yes, I have shaved with vintage DE blades. At the risk of arguing against my own OP premise, I have to disagree that all pre-1975 DE blades "suck". Many of the vintage blades I have tried from the post-stainless era (circa 1960) I've found excellent. The original UK made Wilkinson Swords, the later era Gillette Spoilers and the legendary Personna 74 Tungsten Steel blades are examples of vintage blades that I have used with great success. They are easily, in my experience, the equal of some of our top current production blades. The choices in the US market back in the day were much more limited, but the quality was there IMO. Of course we're talkin' blades, so YMMV
 
Though traditional shaving is on it's way back and it's nice to call this the Golden Age. I'd say the Golden Age is when Gillette, Gem and others were in their prime years ago. But today I'd call it "The New Age of Shaving"
 
No I don’t think it is.
It was in the 1920-1980s now is just the revival more and more men are wet shaving but it isn’t the golden age
 
I agree with the last few posts. We are hardly in a Golden Age at all. The Golden Age ended 40 years ago, when it stopped being an entirely mundane way to shave. What we have now is a niche hobby; a way of shaving that is not observed by 99% of guys, just with a whole heap more stuff to buy/try because of the internet.
 
I agree with the last few posts. We are hardly in a Golden Age at all. The Golden Age ended 40 years ago, when it stopped being an entirely mundane way to shave. What we have now is a niche hobby; a way of shaving that is not observed by 99% of guys, just with a whole heap more stuff to buy/try because of the internet.

The Golden Age ended when Cartridge razors became the norm. Cartridge razors became more popular when Gillette and Schick showed stores how much more profitable Carts are and slowly eliminating sale of choices of razors, soaps, blades, etc.
Back in the day in 1961, I went to the drug store to buy my first set up with my Dad and on the counter was a small case filled with razor blade tucks and Ads with Rodger Marris and Ted Williams posters on the walls and in shelves.
No disrespect meant to those who feel this is the Golden Age, but my Grandfathers, Father and I grew up in the Golden Age of Shaving. Manny of us seniors here saw it's end.
 

DoctorShavegood

"A Boy Named Sue"
Some could say the Golden Age ending with the invention of the DE razor. Or, some could say it ended when people stopped using axes, machetes and arrowheads and switched over to straights.
 
Not sure. The Golden Age might just as easily be when all men who shaved, everywhere on the planet, used either a straight, DE, or SE.

Cartridge razors. Yeah. Well, have you ever shaved with vintage double edge blades?

Don't they kind of...suck? Pre-1975 DE blades just suck. Is it any wonder people migrated to cartridges and disposables?

Where am I going with this? I don't know. Because I just outed my opinion of "The Golden Age" as being a time of "meh" blade sharpness and smoothness...

@AshleyC I think you hit the nail on the head with that post. People complain about cartridges but it wasn’t just a marketing ploy that got people to switch over. Though the razors of that era were (and still are) excellent, blades were pretty terrible. Also to echo many here who actually shaved at that time, selection for soaps, brushes and blades was pretty poor. Go to any supermarket today and check out the amount of selection we have between soaps, canned foams, gels, razors and blades and i think the modern era gets a bad rap.
 
Though the razors of that era were (and still are) excellent, blades were pretty terrible.
It depends on the part of the "era" you are referring to. The early carbon steel blades were by all accounts not so good. I wasn't shaving back then, and because most carbon steel blades that are still around have deteriorated to the point that their "out of the package" quality can't be accurately judged, I can't verify that. But once the first stainless blades hit the market in 1960 quality quickly ascended to levels that were very comparable to today's blades. Sharpness of the better blades was on par with today's better blades, and longevity was actually much better. I can personally attest from having used a number of these blades that they were definitely not terrible; far from it. Blades like the original UK made Wilkinson Swords, the Gillette Spoilers and the Personna 74 Tungsten Steel were (and still are if you can find them NOS) very good indeed.

So for at least a decade before carts came onto the scene, I would submit that both DE razors and blades were excellent. The problem (for the manufacturers) was that they weren't sufficiently profitable. The profit margin on carts, on the other hand, was seen as the way to the promised land.

You don't say if you have ever used a NOS quality vintage stainless blade, but if not, you should hunt some down give them a try.
 
Perhaps we should define golden age. It appears that some are using it differently than I do.

Webster defines golden age "as a period of great happiness, prosperity, and achievement." Dictionary.com defines it as "the most flourishing period in the history of a nation, literature, etc."

Years ago - and when I first started shaving - shaving was a chore to be done as quickly and as cheaply as possible. To me, that is not a golden age. Today we have so many choices and to some of us it is not a chore. We debate about what brush, soap, cream, razor, blade, aftershave etc. we will use. Some of us even take photos and post them on the Shave of the Day. That, to me, signifies a golden age.
 
Not sure. The Golden Age might just as easily be when all men who shaved, everywhere on the planet, used either a straight, DE, or SE.

Cartridge razors. Yeah. Well, have you ever shaved with vintage double edge blades?

Don't they kind of...suck? Pre-1975 DE blades just suck. Is it any wonder people migrated to cartridges and disposables?

Where am I going with this? I don't know. Because I just outed my opinion of "The Golden Age" as being a time of "meh" blade sharpness and smoothness...
Have I ever shaved with vintage blades? Yes, as a matter of fact that's all I use. Not saying all vintage blades were great but , and I've searched here and other forums on this very subject, the overwhelming consensus among those that have tried them is the best ones are superior to what's offered today. In my opinion, again based on the limited info available on the subject, to make them as good nowadays would price them far out of the reach of the men who make up the majority of wet shavers in the world today. But as the hobby that it is to most of us, this could well be the "Golden Age" of wet shaving.
 
Years ago - and when I first started shaving - shaving was a chore to be done as quickly and as cheaply as possible. To me, that is not a golden age. Today we have so many choices and to some of us it is not a chore. We debate about what brush, soap, cream, razor, blade, aftershave etc. we will use. Some of us even take photos and post them on the Shave of the Day. That, to me, signifies a golden age.
Thanks for this post. That is really what I meant when I advanced the idea that this is a Golden Age for traditional wet shaving. A (admittedly small) group of men has embraced shaving as a pleasurable grooming activity, resulting in advancements in both knowledge and products (both quality and variety) in support of this interest. To my knowledge, his has never before been true of shaving, hence my original premise.
Perhaps we should define golden age. It appears that some are using it differently than I do.
Agreed. This is what I had in mind: "golden age": the period when a specified art, skill, or activity is at its peak.
 
It depends on the part of the "era" you are referring to. The early carbon steel blades were by all accounts not so good. I wasn't shaving back then, and because most carbon steel blades that are still around have deteriorated to the point that their "out of the package" quality can't be accurately judged, I can't verify that. But once the first stainless blades hit the market in 1960 quality quickly ascended to levels that were very comparable to today's blades. Sharpness of the better blades was on par with today's better blades, and longevity was actually much better. I can personally attest from having used a number of these blades that they were definitely not terrible; far from it. Blades like the original UK made Wilkinson Swords, the Gillette Spoilers and the Personna 74 Tungsten Steel were (and still are if you can find them NOS) very good indeed.

So for at least a decade before carts came onto the scene, I would submit that both DE razors and blades were excellent. The problem (for the manufacturers) was that they weren't sufficiently profitable. The profit margin on carts, on the other hand, was seen as the way to the promised land.

You don't say if you have ever used a NOS quality vintage stainless blade, but if not, you should hunt some down give them a try.

I was referring to the earlier carbon models since i’ve heard many glowing reviews about the blades you mentioned. I should've been a little more specific. Either way my point was more that the volume of choice was decidedly small then compared even to say, supermarket cart selection now. And not just blades but soaps, brushes, etc. If you didn’t like the handful of soap and blade options you were pretty much going to electric or growing a beard. Now, there are so many choices it’s staggering. I think the era in question is more nostalgic than golden; due in large part to the fact that DE was the primary method of shaving and the fact that Gillette razors were so excellent. I liken it to the muscle car era vs the modern day. Cars were undeniably cool back then and there’s a definite nostalgia for big v8’s and zero electronic interference; but when a top trim toyota Camry will outhandle, out brake and out hustle 75% of the old american muscle, you have to be aware that sometimes it’s more a matter of rose tinted memory. Not saying i’m right about that being the case but if you ask me whether i’d want to be driving a 69 mustang and shaving with a Personna 74 or driving a 2019 mustang and shaving with a top blade i’ve chosen among hundreds of brands, i’ll take the modern era. The upside (and part of the point) being that in the modern era, i can still drive a 69 stang and shave with Personna 74’s if i so choose.
 
The golden age..of shopping.

Indeed. Nobody in the classical "golden age" of shaving, when Milton Berle had a tv show and Americans with Buicks and Fannie Farmer cookbooks pretended to be impressed by Sputnik, had a "display" of multiple razors dangling from test tube racks on custom shelving.

Perhaps we live in "The Gilded Age of Shaving"?
 
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