I would project running out of soaps, blades, and aftershave in about three years. I am 73 and look forward to reentering the marketplace before supplies give out.
Many of us are in similar situations in part because the software we use for this hobby (soaps, creams and blades) is relatively inexpensive and often at significant risk of being discontinued. It was not a big investment to load up on over two dozen pucks of Williams when they sold for 99 cents each at my local supermarket for example. Similar for many of our favorite blades ($5-10 per hundred for my three brands) and other soaps like Arko. Other items get snapped up when on sale such as when MWF was briefly available landed in the U.S. from Connaught for under $6 (4.80 GBP) in quantities of 6 last fall due to the drop in exchange rates. Didn't realize at the time it was at high risk of a formula change.I have been reading of the reformulation of Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap and read the advice to stock up, and so found myself with a few pucks of tallow MWF in my online shopping basket. Before I finished my purchase I decided to do a stock take of my soaps and estimate how long my current supply would last. I allowed a conservative nine months for a bowl or puck, and six months for a stick in my calculations.
I was astonished to find I have in excess of 40 pucks or bowls of Yardley Black Label, Yardley Lavender, Shulton Old Spice, Cussons Imperial Leather, Goya Cedarwood, Goya Corvette, Roger & Gallet L'Homme, Faberge Brut, and Tabac. Similarly I have almost 50 sticks of Yardley Black Label, Yardley Lavender, Cussons Imperial Leather, Shulton Old Spice, Williams, Tabac, Dubarry Silkashave, Palmolive, and Erasmic; plus a few tubes of Yardley, Shulton Old Spice and Old Spice Burley creams. I am now 56 years of age and have sufficient soap to last me well into my 80s if not my 90s. It suddenly dawned on me that the purchase I was about to make was madness, and to make matters worse I don't even like Mitchell's Wool Fat which is why I do not currently use it And don't get me started on vintage aftershave, I have so much I could wash the car with it and I am still buying it
So, I emptied my online basket and congratulated myself on my frugal restraint But, I am a realist and I am confident that the next time I see a Yardley Black Label shave soap I will not be able to resist. Nevertheless, I succeeded in not buying some items that I neither like, need, nor want, which is a small victory for common sense. I explained that to my lovely wife expecting to be praised for my good behaviour, but she did not seem to appreciate the magnitude of my achievement
So, with your current stock, how old will you be before you run out of soap, blades, or aftershave?
If anyone had asked me at the beginning of the year, "what soap is likely to be reformulated this year," MWF would not have been on my list at all, though in hindsight, it should have been obvious. I fully expect the other English triple-milled tallow soaps to be reformulated by this time next year....Didn't realize at the time [MWF] was at high risk of a formula change...
The death of triple-milled tallow shaving soap was not something I ever expected to live through or see happen in my lifetime.
From other B&Ber posts regarding $25+ artisan products that only provide 25-30 shaves it makes sense that some of these soaps are really creams or at the very least croaps. There are also plenty of good non-tallow soaps out there. I have new formula Tabac and What-The-Puck in my rotation.If anyone had asked me at the beginning of the year, "what soap is likely to be reformulated this year," MWF would not have been on my list at all, though in hindsight, it should have been obvious. I fully expect the other English triple-milled tallow soaps to be reformulated by this time next year.
The death of triple-milled tallow shaving soap was not something I ever expected to live through or see happen in my lifetime.
At least there is an ample selection of shaving creams to pick from, and a huge variety of 2x and 3x concentrated shaving creams out there. They can call it 'Artisan Shaving Soap' if they want, but anyone with half a brain knows better. Calling a pig a donkey doesn't make it any less of a pig, and anything with that much water in it is a shave cream, tallow or no.
That is a large part of the underlying dynamic around our hobby. Manufacturers and retailers are realizing that as DE shaving has become driven more by hobbyists versus legacy decades long shavers that can make more profit selling higher end products versus the more basic items that have been discontinued.And in a decade or 15 year's time, someone will start manufacturing a small batch, hard tallow-shaving soap. It will be marketed as "the real thing" like grandad used to use, triple-milled like the high quality soaps of days gone by so a week of shaves will barely make a dent in it, and scented only with natural essential oils - nothing like these squidgy, over-fragranced "artisan" products that have come to dominate the market.
Yours for a mere $50 a puck.
That would only make sense if products are being replaced. Sometimes they are, other times they are just gone.That is a large part of the underlying dynamic around our hobby. Manufacturers and retailers are realizing that as DE shaving has become driven more by hobbyists versus legacy decades long shavers that can make more profit selling higher end products versus the more basic items that have been discontinued.
Would likely need a full puck per shampoo & shave based on that advertisement - Combe missed its chance to drive increased demand and preserve the brandThat would only make sense if products are being replaced. Sometimes they are, other times they are just gone.
It's not the small soap makers, or the businesses. It's the OEM manufacturers. The company that made Valobra shut down, and took the tallow soaps of Fine, Speick, and Tabac (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) down with it.
On the flip side, you do have companies like Ach. Brito who certainly have noticed that customers are looking for higher end products, which is why we have basic soaps like Ach. Brito Musco and Mogno, and better soaps like Musco Real, which is from their Claus Porto line of higher end soaps.
I haven't noticed very many companies taking this approach, though, and very few companies rely solely on soap sales. For most, soap is only one of the grooming products on offer.
Now, having said all that, I do think you are right. The current market conditions favor the flashy and new. The traditional stuff relies on word of mouth and repeat sales. They need to wake up and start making an advertising budget. These old companies used to advertise, and they need to do it again.
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...and I finally found the proper way to lather Williams.
I'm so fortunate I didn't go down the rabbithole with software. But I have over 100 razors....90 of them vintage. Can't stop. I'm just now figuring out what I like. My dr says there's medicine for this, but that it is habit forming as wellI have been reading of the reformulation of Mitchell's Wool Fat shaving soap and read the advice to stock up, and so found myself with a few pucks of tallow MWF in my online shopping basket. Before I finished my purchase I decided to do a stock take of my soaps and estimate how long my current supply would last. I allowed a conservative nine months for a bowl or puck, and six months for a stick in my calculations.
I was astonished to find I have in excess of 40 pucks or bowls of Yardley Black Label, Yardley Lavender, Shulton Old Spice, Cussons Imperial Leather, Goya Cedarwood, Goya Corvette, Roger & Gallet L'Homme, Faberge Brut, and Tabac. Similarly I have almost 50 sticks of Yardley Black Label, Yardley Lavender, Cussons Imperial Leather, Shulton Old Spice, Williams, Tabac, Dubarry Silkashave, Palmolive, and Erasmic; plus a few tubes of Yardley, Shulton Old Spice and Old Spice Burley creams. I am now 56 years of age and have sufficient soap to last me well into my 80s if not my 90s. It suddenly dawned on me that the purchase I was about to make was madness, and to make matters worse I don't even like Mitchell's Wool Fat which is why I do not currently use it And don't get me started on vintage aftershave, I have so much I could wash the car with it and I am still buying it
So, I emptied my online basket and congratulated myself on my frugal restraint But, I am a realist and I am confident that the next time I see a Yardley Black Label shave soap I will not be able to resist. Nevertheless, I succeeded in not buying some items that I neither like, need, nor want, which is a small victory for common sense. I explained that to my lovely wife expecting to be praised for my good behaviour, but she did not seem to appreciate the magnitude of my achievement
So, with your current stock, how old will you be before you run out of soap, blades, or aftershave?
We sail a very similar ship. I'm wondering when I'll actually stop buying soaps and creams. I'm good for razors once my new Karve set up shows up in a few weeks, so perhaps at some point this year I'll be able to finally slow down the frequency of purchases of the aforementioned.I am on this bandwagon too. No need to list it all here, but I have enough of all shaving supplies to outlast me.
So I am wondering what this is "really" about. Can someone here tell me ...?
I don't really regret my endless purchases of all things shaving, after all it is quite harmless, and it does cause much enjoyment I must say, but it does seem a bit irrational. Why this continuous desire to indulge in being completely irrational? Or maybe that is not the best way to frame it. But that is my real challenge ... what to make of this mystery of ... a giant and continuously growing stock of all kinds of ... shaving supplies.
But I've been there many times, and yet I end up buying more .... When I really got into straight razors some four years ago, I thought I would retire my DE collection entirely. Yet I got back to DE shaving. I thought I had all the razors I needed, yet just this summer I got four new razors, and having a fifth on it's way. This is way beyond "needs" ...!! This is beyond any conception of "rational". I can't explain what's going on, it just happens. Yes, I am slightly worried, but it's also a very enjoyable ride.I'm good for razors once my new Karve set up shows up in a few weeks, so perhaps at some point this year I'll be able to finally slow down the frequency of purchases of the aforementioned