The state of the industry in 2020

[jeffm54321]

I could not disagree with this statement any more. Check Maggard and WCS websites, new artisans are popping up every day. Existing artisans like Declaration Grooming, Wholly Kaw, Zingari have released new top notch bases. Chiseled Face is testing a new soap base. Karve, Carbon Shaving and many other are releasing new razors. There are a zillion new Youtubers. You just aren't looking in the right places I guess.

 

[VisceralWatch]

I would argue that 2020 is the best year in history to become a new wetshaver. There are SO many products out there that you can look up online and see credible reviews for in a matter of minutes. If you wish to stick to vintage razors and historic soaps/creams then power to you, but modern artisans have been pushing the envelope more in more in recent years in terms of how good a piece of hardware or software can be. Never has a person had more options to find the "perfect" shaving setup for themself.

 

[Timeclo]

I'm guessing that many of the artisans that the OP was familiar with went away and that's probably normal for the wet shaving community. Not everyone is like Stirling and B&M and most people do it as hobbyist. As for the state of wet shaving, I think it's at a good place. I only started couple years back but I see so many products available currently.

The RAZOR options are limitless; you have the vintages, the classics (Merkur, Edwin Jagger), and the moderns (Razorock, CG, Wolfman, Karve, ets). This is only DE. There are more SEs, shavettes, straight razors.... so many options.

The SOAP options are vast as well. I see so many classics available as well as artisans out there. Maggard carries so many and WCS is constantly coming out with LE and new soaps. I can't keep up with all the artisans so I just stick to my favorites. There are tallow, vegan, donkey milk, bison base, and many more ingredients that can give you slicker lather or better post shave.

The BRUSH scene is crazy. Perhaps the classic ones are slowly fading away as I do not see many of them coming out with new products. Or it might be that I'm not looking into classic brands. However, the artisan brush scene is very big. Some examples are Wolf Whiskers, TDR, TNS, Rudy Vey, Craving Shaving, WWBW (hopefully recovers soon), Grizzly Bay, Vikings, Teton shaves, and many more... especially with custom brushes, there are so many options out there.

These are just three components of wet shaving. You can dive deeper with aftershaves, blades, and etcs.. Although blades might be stagnant, I don't really care too much.. I have plenty o blades to use. That said, the scene is blooming heavy and I see newcomers everyday.

 

[Chandu]

Just curious if anyone else shares my concern for this hobby. Seems like the surge of great, new artisan products that started around 2013 has subsided. Not as many new products popping up the past few years. Many great products have actually disappeared. A couple years back a ton of new GEM razors launched. The Sabre, the Rocnel SE-G, ATT G1, and Colonial even was teasing a lather catcher. The Sabre can still be bought, but the others are gone from the market and the lather catcher was forgotten.

It also seems like there are less new wet shavers. Less wet shaving YouTube Channels. Less discussion in general. Was this hobby a fad for many people? I’m hoping I don’t see more great products dropping from the market.

I think a main cause is that the "modern wet shaving" market has matured. Simply there is more competition than there was back in 2013 be it for Razors, soaps, fellow You Tubers, etc. Soaps seem to be one of the areas the barrier to entry is lower, but many of those tend to be flavor du jour and quickly fall away as the herd hunts for "new".

I would say the razor companies that disappeared probably didn't do a lot of market research or have a solid business plan vs the ones that survived. Well and honestly the SE market is MUCH smaller than the DE market. Mature markets simply have less new entrants and I think that is what we're seeing.

 

[Atlantic59]

I think the main problem the "industry" has is growing the market. They need to keep attracting new people, otherwise the situation will be excess capacity and businesses that can't sustain themselves. How many soaps can one person use? How many brushes or razors, etc? Aside from a few "collectors" most people acquire enough equipment and supplies in a short time to last for years.

The potential market is all clean-shaven people in the developed world, but how many will choose to shave in this way?

 

[JeffJ]

I would argue that 2020 is the best year in history to become a new wetshaver. There are SO many products out there that you can look up online and see credible reviews for in a matter of minutes. If you wish to stick to vintage razors and historic soaps/creams then power to you, but modern artisans have been pushing the envelope more in more in recent years in terms of how good a piece of hardware or software can be. Never has a person had more options to find the "perfect" shaving setup for themself.

Couldn't agree more. There is a lot to choose from and tons of innovation. Cheap accessible CNC and 3D printing for razors and lots of internet resources and access to raw materials for soap making.

 

[gstriftos]

The potential market is all clean-shaven people in the developed world, but how many will choose to shave in this way?

Unless the tides of not shaving turn I don't think the question is ''how many will choose to save in this way'' but ''how many will choose to shave''.
Only time I left a beard was somewhat 20 years ago and only a for trimester. As years go by I choose to shave daily (even in weekends the past couple of years). Though I see that I am a minority since a lot men, even in professions that some years ago not clean shaved was a no go, choose to embrace a more ''au naturel'' face lifestyle (many of them with no grooming unfortunately).
On a silver lining, I see a lot ''welcome to badger and blade'' posts so maybe a data analysis on the newcomers by year, taking into account the posts created, can give an indication (I don't know if the platform has this feature though).

Honestly I feel like the emerging markets are developing countries but:
1) The ones that will have money to spend on shaving will follow cartridge based systems (advertising works wonders)
2) The ones that are not on a substantial financial level will most probably follow the ''cheapo'' way (extremely low priced DE's and soaps) or not shave at all, which I believe it may be already happening.
I don't see artisans to fit in these 2 scenarios..

 

[Chandu]

1) The ones that will have money to spend on shaving will follow cartridge based systems (advertising works wonders)

I don't think traditional wet-shaving with one blade as commonly practiced here has been advertised in any form of major media for decades. So if carts are the ONLY bladed shaving option being advertised is their winning proof of how well advertising works? I'm not sure it is. Market share moving from one brand of a cart to another is probably better proof of advertising working or not working.

Artisans will continue to survive because of members in forums like this one, not the masses. Foamy stays on the market due to masses, Tallow and Steel does not.

You're right, scruffy faces are more popular than ever, but then so are pajama pants. I view them with equal derision.

 

[phelix]

It was about this time last year when Murphy and McNeil entered the market. IMO one of the top artisan soaps. We do lose some artisans due to market forces, but we also seem to be gaining some really quality soap makers as well.

 

[johnwick]

Perhaps many of us forum goers are simply settling down. It’s natural that eventually we find what works well for us and the “enthusiasm” subsides.

Case in point, in the last couple of weeks I tried a couple of new products from a cutting edge artisan. One was a preshave another was a base he was testing and generously included with the shipment. My thoughts after using the products were “wow, this stuff is absolutely fantastic”.

That said, I’m not really the type to run out to the forum and share the epiphany that I’ve suddenly discovered the “best” latest and greatest product. Will I share my honest opinion once in awhile? Absolutely! But it seems most prefer to have the forums more balanced these days. Balance is good. It can be exhausting if tilted too far to one side.

It seems many folks (perhaps newer to the scene, perhaps not) have trended more towards Facebook and Reddit for discussions these days. Neither of which interest me. I prefer to be “old fashioned” in my preference for the decorum and organization a forum like B&B provides. It seems to be getting along just fine without them.

 

[carm10]

Just curious if anyone else shares my concern for this hobby. Seems like the surge of great, new artisan products that started around 2013 has subsided. ...

It also seems like there are less new wet shavers. Less wet shaving YouTube Channels. Less discussion in general. Was this hobby a fad for many people? I’m hoping I don’t see more great products dropping from the market.

I read an interview with Brad Maggard about a year ago where he agreed with your observations. He said that there still are of course new wetshavers, but it has subsided since that big influx of the middle of the last decade. While there will always be some anecdotal producer who can break through, he thought it would be a mistake to take out a small business loan to start a shaving product company in the current market (as compared to 5 years ago), and the smarter direction now would be beard care.

 

[Jim99]

I wonder how this has translated into razor resales and auction prices. I would expect that any slowdown due to the absence of new wet shavers would drive down prices assuming supply remains the same.

 

[theid59]

What are these adjustables you speak of? I know of the Rockwell T and that’s all. I’ve been primarily following the SE trends for razors lately.

There's the Rocnel Sailor and the HomeLike Shaving Taiga.

 

[samhain666]

My biggest concern are DE blades. There is just SO many different brands and SO few production facilities. Also price of blades is so low that I think margins are almost nonexistent, not a great factor. I think that as long there is DE razors on shelves we are okay but what if that happened one day? We will be stuck with dens full of razors and no blades to load our tools with. Personally I don't care if they stop producing DE razors, I have what I need, I just don't wan't them to stop producing blades.

As far as everything else goes, as long as people will shave with a blade there will be need for some sort of lubrication and after shave care products. I think there is enough of us "true" wetshavers and people who use carts with soap and brush that demand will stay high enough that at least a few makers will stand the test of time. And as I said, as long as people will shave there will be need to take care of our skin with AS/alum/witchazel/balm...

 

[Umma2gumma]

A relatively new untapped market, demand exceeds supply, so the new vendors are rushing in and there's an explosive growth.
At some point, supply exceeds demand, and some of the vendors exit the market.
Then, it stabilizes.

 

[Ted A]

The unshaven trend has been going on for a fair number of years now. Tastes and styles change. I wouldn’t be surprised if clean shaven comes back strongly in the next few years

 

[Chandu]

I wouldn’t be surprised if clean shaven comes back strongly in the next few years

I think you will be proven correct. Things like shaving are on a pendulum.

 

[MHBru]

I see a similar trend in fountain pens. Rapidly expanding market of pens for under $50 that come in many colors and there are people that collect all of them and then a matching ink. I dont see that as sustainable over the long term. Many of them will find themselves with drawers of product they no longer want or use and cant sell. On the other hand, the upper end of market can get into several hundred or even thousands of dollars. These buyers are far more prudent and the companies are well established. For both industries my projection is that the rapid soft low end expansion fades and that core customers who want higher quality will persist. In 30 years no one will even remember the apple watch but Rolex will still be worn with pride. IMHO anyway