Wet shaving and the economy
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I see it,, I have seen guys in the shaving section of stores take a look at the cartridges , see the prices and say " oh my God" , I have stepped in and told them about de shaving and badger and blade.. For me , between the money saved and the awesome experience that shaving now is , as opposed to using disposables and canned shave cream , it is a win - win situation..
The prices of the multi-blade cartridges is what led me to look into it. I'm hooked now.
Based largely on what I've seen here at B&B, I'd say some have started DE shaving with the intention of saving money. Then it seems a good number of them drive the economy with their subsequent AD driven purchases.
$18 for 4 Fusion cartridges. I think that speaks for itself. People are switching to save money.
If "wet shaving" becomes popular the big companies will find a way to monopolize it and profit from it. At which point a 100pk of Astra will go from $10 to $70 and Gillette will make shaving soap again only this time plaster the package with a million dollar design and marketing campaign and charge an outrageous price for it.
I'm seeing more and more new brands on the shelves of the shaving aisle. I think it's already slowly happening.
If "wet shaving" becomes popular the big companies will find a way to monopolize it and profit from it. At which point a 100pk of Astra will go from $10 to $70 and Gillette will make shaving soap again only this time plaster the package with a million dollar design and marketing campaign and charge an outrageous price for it.
I'm seeing more and more new brands on the shelves of the shaving aisle. I think it's already slowly happening.
With the downswing in the economy many people have been forced to analyze all of their purchases more carefully. In some cases, for the first time in their lives people are making comparisons about cost/benefit for even smaller purchases like health and beauty products. Combine this with the renewed green movement that encourages us to stay away from nasty chemicals and it draws even more people in.
If only they had a company where they could push high end cartridge handles and an expensive shave soap. Maybe even a brush or two; without Gillette moving into the market and directly influencing their customer base. Gillette itself switching to more wet shaving products in the US may have the unintentional effect of motivating those that trust Gillette's research, technology, etc to try these other products. Hiding it in a small niche store with a different name, however; is pure marketing genius.
If only they had a company where they could push high end cartridge handles and an expensive shave soap. Maybe even a brush or two; without Gillette moving into the market and directly influencing their customer base. Gillette itself switching to more wet shaving products in the US may have the unintentional effect of motivating those that trust Gillette's research, technology, etc to try these other products. Hiding it in a small niche store with a different name, however; is pure marketing genius.
Last year a neighbor was complaining about the high cost of blades. I gave him a slim and he never looked back, in fact he gave his brother in law a starter kit. I have to say almost everone I have worked with always complains about the cost of blades. I think with the advent of internet forums people have found a less expensive way to shave. It's just when the AD kicks in that the cost factor changes.
I'm sure Gillette will jump back into the wet shaving and DE market if the feel the public is shifting that way enough. I don't think at this point there is enough push to wet shaving for them yet. I just noticed the other day in Walmart that Ax has it's own line of cartridge razors and shaving supplies now. There is definitely a slow turn away form expensive Gillette cartridge razors. It will take a lot more though for the average guy to try wet shaving.
I would completely agree that the economy is driving people find alternatives to the way they spend their money. My introduction started when my girlfriend lost her job and we had to tighten up. I needed new Mach 3 carts and canned gel but when I had to pay attention to cost I decided to try a few cheap disposables instead with bad results. I went to the internet to do more research, found a video on AOL about saving money by using a DE razor, a shaving brush and soap. That led me to B&B...and a couple hundred dollars of AD! Fortunately she's back to work so I can indulge.
I too felt the sting of night priced carts. I already had a bunch of "old razors" all I had to do was dig them up. Get online and do some research on DE blades and soap. I started out shaving w/a de and to find they still made the stuff I couldn't wait to jump inAnd get rid of my cheap plastic gillette razor. GF got into the act too getting better results than the even cheaper dollar store disposables. All in all we are glad to have made the move. Even thought I knew how to use a de razor the information I found on this site was hugely informative. Heck untill now I never saw the reason for an aftershave. So I hope you new shavers young and old can get all the help you need.
I'm fortunate not to have been impacted by the economy, and the state of my budget hasn't been a factor. I can't honestly say that, among my other expenses, I was noticing the cost of Mach 3 blades at the end of the month. But I do have a thing about material waste, and when my local grocery switched to disposable Mach 3 razors complete with handles, that was the last straw for me.
It was high cartridge prices that steered me to DE shaving. I've always wet shaved and have pretty much always used a brush. I would sometimes grab a can of Foamy thinking it would be quicker and better this time, but always went back to my brush. I probably won't buy any more gear until I'm out of soap/cream, so I believe I'm saving money shaving this way. Some guys will end up spending more DE shaving than they did cartridge shaving but that's where the old adage comes in "It's not what you spend, it's what you buy" and if they're as happy with their shave as I am with most of mine, it's money well spent.
i see what you did here
Those who use carts and want to save money are faced with the decision of either keep using them or buy an electric as this is all that is presented in the shaving isles of the big box stores (walmart, CVS, etc) or at the grocery store.
There are no other options for joe 6 pack as they do not have a clue anything else exists because they are not bottle fed any other options. Sure they might see the random orphaned pack of Wilkinson DE, Schick injector, or Treet SE blades. That single orphan pack of blades is sitting, all dusty, on the peg board waiting for some old codger to come along and buy it. There are no razors hanging with that lonely orphaned pack of blades so the customer doesn't have a clue what they go into.
How many people do you know that search the internet for "alternative shaving options". Most men want to spend LESS time than the 2-3 minutes they now spend scraping their face in the morning.
There are no other options for joe 6 pack as they do not have a clue anything else exists because they are not bottle fed any other options. Sure they might see the random orphaned pack of Wilkinson DE, Schick injector, or Treet SE blades. That single orphan pack of blades is sitting, all dusty, on the peg board waiting for some old codger to come along and buy it. There are no razors hanging with that lonely orphaned pack of blades so the customer doesn't have a clue what they go into.
How many people do you know that search the internet for "alternative shaving options". Most men want to spend LESS time than the 2-3 minutes they now spend scraping their face in the morning.
This is exactly it. People have thousands of priorities to chose from in their lives and time is a huge consideration for most people. They don't want to dramatically increase the time it takes to shave and they aren't that concerned about how good the shave is. And that is ignoring the investment of time in learning and researching products, etc. And then there is the fact that the vast majority of us don't save money...quite the opposite.
I don't begrudge anyone for spitting out the canned goo and using a cartridge razor. They value the convenience. As critical as some are around here of that method, you can get a more than acceptable shave that way. I still do it sometimes while traveling or when I am rushed and get a nice shave with a $1 Sensor cartridge and a $.99 can of Barbasol that lasts forever.
I myself cannot afford the cartridges anymore. So I have bought a few razors, a few different creams, and some different soaps. If I were to stay the course I am on now ( not spending any more money on shaving ) I shall save quite a bit of money. I do have approximately half of a 100 pack of the Personnas I bought and lots of creams and soap. If one were to figure 25.00 for a pack of Mach 3 carts against 12.99 for a pack of 100 Personnas, the savings is there easily. I do think the state of the economy does have a hand in it, but the prices being charged for the carts in the main factor.
I started down this path because of the obvious savings on razors/blades but have spent a small fortune on different soaps, creams, aftershaves, and now Vintage Gillette razors. In the long run I think DE shaving is still a less expensive way to go and the quality of the shaving experience is way better.
@turtle
"How many people do you know that search the internet for "alternative shaving options". Most men want to spend LESS time than the 2-3 minutes they now spend scraping their face in the morning"
Thank God I was one of those people. I originally came up w/ straight razors and thought the price was a high but still better than carts. Then I remembered my old razors I had kept from uncles grandpap's etc that's when I went searching for DE blades
i really didn't know they still made them. Then I found B&B.
"How many people do you know that search the internet for "alternative shaving options". Most men want to spend LESS time than the 2-3 minutes they now spend scraping their face in the morning"
Thank God I was one of those people. I originally came up w/ straight razors and thought the price was a high but still better than carts. Then I remembered my old razors I had kept from uncles grandpap's etc that's when I went searching for DE blades
i really didn't know they still made them. Then I found B&B.
I started with the intent of saving money, until AD kicked in. But I have to say that it has definitely transformed a chore into a pleasure!!! Before I found this site, like Turtle said, I didn't realize there were alternatives. I just thought it was Gillette cartridges and Edge gel but I'm glad I was wrong!!!
Ditto for me. I googled something like "alternatives to cartridges" and came across the "Art of Manliness" article on "How to Shave Like Your Grandpa". Opened my eyes completely.
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