Will the big names redo DE shaving?

[Boozer]

Hi,

As I expect a lot of you did or do, I have read a lot of info on shaving with DE and a common thread seems to be "a modern resurgence in the traitional shaving methods, for better results".

That got me thinking, if so many are making the swap back to traditional (and buy the activeness to his forum and others like it there is no reason to suspect otherwise) Do you think the big names like gillette will redo a proper DE safety razor?

I expect if they did it would be blue and orange, covered in grippy rubber, and have a version with a battery in it, but if the market is growing, can they ignor it?

 

[congochris]

Heh, blue and orange might get my brother into it: He's a broncos fan.

I rather doubt they will, honestly. The market share may be improving, but the only way I can see Gillette re-marketing Tech's is as a niche market. Probably manufactured overseas (rebranded Lord's perhaps?) and limited serialized availability, or some crap. And the $12 Lord's would then be sold for $50+.

 

[Amer]

If it was cheaper than Fusion blades, people would buy it. I can't tell you how many times I've been in the deodorant/shaving isle at Wal-Mart and have seen a Mom/Dad and young son there for picking out the first shaving items and over heard them say "20 dollars for blades??" only to look at the Personna knock offs and say "Who is Personna??" and then go pick up the Gillette blades anyway.

If Gillette mass produced a safety with decent blades that was a lower cost than a fusion, people would buy it.

 

[Greyfox]

Don't see it happening. Not enough money in it for them.

 

[Mr. Scruffy]

If Gillette does anything, I think it will be adding a brushless soap/cream and eliminating the aerosol can thereby jumping on the "green" bandwagon.

 

[Mr. O]

Iif Gillette did re-produce a safety razor I willing to bet the quality of the razor would be sub-par compared to their vintage razors.

 

[soapbox]

If Gillette does anything, I think it will be adding a brushless soap/cream and eliminating the aerosol can thereby jumping on the "green" bandwagon.

+1 to this, and considering how much the TSA has been restricting things that can go boom, propane-filled cans of shave goo might be on the short list.

 

[ouch]

I don't see it happening, and I don't think it's necessary. We have all the cool toys we need.

 

[brian1g]

I think the big companies are happy with the way things are now. In the end they make more money with selling cartridge refills than they can by selling de blades.

I agree with Mr. Scruffy, they may make a push to non aerosol creams if anything.

 

[sas71]

with the way trends are whats was popular 20 or so years ago seems to be revisited now. maybe the Trac II or the Atra will make a comeback. Dont know about DE's. Would I like to be able to walk in and by a new Fatboy, Sliim or President etc at a reasonable price..heck yeah id like it.

 

[jkchuma]

I think the biggest reason they won't is for some reason it seems like most people think they will cut themselves to shreds. They think they are safer with cartridges. Perhaps they don't trust themselves. I had a conversation the other day with a guy that wanted a good quality electric razor and I tried to convince him to try DEs. He just kept saying "No, I'll cut myself too much" and "You must want to cut yourself."

= me because I want to cut myself...

 

[masonjarjar]

I expect if they did it would be blue and orange, covered in grippy rubber, and have a version with a battery in it, but if the market is growing, can they ignor it?

With all due respect to the members of this Forum, I still have a hard time believing we are anything more than a small drop in a very large bucket..

AOS and the imports will have to do. I don't see the bigs risking their high-profit cartridge business over us..

 

[bazwalk]

12 Dollars for a Lord razor ? I can get one in the local corner shop for 2

 

[john.crissman]

Well, Gillette is doing something for wet-shavers. It is called Art of Shaving, which their parent company, Proctor and Gamble, purchased last year.

As far as reintroducing a Gillette DE razor, it will never happen. If they do it will be under a new brand that does not compete directly with a multi-blade / legacy brand.

 

[JeffE]

Um, not to burst anyone's bubble here, but AOS IS OWNED BY P&G, which also owns Gillette! Seriously.

So to answer your question, Gillette does indeed want to own some part of this "premium shaving" market, and the part they want is what they already own -- the overpriced "boutique" retail stores that sell this stuff in the mall. Makes sense too, because with the AOS markup, the retail store makes lots more money on each sale than any of the manufacturers make.

 

[mmack66]

Folks act like there is some Gillette version of Area-51 where there are factories full of cosmoline coated machinery just waiting to be put to use in the manufacture of DE razors and DE blades. New manufacture of razors and blades with any semblence of the quality that would be expected by most members of B&B could only be done at an outrageously expensive cost and there would be little to no financial gain.

 

[JPM]

I'd be very surprised if they did. It would almost be an admission that all their marketing was worthless.

 

[*King G*]

they won't undo 40 years of marketing just to satisfy the ~1% of the population that uses DE razors...

 

[thirdeye]

Well, Gillette is doing something for wet-shavers. It is called Art of Shaving, which their parent company, Proctor and Gamble, purchased last year.

As far as reintroducing a Gillette DE razor, it will never happen. If they do it will be under a new brand that does not compete directly with a multi-blade / legacy brand.

To add to this, Gillette (P&G) has answered this on a number of occasions. My last email to them was answered with a resounding, "No"....

It's a shame they don't have the were-with-all to see what's going on.

I'll beat there will be someone come along in the not to distant future that makes a kick butt clone.....

 

[Navig8tor]

I think the biggest reason they won't is for some reason it seems like most people think they will cut themselves to shreds. They think they are safer with cartridges. Perhaps they don't trust themselves. I had a conversation the other day with a guy that wanted a good quality electric razor and I tried to convince him to try DEs. He just kept saying "No, I'll cut myself too much" and "You must want to cut yourself."

= me because I want to cut myself...

I had someone tell me they didn't want to try a DE because they hurt too much and I must like to hurt myself. I said, "Brother, you're standing here with bright red razor burn all over your cheeks, apparently you are the one that likes to hurt themselves!"

Even though I have a better shave than him and no razor burn he still couldn't wrap his mind around it.

Do we really want to welcome people this thick to the fold? Maybe it is for the best they don't get it.