Thread: How many people straight shave?

I certainly hope there are more than 10,000, don't get me wrong. 500,000 in the U.S. alone? I've got to get to work on starting my own straight razor related product website!

Chris L

How about looking at it this way: There are still only two major producers of straight razors remaining in the world, both in Europe. All of the US producers, except for a few custom makers, are long gone.

There must be enough worldwide business to keep both Dovo and Thierrs in business, but how much is U.S only?

I'm guessing that if the U.S. straight razor market was that big, some entrepeneur (maybe even Gillette or Schick) would put out some type of product to capture that market. The fact that it hasn't happened, yet, tells me that the U.S. market is probably very, very small.


Scott

I would guess that there are more than we think, I knew a member here (Lou aka Scarface) for the past 4 years talked to him at least twice a week at the Gym, about various subjects, and not once did straights, ever come up...
Until Tony's "What do you look like thread" and we realized that we knew each other .....

Originally Posted by Blackhawk

Then I was watching Battlestar Galactica and saw Giaus Baltar using one. It was like a sign from above.

...or a sign from God, as the series philosophy goes.

I know that a few of my friends who watch BG have gotten interested in wet shaving because of the series; at least one has expressed interest in straights. I wonder what percentage of wet shavers go to DEs or straights, following the same logic that I did when I started wet shaving with my grandfather's mug and brush after his death -- that if the old-school lather is so much better than the gunk that we're expected to use, what about old-school shaving tools?

To finish the story, I found his old straight razor, but the scales were broken and there was a chip in the edge that made me think that it wasn't such a good idea to use it, so I kept on with wet shaving and disposables until the brush cracked and I was unable (read: didn't know how) to get a replacement. So it was creams and an M3 until I read an article in a local weekly rag which rekindled my interest, whereupon I searched the Tubes for Straight Razors... and here I am.

One of my other interests is watch collecting and not long ago a watch manufacturer did a survey in the U.S. His question was do you own a watch valued at $500 or more. Most collectors would hardly consider that an expensive watch and the answer they got was 1% of the U.S poulation has a watch at that value. So if you exclude kids what do you have about 1% of less than 200 million. Still at least 200,000 people. So would you start a business to cater to a product used by way less than 1% of the total population? If the question had been do you own a watch valued at say a grand or more the number would probably have been a fraction of that. So even if a tiny percentage of guys use a straight that could still add up to quite a number.

I suspect that there are more closet straight users than people like us who admit to it. Many have probably been shaving with a straight for many many years and have 1 or 2 vintage razors they inherited and maybe a hone or two to maintain and an old strop and a basic brush and use a basic soap they find in wally world or walgreens.

Also remember that when you talk about site memberships as an indicator of interest and this is the case with all sites not just here, many join out of curiosity or a fleeting interest or think its just cool at the time and never again return. Of the 5000 members we have even including lurkers who do not post how many active members do we really have? The admins could answer that but my guess and its only a guess would be no more than 1000. That would still be a very respectible number. I remember when the membership number on the yahoo groups site passed 1000 and we thought that was a momentus occassion.

Originally Posted by Blackhawk

I had watched Sweeny Todd and well aside from the mass murder portions of the film, the feeling started to come back, however I was still on the fence.

Ha! that's what got me thinking about doing it as well! I've been toying with the idea for a while, and this one brought it to the front of my mind. Pretty meh movie, though.

I've got to go with Scott on this one. The American entrepreneurial spirit simply would not let an opportunity like this pass if there were a significant market for the product. Again, world-wide there are only two producers. I think that tells you about all you need to know.

In addition, except for those with serious RAD, which I know is most on this site, the simple fact that one razor could last a lifetime limits the economic viability of production.

stats

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

One of my other interests is watch collecting and not long ago a watch manufacturer did a survey in the U.S. His question was do you own a watch valued at $500 or more. Most collectors would hardly consider that an expensive watch and the answer they got was 1% of the U.S poulation has a watch at that value. So if you exclude kids what do you have about 1% of less than 200 million. Still at least 200,000 people. So would you start a business to cater to a product used by way less than 1% of the total population? If the question had been do you own a watch valued at say a grand or more the number would probably have been a fraction of that. So even if a tiny percentage of guys use a straight that could still add up to quite a number.

Working with tiny segments of a population is a demographer's nightmare.

bigspendur's analogy to expensive watches argues for the being far fewer than my guesstament of 100,000 as we've all known a number of people with expensive watches.

Maybe we should ask some of the Grey Beards what they think about this?