Thread: The Economist

Holey cow - the economist is piping in!!

Male grooming: Razing prices | The Economist

"Trading down may offer more than one opportunity, as men are not only less inclined to trade up (at least for the moment) but are spending more money on grooming below the neck. P&G figures suggest that 29% of American men and 49% of British men already try to avoid the King-Kong look. It is a market waiting to be tapped into. For the shaving giants, then, down may well be the new up."

I love it lol!! I "traded down" a long time ago !!

Anyone notice the guy in the comment section who called straight razor users "hipsters" with a hint of disdain? Brainwashed swine.

Love what the Dollar Shave Club guy is trying to do and I wish him all the best. Looking at their Canadian site I can get twin blade disposable razors for less at the Dollar Store. The ones here sell Precision twin blade disposable that made in Israel and just might be Personna blades. These are the ones 5 Precision Twin II Blades with Bonus Razor Handle, Gillette Trac II Compatible | Fendrihan Shaving Store but I bet the Dollar Store is cheaper. They work well for trips for sure. Like everything else you can make shaving as expensive as you want especially if you are a lead by the nose consumer especially if you buy into bigger and more is better hype.

Bob

Hmmm... P&G made a $57 BILLION acquisition and sales are going down?


Ha!

Bob ,, are your a closet Trac II user ? You know an awful lot about where and how much..

Originally Posted by BobH

Like everything else you can make shaving as expensive as you want especially if you are a lead by the nose consumer especially if you buy into bigger and more is better hype.

'Murica.

Kinda interesting how straight razor shaving still isn't gettng much love... Maybe we need to get together and do Shave-Ins on the Courthouse steps?! But, on second thought, I don't want Schick/Gillette to be doing Freddie Krueger ads pitching their Freddie's Five Fingered Fabulous Straight Razor Glove in my lifetime either.

Dollar Shave Club was interesting but I found the Dorco site to be WAY more affordable by comparisn... I still use a 3-Blade to shave my head and I have a wife and 2 daughters who all bought the razor with the soap-clod on the end and those are iust stupid expensive! Ordered from Dorco and came up with 2 new handles for each of the four of us and enough refills to last everyone a year... Right at $100!

Shawn
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Interesting article but the writer missed an opportunity to take a broader look at what's happening; I have a -subjective- feeling that more men are switching to DE's, a brush and soap. Straight shaving will always remain a niche due to the steep learning curve associated with it. And if you get bitten by the bug then you certainly won't be saving any money, speaking from personal experience I've seen the cost comparisons showing that in the long run it's cheaper to shave with a straight and no doubt they're correct, IF you stick to one straight and don't start a collection like yours truly did. But enjoyment has no price.

You aren't so much shaving as building your hobby Xenophon. I have a grand total of eight razors. Some gifted to me, others traded for in a swapping of skills. A couple bought. My outlay has been small. For me it's shaving, but enjoyably so.


What I know of the dollar shave club or a similar company is that the cost, though being small compared to their counter parts in Shick and Gillette, they produce razors that are even worse (if that is possible) than the big names. A media experiment had men trying different tools to shave with doing one half of their faces with a cheap razor and the other half with something 'better'. Only one of the three men involved liked the cheap blades. The other two were bleeding after every single shave. Sadly they never tried DE or cut-throat razors as part of the comparison.


Mick