Thread: How did it happen !!

So yesterday, i got in from work and was due to go out for a meal. Time was tight and as such i didn't have time for my usual straight shave and had resigned to the fact i would have to use my Mach 3 (something i do from time to time due to the fact i still have loads of blades for it).

I got my shower, lathered up and was about to reach for the Mach 3 when, just then i noticed the Gillette DE i had bought a couple of weeks back, and a pack of new blades. With much skepticism i decided to load up a blade and shave with that instead, i didn't for one second think that it would shave better than my zillion blade Mach 3 with it moisturizing strip and all bells and whistles !

Ohhhh how wrong was i, not only did it work, it worked better than the mach 3. It was closer, took less time, needing only 1 pass with a few touch ups. With the Mach 3 i often had to make multiple passes to get those stray hairs !!

So amazing were the results it left me wondering how in hell the manufactures of cartridge razors ever managed to get men to ditch the DE. That is one serious marketing job to sell something that 1) Is much more expensive. 2) Does NOT work as well.

Hats off the marketing people you did a staggering job there! To the men that ditched the DE all those years ago and effectively paved the way to allow the cartridge based system to become the premier method of shaving...............WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING

It's an example of marketing genius, and higher "renewable" revenue. Gillette and Schick, IMO, both realized that they could make more money selling cartridges, which had some "mystique" surrounding "safer safety razors" and "more comfortable shaves". Interestingly, it was aimed right at the high point of "baby boomer" adolescence in the 60s, and man did they ever succeed. Later (I contend) they moved us all up the cartridge ladder by introducing new wrinkles like a "lubrication strip", more blades, pivot, etc, all the while DE blades were getting more scarce. Think about it!

Initially it was ditching the straight in favor of the DE and convenience and free razors was the key. later on it was marketing that led men to go with the cartridges.

You know the old saying if you are a true salesman you can sell anything to anybody.

I can see how they managed to get people to drop the straight in favor of the DE. I just don't see how they managed to get them to ditch the DE for a cartridge .............unless the old cartridge razors actually worked better than they do today !!

The world of DE/SE was an exciting discovery for me as well. You should get a single edge now!

I've just realised, I am looking at this from a current standpoint. I don't know for sure (maybe someone who was around in the 60's will know) but I would imagine that the DE blades of today are significantly better than they were back then they were back then ? And also was the price of cartridge razors as high as it is today in relative terms?

Originally Posted by mike1011

I've just realised, I am looking at this from a current standpoint. I don't know for sure (maybe someone who was around in the 60's will know) but I would imagine that the DE blades of today are significantly better than they were back then they were back then ? And also was the price of cartridge razors as high as it is today in relative terms?

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I had my first shave about '57-'58 and you are correct when you suggest that blade quality has greatly improved. Almost everybody ended up with bleeders while shaving.

The half-step in the decline of the DE and the transition to the cart may be in the canned goo.
The speed and convenience of a canned shaving foam would help to lower the quality of a DE shave.
(Borrow some goo or get a travel sized can and try it yourself for fun some time)
Get five or ten years of canned goo behind you and all of the sudden the Cart is not that hard a switch.
and I believe that the cost per shave on the blade side did not start out with the large differential that we have now. ($3 Carts and $0.12 DE blades)

Like boiling a frog you need to make the change gradual and the inducement novel. As the bigspendur says: "a good salesman can..." backed by 100's of millions of $$$ a good salesman can do even more...

We will welcome our Brothers back to the Straight, DE & SE way...should they see the light.

Smooth Shaving...

Well, there is no chance I will ever get my dad to try a straight, he is just to scared of a naked blade (the big wuss). However I popped a new blade in the DE and gave him that to try, I suspect i might succeed in turning him away from the Mach 3

I still prefers the straight to shave with but the DE is certainly going to be my GOTO choice when I'm in a hurry and don't have the time for a "proper" shave

Originally Posted by mike1011

I've just realised, I am looking at this from a current standpoint. I don't know for sure (maybe someone who was around in the 60's will know) but I would imagine that the DE blades of today are significantly better than they were back then they were back then ? And also was the price of cartridge razors as high as it is today in relative terms?

I started shaving with a Gillette Slim Adjustable that my dad gave me in about 1969 and I hated it. I used it for a number of years, grew a beard and took up an old straight to trim my neck for a few and then back to it in the late 70's. Went through all of the cartridges of the day, like we all did and now I love my DE's.

Yes, blades are better now, though some of them don't suit me still. My father always bought me the cheapest blades around and then I bought better ones later, but DE blades today are sharper and better than ever.

Will N.