Thread: The Straight Razor's Future

Gentlemen,

In recent years, we all have seen measured growth in straight razor shaving among the young and the not so young. The factors contributing to this growth include a hankering for tradition, movies, expensive cartridge razors and blades, and for some, the "cool" element, among others.

From what I understand, manufacturers are unable to keep up with demand. I have heard Dovo has a three-year backlog. Granted, the straight razor world does not produce enough new and qualified grinder to satisfy the high demand. Perhaps that is the reason for overwhelming the production, but I am only assuming since I am far from an expert on manufacturing straight razors.

Regardless of the current demand for straight razors, I believe the art will always be a small niche in men's shaving. That is unfortunate for society, and those of us who embrace straight razor shaving can attest to that, but reality is reality and demand for straight razors will always remain relatively small.

What are your thoughts on the direction straight razor shaving is taking worldwide? Do you perceive the art and craft surprising us and becoming more popular than we predict? What a sweet thought. How do you see straight razor shaving advancing, if it is advancing in the first place, and inviting more users into its ranks?

Let's hear your thoughts.

Without knowing how many new razors are produced annually its difficult to say but I would agree that it won't be mainstream again.

I've spoken to quite a few blokes now about shaving with a straight and not a single one has been interested in giving it a go

Let's face it (bubum tish) the likes of Gillette have done one hell of a marketing job selling cartridge razors with a zillion blades to the masses. I know I'll be strung up for saying this but ignoring the expense they do work well, if they didn't people wouldn't buy them......would they ?

I think while there will always be a market for new straights it will remain a neich market in real terms.

I'm with you on this one Obie.

We see all the folks wanting to start and certainly the shortage of stock is another indicator however what we don't see are the folks who start and quit. That is the unknown. I have a feeling the number is very high.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I'm with you on this one Obie.

We see all the folks wanting to start and certainly the shortage of stock is another indicator however what we don't see are the folks who start and quit. That is the unknown. I have a feeling the number is very high.

Actually, that information is far from unknown, and we can easily see how many folks there are "who start and quit". That information is available to all of us under the 'community' tab in the Members List.

In spite of the obvious bias in this forum, the forum's proprietary nature, and the bad reputation rather unfairly attributed to cartridge razors (used without complaint by millions of shavers) and the aversion to the dreaded "Canned Goo", what we find in the Members List is quite revealing.

For every member who fights through the steep learning curve, the expense of equipment and either purchasing hones or repeatedly sending their razors out to "pro honers", there are many who don't last very long at all. In fact, most of the members by far who announce that they are joining the forum, make known their distaste for the expensive cartridges and "Canned Goo" never make it past the 10 post mark and most haven't been heard of in years.

While this information is amenable to statistical analysis, all that is required is a cursory review of any of the initials under which the members are listed and a review of what can be found there. For every member who learns to straight shave, proclaims his RAD, HAD and other ongoing experiences with straight shaving, there are anywhere from 10 to 20 or more who post once to ten times and are gone. We cannot know what they do after they quit the forum, but assuming that they are happily straight shaving is quite a stretch. It is much more likely that they returned to the dreaded cartridges that they had claimed to have left behind and are daily applying the hated "Canned Goo" to their faces.

Even more telling is that this is a database not of average shavers but of shavers who proclaimed their hatred of cartridges and commitment to move on to DEs and Straight Razors. Thus it is an extremely biased sample and yet it shows that joining this forum is far more likely to result in a return to old ways of shaving than continuing with wet shaving.

I am newbie, and I am just hooked. I love the old school look and feel of holding this blade, then taking it to my face and getting the best shave possible. I definitely will not quit

I have been using a straight since I started shaving (37 years) and never had anybody want to try it after hearing or seeing that's what I use. Used the same two razors during that time. Didn't think anybody still shaved that way until I stumbled across this forum a few years ago.

It's a tough competition out there. While many are finding that the 5-6 blade refills are expensive, they go back to either a de or they pick up straight shaving. Electric shavers are the fastest but don't give a close shave. I know there are women out there that are buying sr's while others are using disposables or de's. Then you have the hard core people like us that love our sr's & won't give 'em up for anything. Ya got newbies out there trying the straight razors & many love them & really want to learn more about them whether young or old while the richer folks are sticking to their 5-6 bladed razors because they can afford the refills but someone like me, on disability can't afford those plus I'm an old fashioned type of guy & I love my straights no matter what. I think many people are slowly going to straights because in the long run they are inexpensive to maintain & some are old fashioned like me but there is always going to be a market for the newer type multi bladed razors & as long as they have those, people will buy them if they can afford them. I love my straights, old & new & you also have the new American made customs people have come out with & as long as others spread the word & get people to try sr's, there will be the certain percentage that will try it & stick with it while others want a faster shave & will stick with the de's or multi blade razors. I would like to see more people try straight razors & enjoy the art of shaving with them because myself, I enjoy it & there are many brushes, after shave lotions & all the other accessories that go with them. I also love collecting old ones & I would like to see the market pick up with all the new straights out there whether they are Theirs Issard, custom Waterhouse, Japanese, newly custom American straights & so on but there will always be a certain percentage of people using different types of razors. There are always going to be a certain amount of people using different methods just like smoking conventional cigarettes compared to electronic ones. There's always going to be a different market for different things but as I mentioned, I'd love to see more people try straight razor shaving because when one is sharpened right, you get one of the closest shaves I know of. The newer conventional razors do give a very close shave but they have to use multi blades to do so & haven't been around that long but straights have been here for centuries & will be here for even longer. A de is the next best thing to a straight. The disposable single & double bladed razors aren't worth the money as they don't give as close a shave as the 5-6 bladed razors. As long as they keep making straights, there will always be a market for them for those that chose to use them, hopefully more people will do so as time goes on. I hope to educate more people to use straights, will always use them no matter what & i will never change my ways!

Then let us hope that for some unknown reason Gillette doesn't suddenly sees an opportunity to expand into the straight razor market and develops a throw-a-way straight that they can capitalize on. And I don't mean shavettes or you would be seeing Gillette blades competing with Feather. Or the little cheap kamis that you can get out of Thailand for a couple of bucks for three or four of them (tried those when I first started straight shaving, weren't too bad).

Yes Obie,
In today's fast paced, I want everything immediately world, learning straight razors is too demanding for most. The other day I saw an advertisement for personal home use depilatory lasers.

However, yes there will always be a small following at least.

What i see from the Portuguese wet shaving forum is that despite of the availability of straight razors, it´s too expensive and it takes too much work to use this kind of razors. In the Spanish, Italian and German forums the use of straight razors is farmer frequent, due to the easiness to get all the stuff you need in a decent price without shipping costs and with people talking the same language willing to share knowledge.