Fascinated by how shaving has become almost a fashion industry. I guess it has turned into a leisure activity. I use my Gillette G2 safety razor and it gives me a decent shave without worrying about being cut. What am I missing?
Literally the only reason that cartridge razors exist is because the patents expired on double edge razor handles and to avoid it being a cycle for them, razor companies had the bright idea of making the blades be integral to the experience, locking you into their product. The "innovation" that has happened with razor blades is purely resetting that patent clock each time - 2 blades, 3 blades, 4 blades, 5 blades, lubricating strips, vibrating handle etc - none of it actually improves your shave it just differentiates their product.
If you are happy with the shave you get from your G2 then you aren't missing anything. DE Shaving isn't a religion or a requirement that everyone do, its just an option. A 10 pack of G2 blades costs £10 from amazon, you might get them cheaper - I've no idea - but each blade cartridge should only be used a few times depending on your skin and hair thickness, some people use them once, some people 3-5 times, I see some people say a cartridge lasts them months - this is not hygienic at all and bacteria will build up. The blades themselves are also not that sharp, and deteriorate rapidly after first use. There are tricks (such as the denim swipe) to prolong cartridge blades, but you're pushing it really. Theres been threads on reddit where people have used an electron microscope to look at DE and cartridge razor blades before any shaves and then tracked them after shave 1, 2, 3 etc and the change in the metal, which to the naked eye still looks really sharp, is quite drastic. Even if they were £5 for 10 blades, over time that is still significant plastic being wasted and money spent. If you shaved every day, and used each blade for 3 shaves, you'd need 121 blades. YMMV, but at that expected use rate 121 blades would cost around £120.
With DE you make a small initial investment in a razor handle - the style and price point is up to you - but you can buy 100 blades for £10. Again with DE blades some people use them single use, some people use them 3-5, some more, but to go with 3 shaves per blade, that would be £20, with much of next year's supply bought. With the difference, you have money for several nice soaps, a good quality handle, anything else you might want like an alum block, and from there its profit for the rest of your life. And thats using G2 as an example - 8 Fusion pro-glides are £18 on amazon, and non the high street you often see some eye watering prices.
The products that go alongside it are also higher quality - and again its up to you what you pay as its your ritual - if you are happy with canned gloop then no need to change, but there is an array of mass produced and artisan soaps with all kinds of qualities and scents which make the experience more enjoyable, and also work better due to chemical makeup - for example tallow fat based soaps will always be a more effective shaving surface than sprayed foam.
I don't think shaving has become a fashion industry, I think it's being rediscovered. In years gone people would always go to a barber due to the skill required for a cut throat shave. When the safety razor was released (which is what a DE razor is - your G2 is a plastic imitation of one), the art of shaving became something you could do yourself and people bought DE razors, brushes soaps etc and learned how to shave, and this knowledge was passed down from grandfather to father to son over time - there are DE razors around today from before the world wars and they are still effective, so by and large once you have your handle, you are just buying blades and soap and the like unless you fancy another handle, which is a choice. But none of this is new - people have had fine shaving brushes, fancy engineered handles, hand made soaps etc since long before we were twinkles in our grandparents eyes.
As the shaving industry saw profits disappearing because people were keeping their handles, and patents were expiring so many copycats were coming onto the market, then disposable and cartridge razors were produced - convenience shaves. Heavy advertising for decades in newspapers and magazines and especially targeted at lads mags, coupled with a printer style business model of buying the handle cheap and getting 1-2 blades cheap, and the profit lying in the blade packs, means that for a long time shaving the old way became a thing of the past.
However, probably backed by the credit crunch and squeezed wallets, traditional shaving is now in a renaissance period as people are seeing that not only is it an enjoyable experience once you learn how to do it (some take to it instantly, some need to learn technique), but that long term it can save you thousands, hence its growing in popularity. There are many massive shaving website and communities set up and they are growing at a huge rate. When I first got into it there was only a few shaving websites around online but now theres tons, and whenever I see Gillette paying for a new product launch ad on facebook I'm always really encouraged to see most of the 10,000 or so comments are people posting photos of their DE razors that they've been using for years. Funny that Gillette actually still produce DE blades as well.
