Thread: The good old days

Gillette Fusion Power = Plastic vibrator with blades...= Scary

It's odd isn't it? I mean when you really think about it it seems that a LOT of us are brainwashed into using junk, I mean I was NEVER taught how to shave so. And back in the day, fathers would teach sons how, and with the good stuff like DE's and Straights. These day's ppl think things are going so fast that they don't have the time to learn, when in fact we have time we just don't make it...instead of couch potato-ing one could very well learn how to shave proper with far better equipment.

I regret that I was never taught how to shave, and alas I don't have a son to teach when he gets older, but I have a daughter and extremely likely my wife will teach her with either a DE or a Straight razor and avoid the mishaps and bad technique caused by plastic junk and lack of knowledge.

I think we would be better off if all the junk was swept aside and DE and Straight razors became the dominant choice, less expensive for one as $28 for like 5-8 cartridges for a Fusion is CRAZY compared to around $5 for a 10 pack of Feather DE blades, or the pretty much zero cost of a Straight, hones and strops in the long run.

Wilkinson Sword was founded in London, and is now internationally owned (Schick is under exactly the same umbrella). You can bet your house that their blades are imported from China. How long before, to try to compete with Toyota and Honda, Buicks are made in Nanking? Everything now is built down to a price.

Originally Posted by Blackpool

Wilkinson Sword was founded in London, and is now internationally owned (Schick is under exactly the same umbrella). You can bet your house that their blades are imported from China. How long before, to try to compete with Toyota and Honda, Buicks are made in Nanking? Everything now is built down to a price.

They come from a few places but I know you can get some made in Germany. I have a bunch from West Coast Shaving and that's where they are made.

I never travel my two straight razors, so when I'm on the road I have one of my two Gillette butterflies with me, usually the non-adjustable one with the cream ribbed handle. I have switched to Derby blades after many years of Wilkinson Classics, of which I still have a few left. The Derby for me is a milder edge, the Wilkinson sharper, but the Wilkinsons just don't last like they once did, you're soright, and first time out of the envelope they scratch. I don't like wasting anything really, so I'm working my way through them from time to time, but showing them the strop first..... not the leather one, that would be instantly scratched and nicked, but a length of newspaper followed by a little while on a chamois paddle I made. That stops them scratching at least, but it doesn't really make them last any longer.

Well, this doesn't lift my day. I just picked up a pack of Wilkinson Sword DE blades from Wally-World for a few safety razors I picked up (see http://straightrazorpalace.com/shavi...ndom-find.html ). I used one edge of the WS blade yesterday and liked it alright (but had never used a DE before). I thought I was going to end up with razor burn, but it didn't happen. Tonight I used the same edge and was less pleased with it. It felt like it pulled a lot, which I blamed on my angle, but maybe it's the blade? I have no idea where my Wilk blades were produced.

It may be easy to blame corperations and profit, but corperations make profit by giveing people what they want...just look at the carrige companies that went out of business when cars were invented, people didnt want carriges and they had no profit...the problem is the disposeable society we live in...we got lazy and wanted convienence so we turned into a disposeable society and got the disposeable ball point pen, the disposeable razor, and even disposeable appliences...how many applience repair shops have you seen lately?...even cars are practicaly disposeable these days, of course that might be more because of depreciation than trends in society....there is just not enough of a market to make it worth while for someone to make the old ten shave DE blades....fortunately for us there is still at least a large enough market for DE blades that they make the ones we do get or we would all be looking on ebay for nos DE blades (like some do with the schick injector blades) and paying twice the price per blade of the 5 blade monstrosity's cartriges.

perhaps if we get enough people converted things will change, but I wont hold my breath.

Originally Posted by nickedNsliced

It may be easy to blame corperations and profit, but corperations make profit by giveing people what they want...just look at the carrige companies that went out of business when cars were invented, people didnt want carriges and they had no profit...the problem is the disposeable society we live in...we got lazy and wanted convienence so we turned into a disposeable society and got the disposeable ball point pen, the disposeable razor, and even disposeable appliences...how many applience repair shops have you seen lately?...even cars are practicaly disposeable these days, of course that might be more because of depreciation than trends in society....there is just not enough of a market to make it worth while for someone to make the old ten shave DE blades....fortunately for us there is still at least a large enough market for DE blades that they make the ones we do get or we would all be looking on ebay for nos DE blades (like some do with the schick injector blades) and paying twice the price per blade of the 5 blade monstrosity's cartriges.

perhaps if we get enough people converted things will change, but I wont hold my breath.

The problem is people don't know what they want and the corporations are here to tell us and with the help of Madison Avenue people accept the garbage sent their way and accept it.

I happen to like the shaves I am getting from the Astra blades, which would be towards the lower end of the price spectrum. I believe they come from Russia? I look at it this way, even if you are only getting a few shaves out of a DE blade, you would still be ahead of the game, as opposed to shelling out more $$$ for disposable cartridge blades that were not even giving you shaves that were all that great!

Originally Posted by Tartarus

Gillette Fusion Power = Plastic vibrator with blades...= Scary

It's odd isn't it? I mean when you really think about it it seems that a LOT of us are brainwashed into using junk, I mean I was NEVER taught how to shave so. And back in the day, fathers would teach sons how, and with the good stuff like DE's and Straights. These day's ppl think things are going so fast that they don't have the time to learn, when in fact we have time we just don't make it...instead of couch potato-ing one could very well learn how to shave proper with far better equipment.

I regret that I was never taught how to shave, and alas I don't have a son to teach when he gets older, but I have a daughter and extremely likely my wife will teach her with either a DE or a Straight razor and avoid the mishaps and bad technique caused by plastic junk and lack of knowledge.

I think we would be better off if all the junk was swept aside and DE and Straight razors became the dominant choice, less expensive for one as $28 for like 5-8 cartridges for a Fusion is CRAZY compared to around $5 for a 10 pack of Feather DE blades, or the pretty much zero cost of a Straight, hones and strops in the long run.

I hear you. My dad has shaved once in the 18 years I've been around. When it came time for me to start he walked up set a disposable and a can of goo on the desk and told me I should probably use them. Now I've got him interested in straights. He taught me a lot of things (shooting, cooking, cars, basic home repair) but shaving was not one of them.

In my opinion even the cartridge razors don't last as long as they did 10 years ago, either. The seemingly lower quality steel is cheaper to manufacture, and people have to buy more blades. It's all about the bottom line for these people, not putting out a quality product. One of the many reasons I am glad I switched the straight razor.