What is the estimated number of traditional (SE, DE, Straight) wet shavers in the US?

actually got a few items passed last year that will make scaling very difficult for many wetshaving small businesses and artisans.

Hello,

Is there anything you could share with us? Personally, I'd like to know, I'm curious.

Thanks!

Well think about Beer. The website Beer Advocate is an honest portrayal of it's mission . Members pay for high quality content that incorporates journalism and exclusive content. They also embedded a forum and apps to support the hobby to a new level.

I would support such a thing for wet shaving. It would help grow the interest in our hobby beyond current levels and legitimize it.

Are such big players likely to admit to bad news?

They have 3 choices.
1. Boost the numbers to make bad news look good.
2. Tell little white lies and report no changes.
3, Own up to the actual facts even if they are not good.

Personally I hope the news is excellent.
There are a lot of new small businesses out there that could
feel joy at positive news as would the big guys and us happy users.

Mickey

We see mainstream stores like Walmart , Walgreens et al stocking Williams, vdh and col conk soaps and kits. We also see safety razors and DE blades. I assume when someone searches Amazon or ebay for shaving products - traditional wet shaving products also show up. I don't know if mach 5 users or cartridge users buy a cheap tweezer man or VDH brush and a soap to lather and shave with a Mach 5. If they are looking to shave on the cheap - barbasol is cheap and they would worry about finding alternates to the Big G multi cartridges. Besides would the big stores waste shelf space on products which not even 1% of their customers use ? I think the numbers would be much higher.

We also see mainstream players like Gillette actually make and sell DE blades in markets like Russia , China, India and other countries. This tells me that if faced by an overwhelming consumer demand, they will make and sell what the consumer buys. They have the Gillette guard and shaving creams re-introduced in India to go with the market demand !

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Wondered about this a ton. If we look at it worldwide I'd guess that the plants in St Petersburg Russia are not building just to fill US demands. Our own forum shows us significant interest with our friends outside North America. The United States is not the only country willing to pay exorbitant prices for shaving cartridges but it would appear that much of the world did not fall prey to 3 dollar carts, else there would have been no DE factories making blades when I found my way back. We know the Hipster style is helping us out in many arenas. (Thank you to my plaid wearing bearded brothers). I suppose the percentage may be low but each of us seems to be consuming shaving goods as though we were a bus-load of folks. Shoot, I have enough shaving gear for everyone I know and then some. So my effort to assure there will be blades and razors and brushes for me later on I've gotten a bunch of folks to switch. Al but one stuck. Seemed a bit weird at first talking about personal grooming but I found there are a ton more than me that were dissatisfied with mainstream. 11 to date thanks to inexpensive razor kits found at Maggards and Italian Barber given as gifts with links to some of our tutors in wet shaving on YouTube, and now I have a few folks asking questions and not dreading shaving anymore. We are small in numbers but growing I feel. (Keep making that soap Rod. Just got two others hooked on your bath bars.)

When someone new appears that sees that I use the DE for shaving and a brush for lather I always get the question: "So you use the old fashioned antique method of shaving?"!I don't think there are really a huge number of those shavers around. It is a niche group. Maybe growing slowly but still a niche group. The really question is how many people are using shaving soap or cream with a brush for lathering? That number might be a lot larger! Target and Walmart seem to show a lot of newer soaps and creams, along with all kinds of beard concoctions, but no real increase in DE or SE razors that they are willing to stock and sell.

Not enough.



I doubt it's even a fraction of a percent here in the United States. If wetshavers even got to 1% of the market, I think you'd see the big boys start to take preventative measures to the next level. They've been lining the pockets of a few key senators and representatives for years trying to push regulations onto smaller artisans in the name of "cosmetic safety," and actually got a few items passed last year that will make scaling very difficult for many wetshaving small businesses and artisans.


Either way, there are hundreds of millions of people in the US for the wetshaving industry to target. I don't expect the number to ever reach 1%, but I do expect it to grow above where it is now. It's going to take someone with deep pockets making a marketing push though and doing some real consumer education. Most people aren't going to see that VanDerHagen kit at Walgreens and just think to themselves "Hey, I bet that's better than my Mach 5."

Ah but they have!! Yes indeed they have. Don’t you remember the whole uproar when gillette bought “The Art of Shaving” franchise? They got some fancy carts in there pronto lol!

The fact of the matter as I understand it is, only wealthy nations have indulged in destroying a pleasurable shave lol! We are the only ones who can afford it! It’s insane how expensive razors got. So bad that it allowed new players into an otherwise impenetrable market. Alas, I’m getting sidetracked but those shave clubs are making bank now with thier “cheap” razors.

I happen to know that many countries still utilize old methods. If they didn’t, there would be such a small market for DE blades there wouldn’t be such a massive selection - and they would not be cheap! I understand about every BRIC country still uses DE’s.

actually got a few items passed last year that will make scaling very difficult for many wetshaving small businesses and artisans.

Hello,

Is there anything you could share with us? Personally, I'd like to know, I'm curious.

Thanks!

I'll look it up when I have the chance and see if I can find the original releases. I should clarify that it's not law yet. "Passed" was a poor choice of wording. By passed, I mean they got the major handmade alliances to agree to certain concessions which they had previously opposed unilaterally. (as such, those said alliances and advocacy groups can now KMA). Clearing this hurdle was a big win for the major cosmetic companies, as there will be virtually no opposition the next time the cosmetic and personal care safety act (or whatever Orwellian name it is actually called) is brought into committee.

Basically, though, at this point you are going to have artisans such as myself who have aspirations of growing their company past being a small home-based business facing a steep uphill climb when attempting to scale their small business. The bill as it is written essentially says "do what you want as long as you're just a housewife making soap in her kitchen, but the minute you have dreams of real growth, we're going to step on your neck." It's not about safety at all. If it was, they'd outlaw many of the ingredients major players use. It's about protecting the profits of those big enough to afford their own Senator.

I know this probably deserves further explanation, starting with some of the major differences in how the processes between handmade and commercial soap differ and why calling this the "Cosmetic Safety Act" is as big of a joke as calling my three tours in Iraq a part of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," but I've unfortunately come to the end of my brief lunch break and I've got to get back out to the shop and make more soap.

ezlovan I too would be curious to read up on the potential law changes. We make a couple products as well, and up to this point the cosmetic industry is largely self regulated, assuming you follow certain guidelines and label everything properly.

More and more I find my views leaning Liberatarian. As we give more power to federal govt, we have fewer personal choices. Read the label on a bottle of Suave shampoo and then the label on a bar of Stirling shampoo. Which one feels more safe?