Artificial scarcity

This is getting really, really old people. Wolfman was the ne plus extra in razors until quite recently and now Poor Charcoal is the Fair Haired Boy may God have mercy on his soul.Brad Sears uttered the Sabini word and Mickey Mouse in Fantasia had it easier with his brooms. Ken finally began to meet market demand and suddenly a blatant McDonalds supersize my ego Lotus knock off was paraded like Tobriano Islander's giant ( and) inedible yam meeting Homer Simpson yelling IN YOUR FACE.
There is a growing pure nastiness towards shaving craftsmen with utterly no basis except INSTANT GRATIFICATION, I'm running with the BIG DAWGS now baby and what does my Doctor know about sperm count anyway? I only need five like my charcoal razors. There are literally dozens of soaps,razors and brushes I'd like to try. But between my income, popular demand and my own sloth growing yams to keep up with the Simpsons I will at best, maybe with luck try an handful. That doesn't mean I cannot enjoy, support and take interest in the rest. The behaviours displayed by supposedly well educated professionals on the forums is turning wetshaving into another tulip craze. I'll stick with onions, for which one rare tulip was mistaken and bitten into.

Bufflehead has been selling second hand for as much as $100/tin. A lot more people are trying to buy it with the intent to sell/trade it, not to use it. Those are the people I'm referring to.

Anyone who would pay $100 for a cake of shaving soap, no matter how good, has a hole in their head. That isn't even about using the soap, it is about ultra-materialism and bragging rights. Just like a Wolfman razor, $500 Gillette toggle, etc. With any product in high demand and limited availability, people are going to buy as much as they can get and resell them at a profit. They would be fools not to do so, and it is with a whole range of traditional wetshaving products. Think of them as your distribution network and now an ingrained part of traditional wetshaving. Once you or anyone else sells something, whatever happens afterwards is completely out of your control. It therefore makes no sense to try to change that. People's expectations to the contrary are unrealistic, their temper tantrums and crocodile tears juvenile.

You are most fortunate. You can make as much or as little as you want and still sell it all. That is a luxury most folks do not have.

One last thing. You don't have to be a genius to understand that if someone makes 30-35 products maximum, they will be sold out in under 5 minutes, especially if the maker participates in forums, the products are hyped and gives an exact time when they will be available on his site. It happens with all hobbies.

Then why should we worry about it? It's not like he is taking our pacifiers away.

I don't market or hype my soaps. In fact, I've actively tried to stop demand from growing. Any hype around Bufflehead is 100% driven by the community.

Just a thought, but have you ever considered taking on a business partner? You could do all the fun stuff - developing the soaps, packaging, and so forth - and your partner could handle the production and distribution. For somebody who is into that, it would also be the fun stuff for your partner.

"Anyone who would pay $100 for a cake of shaving soap, no matter how good, has a hole in their head."

Yet people will pay $70+ dollars for others ALL THE TIME. Go figure. I would bet if he put out his next batch at $50 it would still be gone in five minutes, and I don't think people would be upset with him at all, and I wouldn't be either.

"Anyone who would pay $100 for a cake of shaving soap, no matter how good, has a hole in their head."

Yet people will pay $70+ dollars for others ALL THE TIME. Go figure. I would bet if he put out his next batch at $50 it would still be gone in five minutes, and I don't think people would be upset with him at all, and I wouldn't be either.

I should start making shaving soap. Limited Edition of course, and sell it for $200.

Here is the shavepocalypse folks. It won't be done to us, we will do it to ourselves. Traditional Wetshaving - Twilight Zone Edition.

Brian might not need mercy on his soul. He has had the polished stainless for sale now for a few days already and still available.

Any talk of artisan soap makers taking on partners or otherwise finding ways to increase production to meet demand is just not practical. First of all, lots of people work alone because they enjoy working alone and have no interest in working with other people. I think people are great. Until I either have to work for them or with them or be their boss. Then I find that people can really suck. Yes there are exceptions but the general rule for me is, work alone. Then there's the economics of the whole thing. I don't think input costs are that high although some specialty items like essential oils can get costly and for most small soap makers they're not buying in sufficient quantity to achieve any real economies of scale. Now as far as retail price we're looking at $20 - $30 unit. I'm sure the margin on a tub of soap is ok if you don't include the soap maker's time in the equation. They make it, package it, sell it, ship it, deal with questions and concerns, interact with customers on social media, work a day job, keep a spouse happy, bounce kids on their knee and generally try to live a happy life. I again have no real idea but I assume a production run of a single soap is likely measured in the 10s of units and not 100s or 1000s so when you do the math most of our favourite soap makers are not doing this to get rich. They could not make a reliable living doing it. They do it because they enjoy it so we should just enjoy it too and we should accept the choices that soap makers make and the business models they use. As Zac Brown says "take it all in, its a game we can't win. Enjoy the ride." Even though I said earlier that soap makers like Bufflehead don't exist to me, I didn't mean that in an angry negative "you're dead to me" way. I meant it in a "how I get peace of mind" way - I choose not to generate negative emotions over frustration and the difficulties in obtaining certain things by choosing not to even try to obtain them. I don't feel like I'm hard done by because I don't have this or that, actually I feel peaceful.

Even though I said earlier that soap makers like Bufflehead don't exist to me, I didn't mean that in an angry negative "you're dead to me" way.  I meant it in a "how I get peace of mind" way - I choose not to generate negative emotions over frustration and the difficulties in obtaining certain things by choosing not to even try to obtain them. I don't feel like I'm hard done by because I don't have this or that, actually I feel peaceful.

THIS. this should really be easy to understand! I have the same feeling towards difficult/impossible to get items. Doesn't mean I am angry at makers. On the contrary I look forward to the contributions these artisan bring to the table. As I mentioned in Bufflehead's AMA over at reddit, since small batch artisans don't have to cater to a broad audience, they can do what they truly want to do.

"Anyone who would pay $100 for a cake of shaving soap, no matter how good, has a hole in their head."

Yet people will pay $70+ dollars for others ALL THE TIME.  Go figure.  I would bet if he put out his next batch at $50 it would still be gone in five minutes, and I don't think people would be upset with him at all, and I wouldn't be either.

Was going say mdc goes for $80+ and even I bought one with my tax return but others buy multiple jars of it. People pay $50+ for soaps like nuavia etc. I could certainly see people paying $200 for a soap. Though the higher the price goes the less customers there are who'll buy it. I'd wager razrorock sells way more soaps then nuavia or mdc in the usa(mdc being cheaper in Europe)

Was going say mdc goes for $80+ and even I bought one with my tax return but others buy multiple jars of it. People pay $50+ for soaps like nuavia etc. I could certainly see people paying $200 for a soap. Though the higher the price goes the less customers there are who'll buy it. I'd wager razrorock sells way more soaps then nuavia or mdc in the usa(mdc being cheaper in Europe)

That is amusing in a way, but also kind of sad. In any event, it's not my traditional wetshaving.

If you're willing to pay $100 for a tin of Bufflehead, contact me directly. I'll make sure you get one and I'll donate the rest of your money to charity.