Its Quiet Out There....Too Quiet?

I have my technique good, but I enjoy the forums for the reviews of other (and new) products. There are products that I don't think I would ever have heard of unless I was on a forum. I find a good place for folks who enjoy shaving to share what they know. It's also a place for vendors to share news of new and upcoming products and for us as end-users to come and share out experiences with vendor and products. I consider these forums to be an important part of my enjoyment of shaving.

New= Excitement and the desire to acquire knowledge. Once the newness wears off people just shave. I'm guilty with this in everything I pick up. I still wet shave everyday but that newness and excitement has worn off after a couple years. This year I placed one 300 dollar order to Maggards and will likely do the same in 19. Soap is soap and aftershave is aftershave. There isn't a need for another 200.00 razor to place in the den with the others, because the newness has worn off and decreased the impulsiveness that it brings with it.

I replaced that with side by side riding this year when we got our new ranger crew and as of late smart home automation. While I'm on forums pertaining to those ALOT right now... eventually smart locks and cameras and smart things will all just work, the ranger will have enough accessories on it and a ride will be a ride and these hobbies too will lose their "newness" luster and I imagine my presence on those forums will decrease accordingly.

New= Excitement and the desire to acquire knowledge.   Once the newness wears off people just shave.  I'm guilty with this in everything I pick up.  I still wet shave everyday but that newness and excitement has worn off after a couple years. This year I placed one 300 dollar order to Maggards and will likely do the same in 19.  Soap is soap and aftershave is aftershave.  There isn't a need for another 200.00 razor to place in the den with the others, because the newness has worn off and decreased the impulsiveness that it brings with it.  

I replaced that with side by side riding this year when we got our new ranger crew and as of late smart home automation.  While I'm on forums pertaining to those ALOT right now... eventually smart locks and cameras and smart things will all just work, the ranger will have enough accessories on it and a ride will be a ride and these hobbies too will lose their "newness" luster and I imagine my presence on those forums will decrease accordingly.

Yes indeed, I find that I can still get some of that newness excitement by rotating in a favourite soap I haven't used for a while - I also get a charge out of using Barrister and Mann classic white tub soaps because they were my very first artisan shaving soap.

As an aside, I'm looking at smart home automation and have started slowly with a couple of switches (iDevices) that are ok but I'd be interested in any thoughts you may have on various products and approaches. If you feel like sharing, please post in the Lounge.

Cheers,

Is it just me or has the wet shaving space just calmed right down? I find myself missing those heady days with various artisans releasing new products to overwhelming demand (maybe limited supply) with online storefronts crashing and the agony or ecstasy of scoring the sought after product...or not I had a daily ritual of checking the New Arrivals sections of my preferred vendors and the upcoming releases of my favourite artisans but lately there have been so few updates that I may only look in weekly or even less frequently. Please, tell me we haven't peaked!! Tell me there will be another Hallows or Nuavia Rosso!! Maybe I'm spoiled but I'm hoping 2019 brings us more awesomeness.

That depends on what you mean by "the wet shaving space". On the traditional shaving forums, the forums are often seen as the center of the wetshaving universe. They aren't really, though. Now that wetshaving has become mainstream, the conversation and focus is no longer centered on the independent forums. Social media sites, such as Facebook and YouTube, are increasingly prominent, as are professionally run, for-profit sites such as Reddit. There is now a huge amount of information our there. Why join a forum to ask questions when a simple Google search or a lurking for a short time will provide virtually all of the answers?

Another factor may be the divergence of the forums away from wetshaving in general to the wetshaving hobby. It used to be that most folks joining the forums were looking for a better shave, cost savings, or both. The focus has shifted over the last ten years to shaving as a hobby - large collections (or immense hoards in some cases) of shaving gear, constant buying, and ever more expensive gear as opposed to technique and shaving basics. Or unbridled materialism vs. the act of shaving, if you prefer. Those who don't follow the script tend to be marginalized. The forums have thereby isolated themselves from mainstream shaving, including most traditional wetshavers out there. Most members of the general public are not shopaholics.

There are a vast number of online shaving gear vendors now, independent online stores, Amazon and eBay. Some of the old outlets have gone out of business for various reasons, but have been replaced by a multitude of others. The variety of gear and vendors has also increased exponentially. That is hardly indicates a declining interest in wetshaving, quite the contrary. Some consolidation is to be expected in the future, but that is just part of a normal marketplace evolution.

The wetshaving forums may have peaked for various reasons, but "we" (i.e. traditional wetshaving) most certainly have not.

Is it just me or has the wet shaving space just calmed right down?  I find myself missing those heady days with various artisans releasing new products to overwhelming demand (maybe limited supply) with online storefronts crashing and the agony or ecstasy of scoring the sought after product...or not  I had a daily ritual of checking the New Arrivals sections of my preferred vendors and the upcoming releases of my favourite artisans but lately there have been so few updates that I may only look in weekly or even less frequently.  Please, tell me we haven't peaked!!  Tell me there will be another Hallows or Nuavia Rosso!!  Maybe I'm spoiled but I'm hoping 2019 brings us more awesomeness.  

That depends on what you mean by "the wet shaving space".  On the traditional shaving forums, the forums are often seen as the center of the wetshaving universe.  They aren't really, though.  Now that wetshaving has become mainstream, the conversation and focus is no longer centered on the independent forums.  Social media sites, such as Facebook and YouTube, are increasingly prominent, as are professionally run, for-profit sites such as Reddit.  There is now a huge amount of information our there.  Why join a forum to ask questions when a simple Google search or a lurking for a short time will provide virtually all of the answers?

Another factor may be the divergence of the forums away from wetshaving in general to the wetshaving hobby.  It used to be that most folks joining the forums were looking for a better shave, cost savings, or both.  The focus has shifted over the last ten years to shaving as a hobby - large collections (or immense hoards in some cases) of shaving gear, constant buying, and ever more expensive gear as opposed to technique and shaving basics.  Or unbridled materialism vs. the act of shaving, if you prefer.  Those who don't follow the script tend to be marginalized.  The forums have thereby isolated themselves from mainstream shaving, including most traditional wetshavers out there.  Most members of the general public are not shopaholics.

There are a vast number of online shaving gear vendors now, independent online stores, Amazon and eBay.  Some of the old outlets have gone out of business for various reasons, but have been replaced by a multitude of others.  The variety of gear and vendors has also increased exponentially.  That is hardly indicates a declining interest in wetshaving, quite the contrary.  Some consolidation is to be expected in the future, but that is just part of a normal marketplace evolution.

The wetshaving forums may  have peaked for various reasons, but "we" (i.e. traditional wetshaving) most certainly have not.

Disagree with that one. My evidence is anecdotal, but for every ten men I ask out in public MAYBE one of them even know what a safety razor is, let alone a brush and soap. Hell, I've even gone as far as asking men if they know what a three pass shave is and they look at me like I am from an alien planet.

I agree there is more information available on line than there used to be and I also agree that the BST and show and tell features of the forums have grown relative to the how to aspect but my original comments were directed at the seeming lull in new product releases. I also agree that wet shaving is so far from going mainstream that I wonder if it will ever be more than a niche. Other than people I personally turned to wet shaving, I haven't come across a single wet shaver in the wild. To be fair, I don't ask every guy I meet if they wet shave so its possible I have encountered some without knowing it but my experience has been like that of EFDan except I wouldn't place the number at 1 in 10, more like 1 in 100 maybe. Thats because to be informed on this subject you have to actively go looking for information and most guys aren't looking. Its not that they're happy with the status quo necessarily, its that they aren't even aware there are alternatives. Before I discovered wet shaving the alternatives I was aware of were cart/foam or electric. I knew safety razors, straight razors and shaving brushes existed (or had existed) - my dad used a gillette DE and a pathetic fake badger boar knot. Seriously, it was just a knot that had fallen out of the handle and my dad was too cheap to replace it. I never saw the handle, maybe he dropped it and it broke, I don't know. I'll ask him next time I see him. He's 89 and might not remember. So I was blissfully unaware of the alternatives until the day I passed by the kiosk at a farmer's market that sold knives and had a travel kit with eShave shaving cream and badger brushes. I was intrigued as I hadn't seen a shaving brush in decades so I bought it and that got me going.

...  Hell, I've even gone as far as asking men if they know what a three pass shave is and they look at me like I am from an alien planet.

Hey, look at your avatar dude.  Can you blame them if they look at you like you're from an alien planet.   < just kidding BP >

...  Hell, I've even gone as far as asking men if they know what a three pass shave is and they look at me like I am from an alien planet.

Hey, look at your avatar dude.  Can you blame them if they look at you like you're from an alien planet.   < just kidding BP >

It is wise he is. Even his ears he can shave!

Disagree with that one. My evidence is anecdotal, but for every ten men I ask out in public MAYBE one of them even know what a safety razor is, let alone a brush and soap. Hell, I've even gone as far as asking men if they know what a three pass shave is and they look at me like I am from an alien planet.

By "mainstream", I meant rather widely recognized and used by a large and rapidly growing number of people. That doesn't mean it is a large portion of the overall shaving population in the Western countries. Go into an Art of Shaving store and there are usually a lot of people buying gear. A local cutlery store owner once told me that straight razors sold like hotcakes, mostly to college students. A great deal must be sold online, as there are so many stores selling a wide range of products.

The truth is that in many places traditional shaving never stopped being mainstream.

I agree there is more information available on line than there used to be and I also agree that the BST and show and tell features of the forums have grown relative to the how to aspect but my original comments were directed at the seeming lull in new product releases.

How many shaving products do we want? There are now a vast number of products available. Such a rapid rate of growth can't continue forever. The market will eventually saturate, and most probably consolidate at some point. Maybe that is what you are seeing? There will still be plenty of great products available, though.

Tbone I agree there is a ton of great stuff out there but in today's social media driven, what's the next hot thing marketing world if a brand isn't creating some buzz to stay in your face then they get passed by. For me and many of us I suspect, we know what we like and we're not following that buzz but there are plenty of folks who enjoy that approach and its also where most of the growth is going to come from. If you read ezlovan 's post above, he and his wife are working harder and harder to stand still or even slip back and he's questioning how much longer he can sustain that.

I suspect that many of those straights being bought by college students wind up as decorative pieces rather than daily drivers.

And in response to your question - How much shaving products are there?