The Next Big Breakthrough?

Environmentally it eliminates the incredible inefficiency of disposing of tonnes of perfectly good metal (and plastic in the case of cartridges) along with the packaging being discarded (primarily because most consumers see no advantage recycling their waste thoroughly).

I have to agree with this. In a perfect world…

Returning to the original poster's comments regarding blade technology advances (e.g., diamond blades and such) lasting years at peak sharpness, agreed that well and truly would be advantageous on a variety of merging fronts: commercially, economically and environmentally...

Yes, I won't have to stop & sharpen my knives as much while filleting seals & whales due to "trickle down" technology.

It is my opinion that this thread has gone in a direction that has nothing to do with shaving. That fact that some here slipped in a subliminal makes no sense to me or this blog.

I may be showing my age but here goes.  I remember when there were phones with cords attached to the wall, no answering machines and no stored numbers with speed dialing.  And, we all got along well.  My wife and I had a conversation the other day, the topic, what if our parents were still alive?  How would they accept our current technology today.  Such as cell phones and everything else that makes our lives easier than in the past; or does it?  Yesterday I was in a store checking out and I used my Apple Watch to pay for my products with Apple Pay.  A woman asked me if I were “Dick Tracy” to which I said no but I am old enough to know who he is.  In my life time we have gone from A to Z.  What is next??

What am I trying to say?  I stopped using a can of chemicals and NEW technology razors that contain two blades, three blades, six blades or maybe some day a dozen blades.  White strips that tell us “hey dummy” buy a new package of blades that will someday cost $20 for three cartridges.  New shaped handles, gel strips, etc, etc, etc.  So, I decide to go back to the past and buy a double edge safety razor, a brush and a puck of shaving soap.  And I truly enjoyed it.  Then I started reading shaving blogs and I like all of you fell into the dark hole.  Instead of owning one razor, one type of blade and one or two soaps.  I only use one brand of razor today, but I own others.  I currently have at least 90 soaps and creams and at least 7 brands of blades and have tried at least 5 others and of course 18 brushes.  Why?  Because that is the thing to do.  I actually have a list of at least 10 other soaps I want to purchase.  I then looked at my wife’s cosmetics baskets and draws and holy crap she has a couple of hundred lotions, potions, eye makeup, lipsticks and it gos on and on.  I do not want to own hundreds of shaving products.  Frankly, I could care less about the next “big breakthrough”, I am happy with what I currently have.  The next “Big Breakthrough” is a marketing term that means spend more money and buy me.  Before long wet shaving will become as technical as what I left.  Why do we acquire some much of what we don’t need.  Several years ago I went through a mid life crises and bought a Harley Davidson;  I now own 4 why?    Within this new year there will be dozens of new products.  I looked at the man in the mirror and decided enough is enough, new break through or not.

Tidepoolmy dad is alive, he's 88 and he thinks much of whats going on is hooey. Heck, I'm alive and I agree with him. Humanity has seen more change in the last 100 years than we've seen in the 100,000 before that. Our kids look at us aghast when we tell them we didn't have personal computers, smartphones or even electronic calculators when we were children. There was a time when the world was so stable that generations upon generations of people could reasonably expect to live exactly as their parents, grandparents, great grandparents.......had and they did. Stability, not a lot of stress at least not from rapid change, maybe from the threat of disease or other early, violent death but it was expected. I have one of those watches and its pretty cool, I got some air pods for Christmas (thanks Santa) so I can listen to music wirelessly from my watch. Its like magic. Heck, I thought vinyl records were like magic. 8-track tapes were black magic I also hear what you're saying about all the stuff - man its got to stop. After the next big thing!

I remember only buying shaving soap when I actually needed it, and I went to the store to get it. I had one razor, one brush, and one shave mug that I still have. Shaving was cheaper back then, lol.

Clayton


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Gillette the won't let it happen because it will cut into their profits. Who knows Gillette may have the technology to make better blades now. They had the stainless steel blade technology for years before they brought it into production, and that was only because Wilkinson Sword brought theirs to market first.

Clayton

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Environmentally it eliminates the incredible inefficiency of disposing of tonnes of perfectly good metal (and plastic in the case of cartridges) along with the packaging being discarded (primarily because most consumers see no advantage recycling their waste thoroughly).

I have to agree with this. In a perfect world…

I see it in the manufacturing industry. A lot of recyclable material still goes to the landfill. Razor cartridges can be recycled.

Clayton

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3D printed razors and brushes. They will greatly reduce the cost and you could get a copy of any razor ever made.

Hey

I think safety blades that are made to the original Gillette Spec for the single ring and Bulldog open comb razors from the 1900s ( thickness and stiffness ) material ? I am game for anything...

I may be showing my age but here goes.  I remember when there were phones with cords attached to the wall, no answering machines and no stored numbers with speed dialing.  And, we all got along well.  My wife and I had a conversation the other day, the topic, what if our parents were still alive?  How would they accept our current technology today.  Such as cell phones and everything else that makes our lives easier than in the past; or does it?  Yesterday I was in a store checking out and I used my Apple Watch to pay for my products with Apple Pay.  A woman asked me if I were “Dick Tracy” to which I said no but I am old enough to know who he is.  In my life time we have gone from A to Z.  What is next??

What am I trying to say?  I stopped using a can of chemicals and NEW technology razors that contain two blades, three blades, six blades or maybe some day a dozen blades.  White strips that tell us “hey dummy” buy a new package of blades that will someday cost $20 for three cartridges.  New shaped handles, gel strips, etc, etc, etc.  So, I decide to go back to the past and buy a double edge safety razor, a brush and a puck of shaving soap.  And I truly enjoyed it.  Then I started reading shaving blogs and I like all of you fell into the dark hole.  Instead of owning one razor, one type of blade and one or two soaps.  I only use one brand of razor today, but I own others.  I currently have at least 90 soaps and creams and at least 7 brands of blades and have tried at least 5 others and of course 18 brushes.  Why?  Because that is the thing to do.  I actually have a list of at least 10 other soaps I want to purchase.  I then looked at my wife’s cosmetics baskets and draws and holy crap she has a couple of hundred lotions, potions, eye makeup, lipsticks and it gos on and on.  I do not want to own hundreds of shaving products.  Frankly, I could care less about the next “big breakthrough”, I am happy with what I currently have.  The next “Big Breakthrough” is a marketing term that means spend more money and buy me.  Before long wet shaving will become as technical as what I left.  Why do we acquire some much of what we don’t need.  Several years ago I went through a mid life crises and bought a Harley Davidson;  I now own 4 why?    Within this new year there will be dozens of new products.  I looked at the man in the mirror and decided enough is enough, new break through or not.

Tidepoolmy dad is alive, he's 88 and he thinks much of whats going on is hooey. Heck, I'm alive and I agree with him.  Humanity has seen more change in the last 100 years than we've seen in the 100,000 before that.  Our kids look at us aghast when we tell them we didn't have personal computers, smartphones or even electronic calculators when we were children.  There was a time when the world was so stable that generations upon generations of people could reasonably expect to live exactly as their parents, grandparents, great grandparents.......had and they did.  Stability, not a lot of stress at least not from rapid change, maybe from the threat of disease or other early, violent death but it was expected.  I have one of those watches and its pretty cool, I got some air pods for Christmas (thanks Santa) so I can listen to music wirelessly from my watch.  Its like magic.  Heck, I thought vinyl records were like magic.  8-track tapes were black magic   I also hear what you're saying about all the stuff - man its got to stop.  After the next big thing!

I remember only buying shaving soap when I actually needed it, and I went to the store to get it. I had one razor, one brush, and one shave mug that I still have. Shaving was cheaper back then, lol.

Clayton


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

And there was never a sign hanging in the shop window that said all shaving soap was sold out! There was one kind. It smelled like soap. If you wanted any other fancy scent, thats what aftershave was for. If you were lucky there may have been 3 or 4 different scents of aftershave. Simple times.

Tidepoolmy dad is alive, he's 88 and he thinks much of whats going on is hooey. Heck, I'm alive and I agree with him.  Humanity has seen more change in the last 100 years than we've seen in the 100,000 before that.  Our kids look at us aghast when we tell them we didn't have personal computers, smartphones or even electronic calculators when we were children.  There was a time when the world was so stable that generations upon generations of people could reasonably expect to live exactly as their parents, grandparents, great grandparents.......had and they did.  Stability, not a lot of stress at least not from rapid change, maybe from the threat of disease or other early, violent death but it was expected.  I have one of those watches and its pretty cool, I got some air pods for Christmas (thanks Santa) so I can listen to music wirelessly from my watch.  Its like magic.  Heck, I thought vinyl records were like magic.  8-track tapes were black magic   I also hear what you're saying about all the stuff - man its got to stop.  After the next big thing!

I remember only buying shaving soap when I actually needed it, and I went to the store to get it. I had one razor, one brush, and one shave mug that I still have. Shaving was cheaper back then, lol.

Clayton


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

And there was never a sign hanging in the shop window that said all shaving soap was sold out! There was one kind. It smelled like soap. If you wanted any other fancy scent, thats what aftershave was for. If you were lucky there may have been 3 or 4 different scents of aftershave. Simple times.

75 cents for a puck of Menthol Williams SS, $3 for 10 Atra or Trac-ll cartridges, and $2-3 for a large bottle of Aqua Velva, or Skinbracer Cool Spice AS. Back then we also had the choice of AV Lime Ice, and AV Sport, plus Shulton Old Spice in all it's different varieties. We had it good and didn't know it.

Clayton

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