The Wet Shaving Market

I posted what is below on another thread, then realized they were off the thread topic and deleted them.

I think this could be a great thread with a lot of good input. What are your thoughts? For those outside of the US, what is your best guess for your country?

Why do you think the wet shave market matters, if you think that?

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KAV , I have some data points on your question about the demographics of classic shaving.    These aren't definitive and are based on my experience.

My job brings me into contact with many people, most of whom have professional level jobs. We used to say 'white collar jobs', though that may have become a dated term.  I always bring up classic shaving.  I'm guessing that roughly 1% (3.2 million) of the US population, possibly a little more, wet shave.

I do have some data points from other hobby forums where most of the folks are hourly workers.

It wouldn't surprise me if Williams and Col Conks glycerin soap have much of the market share.  The majority of these folks purchase whatever is available from the drug store, grocery, or Wal-Mart.

This will be a shock to all of us, though many of these folks save money with wet shaving.   

The Art of Shaving retail stores and similar independent stores have come up several times as how they discovered.

In the same way that Starbucks transformed the coffee shop, their are a lot of premium barber shops that will start bringing people. They are bringing people to Merkur and other solid brands and Art of Shaving or TOBS soap.

I'm guessing that most of the market right now are using whatever razor is at the drug store, Wal-Mart or grocery.

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Marko , yes, I'm saying that I think that the enthusiast community is in the minority.  I would guesstimate that I've brought this subject up with 100-200 people.

Below is a link to Amazon's best selling shaving soaps.  this isn't a perfect representation as some of the artisans pay for sponsorship or being high on the search results.

The ones that come up a lot are Col Conk, Vanderhagen, Williams and Proraso, all of which are on this list two or more times.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Heal...3271111011

Many in our community use Proraso, though who is buying all of the Col Conk glycerin, Vanderhagen and Williams? It isn't the enthusiast crowd.

My drug store, grocery store and Wal-Mart all have shaving soap or non aerosol cream. Vanderhagen and Williams are most common. Someone, other than shaving enthusiasts, is buying the Vanderhagen and Williams. They wouldn't carry it otherwise. All of these stores carry double edged razor blades which aren't brands that we talk about. Some, if not all, or them carry inexpensive butterfly safety razors.

It is expensive for a retailer to stock product. They wouldn't stock it if it weren't selling.

I work as a pharmacist in a grocery chain here in Maine.  I will need to verify this, but my memory is that non-aerosol shave creams/soaps have about as much shelf space as the aerosol ones. We do sell a super cheap brush with soap (our "premium" shave set) by Van der Hagen. I actually bought this set a year or so before I jumped into DE shaving in November 2015.  The brush was shedding like mad and I hadn't a clue how to use it, either with the soap it came with or with my preferred shave cream (Every Man Jack).  

Being obsessed with shaving now (ha ha) I check this aisle periodically when I can. Recently I noticed we are carrying many types of non-aerosol gels and cream, even some VDH pucks. No Williams yet, but Nivea has appeared in tins on the shelves.  We only have the store brand Dorco blades, and SE blades (also store brand). All of our store brand of razors are the Dorco ones from their site, just with different packaging.  

It is interesting that our product selection has increased, as has the stuff at Target and CVS locally, given that so many of the young men are sporting that early stage beard look.  I gifted my nephews last year with beginner kits from Maggard Razors, and provided them places online that would be of use if they found they liked traditional wet shaving. Over a year later, all their "selfies" on FB still show clean shaven faces, although I haven't asked if they are using anything like a brush or DE.

Since getting into DE shaving, I have yet to go back to a cartridge so I don't know how good of a shave I'd get using my current stuff. I suspect a great shave would be had, based on others experiences that have posted here.  

After all this rambling, I think Pete123 has it right, in my experience, with the comparison to Starbucks. I stopped buying tins or tubs of ground coffee and switched to whole bean from Starbucks and a burr grinder, then migrated to local roasters and coffee shops for better coffee. Although it is heretical, living in New England, I stay away from Dunkin. (Humorous aside: while visiting my folks back in Michigan, we were enjoying after dinner coffee at my sister's house. I commented on how good it was, and she laughed and told be I can get it anytime, as it was Dunkin ground coffee sold in their super market! So much for my sophisticated coffee palate!!) Like Starbucks bringing that perceived "higher level"  coffee, maybe all these non-aerosols are opening up how good a shave can be with better products/technique, and shaving doesn't have to be such a drag (pun intended) anymore, and can it least be a tolerable part of grooming.

I will avoid mentioning obvious political and economic events and state the painfully obvious. The job market, stagnant wages and the failure of any meaningful recovery translates into a imploded consumer base. Those with income historically become very selective in purchases and seek durable goods and quality. My only contact with that icon COCA COLA for the past decade are recycled cans that translate into Harney's Tea once a month.
My shaving epiphany came one day after purchasing a 3 pack of disposable razors at the local liquor store. The packaging looked a little askew and opening I discovered three USED disposables fouled with very black hair matching the owner's. After retrieving my money at threat of extreme violence enough was enough. This was a few months before UPS delivered multiple boxes of my Gateway 98 and shopping various beauty supply retailers was met with ' Oh, old fashioned shaving? There is a barber's supply downtown L.A.'
Gareth at Moustache isn't that far from another venerable local barbershop. My question was met with ' we use disposables. You want your eyebrows shaped?'
The rest is well known and familiar to all. So much for frugality unless you count quality in kit and result.
I believe more people will take up wetshaving. I also think we all need to promote the more economical products and not scare people away with higher priced kit, as much as we love it. A lot of folks are still competing for those coke cans to buy a pound of whole coffeebeans.

I also think we all need to promote the more economical products and not scare people away with higher priced kit, as much as we love it. A lot of folks are still competing for those coke cans to buy a pound of whole coffeebeans.

You're right on that, Chris.


I remember when I first bought my first kit( an EJ razor, an Omega boar and a couple inexpensive soaps) from a well- known Greek vendor, basically the only one back then, I saw the Feather AS-D2 set and a couple other expensive razors. I asked him, "are there people that pay for these" and "do they shave better than what you recommended me for first gear". The guy was honest and said to me that you don't have to buy expensive stuff to get a great shave. I appreciated that and since my first visit to him, I've spent a large amount of money to his shop and we became friends. I really believe that vendors play a role on this. There are some that really want to help you and are enthusiasts and others that the only thing they want is to grab your money, they have no idea about shaving, some even grow a beard. My advice to friends was always to choose vendors that actually can give you some advices and know a few things about what they sell. It's very important. These people somewhat promote our hobby.

I don't think wet shaving will ever be "mainstream" I could list several reasons why but these are the most glaring.

1. Advertising equals use. When was the last time you ever saw a wet shaving commercial? Other than the Lincoln MKZ commercial where Matthew Mcconeghy is getting ready and there is a glimpse of a shave brush with lather on it, you never see wet shaving in advertising either directly or indirectly. Further, is there even a company out there that could afford to advertise in the mainstream and still remain solvent. The answer is no, otherwise they would be doing it.

2. Most people wouldn't know what the hell you were talking about if you said "wet shaving" or "DE shaving". Those of us in our 30's and 40's grew up with fathers who bought Gillette's marketing campaign and went to disposable razors in lieu of wet shaving. So the 30-40 year old today in the workforce has never seen or known what wet shaving is. Gillette and their system of shaving is all they are even aware of. The last generation to use and see DE razors on a regular basis are now in their 60's and 70's and they for the most part, have stayed on the Gillete canned cream and disposable methodology, if they weren't or hadn't, DE razors and wet shaving wouldn't be the niche market they are today.

3. There is no doubt over the last 5 years the wet shaving community has grown by leaps and bounds. It is becoming more popular, that hardly means it will ever be mainstream. 1-2% of the shaving population sounds about right. Further, has the market now peaked? We were inundated with a market flood of new soap makers some of whom have already left the scene because it wasn't possible to make a decent amount of money hawking shave soaps to the small percentage of folks who use them.

4. Speed and Ease of use. As in all things, we have become accustomed to having things done fast. Same Day delivery, instant binge watching whatever we want, always connected, etc.. Speed is king and many would rather have something done fast, even if it isn't done "as well". It is BY FAR faster to shave with canned goo and a cartridge or push an electric razor button than it is to lather soap, do a three pass shave etc.


I could become verbose in this topic but I will leave it here to prevent from becoming loquacious.

#4 is the one that I agree with the most. Spot on.

Well said steeleshaves. That's pretty much "period, The End" on the subject.

There are several factors that have not so far been mentioned.

First, there is still a fairly large although decreasing body of folk that have always used DE and SE bladed razors as our preferred format. That has provided the continuing base and is the reason things like DE and SE blades and cut throat razors continued to be made.

Second, there seems to be a growing yet still small body of buyers that enjoy "Old Fashioned methods".  There are likely more companies today making fountain pens than at any time since the 1920s.

Third, the US and even Western Europe are not the world.  There are still markets where simple things like "Wet Shaving" are the norm rather than the exception.

In Western Culture we may well be a niche market but it is a growing niche market.

I think steeleshaves and jar give excellent reasons for what has happened to wet shaving and where it may go.  It is the internet that has made wet shaving so much more viable today than it might have been.  The same, I believe, is just as true for my other hobby, fountain pens.  On Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to visit a full service fountain pen shop (Anderson Pens) in Appleton, Wisconsin.  I was as giddy as when I visited Merz in Chicago for shaving goodies.  I don't know of a bricks and mortar store like either of those in San Diego, even with its very large population base.  Therefore, most of the time I'm on the internet.  Will of Barrister_N_Mann, Rod and Mandy (ezlovan) of Stirling Soaps, Shawn (hawns) of Chatillon Lux, and so many others, give me the opportunity to widen my shaving horizons as much as Merz or Adrian, Michigan's Maggard Razors or New York City's Pasteur's.  If anything, it is the internet that will help keep alive these niche old-fashioned ways of doing things, be it wet shaving, fountain pens, or even reading a physical book as opposed to an e-reader.  Our wet shaving world may remain small but I don't think it will die anytime soon.

After all this rambling, I think Pete123 has it right, in my experience, with the comparison to Starbucks. I stopped buying tins or tubs of ground coffee and switched to whole bean from Starbucks and a burr grinder, then migrated to local roasters and coffee shops for better coffee.  Like Starbucks bringing that perceived "higher level"  coffee, maybe all these non-aerosols are opening up how good a shave can be with better products/technique, and shaving doesn't have to be such a drag (pun intended) anymore, and can it least be a tolerable part of grooming.

My posts often mention growing the wet shaving market and innovation. MaineYooper's comment matches my view.  As other folks have said in this thread, wet shaving won't become mainstream in the US market.  In the same way that local roasters have only a small percentage of the coffee market, they bring coffee enthusiasts a product that wasn't available before.

I also think we all need to promote the more economical products and not scare people away with higher priced kit, as much as we love it. A lot of folks are still competing for those coke cans to buy a pound of whole coffeebeans.

I couldn't agree more.  

My advice to friends was always to choose vendors that actually can give you some advices and know a few things about what they sell. It's very important. These people somewhat promote our hobby.

Another great point.  Several of the smaller wet shaving suppliers we know and love have come out with their own brand of razors that are reasonably priced.  I haven't bought any of these in a while, so I'm hoping this has changed, though I haven't liked those for newbies as you have to make sure the blade is centered.  The less expensive Merkur razors don't have the issue in my experience - the blade is always centered.

3.  We were inundated with a market flood of new soap makers some of whom have already left the scene because it wasn't possible to make a decent amount of money hawking shave soaps to the small percentage of folks who use them.

Entrepreneurs need to innovate and think of new ideas.  Three areas I wouldn't pursue are making shaving soap, refurbishing and selling vintage straight razors and sharpening straight razors.  There are a lot of folks doing that.

I'm an entrepreneur and am approaching launch of a new wet shaving business, which is straight razor related.  I'm a huge fan of Dovo straights.  Dovo puts most of their effort into making high quality blades.  I'm buying the Dovo straights wholesale and putting custom scales on them.  (Scales are the name for the handle that the blade folds into.)  In doing this, I'm bringing variety which isn't currently available.  As well, Dovo has two different quality levels with scales.  My beginning business model is bringing  the higher quality to any of their blades.  

I'll sell the scales that came on the razor.  That, along with the retail markup, will allow me to offer these custom scaled razors at a price that isn't that much more expensive than the minimum advertised price.  

I feel like this is innovative in that it isn't widely available.  The reason I want the wet shaving market to grow is that it enables innovation.  

There is plenty of room for more custom brush makers.  As well as the acrylic brushes many are making, someone could start turning horn for brushes.  Guys love their brushes and will pay for them.  I also think there is room for folks to turn razor handles.  There aren't that many folks doing it.

There are several factors that have not so far been mentioned.

First, there is still a fairly large although decreasing body of folk that have always used DE and SE bladed razors as our preferred format. That has provided the continuing base and is the reason things like DE and SE blades and cut throat razors continued to be made.

Second, there seems to be a growing yet still small body of buyers that enjoy "Old Fashioned methods".  There are likely more companies today making fountain pens than at any time since the 1920s.

Third, the US and even Western Europe are not the world.  There are still markets where simple things like "Wet Shaving" are the norm rather than the exception.

In Western Culture we may well be a niche market but it is a growing niche market.

Great points.