When I joined the Shave Den, it seemed as though most new wet shavers, myself included, joined up with mostly old family relics or vintage finds from rummage sales and antique stores. Now I've noticed that most new shavers joining our forums seem to be using new razors from EJ or Merkur or some other new DE razor brand. I left wondering, is it due to the rising costs of vintage razors, the mainstreaming of the wet shaving culture, the advertising of modern DE razors, or just changing tastes in the wet shaver's arsenal? I welcome your thoughts and opinions.
I think it's partly due to quality old stock drying up, along with the newbie kits alot of the vendors are starting to sell. Also anything that gets popular the gougers come out and want outrageous prices for their wares on the bay.
Being a new wet shaver myself, I guess I didn't really do enough "quality" research into it before making a purchase. Just read reviews on websites (West Coast Shaving and Italian Barber) and watched YouTube videos (GeoFatBoy). If i had to do it again I could see myself picking up a vintage Gillette and calling it a day. At the time of my order, I didn't realize the old Gillette's were so easy to come by, affordable, and effective. I was fortunate enough to acquire my family relics after getting into the hobby, so best of both worlds for me. But I do wish I would of found this place before my initial purchases (not that any of them were bad purchases).
Very true, that. I didn't take into consideration that we as a forum don't typically review vintage razors, (unless they are rare or obscure) as most seasoned shavers already have a pretty good idea of how they shave. But the new stuff, we are always interested in. Like kids in a candy store...
I plan to try a couple vintage razors eventually but for my first razor, I just didn't think I knew enough to buy a good 50 year old one wisely. There's a certain safety in buying a new one. Also, I checked prices on e-bay and saw a brand new razor wasn't much more expensive and that made my mind up for the first one at least.
When I was starting out last year I had members telling me to use a 1960's Black Handled SS TTO, and I couldn't get past the idea that OLD = BAD, I definitely got brainwashed somewhere along the line that those "Old" Gillette would cut your face up (maybe from bad 70's sitcoms I grew up on) If I had it to all over again, I would have snagged a cheap Super Speed and stopped there...but I took a long and winding road with my Razor Acquisition disorder
Interesting topic. Lately, I've noticed how the ebay prices seemed to be slacking off a little. Since Gillette produced probably billions of made to last razors through the various generations, I'm not sure the supply of antique ones will ever really run dry. What is for certain, is that in response to rising demand, there has recently been a sudden influx of new stuff on the market which may be attracting the shaving enthusiast. And it does look like the market could be beginning to lap at the main stream. The abundant supply of new razors can perhaps at least, in part, also explain what has been softening the vintage prices...
I can certainly see the drought in the vintage razor market in Antique stores here in Salt Lake. They are getting a lot harder to find in just the last year since I started. Now all the stores tell me that if they get one it's gone in a flash.
That at least is easily explained. Smott (Steve Mott) recently took up a job at Brigham Young University. It really wouldn't surprise me if he got half of the professors and a third of the students started on wet shaving within a month of his moving there.
Only after I bought a new EJ, I considered the vintage ones. I have an adjustable superspeed but for most of the time, it sits in the den. My EJ is my day-to-day razor.
I must admit, since I've gotten into wet shaving I've really taken to the nostalgic aspect of it and have grown to appreciate the vintage razors. In fact, I was even inspired to go out and get a classic style hair cut too. And have since been looking at barber shops near my house. Some other traditional things I've taken up for the nostalgia factor include: Driving a Model T (talk about a rough ride) Only watching Turner Classic Movies Discussing not so current events as if they just happened (Apollo 13, JFK assassination) Wearing short shorts that barely conceal my crouch (never realized how hairy my thighs are) So I guess you could say wet shaving really opened up a can of worms for me.
Maybe because people want something shiny? I mean don't get me wrong, you can pick up some mint vintage razors, but there are some rough looking user grade razors out there. So maybe when looking at them side by side people would pick the newer one just by looking at it even without knowing how it shaves. Me personally,I always preferred vintage Gillette razors because it represents a long gone piece of American productivity. We made things built to last and that era is disappearing more and more.
Well the older razors made of brass were just built to last. Gillette knew their money came from repeat business of selling blades. Hopefully with sintering taking a bigger foothold in the stainless steel market, the prices of SS razors will go down a little more and even the demand between vintage and modern.
I see no lack of vintage Gillette and Schick injector and Gem and Star razors in antique stores, flea markets or online at ebay or etsy at cheap prices.
Crap. There goes my hopes of finding a treasure here in Salt Lake. For me the world of vintage razors was completely daunting. I was in too big of a hurry to buy. If I was doing it all over I probably would have asked for help here and maybe been able to find something from a fellow member.
When I started traditional wetshaving 5 years ago, it seemed like it was about evenly split between people using new and vintage razors. The majority of the newbies seemed to be using Merkur 34Cs, which they called HDs. It stands to reason that many new converts to wetshaving will buy new razors. New razors are much more readily available at any given moment. Their condition is known, which removes some of the uncertainty surrounding a first purchase. Thinking back to when I got my first safety razor and brush, that was an important factor. IMHO the only things that have changed are that more products are available and the Gillette Fatboy is now more popular than the Gillette Slim. Oh, and the prices on everything have gone up significantly. Dang! The Merkur 34C I bought for $35 five years ago now goes for $44-$58. Talk about inflation! In the industrialized nations, old school is making a comeback and edging in on the mainstream. We have Gillette and their absurdly overpriced Fusion cartridges to thank for that. Worldwide, there are quite a few places where safety razors and double edge blades never left the mainstream. We have them to thank for a large variety of traditional shaving products from which to choose.
One of the reasons that I decided to buy new was price, but it wasn't the only factor. Yes, vintage razors in good shape are a little difficult to find at a low price, but they are out there. The problem with vintage razors, for me, is that they already have a history associated with them. I love old stuff, but I also want to establish my own links and history when it comes to my possessions, especially possessions as personal as razors. I want to take a thing out of the box and know that no one else has ever used it before, to know that this razor or pen or whatever has been in waiting for me to come along and buy it. There's something special about being the first to own a thing that will most likely have many owners after you, it's a connection to the future just as a vintage razor is a connection to the past. When someone seventy years from now is holding my razor they will have an abstract as well as a physical connection to me, if you've ever wondered about the lives of the people who used to own the things that you currently own, then maybe you understand what it is that I am driving at here. I used to collect stamps when I was younger because I liked the art work and because I loved to imagine about the places they had been and the things that they helped to deliver. I value and understand the value of old or used things, but those things needed to have someone to value them highly enough in the first place in order for them to be passed on. My sisters destroyed my stamp collection by licking and pasting them to a sliding glass door. They thought it was fun and didn't know any better (not funny at the time, but pretty funny today) and because of that they ended up inadvertently showing me a universal truth--that possessions and the connections that come with them are fleeting. Someday my razor will be reduced to component parts and will end up where ever it may be that old dead metal ends up, but until that day the people who hold my razor after me will have the same connection to me that I had to the people who used the stamps that I collected as a child. There's something good and life affirming about starting a new lineage, even with something as simple as a razor. Plus, Edwin Jagger has some cool as hell razors
This is part of the problem that I have with "new" razors. Most of them are made from chrome plated Zamak (Zinc) and can only be expected to have a useful lifespan of 30-50 years, max. The vintage brass nickel plated razors of 50 years ago are pretty much just as good as the day they were made and can be expected to last for another century and a half. The new brass razors coming out of India and the stainless razors now being made are the only new razors that I could justify as being considered heirloom razors. ...of course, I'm picky about some things, and you happened to expose one of my pet peeves with new razors. There are 60 year old zinc razors out there. Just not very many of them.
In the distant future, when the universe is cold and empty of energy all of those component parts will still be there. Maybe some of those lesser quality metals will come together, in just the right way and at just the right time to reform into an Edwin Jagger DE86...at which point I could smile at the knowledge that my newish razor out lived your vintage razor. Of course, my component parts and energy would have to do the same thing for that knowledge to be imparted, at which point I would simultaneously freeze and implode, but for a fraction of a millisecond I would have a smile on my face. Gotta hope that my karma is stronger than the heat death of the universe, but hey nothing's impossible...just highly improbable.
