What is the status concerning "Shaveapocalypse"?

You are in luck I think shaving soap has a highest probability of staying in production. I also have an old puck of Old Spice shaving soap that performs great.

 

It has "Classic Barber Shave Cream", green label, 16 oz tub.

 

Grand*daughter*. All I have is boys. She would be spoiled like last year's Easter eggs.

 

Right, that is what I meant. Might try that sometime.

 

It was like 6 bucks for a big tub. Pretty good bargain.

 

Good! Technically, what will make the soap go bad, is the air (oxygen is what will oxidize the fat, making it rancid). So, maybe creams in tube will actually last longer, since they are in a closed tube? Or do they have already air in their formulation? I am not sure how they are made. Otherwise, one should keep his soaps as tightly wrapped in plastic as possible, to minimize exposure to air.

 

One user had a good idea. He took one of his extra humidors, and stores his blades and razors in that, along with a couple of large silica desiccant bags.

Creams are likelier to go bad before soaps, soft soaps before hard soaps. The milled soaps, such as the old Old Spice and Williams Mug soaps, are almost immune to going bad. It's not so much the oxygen, as it is the moisture allowing "things" to grow. There are lots of variables, of course.

 

Ah, very interesting! So the creams are the first to go...Damn...I think i will be more of a cream user...They just seem easier to lather and from googling most people seem to prefer creams.I guess i must not hoard too many.

 

Shaveapocolypse is a tongue in cheek term for acquiring more shaving gear than you need. Wet shaving isnt dying out, its getting bigger and bigger all the time. Its just that theres so many different razors, blades, brushes and product out there that if you like trying different stuff, its very easy to get carried away and end up buying way more stuff than you need.
I think we all end up there at first. At one point in time I had 10 razors, 5 brushes and probably 20 tubs of different soaps.

 

I just gave a general outline of what I've read from others; it doesn't mean that your creams will go bad, it just means that more water generally means faster growth. There are lots of variables, such as the various stabilizers and anti-growth ingredients. The fewer of those ingredients, the faster something will go south. A lot of the 'artisan' soaps, especially when they're made on demand in small batches, should be used quickly. On the other hand, Proraso cream will last longer than those artisan soaps, because they've put the investment into the stabilizers over the "purity" of the product.

I've never tried a shaving cream, and considering all the tubes in my bathroom drawers, I'd better NOT add any more. I'd look very silly trying to shave with (looking for the first thing that comes to hand) "Dr. Sheffield's Muscle Rub". Or maybe my Clortrimazole cream. The second might work, the first, I'd have to be VERY careful not to abrade my face.

 

To me, the Shavapocalypse is both a reference to the 80's and 90's, when it was getting harder and harder to find blades, soap, or anything else, as well as the potential in later years. I could find Williams soap, but that's it, and no brushes. I didn't even start using a brush until about a year ago. I lathered with my fingers with whatever I was using.

As for the later years, a lot of people are concerned with the shutting down of the last American plants that produced razor blades, as well as the other countries possibly shutting down production due to pressure from the disposable manufacturers. Razors can be found vintage, or produced in small numbers by machine shops - or even jewelers doing casting. Soaps are.. not easy, but not extremely difficult to make in small quantities. Even brushes can be made reasonably easily by the small craftsman, if not out of the best of materials. Horsehair, for example, is easy to buy from Native American suppliers, or your local stable, and a handle is just a turned piece of material. (or a piece of PVC pipe, if you're so minded). The problem child is that double edge razor blades require a production line. I believe (and if someone knows otherwise, please point me to the material. I'd love to know the right information) that razors are generally produced by the creation of a tempered, continuous ribbon of steel, which is flattened, given an initial grind, stamped out, then given a final hone. That requires heavy production equipment, on a smaller profit margin. (I'd rather see the price of blades rise than them go out of business, frankly)

Even SE razor blades aren't likely to disappear, although someone might end up having to create a honing machine so that you could use carpet cutters from Home Depot.

 

But traditional wet shavers here in Europe (men above 60, I guess) do not.
The online shops thrive because of people who found wet shaving as a new way to shave. The supermarket assortment disappears because of the decline in people who always wet shaved.

The same is happening here. So while "hobby shaving" is on the rise, the traditional shaving market is rapidly disappearing. I've been saying this since I joined the shaving forums, by the way ... I am one of those long time wet shavers, and I have seen it happen in the supermarkets.

 

Artisan shaving supplies may have grown, but I have only seen traditional items disappearing from the supermarket.

- there is only one left who still sells decent brushes (Omega). It used to be that you could find different brands everywhere.
- Palmolive soap sticks disappeared from the shelves here. I have to get them from Germany or Belgium now when I am there anyway.
- There is only one shop left selling DE blades, and only one brand ("Made in Israel"). There used to be multiple shops and brands available.

In my opinion, the traditional shaving market has all but disappeared, and is replaced by a "hobby shaving" market. As a long time shaver (since the mid 1980s) that makes me sad.

 

That kind of sucks, but here in the states I would say the traditional wet shaving market is growing, or trying to grow. Slowly at least. I always check out the shaving aisle at Target, and I've seen new items added. not a lot, but it is more than Mach 3 razors and canned cream.

 

Things always happen later here, so we might see the same in our shops within a few years then

 

Like I said it is slowly. You don't have much variety, and VDH is about the only razor or blade you'll see. But I've seen the Cremo line expand to include selling a brush, and a couple of different brands besides your usual.

 

I suspect that what will happen is specialty stores will end up taking the place of the supermarkets and drug store stocks. It's just that it will require people _opening_ the stores, and advertising. I'm almost burned out enough on IT work to try to do it, but I don't have the capital.

I think many people are like me - I'd prefer to pay slightly more (maybe the same after the shipping costs) and actually look at and handle the products I go to buy. People point to Art of Shaving, but that's a boutique store, not a STORE. They sell one limited line of items, and everything is marked up to enormous margins. You can't walk in, point to a stack, and say 'give me three tucks of Astra, two of Derby, and four of Rapira, please.' You can't see a demonstration of how to use a new razor, or how to do lathering, etc. Make it a SHOW!

Even in Houston, with 6.5+ million people, we only have -one- store that's shaving related. That's AoS. We also have The British Isles, which is a store selling UK based products, and they have some razors and blades, but it's not really a shaving store. Sally's Beauty Supply sells some shaving stuff, but it's also pretty restricted. A small shop with a reasonable selection of soaps, razors, blades, and related products could do good business - and probably manage to set up as the retailer for local artisans as well. (Leather workers, metal workers, etc)

 

i don't think it would be that hard. I was googling natural soaps the other day and found one in the local area. Browsed their site and saw the had shave soap, so I decided to stop in and see what they were about about, and maybe buy some (I did). But next to the soaps they were selling a Vie Long DE razor and some brush, forget the maker of it. Back home there is another natural soaps store that sells shaving soap, so I'm going to check that out when I get home. So if someone maybe got with a natural soaps person and got a corner of their store, you could maybe have a shop within a shop. At least as far as hardware is concerned.

I would certainly love to see a store that carried soap samples so i could go and sniff and see if it is something i want to try, instead of trying to get a feel of it from the interwebz.

 

It might work but only in very large metro areas. The percentage of wet shavers is still so low, for a retail store to make it you need a lot of people near by. I live in a very rural area and such a store would have no chance of surviving.

 

Right. I figured it would have to be large cities, like Houston, or cities known for being strange, like Austin or San Francisco.

Unfortunately, it would also have to be in a higher rent district, because the kind of people that would walk in and drop the elusive spondulix upon expensive shaving gear wouldn't be caught alive in the inexpensive places.

Not necessarily the Houston Galleria, where AoS is, but near the Heights, or Midtown. Both areas that are popular with DINCs and yuppie wannabes (Dual Income, No Children),

The suggestion to go in with a related business is probably a good one, but still hard to manage. At least a shaving store really doesn't need much space.