King of them all – things we can learn from old advertisement

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King of them all! …well, possible ahead of the pack early last century at least.

An advertisement from 2 September 1905 that I stumbled over at Wikimedia that peeked my interest.

While I do doubt the claim of 20-40 shaves per blade, it could be that the thicker carbon-steel blades kept their edges longer than the thinner stainless steel blades we use in this day and age. Or might people have coaxed that many shaves out of them due to the cost of replacement, much like many people today pushes as many shaves as they can out of cartridges before shelling out for new ones?

Taking inflation into account, the set of a razor with a dozen blades would set you back 146$ today – a not insignificant investment. A replacement pack of twelve blades would cost just shy of 30$… which is definitely in the same league as replacement cartridges today. If I paid 2.50$ per blade, I would try to coax a month of shaves out of it too.

In a way it makes sense that Gillette would charge as much for blades back then as they do for carts today. The safety razor wasn’t about liberating men from the tyranny of the barbershop, or helping the working stiff save money… it was about creating a market with vendor lock in and a steady revenue stream. People invest in a razor, and will return year after year to buy blades… and as long as you control the patents, you have in effect a walled garden. Other manufacturers can’t step in to offer compatible blades cheaper without infringing on your patent, and the users can’t get out without giving up on the money they have invested so far (the sunk cost fallacy).

Shaving with an old fashioned safety razor might save you money compared to the alternatives today, but when the old fashioned was the cutting edge, you paid to be part of the first adopters.

Shave of the day 17th April

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Razor: GEM 1912
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Vie-Long #14033
Pre-Shave: The Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser
Lather: Pereira Shavery Orange Blossom w/ activated charcoal
Aftershave: Myrsol Aqua De Limón
Additional Care: Alum Block, Scotch Porter Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

The cost of shaving over a quarter century

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I was pondering over my morning coffee today how much shaving really costs us… or could have cost us, if we didn’t go all in buying all those razors, brushes, soaps, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And all those et ceteras do add up.

Consider a spherical cow in vacuum… actually, no.

Consider a hypothetical scenario where the software – that is the pre-shave, the lather, and the post-shave – is identical, but we’ll consider different hardware – razor and blade / cartridge. In other words; I’ll only look at the cost of razor + cutting edge.

The Gillette Sensor I got as a promotion in boot camp lasted about 25 years of somewhat infrequent use before breaking. That should make a good baseline as a lifespan of a razor (even if at least one of my razors is a century old and still shaves great).

For the “cheap and nasty route”, Amazon charges roughly 13USD for a Gillette Fusion5 ProGlide Power Men’s Razor Handle (quite the mouthful to say) and 34USD for a pack of 12 refills. Gillette suggests that a cartridge lasts “up to” a month of shaving, so a 12 pack should last a year. The total cost of the handle and 25×12 cartridges at Amazon (which is cheap compared to buying in brick and mortar stores) is 863USD.

Looking over at BullGoose Shaving, a mid-range razor like the Muhle R41 Twist Safety Razor will set you back 75USD. He sells one of my favourite blades – the Green Astra – in packs of one hundred for a reasonable 15USD. In my experience, blades lasts for about a week, so a pack will lasts a little under two years – or 13 packs for the projected 25 years. Doing the math, we’ll find that going this route will costs a total of 270USD.

Or in a more visual format:

The break even point seems to be around two years and five months – 2,3665 years, which works out to roughly two years, four months, and twelve days – so if you plan to shave for more than two and a half year into the future, it pays to switch to DE once you used up any carts you already have bought.

Caveats: Amazon is as mentioned usually cheaper than buying from a physical store. You can get less expensive traditional safety razors, as well as significantly more expensive ones. I picked the R41 as an example of a mid-range model.

Again; this ONLY looks at the cost of shaving with a single razor and using the same blade, and assumes that you’ll use the same software regardless.

Shave of the day 15th April

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Razor: GEM 1912
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Wilkinson Sword Badger
Pre-Shave: The Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser
Lather: Cold River Soap Works’ Barbere Sapone
Aftershave: Barber No3 Marmara
Additional Care: Alum Block, BullDog Original Beard Oil, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

No shave of the day 12th April

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No shave this morning, since I decided to swing by my almost local barber yesterday for some self-pampering.
My cheeks are still smooth after a good nights sleep!

…certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Razors – what might have been

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In 1907 William H Crichton-Clarke – most likely working for Gillette – patented what he described as a useful improvement in safety razors… in particular an improvement to simplify and reduce the number of parts in the razor.

Before looking at the patent it is worth remembering that the Gillette Old Type we know and love is made out of at least five pieces:

  • The top cap, with two pins and a threaded stud
  • The base plate, with three holes
  • The “nut”, which forms the top of the handle
  • A tube that forms the handle
  • The ball that forms the end of the handle.

The last three pieces is permanently joined together into one unit. If the only objective was to reduce the number of parts the handle could have been machined out from a single piece. However this approach would make a heavier razor which used more metal to make, thus likely making it more expensive to manufacture and ship.

William choose a different route, creating a razor which would retain the hollow handle and reduce the number of parts by… hmm.. one.

Click to make bigger – it’s worth a close look

Instead of having a threaded stud on the top cap that threaded into the handle, the top cap now have the female end of the thread, and is screwed onto the threaded end of the handle. The base plate is secured to the end of the handle by means of a collar, which in turn is held in place by a couple of tiny bolts or pins.

In the words of William himself:

A razor comprising a cap having a threaded opening, a guard, and a handle rotatably swivelled on the guard and having an enlarged threaded extension at its upper end projecting above the guard and adapted to engage the threaded opening of the cap, and means for preventing axial movement of the handle relative to the guard

One major benefit I can see from a manufacturing perspective is the fact that you no longer have to fit together three separate pieces to make the handle. The machining should also be a bit more straight forward.

The major downside I can see is visible in the lower left corner of the drawing; The blades would have to change. And while the ‘new’ blade – with the enlarged centre hole – might work on the old razors, the old style blade would not fit in this improved and simplified safety razor. And that is probably what killed this project when all is said and done.

Shave of the day 10th April

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Razor: GEM Micromatic Clug Pruf
Blade: GEM Single Edge Stainless
Brush: Vie-Long #13051M
Pre-Shave: The Lavish Gentleman Natural Strength Oil Cleanser
Lather: Arko Shavestick
Aftershave: BullDog Original Aftershave Balm
Additional Care: Alum Block, Scotch Porter Beard Balm, & Pereira Shavery Boomerang Beard Comb

Old soldiers never die

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My Gillette Old Type from my vintage Khaki Kit still gives great shaves a hundred and one year after he was born – try that with a cartridge razor…

Shave of the night 7th April

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Razor: Gillette Old Type “Khaki”
Blade: Lord Super Stainless
Brush: Omega #50014 Travel
Lather: BEA Shavestick
Aftershave: Krampert’s Finest Bay Rum
Additional Care: Alum Travel Stick, & WSP Matterhorn Beard Oil

Seven years and counting

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I posted the very first post on this blog seven years ago today… it’s been fun, and as long as it keeps being fun I’ll keep at it. Thanks to all my readers, both my regulars and those who swing my now and then. I couldn’t done this without your interest in the fine art of wet shaving.

One of my favourite parts of writing this blog is when I got the time to deep dive into old patents and odd shaving gear and accessories – what I call Shaving Oddities – and I gathered all (or at least most) of those in a single page. If you have the time and inclination I suggest looking over them; there is quite a bit to learn and a fair number of chuckles to be had there.

I’ve also attempted to collect all of my reviews on a single page… I probably missed out a few here and there.

So again, to all my readers, thank you all for coming by and thank you all for inspiring me to keep having fun writing this blog.