How many people use a DE/straight?

bazwalk said:
Gave my son an EJ87 for Christmas, now several of his mates at Uni are trying DE shaving. Less Fusion blades = more beer :D
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Haha! Tell him it's for shaving the face only and not his passed out drunk friend's arse!
 
Only know one guy who DE shaves .. hes on this forum already just doesnt post.
I have tried converting a few other mates but they just give us the 'but im happy with my fusion' speech...

Dont hold out much hope anyway tho as one of em uses a Fusion Cart for 6 months and still proclaims its ok.. We ridicule him like mad but there's no telling him.
 
aberimp said:
Arrowhead said:
Probably quite a few I suspect, or the supermarkets wouldn't bother stocking DE blades and get-you-started brushes at all. As regards straight razor users, there's probably a reasonable number quietly honing and stropping away in an unobtrusive and independent sort of way, not that I've ever met one in real life, mind you.
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I have the joy of working in a supermarket. Although we sell a basic brush (Wilkinson Sword) and blades (Personna), we very rarely actually have anyone buying them. They are stocked merely to provide the option to customers rather than being a genuine high-selling line. I can find out the exact numbers of each that we sell when I'm in next on Monday.
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I've finally got around to checking the numbers that we sell.These are all average weekly sales:

Wilkinson Sword Brush - 1 per week
Personna Blades - 3 per week
Gillette Fusion blades (all varieties) - 98 per week
Gillette Mach 3 blades (all varieties) - 94 per week
Wilkinson Sword blades (all varieties) - 44 per week
King of Shaves blades (all varieties) - 6 per week
Asda own brand blades - 48 per week
All brands of Disposable Razors - 208 per week

Total DE blades - 3 per week
Total Cartridges - 290 per week
Total Disposables - 208 per week

So as you can see, DE's are definitely in a minority at supermarkets. It may be that many DE users buy online, or from spoecialist stores. Or maybe they don't like Personna blades, which are the only ones we sell. Either way though, they're still interesting numbers, and very sad numbers too.
 
As long we are able to find blades for our DEs or straight razors, vinyl albums, manual gear cars, fountain pens, real books with that paper smell or whatever else that brings out the true romance and gives us this seductive pleasure, we're fine.

Let all others live with their Mach 3s, mp3s, auto cars, disposable ball pens, kindles or whatever else. Life is short and needs to be enjoyed, not converted to a robotic process in the name of convenience.

I also used to think my Fusion gives me an excellent shave - till I read a bit here and there and started to use my DE with the right technique and proper lather. Now I don't dare to look back...
 
I also do not know anyone using a DE or straight.

Aberimp, thanks for the breakdown of sales. What is most surprising to me is the high percentage of people who must regularly use disposable razors, ouch :shock:

I had a quick look on the three T’s websites, T & H do not sell any DE / straights online and the other two have a very small selection online lost amongst all the mach III / Fusion offers.

After many years abusing my face shaving with cartridges and not enjoying the process for one moment I would like to spread the word, as I only found out about DE shaving purely by accident. I have tried to engage friends in conversation about the benefits and enjoyment of DE shaving but have just been met with mild amusement.
 
My brother and my eldest son are DE shavers but they probably wouldn't be without any influence from me.

My Step-father could quite easily go back to a DE as he always says they were the best razors he's ever used.

No-one at work or any of the circles I move in use a DE.
 
Trawlerman said:
Like some others here, I'm seriously considering doing the whole straight razor thing. The only drawbacks that I can see are these :

1) Safety - I have a very inquisitive 13yr old boy who I have visions of sitting in A&E with after he has chopped his finger ends off!
2) Sharpness - The whole business of getting it honed on a regular basis or buying my own and having to learn to do this
3) Cost - Straights cost a fair bit when you factor in strops, hones etc.
4) RAD - I like to do things properly and learn as much as I can about things, hence why I am posting here. I guess just one Straight wouldn't be enough for me and would spiral out of control until I have a house full of the things :roll:
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Same here. Also I do get great shaves with a DE and can't be bothered to learn a whole new technique (plus jargon, accessories, etc. etc.)

I'm down to three razors and two brushes and happy to stick, open to try other (new) stuff and always keen for some new software (soaps, creams, balms, splash).

Interesting how there's always loads of straights on ebay - maybe some are very poor quality and not worth restoring or are beyond repair, but the supply seems huge (i.e. the demand seems small). I guess the whole honing / stropping / bleeding-to-death thing puts people off. But a nice cased DE usually gets lots of bids and almost always sells well.
 
I can totally appreciate those sales figures Amberimp however Im sure you'll find that out of all of us DE shavers, none of us choose to buy DE blades from Asda simply because they don't stock the brands we like AND because they are cheaper online.

You should ask Paul at Connaught how many DE blades he sells in a week.
 
Arrowhead said:
I am a little surprised. You'd think that there's a fairly simple equation relating shelf space to profit, and the supermarket would just drop the underperforming product lines.
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I know it's counter-intuitive, but it does actually make sense to offer lesser selling products sometimes. I said that we sell 3 packs of DE blades per week. Say that those are bought by three different customers. Those customers may then spend £100 around the rest of the store. If we didn't sell those DE blades, then those customers may try Tesco instead, and take their £100 with them. So for the sake of a little bit of space, Asda is £300 better off per week.

andyjreid said:
You should ask Paul at Connaught how many DE blades he sells in a week.
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I fully agree that a lot of DE shavers buy their blades online. I myself do. However, like hunnymonster said, the supermarkets are huge chains. Asda has about 370 stores, Sainsburys has 525 stores and Morrisons are at around 350 I think. Tesco have well over 500 large stores as far as I know. So we're looking at about 1,700 odd supermarkets. If we assume that the sales at my store are replicated in every supermarket, then we are looking at:

3 DE blades x 1,700 stores = 5,100 DE blade packs per week.
290 cartridges x 1,700 stores = 493,000 cartridge packs per week

Unfortunately, the sheer size of the supermarkets really does amplify the difference in sales between DE blades and cartridge blades. Obviously, there are a lot of estimates and assumptions used in these national figures, but the trend is certainly there. I wish that DE blades did sell more than cartridges (or at least sold a lot more than they actually do). Those who use cartridges really are missing out on the quality of shave, the shaving experience and also the financial savings.

P.S. Sorry for bombarding everyone with numbers!
 
aberimp said:
Sorry for bombarding everyone with numbers!
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No need for apologies, this is interesting stuff. If we assume that us lot buy our blades from the supermarkets only at times of direst necessity, then I suppose that granddads throughout the country are buying 5000+ blade packs a week = 50000 blades. And probably changing them once a month :lol: . That's a large but almost invisible customer group: makes good commercial sense really.
 
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