The shaving industry may be taking its cues from the tech industry by whipping out new razors seemingly every time you turn around. There seems to be an endless way to manipulate a seemingly simple tool — more ergonomic handles, thinner than thin blades, hydrating reservoirs. And all these upgrades come with a higher price tag and sometimes push out older edition blades.
Some men don’t want to be caught without their favorite blades, so they take precautions. From the Wall Street Journal:
“Fearing Gillette would discontinue the Platinum Plus blades he needs, [Allan] Neibart spent the past three years buying packs every time he found them. He’s now stocking about $1,000 worth. “I’m shaving with a dinosaur, but now I’m set if it goes extinct,” he says.”
And Neibert and others also go old school, with the tried-and-true razors of past decades, but that can come with a much steeper price tag than anything that Schick or Gillette whip out today — $260 for a 1958 gold-plated Gillette toggle razor, anyone?
It’s tough marketing razors, and reporter Matt Sepic did a story for Marketplace on the uphill battle that the PR wizards behind Schick and Gillette have.
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