History time: No shadow of doubt…
History time: No shadow of doubt…
No shadow of doubt ever exists in the mind of a man who uses a –
Gillette Safety Razor.
Well, at least that was the claim in this 1905 advertisement for the new Gillette safety razor; the one we today would call the Old Type. Which was then the very newest type, and also the only type.
1905 advertisement from the Literary Digest.
In 1905 you would be an early adopter, and like most early adopters you would pay for the privilege. While the ad don’t mention how much you would have to fork over for an ideal holiday gift (either the standard silver-plate or the gold plated special set), they do mention how much you would have to pay for a dozen new blades.
One dollar.
Which may not sound like much for a claimed 240 to 480 shaves, but… inflation can be harsh. One dollar in 1905 is roughly the same as 36 dollars today (33€, 28£, or 395 Norwegian kroner). So not cheap.
But at least there would be no shadow of doubt in the mind of the shaver. But today I would very much doubt the mind of a man who opts to use the latest Gillette cartridge razor, at least if he has had the option of trying a proper safety razor.
As a side note, I like that they point out out their patent (#775,134) and what they claim it covers.
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Today you can pay 60€ for 12 Gillette Mach 3 cartridges, each good for barely two shaves.
I've heard that DE blades used to be similarly expensive. Gillette is often given credit for the strategy of "sell something inexpensive that requires constant refills", although I've seen that claim debunked (I don't have any references, though). The blades were also made of carbon steel so you had to keep them from rusting, unlike today's stainless steel blades. DE blade sharpeners exist because there used to be a market for keeping the blades sharp as long as possible.
@walden @Geometrinen_Gepardi You can look it up and see that the blades were priced at about 12 for a dollar in the early 1900s, which is about $3-4/blade in today's money. Not "similarly" expensive, but still far more expensive than what they are today.
Some stuff is still cheaper. Soldiers at Ft Larned where paying 25 cents for a pencil based on an old price list at the park in 1880 something. Saw it recently when I was visiting it
Thinking damn. Shit is way cheaper now and was surprised. That's alot of money in today's dollar
I’ve been paying less than a nickel a blade and I still make sure to get more than one shave out of each one.
@leyonhjelm @Geometrinen_Gepardi @walden Mine last a week or two and my hair comes in like a bear's.
I’m a med so I can’t shave daily but I can go a fair while on one double edge. And that’s doing both my face and head.
There is a 20010 paper debunking it, as I wrote about a few years ago.
Arguable Gillette are closer to a razor and blade model now than they ever was making proper safety razors.