Gee Energizer (owner of the Schick brand), we’d have thought that you knew when you go to war against the big boys, you are going to take some hurt.

Ward Klein, CEO of Energizer, is claiming that the US wetshaving market is shrinking. And that Procter and Gamble is to blame.

According to Klein, massive promotion by P&G in the men’s shaving sector is causing the market to shrink. It took my pea brain a couple readings to understand what he’s getting at.

P&G is giving away so much free shaving swag, fewer people are forced to spend money on it, and thus the market shrinks.

P&G claims the market is growing.

Sour grapes, Pink Bunny! You bought Schick to what, knock Gillette out of the top spot for wetshaving supplies in North America? You’re kidding, right?

Sounds to me like Gillette has the deep pockets, and they’re willing to dip into them to put the hurt on any encroachment from Schick. Oh well. Enjoy the free market, guys!

I hope this gets bad enough that Energizer files suit against P&G. Waaaah, waaaaah, they didn’t play fair. Hilarious.

Wetshavers should cause the market to shrink by not buying multi-blade-multi-dollar cartridges, or canned goo. That would make the Bunny and the Moonface take a second look at what and how they market when it comes to shave gear. Spread the word! Go DE or Straight/Cutthroat! We’re not gonna take any more shaving highway robbery from either of you!

That could happen, right?

I hadn’t given Brut aftershave a thought in years. Frankly, I was under the impression that it had gone the way of Hai-Karate.

But lately I’ve been hearing ads for Brut on sports talk radio.

Barbasol has been making strides pushing their brand via radio spots aimed at the male demographic (i.e., sports). It seems to be working well for them; at least the spots keep coming after many months.

I wonder if there’s a relationship there. Are the brands owned by the same company, or do they share an ad agency?

Time to give old Brut a try.

It’s a middle-of-the-road Seventies product. Maybe it will catch on with the hipsters.

We’ve talked here before about Gillette’s secret shaving lab located in Reading in Britain.

Recently they released a study on men’s shaving that was picked up by the Wall Street Journal.

Unsurprisingly, 24% of men surveyed said their biggest shaving pet peeve was ‘not getting a close enough shave’.

What? After all the research and millions of dollars that have been poured into shaving technology over the past thirty years? Yep.

You see, multi-blade cartridges, battery vibration and lubricating strips aren’t about helping men get a better shave. That’s all about moving shaving back along the product life-cycle curve. The shaving product companies want you to think there is something new about shaving again.

Fact is, shaving technology was dialed in about sixty years ago. Once the twist-to-open double edge razor was introduced, there wasn’t any more improvement to be had.

But that would keep Gillette et al from reaping the enormous profits to be had getting you to buy five-blade cartridges at a price that could make a down payment on a decent used car.

Giving credit where it’s due, the article does admit that the most superior shave results will be had by using a straight, or cutthroat, razor. I heartily agree.

Link love:

WSJ: In Search of a Perfect Shave