SMF

Ron, I didn't know they still made English Leather. I think that product in one form or another has been around as long as mankind. I remember getting it when I was really young .. say about 15 or so ... and I thought it was terrific. Now, like the old Old Spice, I wouldn't get near it although I mi...

Gary, or as in my case the one I began using at the gym 30 years ago. It turned out to be unscented aerosol Right Guard and I continue to use it because it is unscented.

Porter: I never did any work in the male toiletries field so your guess is as good as mine. I do remember that in the 70's lime and lemon were popular and Gillette made shave cream and shampoos that carried those scents. I remember that because Gillette in Canada was charged by some guy for false ad...

95%, Squire, etc. Most likely Gillette is not interested in the quality shave cream, etc. market from a profit standpoint because it is probably very tiny in comparison to the market it already succeeds in. When I was doing work for Gillette the toiletries operations were doing very well and I assum...

Gary, one other comment to your excellent comment: when I DE shave I use Derby blades. They are reportedly not as good or high-tech, high-end or as fashionable as other blades ... and I have tried several of the highly-touted brands ... but they are my choice because they work best for me. I have no...

Gary: Nothing really to think about except economics. Indians by and large cannot afford to pay the prices of cartridges so Gillette saw an opportunity and filled a hole by bringing out the Guard. Many shavers in North America and much of Europe can and do pay the prices charged for cartridge razors...

Porter: Value is what people are willing to pay for something. Is Chelsea Clinton worth $75,000 a speech? No, not on the surface but things can sometimes be worth far more than they appear. A client of mine once was holding a public event and wanted to put itself on the North American stage. I recom...

Brutus, an elegant response and in the theoretical world nobody can cavil with it. I had heard the statement before (same with less is more, which was not coined by Mies) but did not know the author. I thank you for it and also avoiding debating because we could then go on to the immense engineering...

Brutus: why is simplicity the greatest form of sophistication? If you are referring to shaving, a rock is simpler than the simplest razor but rocks were apparently used in the stone age(s) and I don't think they are very sophisticated. Also, if it were true then King C. would never have brought his ...

Gordon, well, to start, I haven't chatted with you face to face and that is my loss I'm sure. I met Moss at the Frankfurt Auto Show when I was doing some work for Mercedes. Mercedes was introducing their new S-class (this was years ago) with a new transmission they said would change gears as fast as...

Stirling Moss once told me face to face that "having anything but an automatic in a city car is silly" and surely anyone who won the Mille Miglia in a stick-shift Mercedes should know the benefits of one type of transmission over another. I'm sure I drove well over a million miles with sti...

Squire, I couldn't let the opportunity pass. I am weak that way.

cheers

Bob

Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Gordon, it's all in technique; just like learning how to get a great shave using a DE.
cheers

Bob

Brutus. Definitely. My father, who was in WW1 (yes 1) told me how for years a lot of men thought only "sissies" used safety razors and real men used straights ... also drank their whiskey (he preferred Old Fitzgerald, a sour mash) straight down the hatch without a chaser. He didn't drink m...

Oh, by the way, I read in somebody's post that there is somebody posting on another forum under the name AsHarper (something). It ain't me. I don't know what he or she says so I hope you don't get me confused with him. I am also not related to the Prime Minister of Canada or I.W. Harper whiskey.

A few housekeeping comments before I get into the subject: First, I have not done any work for Gillette for a couple of decades so I have no particular axe to grind; Second, I am partial to cartridge razors, Gillette's products by and large; I do use a DE but it is not my preferred razor simply beca...

Sorry, but I have no idea who manufactured this cartridge and it could be for an Atra razor but a lot of twin blade cartridges have been and still are being made for various razors by all sorts of companies. I was not involved with the intro of the Atra razor so my knowledge of the product is no bet...

Just a note here but Blue Blades were different from Super Blue Blades which were amazingly sharp ... according to Gillette at the time ... sharper than any other carbon or stainless DE blade. The Super Blues came out in late 1958 or 59 and the difference in the quality of a shave was immediately ap...

Gordon, et al, just for the hell of it I showered and then shaved this morning. I could see or feel no difference except trying to keep a towel around my waist was pretty much a losing battle. I used the same Futur razor set at 2.5 with the same Derby blade I used yesterday (second shave with the bl...

Gordon, I am a creature of habit I guess and that is not necessarily a bad thing. I shave before I shower because that's the way I like to do it. I shave every morning unless I am sick and even when I was in hospital for an extended time as soon as I felt better I had my wife bring me an electric ra...