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Home › Articles › General › Staying Sharp

Staying Sharp

Shaving and Razor Options

By Jenn Director Knudsen

Pages:  1  2  

Think teaching your teenage son to shave is tough? At least you're not shopping for his first flint, clam shell or stone. More weapon than razor, guys used these thousands of years ago to rid their faces and necks of hair.

Shaving has been in vogue since before the Common Era; a Roman or Greek soldier was more successful in hand-to-hand combat if his enemy couldn't grab him by his beard and throw him to the ground (or worse) by it. In fact, "barbarians" came to mean men of unshaven societies; these men were the "unbarbered."

In the Victorian Era, an instrument closer to today's razors came into use. And today, many shaving implements for young and adult men are downright high-tech. It's no wonder: The shaving-products industry has to please a very image-conscious, testosterone-heavy population in the fight against facial hair. Many of them middle- and high-school teenage boys are in that fight for the first time.

Mom: This article should help you choose just the right initial products for your developing son. (And though we know Dad buys his progeny shaving products as well, statistics show it's Mom who most often makes this first purchase for the newest man in the family.)

So Many Guys, So Many Razors
In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, the market for shaving and hair-removal products hit nearly $3.1 billion, a nearly 4 percent increase from the previous year, according to a November 2005 report by PackagedFacts, the publishing division of MarketResearch.com.* It estimates this industry will pull down $3.6 billion by 2010. Further, in an 18-month period from 2004 and into 2005, companies brought to market nearly 110 new shaving and hair-removal products. The report states that so much, er, growth is based on innovation and a population increasingly concerned with how it looks. And the teen segment is a leader in the conceit category.

Dani N.** of Camas, Wash., clearly remembers more than a decade ago when her eldest son needed to start shaving. She got him an electric shaver, "because all the men in the family used electric, and that's what he knew."

So Many Choices
You may need to consider a few shaving products for your son before finding the one that best suits his needs and personality. Here are some definitions of and price points for male shavers and razors currently available:

A disposable razor is a single piece that can be used for a bit and then thrown away blade, handle and all. This is the least-expensive option, at mere dollars. According to PackagedFacts, more than half of all adults who shave prefer disposable razors.

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