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Increase in web shops a blessing or a curse?

The King

Well-Known Member
As wet shaving has gained popularity in recent years, the number of suppliers of shaving gear and points of sale such as web shops and barber shops has also risen sharply.

That's a nice fact many will say and I totally agree with that because our hobby currently has so many variables in soap, razors etc. that it's impossible to keep up with what used to be the norm in Tabac.

So we may talk about a blessing and yet on the other hand I also run into the negative points of this unbridled growth lately.

Not that I don't run out of money on all the temptations that are so easy to get into my house with the internet now, my iron backbone takes care of that. ;)

But it's more that the increase in webshops ensures that there are a lot of the same products at various points of sale, causing the turnover rate of the articles at these providers to drop sharply.
Because let's face it, the average webshop has except for a few items usually the same products in house at least the runners.
Only a few dare to specialize or distinguish themselves by offering a very extensive product package such as Maggard or here in the Netherlands Man and Shaving.

My pain here is mainly that the runners are available everywhere so with as a result a low turnover rate so that the items are in stock longer and the quality of the purchased items from the past when there were far fewer points of sale declined.

Recently I received an order of which the soap had completely cured and the smell had completely disappeared. I complained about this and it was neatly resolved by the salesman but when I wanted to use the pre-shave a few days later it turned out to be completely cured as well.
Another soap from this order I wanted to put in a bigger jar a week later and when I transferred it the soap turned out to be completely grainy and could be dissolved by adding water but still!

And the above thought occurred to me this morning when I opened a jar of DR Harris that I had bought a while ago and the soap had hardened completely and the smell had almost disappeared as well.
And we know that normally the smell of the Arlington is quite present.

You used to have only a small number of suppliers here in the Netherlands including Paul Kox who is a friend of mine and here a fresh supply came in monthly so you were always assured of a fresh jar of shaving cream.

That certainty of fresh shaving cream is something I'm experiencing more and more under pressure from the increasing number of suppliers.
So on the one hand a blessing and on the other hand the purchase of fresh shaving gear is becoming more and more difficult.

What is your opinion about this?
 
My opinion is that with the amount of soaps you have you can't even use each one once a year so the problem is your iron spine my friend :rofl
But in all seriousness you have a point, even me who can restrict himself to just a few items has experienced this problem.
 
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