People don't seem to know what a razor blade is for.

[Joesixpack]

On Monday morning I stopped at a Walgreen's drug store to get blades for my old Gillette (my grandfather's, probably from the mid 40s) and found that shaving accessories have become a mystery to many people. I admit that I haven't been paying that much attention, but the march of "progress" suddenly caught up with me in the men's grooming aisle.

I clearly looked lost, because the young woman (probably in her later 20s, actually) asked what I was looking for. I told her I was looking for DE razor blades. She pointed to the section where all the blades were and I quickly found them. I wasn't prepared for what happened next, though. The woman asked "Do you mind if I ask what you use those for?"

After the shock wore off, I replied "I plan to shave with them. They still work for that." She seemed a little surprised by this so I gave her a (very) brief rundown of how these were the most common razors up until the '80s, and that many people (myself included) still use them. I didn't bother going into straight razors with her.

All in all it was a weird exchange. It felt a little like I had been transported forward in time by a few decades into a world where shaving was some sort of anachronism.

 

[Leatherstockings]

Yes, I feel like anything wet shaving related is viewed as an anachronism in today's world.

A buddy of mine knows I shave with straight razors and DE razors. He relayed a story about a contractor he knew working on a house and getting cut up when he found a stash of DE blades behind a wall. I explained in the old days houses had slots in the bathroom wall to dispose of used blades.