The Principles of Flooding Therapy and How it Relates to Wet Shaving

There is an old behavioral therapy used to treat anxiety, phobias, and addictions called flooding therapy. This is probably not technically correct but, in simple terms, the therapist will "flood" the patient with whatever causes anxiety or whatever they are addicted to (depending on what they are trying to accomplish). So, for example, if a person has a phobia of spiders, they may throw the person into a room full of spiders to make them confront their fear and get over it (or have a heart attack from fear). If a person is addicted to cigarettes, a therapist using flooding therapy may make the person smoke as many cigarettes as possible until they become physically ill. The association with cigarettes is no longer of pleasure and the hope is that this will end the cravings.

I am not trying to advocate flooding as a therapy for anything. I just wanted to give a brief description of what it is and what I see happening in the world of wet shaving. In the past few years the market has become flooded with new soaps, new brushes, and new razors to the point that it is impossible to keep on top of it. Previous to the past 18 months or so, new items would pop up a few times a year and new wet shavers with RAD, SBAD and the other acquisition disorders would crave these new items and wait with baited breath for the next release. However, with the avalanche of new products that have become available in the past year and a half, it seems that many of these cravings have been cured. There do not seem to be nearly as many collectors as there were six or seven years ago.

What are your thoughts?

Phil, this sounds very similar to homeopathy.

I am of the opinion that when you buy too many shaving related items in a short time you get bored sooner or later. You just need to take a break and enjoy what you have.

Interesting thread.

'Flooding' is one of the strategies ( gross abuses) of many contemporary cults. My inner Magpie's feathers are clipped by the simple restaint of income. I think, I hope the last 8 years have brought me at least to the peak of the learning curve. Should I put on  my safety belt? I know what I like and want. I fear NEED was long ago abandoned. The hobby
is overwhelmed with product as everyone wants a piece of the pie. I wonder if the number of new shavers makes more pie or  just High Tea dainties? We have seen a reduction
of soap makers rapidly filled by yet more. My fear is the loss of VENDORS. I discovered and bought many favorites because a vendor made it known and available. SdM  would
never have entered my shirt list of materialist must haves. I still enjoy 'the hunt' for the novel and classic. I'm just becoming very discriminating in what I lust for.

It's inevitable that there would be market adjustments.  Some of those who jump into traditional shaving lose interest and move on.  At the same time, those who are into it permanently refine their preferences and reach a point where they don't need to try everything.

(09-11-2016, 08:49 AM)kav Wrote: I'm just becoming very discriminating in what I lust for.

Interesting question despite my limited experience. In 2 1/2 years as a traditional wet shaver I feel about 90% saturated with hardware and software. I don't neeeed any more. Sure, I'll order more gear, probably soon, but like it's been stated, will be more selective with what I purchase.

Interesting observation. When I decided to start making soap to sell, I did so for love of the hobby rather than thinking I'd ever have substantial market share (which of course would be great, but with all that is out there, probably not).

With that said, I never really did my "homework" with respect to how many other soap offerings there were in the market (and whether there was really room for another) - it truly is overwhelming. I've been in business for about 4 months and am still learning of other artisan & non-artisan soap makers. Soaps were never an acquisition target for me in the past, it's always been blades, razors, and aftershaves. I used the same soaps (mine and proraso cream) fairly exclusively and never really strayed outside of those for close to 10 years. Now that I am in the soap business (if you want to call it that), it really is amazing how many offerings there are now - not only for soap, but the razors, brushes, etc. that are available - especially compared to 10 years ago! It'll be interesting to see how things progress over the next 5-10 years in the wetshaving world.

Interesting. I don't know if there is any corellation but I also noticed those folks who used to make a lot of videos like TSE, Buster etc aren't releasing them as much as they did before. I don't know but I think the whole thing is becoming too much of a bazaar and less of a hobby. There is just so much stuff to spend on, I agree it's overload.

I'm not complaining, it's the nature of things when evolving and I do like choices but it fact of the matter is, it can get overwhelming.

Anyway I know old reliables (even artisans) will always have a space in my den.

I still seem to be excited about wet shaving but it is much more about how I can make my own items like aftershave, soaps, and brushes. I likely will not venture into the side of making razors but it is interesting that I am so excited and curious about something to the point of being overwhelmed with information that I will eventually just want to try making it myself. I bring this up because with all of these new artisans bringing products to market, I am much more picky and hesitant to buy. I love to support artisans but if I feel like they don't have something unique to offer then I feel like it would be worth more of my time to invest and try my hand at making something new just for myself.

But I think the idea of the article is that when we are bombarded with options on the market, we become less inclined to try just about everything and have a bit more of a sit back and relax attitude when it comes to buying. If you have money, I think it is reasonable to BUY everything but it is much harder to actually use and TRY everything with a fair shot to judge it accurately.

Anyone involved with, or visited a 'reenactor' event; US Civil War, RENN-FAIRE, Mountain man or a First Nations ( latest PC for indian) POW-WOW? Entire industries have been created to fill what the mountian men call 'Sutlers Row' with everything from birch bark canoes to chinese tea in blocks. It's fun at first, but after a few years there are at least 80 tents competing with each other to sell ; pewter drinking goblets, confederate belt buckles, dreamcatchers and KOKPELLI windchimes  and audio tapes on speaking Elizabethan English ( hint, hang outside an irish pub just after closing ). It's all so wonderfull, but by year three everyone has enough stuff to invoke jealousy in a Hollywood property director. By year four the tents are down to 40 and the tin lantern maker found work in an auto body shop.It can happen in shaving. Is that whole Johny Depp pirate  thing still going?ARGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

I'd like to try flooding therapy with money... Then I'd be able to satisfactorily address my SBAD...



As for collecting, when I first started participating in the forums, collectors were celebrated and revered. Not just for the products they amassed, but also the knowledge acquired along with them. 
More recently a negative element, perhaps jealously, seems to prevail where collectors are often criticised and therefor less reluctant to share.
The internet is an amazing tool to connect with others and share, however the concept of "social" in technology doesn't always ensure the politeness demanded in face to face interactions.
There will always be collectors, interest specific forums like ours should be a mecca for them, not send them into hiding.

I agree Ben. I think you hit the nail on the head. When I started out, there was a guy with the Father Guido Sarducci avatar who owned something like 4000 razors and was the go-to source for everything related to vintage razors. Everyone sought him out for questions related to vintage razors and there was no jealousy. Something changed in the past 2 years or so. Is it the result of or related to Facebook culture? Who knows.

Simply an issue of manners Phil, perhaps Google needs to enforce "Please" and "Thank-you" when using their search engine. It might help people remember them! 

(09-11-2016, 09:21 PM)bullgoose Wrote: I agree Ben. I think you hit the nail on the head. When I started out, there was a guy with the Father Guido Sarducci avatar who owned something like 4000 razors and was the go-to source for everything related to vintage razors. Everyone sought him out for questions related to vintage razors and there was no jealousy. Something changed in the past 2 years or so. Is it the result of or related to Facebook culture? Who knows.

My goodness, the knowledge of that guy must be something to behold. I wish he was still around.

(09-11-2016, 09:21 PM)bullgoose Wrote: Something changed in the past 2 years or so. Is it the result of or related to Facebook culture? Who knows.

I suspect Facebook is merely an example of what happens to an interest when it becomes popularized to the point of opening the door to the "riffraff"! Years ago I had occasion to sell some exquisite Leonard cane fly rods that I was not using any longer because I was not getting to the fabled streams to fish them. At that time eBay was young, vibrant and filled with gentlemen of the highest order. Today, I find eBay different, populist and less interesting. Perhaps wet shaving is experiencing a similar change.

Lest I be accused of having an 'elitist' attitude for the above, let me say that I am a recent returnee to wet shaving after 50+ years of the 'buzz buzz' machine and, as such, I am the "riffraff" here! One's status can simply be a matter of timing. 

Actually Roger, apparently this is RIF RAF and he has gone to the trouble of producing an educational video inspired by his instructional prose on "how to be the man."

With role models such as these popularising their contemporary ideals of the function of men and women today, is it any wonder that there is now a lack of gentlemen on the internet... ?

Oh boy, Ben, that about nails it! Such role models have to be a part of what's wrong with the young people who are so ignorant of whatever doesn't interest them that the "man on the street" interviews expose them as the know nothings that they are. Can't speak for Australia, but Public School education is in trouble in the U.S. I tend not to worry about the top 15% or the bottom 15%. They will always be there no matter what sample is being examined, but that 70% in the middle worrys the devil out of me. 
As my generation passes from positions of influence, I guess it's the normal "generation gap" showing, but it sure feels more severe than previously. I pray that I'm wrong!
Let's see, now, where were we? 

(09-11-2016, 11:29 PM)1Geralt Wrote:

(09-11-2016, 09:21 PM)bullgoose Wrote: I agree Ben. I think you hit the nail on the head. When I started out, there was a guy with the Father Guido Sarducci avatar who owned something like 4000 razors and was the go-to source for everything related to vintage razors. Everyone sought him out for questions related to vintage razors and there was no jealousy. Something changed in the past 2 years or so. Is it the result of or related to Facebook culture? Who knows.

My goodness, the knowledge of that guy must be something to behold. I wish he was still around.

He had an encyclopedic knowledge of vintage razors. He went by the screen name of The Asylum Guido and was extremely active on the forums up until around 2009 or 2010.

(09-12-2016, 03:52 AM)beamon Wrote:

(09-11-2016, 09:21 PM)bullgoose Wrote: Something changed in the past 2 years or so. Is it the result of or related to Facebook culture? Who knows.

I suspect Facebook is merely an example of what happens to an interest when it becomes popularized to the point of opening the door to the "riffraff"! Years ago I had occasion to sell some exquisite Leonard cane fly rods that I was not using any longer because I was not getting to the fabled streams to fish them. At that time eBay was young, vibrant and filled with gentlemen of the highest order. Today, I find eBay different, populist and less interesting. Perhaps wet shaving is experiencing a similar change.

Lest I be accused of having an 'elitist' attitude for the above, let me say that I am a recent returnee to wet shaving after 50+ years of the 'buzz buzz' machine and, as such, I am the "riffraff" here! One's status can simply be a matter of timing. 

You are probably correct. The proportion of those new to wet shaving versus seasoned veterans is now skewed towards the inexperienced. It used to be the opposite. This obviously changes the dynamics a bit.

I woke up to a PM from a new member asking about 'the secret handshake'.