After recently successfully getting into DE's, I started thinking about this.
Basically, Shaving can be explained via just a handful of distinct periods in time. Just humor me and follow along (you probably know most of this anyway):
As we presently know it 1971-2010
In 1971, Gillette introduced the twin-blade razor, with two parallel blades housed within a replaceable cartridge.
Though it didn't represent any real conceptual novelty, this type marks the debut of the razor's most recent evolutionary phase.
(Coincidently, the very first episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975 parodied this with a bit called "Triple-Trac".
"The Triple-Trac. Because you'll believe anything." 23 years prior to the Mach3.
When Schick introduced their Quattro razor in 2004 The Onion wrote up we're doing five blades.
Inevitably this also came true with the release of the five-bladed Gillette Fusion in 2006.
More recently, six-bladed monstrosities have indeed started showing up.)
In actuality, there have been similar razors available since the 1930s.
The revolution that occurred in the 70s happened from a marketing standpoint. Gillette put its full weight behind the twin-blade concept with a huge advertising blitz, everyone was taught that two blades were better than one through billions of dollars spent on advertising.
The reason this transpired was because of a push-back was needed against Gillette's arch-nemesis Schick/Philips.
Rise of the Machines (Dry Shaving) 1949-1969
In the late 1940's a battery powered shaver appeared, which freed a man from his outlet. Electric razors became part of the cultural landscape, suggesting both affluence and modernity. Many popular films from that era have scenes of prominent actors shaving with dry razors; Jimmy Stewart uses one in Rear Window, as does Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina Fair.
By 1969, one-third of men in the U.K. and two-thirds in the U.S. were using electric razors.
So I think this neatly explains how we arrive at:
As your Grandpa used to know it 1904-1949
King Camp Gillette's original design for a razor. U.S. Patent & Trade Office
There are three major innovations happening here:
Let's do this in reverse order.
Marketing/Popularization
In 1903, they went into production – and a whopping fifty razors were sold. But by 1906, 300,000 razors and 500,000 blades were purchased. When World War I began, the U.S. government ordered 3.5 million razors and 36 million blades for its soldiers.
Certainly one reason for shaving during WWI is the fact that it was the first war to see chemical agents used on the battlefield. Soldiers had to use gas masks for the first time. In order for a gas mask to fit properly, you need to be clean-shaven. The army bought millions of Gillette razors and blades to make shaving possible.
When all of the soldiers returned from WWI with their clean-shaven faces, they were heroes. They appeared in their home towns, and they also appeared in newsreels in the new movie theaters that had sprung up everywhere. Combined with ad campaigns from companies like Gillette, it became the fashion to be clean shaven and a whole generation was introduced to the brand.
Business Model
Millions of people would be shaving, and these people would be using one of Gillette's blades every week. If Gillette made a little m oney off of each blade, he would become fabulously wealthy.
Hence, you could sell the razor at a loss (i.e. - "Loss Leader") and make money from the blades. To this day, this is what Gillette does.
They also up-sell you to a battery powered version, conveniently Gillette's parent company Procter & Gamble also owns Duracell.
Improvement over existing razor designs at the time
Well, this is really the business isn't it? I mean, we have Science in the title. So for this, we shall have a Part II. But hopefully the history bit was interesting and explains how and why there have been no real advancements since 1904!
Basically, Shaving can be explained via just a handful of distinct periods in time. Just humor me and follow along (you probably know most of this anyway):
As we presently know it 1971-2010
In 1971, Gillette introduced the twin-blade razor, with two parallel blades housed within a replaceable cartridge.
Though it didn't represent any real conceptual novelty, this type marks the debut of the razor's most recent evolutionary phase.
(Coincidently, the very first episode of Saturday Night Live in 1975 parodied this with a bit called "Triple-Trac".
"The Triple-Trac. Because you'll believe anything." 23 years prior to the Mach3.
When Schick introduced their Quattro razor in 2004 The Onion wrote up we're doing five blades.
Inevitably this also came true with the release of the five-bladed Gillette Fusion in 2006.
More recently, six-bladed monstrosities have indeed started showing up.)
In actuality, there have been similar razors available since the 1930s.
The revolution that occurred in the 70s happened from a marketing standpoint. Gillette put its full weight behind the twin-blade concept with a huge advertising blitz, everyone was taught that two blades were better than one through billions of dollars spent on advertising.
The reason this transpired was because of a push-back was needed against Gillette's arch-nemesis Schick/Philips.
Rise of the Machines (Dry Shaving) 1949-1969
In the late 1940's a battery powered shaver appeared, which freed a man from his outlet. Electric razors became part of the cultural landscape, suggesting both affluence and modernity. Many popular films from that era have scenes of prominent actors shaving with dry razors; Jimmy Stewart uses one in Rear Window, as does Humphrey Bogart in Sabrina Fair.
By 1969, one-third of men in the U.K. and two-thirds in the U.S. were using electric razors.
So I think this neatly explains how we arrive at:
As your Grandpa used to know it 1904-1949
King Camp Gillette's original design for a razor. U.S. Patent & Trade Office
There are three major innovations happening here:
- Improvement over existing razor designs at the time
- One of the greatest business models ever devised
- Marketing
Let's do this in reverse order.
Marketing/Popularization
In 1903, they went into production – and a whopping fifty razors were sold. But by 1906, 300,000 razors and 500,000 blades were purchased. When World War I began, the U.S. government ordered 3.5 million razors and 36 million blades for its soldiers.
Certainly one reason for shaving during WWI is the fact that it was the first war to see chemical agents used on the battlefield. Soldiers had to use gas masks for the first time. In order for a gas mask to fit properly, you need to be clean-shaven. The army bought millions of Gillette razors and blades to make shaving possible.
When all of the soldiers returned from WWI with their clean-shaven faces, they were heroes. They appeared in their home towns, and they also appeared in newsreels in the new movie theaters that had sprung up everywhere. Combined with ad campaigns from companies like Gillette, it became the fashion to be clean shaven and a whole generation was introduced to the brand.
Business Model
Millions of people would be shaving, and these people would be using one of Gillette's blades every week. If Gillette made a little m oney off of each blade, he would become fabulously wealthy.
Hence, you could sell the razor at a loss (i.e. - "Loss Leader") and make money from the blades. To this day, this is what Gillette does.
They also up-sell you to a battery powered version, conveniently Gillette's parent company Procter & Gamble also owns Duracell.
Improvement over existing razor designs at the time
Well, this is really the business isn't it? I mean, we have Science in the title. So for this, we shall have a Part II. But hopefully the history bit was interesting and explains how and why there have been no real advancements since 1904!
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