A lot of posts on this forum mention that multi-blade cartridges use lift-and-cut technology. Can anyone find where one of the companies that manufacture cartridges, such as Gillette, Schick, etc., actually say this about their cartridge products? I am thinking that people are mixing lift-and-cut with the claims made by the electric shavers made by Norelco.
Lift and Cut Multi-blade
- Thread starter Wade253
- Start date
I certainly remember a TV ad when I was a kid showing the first blade lifting and the second cutting...this was early 80s, I believe. And I thought, "wow, that makes sense..."
Most of the stuff I remember was talking about the rubber fins in front of the blades that do the lifting.
From Drugstore.com regarding the Gillette Sensor Excel
"flexible microfins positioned in front of the blades to protect your skin while gently setting up your beard so the blades can shave closer with incredible comfort."
http://www.drugstore.com/qxp16380_333181_sespider/gillette_sensor/excel_razor_for_men.htm
From Drugstore.com regarding the Gillette Sensor Excel
"flexible microfins positioned in front of the blades to protect your skin while gently setting up your beard so the blades can shave closer with incredible comfort."
http://www.drugstore.com/qxp16380_333181_sespider/gillette_sensor/excel_razor_for_men.htm
- Thread starter
- #4
Are you sure the commercial wasn't for a Norelco Rotary? I remember one showing the rotary blades in sets of two. The first one was a "lifter" with no cutting edge, followed by a cutting blade. It would be easy to transfer the image to the twin blade cartridges. The lift-and-cut of the Norelcos have been around for a long time.
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- #5
The microfins would smooth the skin and perhaps stretch for easier cutting. Not a lift-and-cut in the sense most use the terminology in this forum.
It isn't really "lift and cut" as much as "pull and slice" and there were several M3 commercials that showed this.
Positively, early ads for the Gillette Trac II claimed that the first blade cut the whisker and extended it, while the second blade cut the whisker again before it snapped back.
-Clarke
-Clarke
I've gotta confirm that the TV commercials indeed showed a animated graphic that showed a set of whiskers being lifted by the first blade and cut subsequently by the second and/or third blade (I believe they may have even done this for the Mach3 very early on in its life cycle). This was not just for the rotary electric from Norelco.
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- #9
Here is an introductory commercial for the Mach3. Note that it mentions progressively positioned angles but no mention of the "lift-and-cut". It does show the whiskers flexing, but not below the skin line.
Link
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- #10
Three blades. One Stroke. Less Irritation.
How did we ever fall for that? Three blades = three one blade passes.
OldSaw
The wife's investment
I've only been a member here for two years, but this really seems like splitting hairs, (no pun intended).
As far as the exact words, "lift and cut", being used a lot around here is concerned I must be missing something. I don't see it used a lot. Maybe they're only used in the threads that I don't read.
Regardless of whether or not the phrase gets used a lot or not, what difference does it make? We all know what the poster is referring to if they should use that phrase. I do think the OP is correct in applying the term to the Norelco shaver, but I really don't see it being used a lot and of course since this is a wet shaving form we all know they are not talking about Norelco.
Maybe if it does get used a lot I am just so used to seeing it that it is not a big deal. Anyway, there I go again, using a lot of words to say a little.
As far as the exact words, "lift and cut", being used a lot around here is concerned I must be missing something. I don't see it used a lot. Maybe they're only used in the threads that I don't read.
Regardless of whether or not the phrase gets used a lot or not, what difference does it make? We all know what the poster is referring to if they should use that phrase. I do think the OP is correct in applying the term to the Norelco shaver, but I really don't see it being used a lot and of course since this is a wet shaving form we all know they are not talking about Norelco.
Maybe if it does get used a lot I am just so used to seeing it that it is not a big deal. Anyway, there I go again, using a lot of words to say a little.
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- #13
What sparked my question was the review of the Rolling Razor, "You also are less likely to get irritation/ingrown hairs as it only has one blade contacting your skin at a time - thereby bypassing the "lift, pull, cut" approach of a Gillette/Schick cartridge razor." A quick forum search can probably find more. I heard Mantic use the phrase "yank and hack" with images of a machete which seems violent.
The quote sounds as if it is a given, yet I don't see ads by the manufacturers stating such. I was thinking people were transferring the Norelco ads to cartridges somehow--Gillette made one ad in 1971 while Norelco ads are more recent. Perhaps it is true though, and I was just wondering about it.
Just a rndom thought, but how fast would the stroke have to be with a Mach 3 to lift the whisker with the first blade and cut it with the other two before it had time to drop below the cutting edge of the first blade?
I have some decent articles about it I will post when I get home.
As a side note the microfins on the razor are also designed to lift the hair prior to cutting it.
As a side note the microfins on the razor are also designed to lift the hair prior to cutting it.
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- #16
That is my thought also. I do think there is a difference in the shave with multi-blade cartridges--perhaps different blade angles or one blade cutting a whisker that the first missed, etc.
This should answer all your questions 
I was looking for a commercial I remember seeing that showed a picture of how the mach3 lifts your whisker for the next two blades but I couldn't find it. I think this is better...
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F7TMlrDXtw&feature=related[/youtube]
I was looking for a commercial I remember seeing that showed a picture of how the mach3 lifts your whisker for the next two blades but I couldn't find it. I think this is better...[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F7TMlrDXtw&feature=related[/youtube]
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- #18
This should answer all your questions
Thats funny, I enjoyed it. Commenting on taking off skin layers, I have read that the reason DE shaving improves skin complexion is because it does take off a layer of skin or exfoliates the dead skin cells which allows for the oils, etc. not to be trapped. This makes sense to me, whereas DEs directly contact the skin, the multi-blades are somewhat recessed into the cartridge.
I think it would have to travel at...MACH 3! (ducks)
I can remember those lift-and-cut animations from years back. Did they ever offer us more "proof" than a cheesy animation that this was what was actually happening? Or was it all a ploy to get us to buy the damn razor? My bet is "ploy."
One of the reasons I started shaving with a DE razor was to save money. Admittedly, this plan seems to have backfired on me.
But the idea of value-for-money is still sound. Hmm, buy a blade that works in any razor, or buy the blade that works in their razor, and only their razor. Which is likely to be the better deal?Now that my face is used to a hot-towel pre-shave and a badger brush, I may try the Mach 3 again--just to feel for myself, again, what difference the blade itself makes. I suspect it's a lot--even when I was shaving with disposables, I noticed that the single-blade razors did better than the multi-blade ones. I should have listened to my face--I would have picked up a DE sooner.
But my 67-year-old Gillette (or my new Merkur?) is still a mass-marketed consumer product. It was pitched just as hard, in its day--probably with as many bogus claims about nifty blades and whizzy handles. Not much different in that sense. It's just that the old DE was actually, at its heart, a pretty good tool for cutting beard. The marketing of razors has developed at a much faster pace than the tool itself--if the tool has "developed" rather than gone backwards. A cynic might say that the tools are worse BECAUSE they're marketed in a more sophisticated way.
Only the straight razor crew have really stepped out of the trap completely (I'll join you guys, someday--won't be soon, though). I like shaving with a DE. And the shave is better, no question. But have I just replaced conformity with nostalgia and stubbornness?
So what if you have? You enjoy it better and get a better shave - who cares about the motivation? 
I think you're exactly right about the marketing developing faster than the product, and I think it's true in many areas nowadays.
Wade, that animation for the Good News is what I remember. I'm only 33 so it must be that one and not the Trac II. I think that most men are still subconsciously hooked on the idea of lift-and-cut though - we've been trained to take it as gospel.
I think you're exactly right about the marketing developing faster than the product, and I think it's true in many areas nowadays. Wade, that animation for the Good News is what I remember. I'm only 33 so it must be that one and not the Trac II. I think that most men are still subconsciously hooked on the idea of lift-and-cut though - we've been trained to take it as gospel.
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