Check in + some 1990s Gillette history

[Roi C Baguette]

Hi all,

I'm enjoying the forum and have at least one razor I wouldn't have bought without it (the Bayonetta), so thanks to the community.

I had a couple of aborted attempts with safety razors a couple of decades ago, but with all the information online now, it was a different experience coming back to it last year.

One thing that planted the seed for me, way back in 1998, was reading a magazine article on the development of the Gillette Mach 3. In addition to giving a behind-the-scenes look at the research & development process at Gillette (pretty fascinating!), it had a little section on the economics of the mass market razor business.

One line that has stuck with me all these years was "That curious circumstance has essentially given Gillette a license to print money" (the "curious circumstance" being Gillette's unique market position). Revisiting this article recently, I laughed at this vignette in the same section:

The great virtue of making top-of-the-line razors, as opposed to top-of-the-line cars, is, after all, that a hefty profit hike for the company—Gillette will charge thirty-five per cent more for Mach 3 than for SensorExcel doesn't much register with customers. Indeed, in the course of its massive consumer testing of Mach 3, Gillette found that people said, in effect, "Twenty-five per cent, thirty-five per cent—what's the difference? Just give us the razor.”

As his [Gillette's head of male shaving in 1998, John Darman] pen races across a white notepad, he shows me that since Gillette's newest razor costs more than its predecessors, the company makes an additional profit for every Gillette customer that it can persuade to upgrade. Even more profitable, of course, are converts from disposables or from Gillette's competitors. He glances at the figures on his notepad, and his face opens into a grin. 'You know,' he says, as if only now making the happy discovery, "this is a very profitable business."

Well, if I was trying to save money with safety razors and stick it to Gillette, I've only been partially successful, as I ended up buying 5 or 6 razors in a year. But no regrets.

I never bought a Mach 3, but as a college freshman, I was kind of impressed buy the European look and feel of the original Gillette Sensor, a design that Gillette started screwing up through subsequent product revisions as soon as it could. (Now their razors look like hideous running shoes to me).

Only this year did I learn that the original Sensor handle was designed by Dieter Rams, an famous industrial designer behind the look of many Braun products from that era. If you have memories of that razor hitting the market in 1990, great.

 

[Coler]

Hello & welcome.

The sensor exel was my first razor. I continued with Gillete Mach x and a can of blue goop until about 15 years ago when I switched to DE.

In fairness, I always liked shaving and got great shaves with that stuff.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Welcome to the group.

 

[T Bone]

Welcome! Funny, I never bought a Mach 3 either. Other than a few years with electrics in the middle, I used a Sensor / Sensor Excel from college until switching to a DE about 3 years ago. Their marketing campaign for the Sensor I guess was too good - the first blade lifts, the second blade cuts. I figured if the first blade lifts and the second blade cuts, what the heck do I need the third (or fourth, or fifth...) blade for??

 

[Dave himself]

Hi and welcome to B&B.

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard! And thanks for the history!

 

[NickCutlip]

Welcome to the forum !!

 

[DEgeezer]

Welcome to B&B!

 

[abies]

Welcome!

Which was the original Sensor handle? I tried searching but there's a lot of different images of Sensor handles. I had no idea Rams was involved in their design.

I wonder if there are other cases of designers like Rams being involved in safety razor design.

 

[dmshaver]

Thanks for sharing this information, welcome!