Early Gillette claims of a New razor and Blade, fact or hype?

[mkevenson]

Between page 56 and 57 in his book KING C GILLETTE THE MAN AND HIS WONDERFUL SHAVING DEVICE, Russell Adams, author, provides 6 un numbered pages of photos , a reprint of an early (probably 1903-1905) Gillette advertisement that states,"...that it will hold it's edge during twenty or thirty shaves", is found there.

The ad is describing the new tempering and sharpening process of the Gillette blade.

WOW! how did they do that? Is this marketing hype? OR were the blades of yesteryear so much better than those we can get today? Or maybe the men using the "new" blades had peach fuz for whiskers.

If I could buy a DE blade today that would give me those kind of shaves it would be worth $$$$.

In fact, one of the endorsements by a customer said, "if he could not replace his Gillette razor, he would not part with it for $10,000." This was in the early 1900s.

Well, I think that we need to get THE REAL STORY, from someone who used these blades over 100 years ago.

 

[michiganlover]

I think it is a case of "holding an edge" vs. a "comfortable shave".

A Gillette Fusion blade will still cut hairs after 20+ shaves, you just won't be very pleased with the results!!

 

[LinuxMintyFresh]

I really have to wonder what the marketing standards were back in 1905. I've heard some pretty erroneous claims in some old ads.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86lYG1V2-n4[/YOUTUBE]
SOFTENED WITH FRESH AIR!!!
Now that would be worth some $$$$

 

[soapbox]

Recall that Gillette, even now, is claiming you can shave on $1 a week. At $3 a cartridge, that's 21 shaves... (yeah, right guys)

I think that, back then, some men made a one-pass shave (more or less) and called it "good enough", so twenty shaves might be equivalent to five shaves' worth of cutting today.

 

[Topgumby]

King Camp Gillette was known to tell a stretcher or two....

 

[Aevum]

plus, you have the cartrige pushers that are acustom to pushing the cartrige in to the skin when they cant get a decent shave out of it...

"i change my cartige ever 4 months, and i look like freddy"

 

[Jethro1984]

I think it is a case of "holding an edge" vs. a "comfortable shave".

A Gillette Fusion blade will still cut hairs after 20+ shaves, you just won't be very pleased with the results!!

Ehhh....I think the word "rip" might be more appropriate!

 

[mkevenson]

Ha Ha Ha, so you all think that the ad was a bunch of Bunk? I wonder if any of those early blades are still around? Maybe if we find some we can do a test. Ho Ho Ho Ho

 

[GoldenMonkey]

Weren't they meant to be rehoned/sharpened anyway, instead of just tossed, like today's blades?

 

[mkevenson]

Weren't they meant to be rehoned/sharpened anyway, instead of just tossed, like today's blades?

I believe the rehoning offer from Gillette was discontinued in 1906. You could send back 12 dull blades and they would return 6 after honing. They sold the remaining blades as new. On page 56 in his book KING C GILLETTE THE MAN AND HIS WONDERFUL SHAVING DEVICE, Russell Adams.

 

[soapbox]

Ha Ha Ha, so you all think that the ad was a bunch of Bunk? I wonder if any of those early blades are still around? Maybe if we find some we can do a test. Ho Ho Ho Ho

Those early blades were carbon steel and, no matter how well preserved, will have degraded in the last hundred years. They'd have to be stropped, at a minimum, and there's no way to know if the way you stropped the blade was in any way equivalent to mass production techniques in 1904!

 

[BBrad]

It wasn't until 1938 and the passage of the Wheeler-Lea Act that the Federal Trade Commission had the power to restrict unfair or deceptive acts, such as "False Advertising".

Up until that time, hype, boasting, and downright dishonesty was prevalent in the world of advertising, and most people knew enough to take advertising "BS" with a grain of salt!

Since that time, along with folks like Ralph Nader, "consumer protection" lives near the top of the list of ways our government protects us from ourselves. (I'll jump down from the pulpit now!)

Even assuming that in the early days "one pass was enough", I don't think (once exposed to water and air) that the old carbon steel un-coated blades could survive 20 to 30 days without rusting.

 

[soapbox]

It wasn't until 1938 and the passage of the Wheeler-Lea Act that the Federal Trade Commission had the power to restrict unfair or deceptive acts, such as "False Advertising".

Up until that time, hype, boasting, and downright dishonesty was prevalent in the world of advertising, and most people knew enough to take advertising "BS" with a grain of salt!

Since that time, along with folks like Ralph Nader, "consumer protection" lives near the top of the list of ways our government protects us from ourselves. (I'll jump down from the pulpit now!)

Even assuming that in the early days "one pass was enough", I don't think (once exposed to water and air) that the old carbon steel un-coated blades could survive 20 to 30 days without rusting.

Neat and informative post. Thanks!

 

[mmack66]

It wasn't until 1938 and the passage of the Wheeler-Lea Act that the Federal Trade Commission had the power to restrict unfair or deceptive acts, such as "False Advertising".

Up until that time, hype, boasting, and downright dishonesty was prevalent in the world of advertising, and most people knew enough to take advertising "BS" with a grain of salt!

Since that time, along with folks like Ralph Nader, "consumer protection" lives near the top of the list of ways our government protects us from ourselves. (I'll jump down from the pulpit now!)

Consumer protection and restricting of false advertising are two completely different concepts. Who would be against trying to ensure that companies aren't making dangerous products or that they are not trying to fleece people?

 

[mkevenson]

In the early days of the Gillette Safety Razor Company, $.25 from each sale went to advertising. Soon thereafter that sum rose to $.50 per sale. Gillette had many competitors in the market place and many thieves who wanted to infringe on the patent rights. The story of lawsuits being brought by Gillette are numerous. Marketing and a little help from the courts gave the Gillette company a strong foot hold. Establishing a retail price for the razors was also a big matter, as there were cases of distributors supplying saleman with stolen razors and then those razors were being sold at considerably less than the $5 price established by King. It wasn't until the Patent court ruling had established that the owner of the patent also owned the right to set the retail price, and if as a vendor you sold the Gillette Razor set or blades at a lower price you were in fact infringing on patent rights.

And so the empire was begun, with questionable advertising claims, mass international marketing and a full time legal force to fight for Truth, Justice and the American way.

 

[luvmysuper]

I believe all of those old advertisements.
I think they are right when they say Arsenic is good for the skin, and that nursing mothers should drink beer.


...

 

[theperfectstorm]

Bayer patented and marketed Heroin in the late 18th century and sold it as a non-addictive version of morphine.

 

[Deltaboy]

Well It still makes me wonder how people got to live to be so old with stuff like that for sale at the store.

My Grandma's Great Grandpa was a Civil War vet who lived till 1933. Add to that the lack of accurate medical care it is just amazing anybody lived past 50!

 

[sandmountainslim]

My Grandma's Great Grandpa was a Civil War vet who lived till 1933. Add to that the lack of accurate medical care it is just amazing anybody lived past 50!

My paternal GG-Grandfather was similar only he was a War Between The States veteran (Co. D 4th Tenn. Provisional Army) and he lived to be 90
I think it was all the homegrown vegetables they had to enjoy back then.
Wp

 

[Stubblefield]

Between page 56 and 57 in his book KING C GILLETTE THE MAN AND HIS WONDERFUL SHAVING DEVICE, Russell Adams, author, provides 6 un numbered pages of photos , a reprint of an early (probably 1903-1905) Gillette advertisement that states,"...that it will hold it's edge during twenty or thirty shaves", is found there.

The ad is describing the new tempering and sharpening process of the Gillette blade.

WOW! how did they do that? Is this marketing hype? OR were the blades of yesteryear so much better than those we can get today? Or maybe the men using the "new" blades had peach fuz for whiskers.

If I could buy a DE blade today that would give me those kind of shaves it would be worth $$$$.

They would have been carbon steel blades, so the answer would be no--they would not be better. Wetshaving vastly improved when stainless steel blades were introduced to the market (not by Gillette).

There are a couple of NOS stainless steel blades out there that will yield that many shaves. But I digress. Off to wash may face with arsenic wafers.