More razor innovation than ever?

[spacemonkey42]

Thought for discussion... Is there more innovation in razor design in this era than others?

I'm talking about innovation, not whether it is good or bad, just the sheer number of options.

My view is yes. Even if you take out the cartridges with 5 or 6 or 7 blades, heated, vibrating, lubrication strips, etc. there are so many options. Look at all the double-edged safety razors, have there ever been this many options in the market? From replicas of 100 year old designs to others machined to aerospace tolerances. Add to that the innovative designs that have never existed before - like the Leaf, Maxwell-June, MARS, and others. Count all the single-edged razors. I am not a historian, but it seems there is more going on now that there was in much of the 20th century.

It sure seems like one of the best times so far to be in this hobby. What do you think?

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

I think there has been a lot of advancements in shaving innovations over the past 40 years. Weather any of those advancements are good or not, I will leave that up to you to decide, as only you know what is right for you.

What I will say however, because of the pandemic that we have been going through over the course of practically 3-years now, supply shortages have caused a serious reduction in innovation I think.

Heck, its getting so bad now, that prices on razor blades are starting to go up. Companies know that they can't afford to overextend themselves during these tough times. So its better to jump pump out what product that you can, of which you already have, then spend millions of dollars in new factory tooling costs, to make a new product design.

As the supply shortages are increasing at now much higher rates due to the ongoing pandemic, and now the new war across the world, its make that whole situation worse. So has there been lots of innovation? Yes! Are there innovation now? I don't think so, and probably won't for a few more years yet.

Either way, tons of options available, I agree.

 

[APBinNCA]

We live in a consumerist society, everything is designed to get us to buy based on limited information and emotion. It doesn't mean innovation isn't happening. However, the first three decades of the last Century saw so many new designs trying to outdo each other with proprietary everything. The marketing was designed to convince you that they had figured out a better way, not to hoodwink you. You could argue that all these great artisan razors clearly shows how much choice we have, but I think we still live in a cartridge world. Proprietary blades just like usual, but flimsy plastic construction not meant to last. Unlike 80 years ago, even if the razor didn't suit you, it was built to last decades. Everything before consumerism was expected to be and was made to last. I think a crossover happened in the fifties as quality was cut leading up to the introduction of multi-blade systems. You could still get high quality items, and expensive blades, but many weren't made quite as well as pre-war.

 

[Alum Ladd]

We live in a consumerist society, everything is designed to get us to buy based on limited information and emotion. It doesn't mean innovation isn't happening. However, the first three decades of the last Century saw so many new designs trying to outdo each other with proprietary everything. The marketing was designed to convince you that they had figured out a better way, not to hoodwink you. You could argue that all these great artisan razors clearly shows how much choice we have, but I think we still live in a cartridge world. Proprietary blades just like usual, but flimsy plastic construction not meant to last. Unlike 80 years ago, even if the razor didn't suit you, it was built to last decades. Everything before consumerism was expected to be and was made to last. I think a crossover happened in the fifties as quality was cut leading up to the introduction of multi-blade systems. You could still get high quality items, and expensive blades, but many weren't made quite as well as pre-war.

I agree with all your points @APBinNCA, except I would suggest that sheer build quality and value did not leave the scene until maybe the very early 70's for DE razors. Economy of scale matched with superb design and craftsmanship left the scene surprisingly late for the DE user.

My 1968 N4 Slim was the last of the brass adjustables, yet it cost $1.79, which in todays prices is $14.72! Value of $1.79 in 1968. What is $1.79 in 1968 worth in today's dollars? - https://www.retirementsimulation.com/calc/inflation/179/1968

Stunning build quality, working as well as the day it left the Boston factory that winter, and superb performance. Could you get a brand new adjustable of that quality for that money in 2022, anywhere?

And a thing of beauty it is!

 

[APBinNCA]

I was, failing, trying to keep my verbosity in check. What I was getting at was that while high quality items were available up until at least the early seventies, there was an unseen transition happening behind the scenes. Switching to zamak for the Tech, as one example, while still offering your lovely slim. There was both pressure to reduce cost and consumer preference shifting towards cheaper, disposable items. I would argue that cartridges would have had a rougher time catching on had this process not already been in progress for at least a decade. Along with abandoning the older generations in favour of marketing to the new youth of the early seventies. I understand the nostalgia for the 50s without having lived it, but from my reading there was a shift in play that may not have been obvious because of the availability of higher quality items and general lack of information for the average person. A sort of "don't know what you lost until you already lost it" kind of thing. The speed of progress must of have been something to live through, I can kind of relate having lived through the fastest development period of personal computers.

Now back to the topic at hand...

 

[Alum Ladd]

I was, failing, trying to keep my verbosity in check. What I was getting at was that while high quality items were available up until at least the early seventies, there was an unseen transition happening behind the scenes. Switching to zamak for the Tech, as one example, while still offering your lovely slim. There was both pressure to reduce cost and consumer preference shifting towards cheaper, disposable items. I would argue that cartridges would have had a rougher time catching on had this process not already been in progress for at least a decade. Along with abandoning the older generations in favour of marketing to the new youth of the early seventies. I understand the nostalgia for the 50s without having lived it, but from my reading there was a shift in play that may not have been obvious because of the availability of higher quality items and general lack of information for the average person. A sort of "don't know what you lost until you already lost it" kind of thing. The speed of progress must of have been something to live through, I can kind of relate having lived through the fastest development period of personal computers.

Now back to the topic at hand...

Very well put, and spot on.

I would say that apart from an explosion of use of exotic materials, some improvements in tolerances engineering-wise, the advantages of which are debatable, an increase in aggressive performance, and more 'brutalist' looking designs, DE advances have been negligible. Almost all are variations on a theme. The high-priced Feather razor is basically a Tech head, there was an insane vibrating SE electric razor on the market in the 30's, and also a heated one in the same decade. The Gillette LC has probably never been bettered as an OC exemplar, except for the Fatip Piccolo of course Superb SE razors such as GEM and Ever Ready already existed on the mass market in the 19 teens, and still are the best of their type ever made arguably in terms of efficiency. The only area of interest to me has been the interesting proliferation of adjustables, both premium and 'mid priced' such as the excellent Pearl Flexi.

The only massive 'advance' has been the multi-blade cart. But relative prices have shot up, for the handles and blades. That 'advance' has been accompanied by a loss of that intangible satisfaction of DE shaving, and arguably a poorer shave, though Gillette experts would bitterly dispute that I'm sure.

I think the main advances since the 80's to now for DE users, has been blade quality and efficiency.

 

[APBinNCA]

Very well put, and spot on.

I learned everything about this from a documentary called "Century of the Self" I think. From your side of the pond.

I suppose I did read a lot of books, but seeing historic advertising footage really paints a clearer picture.

 

[HazMat Shaver]

Yes

 

[wulfgar1976]

Maybe with cartridge razors there is innovation, if you call inventing things that no one needs but is used for marketing as innovation. With double edge razors, there doesn't seem to be much innovation as everything has pretty much been done before. The Muehle R41 doesn't seem all that different to an Eclipse Red Ring in terms of head design. Some newer slants have innovation due to the availability of CNC machines allowing tighter tolerances that make certain designs possible that wouldn't have been before.

 

[Phoenixkh]

I would call the AC single edge razors new. I know there are lots of other single edge safety razors that have been around for decades. But truth be told, I haven't researched this so I'm willing to be corrected.

 

[BigJ]

I agree with all your points @APBinNCA, except I would suggest that sheer build quality and value did not leave the scene until maybe the very early 70's for DE razors. Economy of scale matched with superb design and craftsmanship left the scene surprisingly late for the DE user.

My 1968 N4 Slim was the last of the brass adjustables, yet it cost $1.79, which in todays prices is $14.72! Value of $1.79 in 1968. What is $1.79 in 1968 worth in today's dollars? - https://www.retirementsimulation.com/calc/inflation/179/1968

Stunning build quality, working as well as the day it left the Boston factory that winter, and superb performance. Could you get a brand new adjustable of that quality for that money in 2022, anywhere?

And a thing of beauty it is!
View attachment 1428468

The Slim combined with a SS blade may have been the high-point for mass produced razors!!

 

[@ngel]

I would call the AC single edge razors new. I know there are lots of other single edge safety razors that have been around for decades. But truth be told, I haven't researched this so I'm willing to be corrected.

AC single edge razors are just modernizations of what the injector was in its day IMO, so they are not new per say, but as said before, CNC machining, computer generated models and new fabrication techniques, availability of new materials has made it possible to play around with designs that couldn’t be made before at a reasonable cost.

To also answer the original post, I personally don't think that we live in an era of innovation on the shaving industry, or any other industry per say.

To me, innovation has to completely revolutionize they way we do things completely. Think for example: electric cars, many people will think thats innovation, but electric cars or electric anything have being around for decades, almost centuries now. The real innovation would be: how would you charge those cars or generate electricity in a completely clean way without using fossil fuels whatsoever, not one drop? Even with solar energy or wind energy, you need fuel to make those solar panels, you need fuel to make those wind turbines, we still so dependent on fuel to the point that countries still making war to ensure their supply.

Razors? yea, we have more options out there than in any other time in history, but we still shave the same way: dragging a blade across the face, and we also have more automobile options than in any other time in history and yet, riding a horse still the most environmentally safe way to transport ourselves!

 

[ERS4]

This era does have newer technologies that can create razors that were not possible in the past.

But "how many people invest in innovation" is often related to market demand. It is obvious that the wet shaving users today are far less than those between 1910 and 1960.

Therefore, from 1910 to 1960, more shaving creativity exploded, and people even invented various equipment to prolong the life of blades in order to overcome the shortage of blades caused by the war and the Great Depression.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

In my opinion there is saturation in the shaving market and many other markets. Every man and his dog make 'artisan' soaps with strong scents, vulgar artwork, and ridiculous names; they are the flavour of the month for five minutes and then there is a new base, new version, or totally new product along with social media hype in an ever desperate attempt to generate interest. Razor and brush makers drive demand by making product available in very limited numbers, on timed web site drops, and using exotic materials. But that has been done to death now - there is a limited pool of customers and most of them have what they want already. Limited Edition products are old news and excitement on forums has never been lower; products now have to be made in even smaller numbers to generate any interest. There have been so many new products in recent years that it is impossible to get excited about any of them any more. Interest in wet shaving as a hobby peaked a few years ago and is on a steady down hill slope from what I can see. The truth is that no new product will improve my shave as much as taking my time and focusing on my technique, and that is assuming that new products are better, which I doubt, and no longer have interest in finding out.

 

[APBinNCA]

Your point is a good one, but a disappointing one as well. If more people were moving to wet shaving, even just the wet part, there would be room for all these artisans to exist and expand. This shows clearly that this is still an obscure hobby and merely a chore to the majority of people. And I don't think it is the cost. I really would love to read the business plan for some of these newish companies, if they even have one. You can't just keep throwing things at a wall hoping they will stick.

 

[sarimento1]

Thought for discussion... Is there more innovation in razor design in this era than others?

I'm talking about innovation, not whether it is good or bad, just the sheer number of options.

My view is yes. Even if you take out the cartridges with 5 or 6 or 7 blades, heated, vibrating, lubrication strips, etc. there are so many options. Look at all the double-edged safety razors, have there ever been this many options in the market? From replicas of 100 year old designs to others machined to aerospace tolerances. Add to that the innovative designs that have never existed before - like the Leaf, Maxwell-June, MARS, and others. Count all the single-edged razors. I am not a historian, but it seems there is more going on now that there was in much of the 20th century.

It sure seems like one of the best times so far to be in this hobby. What do you think?

Welcome to B&B, Sir spacemonkey42!

WRT your initial thought, FWIW, I've really not seen any significant wet shaving razor innovations in the past decade.

True, multi-blade carts keep showing some minor improvements and tweaks, but nothing major.

And DE razors themselves remain essentially same over several decades, save cosmetic and precision machining tweaks.

What has changed a bit more, might be the online and subscription business models (Harry, Dollar) and/or some of the newer electric groomers, aimed at the upscale bearded guys.

Just my perspective!

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Yes, I think there is a good deal of innovation in razors now, but so far not more than in the past when the product was newer and razor designs were not ‘settled’. There are a lot of old razor designs that did not last, but which were quite significantly different - self-stropping razors, for example.

At the current time the ideal kind of razor design has already been settled - at least it appears so for now - and innovation has largely been about manufacturing methods like precision CNC machining, or the 3d printed Blackland Era. I would also say, though, that the Blackland Vector head design is genuinely innovative and a very clever solution. We do have better quality razors now than could have been made in the past, and the barriers to entering the market with a new product are lower.

Another factor that enables innovation and competition today is that the razor industry operates on a commercial basis, and razor manufacturers compete on the quality of their product and the price. In the past this was not really the case - blade manufacturers (principally Gillette) offered razors below cost as a way to sell razor blades. That would surely be an illegal, anti-competitive practice today, and it prevented other razor manufacturers who were not selling blades from competing or investing in innovations. Gillette’s business practices stifled innovation and put competitors out of business. Today we at least have a climate in which innovations can be brought to market and can be successful.

Bear in mind that this era of independent razor manufacturing is only ten years old. Let’s see what happens. I think it is too early to pronounce that there will not be more interesting innovations in this era.

 

[Huszarpenge]

When talking about innovation scholars distinct between:

- radical and
- incremental innovation

The first is what Gilette did when he replaced the straights, the second is more for the multi-blade cartridges.

The basics that Gilette invented remained more or less the same - resulting in many incremental innovations.

I doubt someone would come out with something radical like Gilette did in the past with DE razors, unless you replace the blades with something else like bamboo blades or laser, or make some other radical change.

Radical innovation is also not very likely since there is always a business model coming with the product. The model which is used for razors is even called it's even called the "razor and blade" model which keeps the current (and overly popular) cartridge products alive. Basically the logic of the model the entry cost for using a product is low, but operating costs are high (the model applies to many products, see the cartridges, coffe pods, etc. as well).

If you take a look at the DE sales you will see Gilette excels in marketing innovation - the King C. Gilette hit the top shelves everywhere and many people bought it, because it's Gilette. (In Hungary the DE blades are either called "penge" (blade) or, guess what - zsilett (basically gilette)

I think the innovations which led to the multiblade cartridges nicely show that innovation by itself is not neccessarily good (think of the environmental impact of carts or the foam cans).

It's also stunning, that people are mostly unaware of better replacing products which actually make shaving enjoyable instead of suffering. But hey, they are using coffee pods as well...

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Razors? yea, we have more options out there than in any other time in history, but we still shave the same way: dragging a blade across the face, and we also have more automobile options than in any other time in history and yet, riding a horse still the most environmentally safe way to transport ourselves!

The automobile was a huge advance from an environmental standpoint compared to horses. Before the automobile city streets were punctuated with enormous piles of horse faeces. It was an extremely serious environmental and public health issue with no apparent solution until the automobile came along and offered a clean mode of transport.

 

[spacemonkey42]

I am definitely talking about incremental innovation, we're all just raking a sharp edge across our skin with some of tool, after all.

In the first half of the 20th century Gillette produced about 4-6 razors at a given time. How many razors does RazorRock alone make?