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"Waves" of razors and third-wave design

A few of you know that a Carbon CX arrived a couple of days ago, and I've been thinking about how I'd describe it. I'll share a more detailed review soon, but the upshot is that it's a really excellent version of a more traditional design/geometry. And that got me thinking. Apologies for the lost post, I've got some free time at my in-laws over the holidays :)

For those of you into coffee, you might have heard of "third wave" coffee. My understanding of the three waves of coffee is:
  • First wave was Folgers, Maxwell House, etc. It was a freeze-dried commodity product with no real differentiation on quality.
  • Second wave was ushered in by Starbucks, Peet's, etc. (or at least, how they started out). These was much more emphasis on the quality of the bean/roast/brew to deliver a better product. The beans were still generally a blend and roasts tended to be darker.
  • Third wave is happening now: Specialty grade, single-origin coffees. Bean sourcing can be as specific as a single harvest from a single farm. Lighter roasts to highlight the artisanal flavor notes of the beans.
The thought I had this morning is that maybe there's three waves of razor design as well. Not quite the same as the waves for coffee, but groups that we can use to better describe how razors are evolving.

First wave: Using a version of the coffee wave framing, I'd say first wave razors would be mid-19th century vintage. Mass-produced products (since there was a mass market for DE razors) with "Goldilocks" geometry that were made of commodity materials for the time. I'm not at all saying these razors were bad. The shave quality was generally quite high (and in some cases excellent), I personally like neutral exposure/moderate gap razors, and plated brass razors can be re-plated and will probably last forever. At the same time, you generally didn't get next-level materials (e.g., stainless steel, titanium) or geometry (more on that below).

Second wave: Second wave would be what I'd call the CNC revolution. CAD/CAM and CNC machining allowed for innovation in materials and small-batch production. The second wave also brought in a democratization of razor production; while not everyone knows how to use CAD/CAM or has access to a CNC shop, it's much more accessible than taking your design to Gillette and hoping they take a new product category to the shelves.

As a result (and more interesting to us as consumers), there started to be more experimentation in design and especially blade gap/exposure. I found this chart a couple of years ago from @Patrice super interesting (Blade gap and exposure - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/blade-gap-and-exposure.636078/page-2#post-12129281). It helped me understand why I liked the razors I liked and also suggested other razors with similar gap/exposure.

1735063449811.png


I'd characterize the second wave as innovation in quality and geometry. Wolfman seems like the pinnacle of the second wave: super high quality, small lot production, and they've got you covered whether you prefer low gap/high exposure (WR1) or high gap/low exposure (WR2).

Third wave: Third wave would be some of the innovation we're starting to see more recently. Examples include the Lambda Athena, Karve Overlander, Blutt BR-1, and (I'd suggest) the Blackland Blackbird. Basically, razors where gap/exposure don't tell the whole story. I know, I know, gap/exposure don't tell the whole story for any DE razor. However, I'd suggest that these third wave razors have "something else" in terms of performance that is hard to explain using typical razor geometry. The Blutt 1.20, for example, seems like it would be quite aggressive due to its significant gap, when in reality it's quite gentle. Once you dial in your technique, the Blackbird is pretty much legendary for its irritation-free efficiency. I absolutely defer to @Teutonblade and @Mr. Shavington who have clearly thought about this quite deeply; it sounds like clamp width, blade bending, and blade rigidity go a long way toward explaining that "something else."

Okay, so what? Even if this framework holds up does that make second wave or first wave razors obsolete? Of course not. For me, this is just a way to organize things, help understand the really broad range of razors that are out there. Coming back to the Carbon CX, I think it's a top-shelf second wave razor; it's basically a modern Tech made to an incredibly high standard with a bit more blade feel. It doesn't have the next-level clamp width and blade rigidity of a third wave razor and it's a little more sensitive to blade selection than, say, a Blutt. But it's still a beautiful tool and a great razor.

Hope others find this useful, and feel free to suggest anything I might've missed. There are of course exceptions to all this, but I think it generally hangs together pretty well.
 
A few of you know that a Carbon CX arrived a couple of days ago, and I've been thinking about how I'd describe it. I'll share a more detailed review soon, but the upshot is that it's a really excellent version of a more traditional design/geometry. And that got me thinking. Apologies for the lost post, I've got some free time at my in-laws over the holidays :)

For those of you into coffee, you might have heard of "third wave" coffee. My understanding of the three waves of coffee is:
  • First wave was Folgers, Maxwell House, etc. It was a freeze-dried commodity product with no real differentiation on quality.
  • Second wave was ushered in by Starbucks, Peet's, etc. (or at least, how they started out). These was much more emphasis on the quality of the bean/roast/brew to deliver a better product. The beans were still generally a blend and roasts tended to be darker.
  • Third wave is happening now: Specialty grade, single-origin coffees. Bean sourcing can be as specific as a single harvest from a single farm. Lighter roasts to highlight the artisanal flavor notes of the beans.
The thought I had this morning is that maybe there's three waves of razor design as well. Not quite the same as the waves for coffee, but groups that we can use to better describe how razors are evolving.

First wave: Using a version of the coffee wave framing, I'd say first wave razors would be mid-19th century vintage. Mass-produced products (since there was a mass market for DE razors) with "Goldilocks" geometry that were made of commodity materials for the time. I'm not at all saying these razors were bad. The shave quality was generally quite high (and in some cases excellent), I personally like neutral exposure/moderate gap razors, and plated brass razors can be re-plated and will probably last forever. At the same time, you generally didn't get next-level materials (e.g., stainless steel, titanium) or geometry (more on that below).

Second wave: Second wave would be what I'd call the CNC revolution. CAD/CAM and CNC machining allowed for innovation in materials and small-batch production. The second wave also brought in a democratization of razor production; while not everyone knows how to use CAD/CAM or has access to a CNC shop, it's much more accessible than taking your design to Gillette and hoping they take a new product category to the shelves.

As a result (and more interesting to us as consumers), there started to be more experimentation in design and especially blade gap/exposure. I found this chart a couple of years ago from @Patrice super interesting (Blade gap and exposure - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/blade-gap-and-exposure.636078/page-2#post-12129281). It helped me understand why I liked the razors I liked and also suggested other razors with similar gap/exposure.

View attachment 1964757

I'd characterize the second wave as innovation in quality and geometry. Wolfman seems like the pinnacle of the second wave: super high quality, small lot production, and they've got you covered whether you prefer low gap/high exposure (WR1) or high gap/low exposure (WR2).

Third wave: Third wave would be some of the innovation we're starting to see more recently. Examples include the Lambda Athena, Karve Overlander, Blutt BR-1, and (I'd suggest) the Blackland Blackbird. Basically, razors where gap/exposure don't tell the whole story. I know, I know, gap/exposure don't tell the whole story for any DE razor. However, I'd suggest that these third wave razors have "something else" in terms of performance that is hard to explain using typical razor geometry. The Blutt 1.20, for example, seems like it would be quite aggressive due to its significant gap, when in reality it's quite gentle. Once you dial in your technique, the Blackbird is pretty much legendary for its irritation-free efficiency. I absolutely defer to @Teutonblade and @Mr. Shavington who have clearly thought about this quite deeply; it sounds like clamp width, blade bending, and blade rigidity go a long way toward explaining that "something else."

Okay, so what? Even if this framework holds up does that make second wave or first wave razors obsolete? Of course not. For me, this is just a way to organize things, help understand the really broad range of razors that are out there. Coming back to the Carbon CX, I think it's a top-shelf second wave razor; it's basically a modern Tech made to an incredibly high standard with a bit more blade feel. It doesn't have the next-level clamp width and blade rigidity of a third wave razor and it's a little more sensitive to blade selection than, say, a Blutt. But it's still a beautiful tool and a great razor.

Hope others find this useful, and feel free to suggest anything I might've missed. There are of course exceptions to all this, but I think it generally hangs together pretty well.
@Benwustl Wow. This is great analysis Ben. Very well thought out and articulated. I love your “wave theory”, which intuitively makes a lot of sense.

If I had to put my finger on what ushered in the third wave it would be the recognition/discovery of blade flex and blade chatter, which is a little bit like the dark matter of razor design in that it’s hard to prove but without which the physics of the universe simply don’t add up. I’m going to credit this discovery to Shane at Blackland who was the first manufacturer to publicly discuss it. Who knows, maybe the introduction of the Blackbird was the watershed moment which ushered in the 3rd wave although this is clearly up for debate.

Bravo!
 
@Benwustl Wow. This is great analysis Ben. Very well thought out and articulated. I love your “wave theory”, which intuitively makes a lot of sense.

If I had to put my finger on what ushered in the third wave it would be the recognition/discovery of blade flex and blade chatter, which is a little bit like the dark matter of razor design in that it’s hard to prove but without which the physics of the universe simply don’t add up. I’m going to credit this discovery to Shane at Blackland who was the first manufacturer to publicly discuss it. Who knows, maybe the introduction of the Blackbird was the watershed moment which ushered in the 3rd wave although this is clearly up for debate.

Bravo!
Thank you! That makes a lot of sense to me, Lee.

I woke up this morning thinking about the Osprey. I'd sort of put in on my mental back burner as "another Gibbs design" compared to my much-loved Muramasa. That video you shared is making me re-think that perspective. Maybe Shane cracked the code on blade rigidity for an adjustable, which would put in solidly in the "third wave."

As much as I love the Muramasa, I'd probably put its design closer to a "second wave" innovation; it adjusts both gap and exposure (which is super cool) but I don't think the Muramasa has the blade rigidity of a third wave design. I'd be curious to hear if others see that differently, though.
 
Thank you! That makes a lot of sense to me, Lee.

I woke up this morning thinking about the Osprey. I'd sort of put in on my mental back burner as "another Gibbs design" compared to my much-loved Muramasa. That video you shared is making me re-think that perspective. Maybe Shane cracked the code on blade rigidity for an adjustable, which would put in solidly in the "third wave."

As much as I love the Muramasa, I'd probably put its design closer to a "second wave" innovation; it adjusts both gap and exposure (which is super cool) but I don't think the Muramasa has the blade rigidity of a third wave design. I'd be curious to hear if others see that differently, though.
Ha. I just wrote in the previous comment that IMO the Tatara is a 2nd wave razor.
 

Iridian

Cool and slimy
The third wave models are very different, one could also say over time razors that started as shaving tools for everyone became ever more collector jewelry. Prices also go up, for those who don't want to spend that much I see ever more aluminum and brass models popping up, and for the more wealthy customers titanium.

Last year wasn't my favorite year, with a strong preference for steel and titanium and three piece razors, the slew of Yaqi adjustables really didn't do it for me.

I would have to collect data, but my impression was that razors get milder again or are adjustables.

For 2025 I predict rather one war ending and another one maybe starting. Economic consequences could erase the middle ground and end in little sales of low to medium price DE razors but still existing demand for razors as luxury items.

I would say we will see ever more perfect blade clamping in future, I in general prefer that design and it might start dominating more classic designs. I still think a lot of people will get a reasonably priced SS version of the Merkur 34C from Razorock, even if design wise not quite the latest fashion.
 
This is an interesting line of thinking, thanks for sharing it. There is a lot more history that should be included. I'll try to add some for the good of the discussion. Plus I would not split your second and third wave, they are all part of the CNC generation, which is quite recent and relatively short, so far. Let me scratch out a few thoughts, I'd love to hear what you all think...


Straight razor era - where folks were hirsute, went to a barber, or took their life in their own hands ;)

Start of safety razors - late 1800, early 1900s - the idea of a safety razor brought an explosion of razor and blade offerings. Wedge, GEM, injectors, many types of DE, and other blade formats sprung up. So many interesting razors were produced, this was an incredibly creative time in the shaving industry! Some were mass produced, while others were more regional. I am still regularly seeing vintage razors posted here that I have never heard of. What a fascinating time.

Consolidation of safety razors - competition meant that not all formats and companies made it. Roughly 1930s through 1960s. The market dominance of a few companies made it really hard for small shops or upstarts to break into the market. They couldn't produce razors at a cost to compete with the big players.

Cartridge and disposable razors - starting in the 1960s and accelerating in the 1970s, we're still in this era. Cheap up-front cost and ease of use had this format quickly taking over much of the market.

CAC/CNC era - CAD and CNC ushered in another explosion in creativity and innovation. This allowed for more prototyping and one didn't need to create molds or factories to produce a razor. A designer with an idea could make their razor a reality. More materials were used - aluminum, brass, bronze, copper, stainless, titanium. More finishes too. CNC machines also can give very tight tolerances, far better than previous manufacturing methods. Some designers really leaned into this capability in their designs.

Again, I wouldn't split the CNC era. Like in the original safety razor explosion, there are better and worse designs. Many razors and companies didn't/won't make it. I believe what you describe as the third wave is really the CNC era coming into itself. It really hasn't been that long. Early CNC razors were often chunkier, both as designers were learning and also because the more material one mills off, the more expensive it is to produce a razor. The best facets of design are emulated and new tweaks and iterations keep improving razor options. We see a lot of difference in this phase because of the recency effect - we're living in the middle of it.

What could the next phase be?
 
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it sounds like clamp width, blade bending, and blade rigidity go a long way toward explaining that "something else."
I think there’s definitely something to this, but I’d put the emphasis on rigidity. This can be accomplished with clamping, bending, angle, etc. I believe the Blackbird is a good example because it’s not particularly well-clamped, but it’s super rigid when held at the appropriate angle to accomplish that. I could be completely off base because I’m one of the few guys here that don’t have a Blackbird, but that’s my understanding. I do own the Era, however and it is clamped incredibly well. That was the first DE razor I tried with so much emphasis on rigidity and I quickly learned how important it is to me. I’d include the Henson razors in the third wave as well. Intense focus on machining tolerance, exotic materials, clamping AND blade bend to achieve rigidity.

I think your classification holds up well for DE design, but Injector, AC and Gem razors all inherently feature super rigid design as a byproduct of their thicker blades. I’d say the Vector and Sabre are very much “Third Wave” in their designs. What about all the different Gem and Injector razors spanning the last 100 or so years, though? They don’t neatly fit into one of the waves. Perhaps they were ahead of the curve.
 

Flanders

Stupid sexy Wing Nut
What could the next phase be?
The next phase is already well underway, just different this time. What comes after coach building is mass market, but we don’t manufacture on scale in the West anymore. Just look at the inventory listed on a random Ali Express stainless razor, they are being cranked out by the thousands at a time! And the quality is at or near expectations, sometimes exceeding.

The coffee analogy doesn’t work, my apologies. Coffee only became available as a mass market commodity first, economies of scale. It became better as the size of production came down and that only happened due to direct buy relationships being developed. Otherwise, the middlemen would still have a chokehold on the market and we wouldn’t have specialty coffee. Different discussion for a different time.

My point is that razors follow a normal product evolution from hand made to mass market. The thing is that mass produced razors have always crushed innovation to some extent or another, seeking homogenization. We have basically returned to the beginning, but with modern materials and technologies. Now we see whether the Chinese want to keep the quality up or whether tariffs will destroy everything. They certainly will keep cranking out razors even if they have to drop the quality and we will see how the market responds to that.
 
The next phase is already well underway, just different this time. What comes after coach building is mass market, but we don’t manufacture on scale in the West anymore. Just look at the inventory listed on a random Ali Express stainless razor, they are being cranked out by the thousands at a time! And the quality is at or near expectations, sometimes exceeding.

The coffee analogy doesn’t work, my apologies. Coffee only became available as a mass market commodity first, economies of scale. It became better as the size of production came down and that only happened due to direct buy relationships being developed. Otherwise, the middlemen would still have a chokehold on the market and we wouldn’t have specialty coffee. Different discussion for a different time.

My point is that razors follow a normal product evolution from hand made to mass market. The thing is that mass produced razors have always crushed innovation to some extent or another, seeking homogenization. We have basically returned to the beginning, but with modern materials and technologies. Now we see whether the Chinese want to keep the quality up or whether tariffs will destroy everything. They certainly will keep cranking out razors even if they have to drop the quality and we will see how the market responds to that.
No apology needed! Thanks for this thoughtful reply. It's less an analogy between sectors/markets (which I agree doesn't hold up) and more my borrowing the waves of product/production innovation from coffee to see if it applies to razor design.

I'd also say we saw an evolution from hand-made (straights) to mass market as a result of the invention of DE, and then that market evolved with the development of cartridges. Many here (probably including you) know that history better than I do.

For me, this is more trying to get my arms around why "wave three" razors seem to perform so differently from what came before them, even across a broad range of geometries. It just seems like when we talk about the Overlander, Blutt, Athena, Blackbird, etc., we're talking about a different kind of performance and I wanted a way to talk about that and draw a distinction with more "traditional" designs.
 
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I think there’s definitely something to this, but I’d put the emphasis on rigidity. This can be accomplished with clamping, bending, angle, etc. I believe the Blackbird is a good example because it’s not particularly well-clamped, but it’s super rigid when held at the appropriate angle to accomplish that. I could be completely off base because I’m one of the few guys here that don’t have a Blackbird, but that’s my understanding. I do own the Era, however and it is clamped incredibly well. That was the first DE razor I tried with so much emphasis on rigidity and I quickly learned how important it is to me. I’d include the Henson razors in the third wave as well. Intense focus on machining tolerance, exotic materials, clamping AND blade bend to achieve rigidity.

I think your classification holds up well for DE design, but Injector, AC and Gem razors all inherently feature super rigid design as a byproduct of their thicker blades. I’d say the Vector and Sabre are very much “Third Wave” in their designs. What about all the different Gem and Injector razors spanning the last 100 or so years, though? They don’t neatly fit into one of the waves. Perhaps they were ahead of the curve.
I appreciate the feedback! I agree, the framework breaks down a bit when you take single edge into consideration since (as you said) they're already a rigid design.

Wave three = blade rigidity probably only works for DE (fixed or adjustable). In transparency, I'm not as familiar with single-edge options. I actually started wet shaving with a OneBlade Genesis but didn't (and still don't) quite get along with it. From reading @Mr. Shavington 's posts on the Amakuni and La Faulx, it sounds like (1) AC blades and razors are newer so we're not as far along the learning curve in razor design and (2) there's other aspects of single-edge design that might differentiate wave two vs. wave three.

That's just conjecture on my part, though. I'm well outside of my experience on single edge razors.
 
This is an interesting line of thinking, thanks for sharing it. There is a lot more history that should be included. I'll try to add some for the good of the discussion. Plus I would not split your second and third wave, they are all part of the CNC generation, which is quite recent and relatively short, so far. Let me scratch out a few thoughts, I'd love to hear what you all think...


Straight razor era - where folks were hirsute, went to a barber, or took their life in their own hands ;)

Start of safety razors - late 1800, early 1900s - the idea of a safety razor brought an explosion of razor and blade offerings. Wedge, GEM, injectors, many types of DE, and other blade formats sprung up. So many interesting razors were produced, this was an incredibly creative time in the shaving industry! Some were mass produced, while others were more regional. I am still regularly seeing vintage razors posted here that I have never heard of. What a fascinating time.

Consolidation of safety razors - competition meant that not all formats and companies made it. Roughly 1930s through 1960s. The market dominance of a few companies made it really hard for small shops or upstarts to break into the market. They couldn't produce razors at a cost to compete with the big players.

Cartridge and disposable razors - starting in the 1960s and accelerating in the 1970s, we're still in this era. Cheap up-front cost and ease of use had this format quickly taking over much of the market.

CAC/CNC era - CAD and CNC ushered in another explosion in creativity and innovation. This allowed for more prototyping and one didn't need to create molds or factories to produce a razor. A designer with an idea could make their razor a reality. More materials were used - aluminum, brass, bronze, copper, stainless, titanium. More finishes too. CNC machines also can give very tight tolerances, far better than previous manufacturing methods. Some designers really leaned into this capability in their designs.

Again, I wouldn't split the CNC era. Like in the original safety razor explosion, there are better and worse designs. Many razors and companies didn't/won't make it. I believe what you describe as the third wave is really the CNC era coming into itself. It really hasn't been that long. Early CNC razors were often chunkier, both as designers were learning and also because the more material one mills off, the more expensive it is to produce a razor. The best facets of design are emulated and new tweaks and iterations keep improving razor options. We see a lot of difference in this phase because of the recency effect - we're living in the middle of it.

What could the next phase be?
That's really interesting. Okay, for a minute let's put cartridges and single edge razors aside (bear with me). Would this make more sense to you?

  • Wave zero: Straight razors, basically hand made
  • Wave one: DE revolution: Mass market, Goldilocks geometry
  • Wave 2a: CNC revolution: Next-level materials, experimentation with geometries based on traditional head designs
  • Wave 2b: CNC maturity: Leveraging CNC for non-traditional head designs (i.e., maximizing rigidity)

Maybe wave 3 will be I sell you the plans to use with your 3D printer...
 
I'm with you, @Benwustl, I too like DE razors that give a much more rigid blade edge. Much of that is possible due to new designs and higher tolerances of the modern technology. We both just like a certain variation of this current CAC/CNC phase. There isn't a third wave, just different designs. No need to split this phase, just pick which of the modern CNC razors you like. You like the Overlander, so do I, yet it is a fairly traditional design. The Masamune/Nodachi are also fairly traditional, with good improvements in clamping. The Athena is amazing imho, and it borrows a lot from the 1932 Eclipse Red Ring. All needed CAD/CNC to be created.

It sounds like you might be most interested in some of the attributes of modern razors that work best for you, like blade rigidity. What other attributes do you like most?
 
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Flanders

Stupid sexy Wing Nut
For me, this is more trying to get my arms around why "wave three" razors seem to perform so differently from what came before them, even across a broad range of geometries. It just seems like when we talk about the Overlander, Blutt, Athena, Blackbird, etc., we're talking about a different kind of performance and I wanted a way to talk about that and draw a distinction with more "traditional" designs.
Ah yes, that's worth discussing further! One could argue that Charcoal Goods was the beginning of these modern geometry razors. I remember when he restarted production only to close for good a year later. I believe this was before the Overlander came out, but the design certainly predates it. I think we are talking about less than 10 years from when razors started evolving to what we have now. The Wolfman razors are interesting because they started out with a Tech as their starting point and evolved in couple steps to what we know today, almost completely unrecognisable from its inspiration. Carbon followed a similar path.
 
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