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Moore's Law For Razor Blades?
BartlebyScrivener writes "An article in The Economist examines Moore's Law as applied to razor blade technology: 'For the most cynical shavers, this evolution is mere marketing. Twin blades seemed plausible. Three were a bit unlikely. Four, ridiculous. And five seems beyond the pale. Few people, though, seem willing to bet that Gillette's five-bladed Fusion is the end of the road for razor-blade escalation. More blades may seem impossible for the moment — though strictly speaking the Fusion has six, because it has a single blade on its flip-side for tricky areas — but anyone of a gambling persuasion might want to examine the relationship between how many blades a razor has, and the date each new design was introduced'" I'm legally obligated to mention the Onion article that predicted this.
Let me add here my great contribution to science and simple living:
You don't need shaving cream to shave.
I once read an interview in the Wall Street Journal with a scientist from Gillette. He said that a razor blade can cut a wet beard much more easily than a dry beard. It takes a minute or two for your beard to be soaked through. The only purpose of shaving cream is to hold the water to wet your beard for a minute or two while the hairs gets saturated.
I thought, "When I step out of the shower in the morning, my beard is soaked. I should be able to shave without any shaving cream."
I tried it next morning, and I got the smoothest, cleanest shave I ever got in my life.
I haven't used shaving cream for 30 years.
(Conversely, if you just spread shaving cream on your face and don't give it a minute or two to wet your beard, you'll get a rough shave.)
I'm posting anonymously because I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to talk about this, but when I interned at a razor company, much of the research was for new materials, and none of the ones that I tried while I was there lasted through the equivalent of even 1 shave. The technology is nearing the physical limits of the materials. My take on the situation would be that since there are 2 big razor manufacturers in the US, they'll take any advantage they can get to gain a larger market share, no matter how small.
A lot of the 'shaving comfort' is anecdotal, too. I remember one test that I ran while I was there and I found that a certain coating significantly reduced the force required to cut a hair, so we produced a bunch of razors with that coating for a test. The testers are just people off the street, and in the double-blind trial of the new coating vs the traditional one, the testers overwhelmingly preferred the old coating. My point is basically that the best technical ideas don't necessarily produce the most consumer satisfaction, and maybe 6 or 10 blades will draw a larger market share.
- "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
Or just maybe... some people would rather not have to floss hair out of their teeth day in and day out.
Seriously. I know this is Slashdot, but I know I'm not alone here on that.
... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about.