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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.
Sounds a bit like the "Holey Wars" I once heard of. A quick check of Wikipedia and Google didn't turn it up. The idea is that the first steam irons for homes had one hole in them. Some other manufacturer topped this with 2, then 3, etc. This continued until we ended up with irons with tons of holes like we have today.
And that was the Holey Wars.
Now at 5 the blade density is already getting up there so I'm not quite sure how much higher they can go (without pointless tricks like splitting the blades in half and calling it "10 bladed").
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
The biggest improvement I got in shaving was when I stopped using shaving cream (while using Mach 3), rather than getting a razor with more blades. I didn't think it would work, but it did. It felt rough at first, but after a while, as long as your face is wet, the shave is closer, more comfortable, and with far fewer cuts. In fact, I don't think I've cut myself since dropping the shaving cream (~6 months ago).
Damn shaving cream marketers!
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
The only reason they need the silly sixth blade for those "tricky areas" is because with five blades, the head of the razor is so freaking big you can't use it the way you'd use a Mach 3, which works just fine for the same areas without needing the "special blade". Classic case of creating additional problems by "innovating" requiring an even more complex solution.
Oh, and don't shave unless you're wearing slippers. Drop your Fusion, and that sixth blade can do one heck of a number on one of your toes (ouch).
Never look down your nose at others. Someday, someone is bound to see your boogers.
The best thing I've found for shaving is to get a small bottle of olive oil, and mix in a some tea-tree oil. Probably best if you shave in, or during your shower. It's a close shave, it's natural, the tea-tree oil is good for your skin and you don't get foam up your nose.
I did need a new razor recently, so I went for the 5/6 bladed Gillette Fusion as it was on offer. That, with its odd vibrate feature, and my olive oil mix does make for a very pleasant shave in the morning.
I have a really thick beard growth and none of the multiple blade razors were doing it for me. I was having problems because the razors would blunt in the middle of shaving so I would have to use more than one and the results were bad. My flatmate told me what her dad used to use, a double edged safety razor. We picked up one from Boots and got some razors for it. I have never looked back since. Why have five, seven, twenty blades when they all suck and I can get a saftey razor for £5 and twenty blades for it for the same price? My shave is as good as you can get from a barber. There is the problem of storage if you have children but, otherwise, I do not look back.
Yeah, back in the quaint old days when three blades seemed like an absurdity.
Nit: I think the slogan was "For you.... Because you'll believe anything."
I use single-bladed Bic disposables myself, which are great except that you have to keep track of how sharp they are and adjust your shaving style accordingly. Presumably this is because they're made of intentionally corrosive metal, razor blades being one of the classic examples of planned obsolescence in action. I keep wondering if it might be possible to hack my own razor blades: stainless steel isn't terribly easy to sharpen, but I bet it would hold an edge forever. I'd prefer some sort of "saftey" arrangement, rather than the old fashioned straight-edged razor. Has anyone out there looked into this?
Funny, I just remembered that once I tried a different approach: it seemed to me that if I stored a disposable razor in oil, I might be able to prevent it from corroding... I quickly discovered the obvious problem: if I wanted to use soap for lubrication, I was going to have to completely clean off all of the oil before each use. I don't remember if I looked into using oil as a shaving lubricant, that seems like an obvious thought to me now, but I might've missed it back then. Why not stash your razor in olive oil, and wash your face after shaving rather than before?
Though what would be really nifty is to figure out a way of using an electrochemical effect to suppress corrosion... how hard could it be to nickle-plate a "disposable" razor? Hm.
I threw away my Gillette Mach 3 and bought a good old-fashioned safety razor which takes good old-fashioned double-edged razor blades. I pay less than 1/10th the prize for blades now, and they last just as long as the Mach 3 cartridges did. Reading the Shave My Face site helped me find the good stuff.
I have great respect for the late King Camp Gillette, who invented the cheap mass-produced double-edged razor blade, and no respect at all for the Gillette Company who seem to have turned into a marketing machine.
Ideally, I would shave with a straight razor, but I'm kinda scared...
Dumping cartridge razor was definitely one of the best decisions I ever took, though
Eat the rich.
Why not make the blades out of ceramics? Tungsten carbide's a good one; you just need a mold that will stably hold its shape to a microscopic vertex.
It would never break. You could make it now, shave your face for thirty years, and still accidentally slash your wrists with it.
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Yeah, Shaving Cream is a scam. I found the trick a long time ago: you wash your face first to strip off the natural oil, then put another layer of soap on... if you do it that way, I doubt it will ever feel "rough". I just shave with the same bar of soap I clean up with (I'm not sure if it matters, but I use an odd Aloe Vera soap, put out by Grisi, a Mexican company).
There's another small point I figured out recently though: I need to make sure I've rinsed off all of the soap afterwards. I'd thought I was having occasional problems with in-grown hairs under my chin, instead I think I was leaving behind little smears of soap every once-in-awhile.
But perhaps I digress.
Posted anonymously for the hell of it.
... the point of any shave cream or what-not, is to soften the stubble, and keep the skin moist. But some creams are too thick, and cause that kind of separation. Some dry out too fast. Some actually do pretty well. I honestly miss the old cup-and-brush shaving lather. I'm not old enough to have used it when it was the most common way or whatever. i was given a mug and soap set as a present. Any mild-ish soap will do, really. And use hot water (it won't be so bad once it's lathered). But that's basically the OP's point.
Any way
I shave my entire head (seriously). A close, safe shave is very important to me. Mach3 is one of my all-time favorite razors. the "powered" razors don't make a difference. But sharp blades and enough surface area to prevent razor burns is a must.
I won't really recommend a no-lather shave. Sure, it will work for some. But soap does provide some lubrication for the razor to glide more easily across the skin. But soap in stead of thick creams makes a considerable difference.
The guys who make ceramic kitchen knives - Kyocera - had something about ceramic shaving blades on their website - they still might, but I am too lazy to dig for it. They said that the edge was too sharp, metal blades tend to have a rounded edge at the micro-level, but ceramic blades just have corners. The end result was that in their testing they found that men cut their faces a whole lot more with the ceramic blades than the old fashioned kind.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Since the day I realized girls aren't all that into limp teenage stubble, I've used a certain 3-bladed razor whose name I won't mention because they're not paying me to do so and I don't give out freebies.
It's always seemed sufficient, but I've never been happy with the red irritation that seems to perpetually inhabit my neckal region.
I stumbled across this article a while back, which convinced me that razor technology has been pointlessly nursing a fatal blunder made 50 years ago rather than admitting defeat and going back to the way it used to be.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/
On the other hand, you might just view disposables as a parallel market - one for people who value a few extra minutes of their time high above comfort, psychological satisfaction, and a smooth babyface.
I, for one, intend to invest in a nice quality old-school shaving kit very soon rather than pay the 3-blade racketeers their outrageous replacement fees any longer.
You can run but you can't hide, except, apparently, along the Afghan-Pakistani border.
I have found, however, that shower gel (including the cheap supermarket own-brand) gives a closer shave than shaving gel or cream. I actually used it instead of shaving gel the first time I tried wet-shaving, since I didn't have any shaving gel (the razor was a free promotional one from Gillette, who sent one to pretty much everyone in the UK, on the voting register, when they reach 18). I then moved to shaving gel since it's the 'correct' thing to use, and now I'm moving back, because it doesn't work as well. The after-shave cream, however, does seem worth using.
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I've shaved with a lot of different razors. I used to get a shave with my haircut (2 bits!) in Japan; they always used a straight razor.
The straight razor, like most cheap ones when I shave myself, invariably left my face bleeding and tender. Not nicks, just raw. Even shaving with an electric razor was similar! I don't know if my skin is especially tender, but maybe.
Then my wife bought a Mach 3 for me. I was skeptical, figuring that she was suckered by slick advertising. I used it, and haven't looked back in almost eight years. This thing not only shaves far closer than anything else, it is smoother, quicker, and very rarely cuts me..
And I don't even use shaving cream; I just soap up my face when I'm in the shower. My brother goes one better and just uses water in the shower.
I dislike the fact that Gilette can set the price so high, but nothing -- nothing! -- I have ever tried shaves as well as the Mach 3. I can even shave every day (a very painful experience before) without any problems. Occasionally I will try a Schick, or be forced to use a disposable, and it always reminds me why I hate them.