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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.
God I hate razor blade ads. Why do Gilette et al always use an actor who's clearly been clean shaven before they do the shot where he pulls the blade from his ear to his chin in one fell swoop. It's hardly a ringing endorsement of their product if they won't show someone with a day or two's worth of stubble doing the same thing.
Here's my favourite parody of the gilette ads:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd6BjAj9Zag
If it's too difficult, I can't understand it !
640k blades
There was a Saturday Night Live "commercial" back in the seventies - "Track 3 - bacause you'll beleive anything".
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
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.
It's all well and good to go nuts over more blades in a razor, but nobody ever mentions the other side of the equation. I once bought a pack of shavers at the dollar store that somehow left me with the same amount of stubble, but a lot less face.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Forget the 14-blade razor in the year 2100. We have a 15 blade one now.
Respect the laws of physics, for the laws of physics have no respect for you.
I used to use multi-blade expensive razors, but I got tired of spending 15 bucks every time I needed new blades. Now I use cheap twin-blade disposables, and it's fine. Unless you have hair like a yeti, you don't need that many blades. And actually, it seemed to me that I actually got a WORSE shave using the Gillette Mach 3 than I did with a cheap disposable two-blade razor. I don't know if it's because the blades are closer together or what, but I found when I hadn't shaved for a while I had to actually go over some parts of my face multiple times with the Mach 3 that I only had to go over once with the cheap disposable.
Ok, first they made the vibrating razor. Apparently everything that vibrates is better (and I have to say, my toothbrush actually is), so I thought ... I'll try that.
... I see the extra blade thing, and think, "Now there's somthing that actually makes sense", so I get one (you can't use the old handles with the new blades, which is actually a new trick from them - usually you can just buy the new cartiridges).
It didn't make a noticable difference.
SO
Well, it sucks. Completely useless.
I can only imagine that the were afraid to sell an actual sharp blade that you might be capable of cutting yourself with given today's litigeous environment. It doesn't protrude far enough out of the cartirdge to be usefull.
- Roach
I remember reading this article back in MARCH. Seven months is a little long, even by Slashdot standards.
You're new around here aren't you?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
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.
-Richard Stallman
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.
... if you try too hard to use it in a complicated way, it just cuts your head off, and saves us from having to hear about it.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
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 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.
Yea, but image a beowulf of those. You could shave your face, your ass, your balls, your back and your legs in half a second. Put a small motor and a AAA in the thing, make it look like a 1950s lawn mower. You can shave on the way to work, talk on your cell phone AND drink that mocha latte at the same time. Fuck, you could shave a rottweiler with that bad boy and he wouldn't know what hit him till he was balder than a baby's ass.
(Sorry, got caught up in the Onion article, and I *DO* work in marketing for a living...)
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
to go to a fun party and pick you up some "intimiate shave lotion". places like pure romance or passion parties sell it, it's for women to shave their junk. i use it to shave my face and it's the best. it's sort of scented, so you end up smelling like shaved pussy, and there are worse things to smell like :-)
sarcasm:
-noun
1. harsh or bitter derision or irony.
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!"
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.