A few years ago a work colleague returned from lunch holding a free promotional disposable razor he had been handed, a four bladed model, to which someone quipped “I’m so out of touch, I haven’t reached three blades and already they are up to four.” The escalation in the number of razor blades, and the adds showing successive blades chopping away more and more hair was always an incredibly cynical pseudo-scientific marketing exercise, so I was amused to see this article in The Economist, where they plot the growth of number of blades in disposable razors.
IT TOOK a leisurely 70 years after King Gillette invented the safety razor for someone to come up with the idea that twin blades might be—or, at least sell—better….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.
As they show in the graph attached the growth of razor blades appears not to be exponential, as Moore’s law for microchips, but rather hyperbolic. Hyperbolic implying that we are going to reach an infinite number of razor blades in a very finite time! The disposable razor singularity approaches sometime before 2015. Will they resort to nano-technology, with vast arrays of atomic scale nano razors? Or will it, as The Economist suggests make the daily act of shaving a good workout? And what shave new world lies beyond the event horizon? What will they do then, convince us that less is more?
Or perhaps, they will just sack their marketing department and get someone with fresh ideas on how to sell a small piece of plastic and metal.
I always buy a new razor Gillette comes out with and always find it better than the previous model by far.
Buffet thinks it’s a great company and bought the stock some years back.
So what’s your beef? Try the latest razor, it’s great!
pffft, they are encouraging beards to come back into fashion.
I’m kinda with the single blade mob. I find the triple blade ones give you a quicker shave, but the blades seem to wear out very quickly, and the replacements are much dearer than the razor.
Of course, you could always go down the laser route.
I’ve used 1, 2 and 3 blade razors JC, I can notice a difference between 1 and 2, takes a few less strokes to get the same result, but I notice virtually nothing between 2 and 3 which makes me think I am going to notice even less between 3 and 4 let alone 4 and 5.
As to your point about Buffet, firstly I didn’t say they weren’t successful company, but questioned the tangible shaving benefits of multiblade monster razors. They might sell well, but that’s something else entirely.
Secondly last time Buffet came up you were disparaging about his investment ability.
I’ll give you a clue about steel. You can’t get the edge on stainless steel, you can get on carbon steels that rust. The old timers knew how to get more than one shave out of the old safety razor, one side at a time, but you had to scrupulously dismantle and dry the razor blade and store it dry, or rust would quickly kill the fine edge. Too much hassle for a throwaway society these days, so it’s multiblade stainless.
Is this the cutting edge of technology?
Mark said it all. The newer multi-blades don’t last very long and cost a week’s salary. So I now have a beard.
Toothbrushes are going down this road too now: cost a lot and last just a few weeks.
The throwaway society is becoming more throwaway, if that’s possible.
I’ve been a beardy for decades. Did try going the straight razor and strop route for a couple of years and discovered that it’s quite safe as long as you keep the razor sharp and remember to scrape not slice. Safety razors are for sissy-boys.
So Mark, you have the Norman Gunstan look with the patches cotton wool over each nick.
Guys, spend the bucks, unlike Mark here and stop the nicks. It’s worth it on the long run, especially just before sex. You don’t wanna seen with gauze over nicks when you’re felling adventurous.
And one day growth is painful, I’m told.
Trotsky
“I’ve been a beardy for decades”
No surprise there. Would have been if it was otherwise.
Trotsky
I’m curious. I’ve never had a beard as I didn’t want to look like a hold over from thne 60’s.
I presume you cut the stuff off with a scissors, right? How often and where does the mess end up.
I’ve never liked shaving much and so typically have about a 2 day growth. The multi-blade razors are supposed to get more of the hair which allegedly reduces how often you have to shave. Which is a plus for me.
What we really need is some kind of measurement of razor effectiveness to plot against the number of blades. My gues it’s very much a diminishing-returns kind of situation. Probably is for the marketing as well…
Robert that’s almost certainly the case. I would expect that each blade is say something like 80% efficient.
So 1 blade is 80% efficient
2 Blades are 96% efficent
3 Blades are 99.2% efficient.
It may be lower than that, but I’m betting its something like this.
Missus bought me a Braun microfoil shaver very early on and I used it for 20 odd years, before the current one. You have to replace the foil and cutting head about every 12 months but at around $30 each they’re probably more cost effective than lather and blades. Simpler too and no Normie look.
Reminds me of The Late Show parody of the new Gillette 16-blade razor:
Joe,
I cut it when I feel like it, whether it needs it or not. And the “mess” is generally allowed to fall on a sheet of old newspaper which is then folded and binned.
And throwback to the sixties or not, it beats shaving on a daily basis. Haven’t had razor rash in years.
For a while there, I was buying ‘one blades’, that were ‘Made in Israel’. Worked well and at a very good price. My bics now come from a New Zealand company, that does not inform, where they were made.
Sometimes I wonder ,while shaving,what clever chap, would think there was a big market for these things in the middle-east. Indeed, did he offsell them to someone in New Zealand?
Then I find cotton wool and press hard.
2 blades? 5 blades? No blades?
Hmm. Anyone here ever read the hilarious, psychotically endless ‘What color is Gatorade?’ debate-thread at thinklings.org? A scream, if you can muster the stamina for it (helps to read it during a very lazy period, when you’ve been tricked into thinking your time is *really* meaningless…)
Go to thinklings.org — home page — most popular posts — ‘what color is this liquid?’ …over 1,000 replies. Jaysus!
btw, 3 blades is better than 2 (far fewer nicks, in my experience); but I can’t see going beyond 3. If it ain’t broke…..
A new level of Thoroughly Wierd Shit: The AAA-battery powered Gillette Vibrating Razor.
Let’s put smutty jokes aside (for a while). Who in their right mind, who shaves early in the morning, perhaps after a big night, and in any case slowly waking up, wants their shaver to shake MORE?
I despair of understanding modern consumer capitalism.
Liam, IIRC there was an article in the Economist about that razor too; basically, Shick took Gillette to court to stop them claiming in advertisements their battery-powered razor shaves any closer; the studies they did didn’t show any improvement over non-vibrating designs.
So why did Gillette make it if it doesn’t actually work any better? They own one of the two big battery companies (I can’t recall which one, though).
Jethro,
You know it, “and the 16th blade, well, it’s just along for the ride.”
Classic stuff.
I’m with Gummo - beards all the way. I liked shaving, but am as lazy as all get out so didn’t like having to get up 10 minutes earlier in the morning. With a mo’ only I look like a cop (apparently), my wife wouldn’t let me do a goatee or a stupid Shannon Noll ziph (very wise, too), and I don’t trust anyone with one of those Abe Lincon beard-no-mo setups - plus all that manicuring takes even longer than shaving - so I’ve just had the simple model beard for 20 years. Big tip here, though - invest in a really good beard trimmer (Remington are generally good) and you’ll never need anything else.
… and for the mess I use a dustbuster, or (don’t tell my plumber) wash it down the sink….
Beards should be banned from offices on OH&S grounds.
Have you ever had a close look at the keyboard of a co-worker with a beard.
Eek!
I hate to say it, but Steve’s right about the keyboards - I had to clean mine a few weeks ago (after a coffee spill), pull off some keys and blow all the crud out. And there was a LOT of hair…
The beard has great advantages outside in sunny climes - certainly protects the skin. And has stopped me from ever being asked to use a full face filter mask or a BA, so I could weasel out of some unpleasant tasks.
Can anyone recommend a good decent ok electric shaver thingo? I haven’t used one for about 20 years and have no idea if $300 is any different from the cheapest. When I last used one I had a 5 o’clock shadow at 8 am instead of 3pm - have they improved?
I swap around with razors. I tend to think the double (2 blades) with a little thingo to push out gunk are the best bet. I also have a bob each way by usually sporting a close-ish cropped Ziph or Ziff but called a “doorknocker” here
On the technology front. You can get info about any number of useless objects but when it comes to essentials you fly blind. A few years ago I bought a spiffy looking flat burnished stainless steel electric cordless jug. Cost about $60 I think - maybe more. Never liked it. Made so much noise heating up it sounded like a jet taking off, took far too long after boiling to turn off thus steaming up kitchen windows and really roaring, and always looked grubby, if well designed visually, plus it dripped whilst pouring. Area around jug always looked like a council sponsored wetlands.
This morning it blew up. Well more like phut. Threw it out back door onto lawn while it was still smoking.
Anyway looked in Myers, not much range, lots of SS ones, Priceline funnily enough had a $29.95 special, but no way of looking at it outside box, so down to K-Mart, great range, no annoying “helpful” sales persons, after much buggerising around decided on a $40 plastic Sunbeam with round base so orientation doesn’t matter much.
Got it home. Bingo! Quiet as a rodent when boiling, switches off immediately it boils, boils quickly, and doesn’t drip. Congrats to Sunbeam.
Practicality wins over “design” any day.
But practicality IS design, FXH - the rest is just wank. We’ve all had that thing that doesn’t have any real “look”, just works, perfectly, at what it does. That is a slice of heaven, right there. To me, anyway, the uglier and more prosaic, the better - reverse snobbery at its worst, I know.
I have one of those wheelie things that pushes in the bead around flyscreens - a bit of plastic pipe with a round disc of plastic in the end. Rough, cheap, ugly, and works perfectly. Ahhh, I hear music….
Facial hair with practicality and good design? FXH, Tony, I think you’ll find just what you’re looking for here.
Rough, cheap, ugly, and works perfectly
thats exactly why I’ve always been such a good catch.
Where is the spam filter when you need it?
Never mind Mindy, I’ve sent the nasty spammer to the byte-bin. Ta-ta, spammer!