Back Scearseax ANG Прылада для галеньня BE-X-OLD Maquineta d'afaitar Catalan Rasierhobel German Sendanĝera razilo Esperanto Maquinilla de afeitar Spanish Bizar-aitzur Basque ریش‌تراش بی‌خطر Persian Partahöylä Finnish Gléas bearrtha Irish

Safety razor

Safety razor
Double-edge safety razor and blade
Cartridge safety razor
ClassificationPersonal grooming device
Types
  • single-edge safety razor
  • double-edge safety razor
  • cartridge razor
  • disposable razor
Used withShaving cream, shaving brush, shaving soap
Inventor
RelatedElectric shaver, Straight razor

A safety razor is a shaving implement with a protective device positioned between the edge of the blade and the skin. The initial purpose of these protective devices was to reduce the level of skill needed for injury-free shaving, thereby reducing the reliance on professional barbers.

Protective devices for razors have existed since at least the 1700s: a circa 1762 invention by French cutler Jean-Jacques Perret added a protective guard to a regular straight razor.[1] The first known occurrence of the term "safety razor" is found in a patent from 1880 for a razor in the basic contemporary configuration with a handle in which a removable blade is placed (although this form predated the patent).[2][3]

Safety razors were popularized in the 1900s by King Camp Gillette's invention, the double-edge safety razor. While other safety razors of the time used blades that required stropping before use and after a time had to be honed by a cutler, Gillette's razor used a disposable blade with two sharpened edges. Gillette's invention became the predominant style of razor during and after the First World War, when the U.S. Army began issuing Gillette shaving kits to its servicemen.[4][5]

Since their introduction in the 1970s, cartridge razors and disposable razors – where the blades are embedded in plastic – have become the predominant types of safety razors.[6] In 2010, Procter & Gamble stated that almost a billion men were shaving with double-edge razors.[7]

  1. ^ Waits 2014, page 5 of the introduction.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 1880-patent was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Waits 2014, page 6 of the introduction.
  4. ^ McKibben 1998, p. 5-6.
  5. ^ McKibben 1998, p. 18-22.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference crl-shaving-market was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference guard-factsheet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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