The history of the razor. Razor (history of invention). In the photo: sketch of Henson's safety razor
Yes, people started shaving a very long time ago, back in the Stone Age. It was then that, for reasons unknown to date, men began to actively fight facial hair. However, one can assume what motivated them: the desire to separate from the animal world by removing the external resemblance to animals wearing wool, or the eternal female capriciousness: perhaps primitive women were not too different from modern ones and did not want to spoil their delicate skin.
Be that as it may, the fact remains: men were getting rid of their mustaches and beards en masse. Moreover, the tools chosen were not the most humane: scrapers, stone knives, mollusk shells (which were either sharpened or used as tweezers). There was another absolutely wild way: unwanted hair was smeared with clay, and when it dried, it was torn off. With hair.
How the heroes felt at that moment... most likely, they felt like heroes.
Looking at their men, the women decided not to stand aside. About 5-6 thousand years ago, women came up with the first “cream” for depilation, which included the most terrible components: arsenic, starch and lime. Unfortunately, the consequences of using such a “cocktail” are unknown to us.
But the Stone Age changed. The Iron Age brought not only changes in society, but also significant improvements in shaving devices. People quickly appreciated the strength of metal, and from about 3000 BC. Metal razor tools became an item of constant use (after all, stone tools were very short-lived). Created approximately 3,500 years ago by Scandinavian craftsmen, razors are considered the most complex and amazing razors of the ancient world. They were found in excavations in the Danish Burial Hills. On their blades, people reproduced mythological scenes using embossing and engraving, and the handles were shaped like a horse's head.
The prototype of modern razors appeared around 1100 BC. According to scientists' research, it was then that people began to use a razor with one blade and a handle. The military played a special role in the history of the development of the razor. In particular, the great commander Alexander the Great was an ardent supporter of shaving, and the soldiers imitated their idol: they wore short haircuts and had a clean-shaven face. By the way, short haircuts had a purely practical value - this way the enemy could not grab the warrior by the long forelock and hit him.
According to scientists, it was then that the word “barbarian” appeared, from the Latin “barba” - “beard”. And those peoples who wore beards were called that way. Only sailors have not become adherents of shaving - after all, at sea it is difficult to drag a razor across your face and not have problems later. The likelihood of cuts and their corrosion by salty sea water increased significantly, which is why many sailors wore beards. Others, if possible, visited barber shops.
Barbers at that time occupied a special place in the cultural life of cities. They were something of a social establishment where they learned and discussed the latest news. Roman barbers made their own modification of the razor, which was called the Roman razor. Other razors had an arc-shaped cutting edge, but the Roman razor was a straight blade with a rounded edge and a handle. In the manufacture of this razor, soft and hard metals were forged. There were soft layers on the outside, which made the blade flexible and elastic, and the inner hard metal provided sharpness. The blade was hardened and then sharpened using sandstone whetstones.
Despite such relatively complex technological solutions, the Roman straight razor was short-lived, quickly rusted and became dull. The barber could easily injure his client with such a razor. Therefore, all barbers could help the client in such an unpleasant incident: they applied masks from aromatic ointment or made a rag compress with special oil and vinegar. Finally, Roman barbers began to use water and a whetstone to sharpen their blades.
There is a version that this was facilitated by the Greek rich man Publicus Tisinius Maenas, who brought barbers from the island of Sicily to Rome. However, only one thing is important: now shaving and razors have become more advanced. The Roman straight razor has gained popularity around the world. Of course, over time, inexorable progress quietly did its job. The changes also affected razors. Externally, the razors remained the same, only the material and processing methods changed.
Europeans became aware of the secrets of damask steel from India and Persia, and Europe itself reached great heights in the production of welding steel. Toledo and Damascus steel took places of honor. The processes of forging, hardening and sharpening blades are also being improved. Razor is thriving.
The idea of a safety razor was first expressed in 1770 by a hairdresser from France, Jean-Jacques Perret, in his treatise “The Art of Learning to Shave Oneself (La Pogonotomie”). The razor of that time looked almost like the straight razor we are used to - in the 17th century they began to fold it after use, hiding the blade.
Among the many manufacturers of razors, the history of which cannot be traced due to their large number, in the 18th century two cities occupied leading positions in the production of razors - Sheffield in England and Solingen in Germany. Razors from Solingen were even called “singing”: thanks to their deeper sharpening, the blade of these razors made a characteristic rustling sound when sliding over the skin.
However, judging by the fact that today most people use safety razors, even “singing” did not save straight razors. And the well-known American King Camp Gillette contributed to the decline of these razors. In 1895, this amateur inventor came up with an innovation that killed straight razors and gave life to straight razors: he clamped a double-edged blade into a handle holder.
Gillette patented his invention, which he called the “safety razor,” and actually became a monopolist, because his company did not sell licenses. It took Gillette 8 years to develop and bring the product to market, so his razor appeared on the shelves only in 1903.
Despite the fact that the innovation was not durable, the success of the razor was deafening: already in the next year of sales (in 1904), the number of razors sold rose to a record 12.4 million copies. Customer demand for the razor allowed Gillette to open an office in London and sell his razors to Europeans.
In 1910, an inventor from America, Willis G. Shockey, patented a kind of electric razor. The design had a hand-operated flywheel that caused the blade to move around its axis. The invention gained great popularity among the male population and occupied a leading position until consumers recognized the first electric razor.
It often happens that brilliant things are invented by people who are completely far from the sphere to which their inventions relate. This happened with the electric razor - it was invented by a military man, although the improvement of the razor did not begin entirely with its electrification. According to legend, US Colonel Jacob Schick was so inspired by the store that he decided to make similar changes to the razor. Replaceable blades were inserted into the handle of the razor, which automatically replaced the blade according to the principle of replacing cartridges in a magazine.
The blades were sold in cassettes that were inserted into the razor. It is not surprising that Chic called his razor “Magazine repeating razor” (“Razor is a copy of the store”). This was in 1921. And in 1926, the same colonel came up with a razor design with two knives - movable and fixed. The moving blade, as you might guess, began to work from a small electric motor. Through a stationary mesh blade with slits, the hairs fell under a movable knife.
These razors later became known as rotary razors, and they also became the first electric shavers. Colonel Chic's electric shavers went on sale in 1929. However, they did not cause wild delight and resounding success among consumers, to the great chagrin of the military entrepreneur. People still used Willis Shockey's imperfect razors and bought Chic's creation rather poorly.
The colonel did not blame the villainous fate and decided to team up with a more successful competitor. Thus, a company called “Schick Dry Shaver, Inc.” was born. In 1939, the well-known Philips introduced improvements to the Chic razor. Firstly, the Philishave 7730 model had not two blades, but three. And thanks to the larger number of holes, the razor did not “rip out” hairs. Despite the efforts of specialist developers, the first real success of the electric razor came already in the 1970s thanks to improvements introduced by the American company Remington.
In 1950, so-called “foil” electric shavers appeared, the creation of Max Brown - S50. This razor was distinguished by a fixed mesh blade, which was bent in a semicircle and covered the entire area of the shaving head. A movable knife adjacent to the inside moved from edge to edge of the head and cut off the hairs. This razor differed from rotary razors in that it did not cause skin irritation. In the Soviet Union, the first electric shavers appeared in the 1950s and were produced in Kharkov. They were extremely popular among Soviet citizens, and today electric shavers continue to be produced in Ukraine.
The stainless steel razor appeared in 1956. It was created by the British company Wilkinson Sword, which was founded back in 1772 and was intended for the production of edged weapons.
A real revolution was made by the creation of Marcel Bic, the man who proposed making everything disposable. In 1975, he introduced the world to the disposable razor. The machine with a permanent head had a very low price (like everything disposable), was easy to use and guaranteed a clean shave. It makes no sense to talk about the success of a new product: we still use disposable razors today, the main advantage of which is their affordable price.
Disposable razors and electric razors failed to completely defeat the straight razor that “ruled” for centuries, although they lost popularity for some time. Of all the well-known companies in Solingen, only one remains operating today - Dovo. This company was once able to acquire the Bismarck brand, which in itself symbolizes the high quality of the blades. Of course, the company was struggling, especially in the mid-1940s.
And in the next decade it was even worse: then only 35 people were involved in the production of straight razors. At this rate, by 1987, Dovo was able to produce only 7 thousand razors. However, now there is a tendency towards a return to the popularity of “fears”, which have become an accessory for stylish men and women. a good gift for them too. So a straight razor may well take its rightful place in the market. After all, it all started with her.
King Kemp Gillette is perhaps best known as the inventor of the safety razor. But in fact this is not true: the first safety razors were invented already in the 1880s by the Kampf brothers. The photos below show razors circa 1903.
The Kampf brothers, Frederick (c.1851-1915), Richard (1853-1906), and Otto (1855-1932) were born in Saxony. The two youngest, Richard and Otto, immigrated to the United States in 1872, shortly after the end of the French-Russian War. By that time they were 17 and 19 years old, and they, according to some sources, managed to serve for several years as apprentices to a knife manufacturer in Germany. It is also possible that their older brother, Frederick, had also already come to the United States. The brothers settled in New York and opened a hardware business. Not many facts have been preserved from this time, but judging by the papers, things have progressed.
In May 1880, Frederick and Otto filed a patent for "a new and convenient improvement for the safety razor." This was the moment when the name "safety razor" was first used. The trademark, filed in 1903, "claimed the use of the name 'Star' and the mark since June 1, 1880."
Official story as described by American Safety Razor Co. (which acquired the business in 1919) states that "the Kampf brothers began manufacturing the Star safety razor in 1875 in a one-room shop in New York City." By 1899, the establishment occupied the entire space at 8-10-12 Reade St. An advertisement for the Kampf Brothers 1911 read: “Star... has been in use for 36 years. We were experts in knife making before we invented the safety razor." This also confirms that the razor was first made in 1875. (Some collectors mark the date 1875 on the top of the handle.)
Star used Henson's idea: a hoe-shaped razor with a wedge-shaped blade and a short body (4 cm long and 2 cm wide). The blade was attached using metal brackets and did not require knocking on the screw hole. A distinctive feature was the shape of the razor body, which functioned as a “foam eliminator”. The razor was cheaper to produce than some of its parts that were later patented by competitors
The exact time when men began shaving is unknown, although images of beardless men on cave walls suggest that the beginning of this custom dates back to prehistoric times. Even then, men were actively struggling with facial hair, and not the most humane methods and tools were used: silicon scrapers, animal teeth, mollusk shells, etc. There was another extremely unusual way: unwanted hair was smeared with clay, similar to modern epilation wax, and when it dried, it was torn off, of course, with the hair.
Flint shaving knives were allegedly used by the Sumerians and ancient Egyptians.
As metallurgy developed in the second millennium BC. e. the Egyptians switched to copper and then bronze razors, and in the 1st millennium BC. e. iron razors appeared. Initially, all razors were arched, but then the Romans developed straight razors.
Around 1100 BC, the prototype of modern razors appeared. According to scientists' research, it was then that people began to use a razor with a handle and one blade.
The idea of a safety razor was first proposed in 1770 by a French barber named Jean-Jacques Perret. The razor of that time looked almost like the straight razor we are used to.
Since the 18th century, the stronghold of razor production has been the English city of Sheffield. Later, a second shaving center appeared - the German city of Solingen. The number of brands and manufacturers that existed at that time was so large that today it is difficult to reconstruct the history of their development. Hundreds of small and large enterprises supplied countless razors to the world market. Razors from Solingen have become famous for their first-class deep sharpening. The rustling rustle they make when shaving has earned them the additional name “singing razors.”
Humanity owes a new stage in the development of shaving to the well-known American - King Camp Gillette. In 1895, this amateur inventor came up with an innovation that buried straight razors and gave life to straight razors - he clamped a blade sharpened on both sides in a handle holder. It took Gillette 8 years to develop and bring the product to market, so his razor appeared on the shelves only in 1903.
In 1926, Colonel Jacobov Schick invented a razor design with two knives - movable and fixed. The moving blade, as you might guess, began to work from a small electric motor. These razors later became known as rotary razors, and they also became the first electric shavers. They went on sale in 1929.
Around 1950, so-called “foil” electric shavers appeared, which were invented by Max Brown - model S50. This razor was distinguished by a fixed mesh blade, which was bent in a semicircle and covered the entire area of the shaving head. A movable knife adjacent to the inside moved from edge to edge of the head and cut off the hairs. This razor differed from rotary razors in that it did not cause skin irritation.
The leader in the Shaving Products category - the Gillette brand (USA) - has not changed even once during all the years of the project. In the world, the products of this company also have no equal. Anything related to so-called “safe shaving” is automatically associated with Gillette. How did you achieve this?
Modernizing things often means more than inventing them. In terms of importance, a fundamental “revision” can be considered a full-fledged invention. Gillette began its glorious journey this way.
The history of razors, that is, objects for removing hair from the human body, begins a long time ago. A long time ago. Essentially, a “shaving object” is an ordinary arc-shaped knife that has been known since prehistoric times. The first straight razors appeared among the Romans in the first centuries of our era. Further, the principle of shaving has not changed for centuries, except that the razor itself began to resemble a regular one, i.e. straight, knife People were cutting themselves, but they couldn’t do anything about it. In the 17th century, the knife became “folding”, but the essence did not change.
It is believed that the safety razor was invented in France in the 18th century. In 1762, French knife dealer and barber Jean Jacques Perret (1730-1784) came up with the idea of “packing” a knife into a wooden shell, leaving only the tip outside. He literally called his invention “the carpenter’s plane.” It was this subject that led him to create the then “new generation razor.” Perret made and sold the razor, however, he did not patent his invention. He described the operation of the mechanism in his treatise “Potogomy or training in the art of shaving,” published in 1770.
Some time later, in 1787, a publication appeared in Germany that a certain Monsieur Letien from Paris had made a special shaving knife called “à rabot” (flat). When using it, there was no fear of getting wounded. The “fashionable thing” was sold in Germany with a six-month warranty and was most likely a copy of Perret’s invention.
The following description of a safety razor "surfaces" in July 1799. Also in Germany, a local trade magazine showed a razor with a removable “frame blade” called Friedlische Rasiermesser, which literally means “Peaceful Razor.” It was said that this " new idea from England". This illustration (pictured above) was later cited in another German article from 1936 as an example of a precursor to the safety razor. The razor itself was manufactured in England by Harwood & Co and sold by the German Johan Christoph Roeder in Leipzig. One way or another, no one received a patent for the razor as such. This happened almost half a century later.
In the photo: sketch of Henson's safety razor
Pictured: William Henson (1812-1888)
On January 10, 1847, Englishman William Samuel Henson (1812-1888) from Somerset applied for a patent. Its essence was as follows. The shaving device, let's call it that, had the shape of a hoe. Henson himself stated that he did not claim to have invented a new method of protection from the blade, although, in fact, it was so: it was he who proposed the use of an additional comb blade. The subject of the invention was the principle of connecting the blade and the handle.
Henson's razor is believed to be the first safety razor to be patented. Interestingly, he himself became famous not in the field of shaving products, but in aeronautics. It was William Henson who designed and patented an airplane called the “aerial steam carriage” in 1842. But let's get back to shaving.
Then the modernizers of his invention began to receive patents. For example, in 1851, Charles Stewart & Company introduced their version of Henson's razor in London under the name The Plantagenet Guard Razor, with a reference in the name to the origins of British history - the Plantagenet dynasty. Apparently, they invented this way to play on the national pride of consumers.
In the photo: The Plantagenet Guard Razor razor
The next “approach to the projectile” happened in 1877 in the USA. Michael Price's invention is essentially no different from the previous two, with the exception of minor details. One way or another, the safety razor appeared in the world, however, as an event various reasons I didn't.
Pictured: Michael Price's razor, 1877
In the photo: “Pig Scraper”, 1878
In the photo: Francois Durand's razor, 1879
Don't think that all razors had the same shape. Experiments have been conducted in this area as well. So, in 1879 in France, Francois Durand patented a device that had a fixed wedge-shaped blade and roller protection. This razor was quite heavy. Five years earlier, in 1875 (the patent was issued in 1878), a razor was created, made from a single piece of sheet metal. People called it the “Pig Scraper”, since it could cut not only people, but also animals. Despite the simplicity of the device, these models did not go into mass production, but luck smiled on immigrants from Germany. By the way, at the same time the expression “safety razor” itself appeared for the first time in the language.
In the photo: Star shaving set, 1887
In 1880, brothers Otto and Frederick Kampfe applied for a patent for the first Star safety razor. Moreover, de facto it was invented five years earlier, at that time the brothers were working in a carpentry shop. It was then that it was put into production, at least this is the year indicated on the oldest surviving razors of the company. The Kampfe brothers took Henson's razor as a basis, however, the shape of the machine was significantly different. Actually, this machine is quite similar to what we use today. The advantages of the new device include a lower, although still considerable, price. This was made possible by simplifying the design.
The company was doing very well. Now the Kampfe brothers themselves bought patents from others in order to improve their own razor. But there was something to work on - the razor still required straightening and sharpening before each use. As a result, the owners of Star acquired about fifty patents, including improvements to the handle.
In total, the company released more than 25 razor designs. However, there was one more problem - the price. One dollar, which is how much the Star razor cost, was a significant amount at the end of the 19th century. By the way, this is why many continued to use inexpensive straight razors until the very beginning of the 20th century. This is when machines with Gillette disposable blades became available. How did they appear?
King Camp Gillette was a divine inventor. Before the razor, he managed to invent a lot of things: an original mechanism of a piston and bushing for a water tap, several types of electrical conductors, a new valve made of soft rubber, etc. and so on. Despite all this, he continued to work as a traveling salesman, since he could not get much money for these patents. Everything changed in 1895.