Why No Innovation?

We've seen lots of new razors in both SE and DE over the past few years but they all have been essentially stylistic variations rather than innovations in razors. Don't get me wrong, there have been improvements made over Gillette's first models and there is truly a razor for everyone whether you like aggressive flesh removers or mild ticklers. Materials and craftsmanship are wonderful, or can be. But certain segments are stagnant in my opinion, here's what I'd like to see:

1. Modern high tech straight razors, yes vintage is cool but wouldn't you like to see something in high tech steels with a skelotonized titanium handle from Benchmade or Spyderco? A combination straight razor - balisong? What about ceramics as a blade material, or obsidian? Now that would be cool. Not to replace those sweet vintage blades but as an addition to them.

2. Why has safety razor blade manufacturing processes and materials not changed in 100 years? Is it perfect or just good enough? There are a ton of brands out there and yes its true that ymmv from person to person, blade to blade and razor to razor but I've noticed that, as my experience grows and technique improves this isn't as much of an issue. I also have trouble believing that there are significant differences among 15 or so brands of blades coming out of the same factory in Israel (or anywhere else). I assume that they strive for the same quality for every blade. So why doesn't some enterprising young entrepreneur do a razor blade kickstarter with state of the art production, materials and technology? I'm sure any existing blade manufacturer could tell you what improvements could be made if you were starting from scratch and anything was possible. The reason blades haven't changed in 100 years is that they're still being made on 100 year old machines that haven't worn out yet so if you were starting fresh, what would you do differently? And, would the average shaver be able to tell the difference?

3. What about that laser razor from a year or two ago? Was that a hoax, a scam or a legitimately misguided attempt at changing the shaving world?

What about that laser razor from a year or two ago? Was that a hoax, a scam or a legitimately misguided attempt at changing the shaving world?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-s...-shaving#/ overfunded.

I think ... cool. I'd be interested.

What are you talking about? O.o

Lots of innovation in DE razors; Timeless, Barbaros and Rockwell to name the obvious ones. All the new slants from, well, just about everyone. New materials from the likes of Wolfman. Or Standard. There are only so many ways to make a razor based on a universal blade.

Then there are all the SE variations from Mongoose, General and others.

Straight razors? Got them, too. Blades made from Damascus steel, scales in just about every material and color. Maestro Livi, anyone?

I started out with a Merkur Futur (actually two of them) that didn't work out for me. Each had a different asymmetry in the head assembly. I was able to make one good razor out of two by assembling parts in different combinations until I found one in which the asymmetries cancelled each other out. Sliced part of a thumb off in the process. Razor still didn't perform well for me.

Next was a Gillette Tech I remembered seeing in a box of stuff my dad left. That turned out to have been his dad's razor. It was a great starter. From it I progressed through various vintage razors -- 60+ over the course of six months -- until I finally settled on the butt-ugly, British, Regent-style, bare-brass, ball-end, long-comb NEW I've used for at least 95% of my shaves since mid-2012. I really wasn't into collecting. It was more like a search for my personal grail razor, which that particular razor turned out to be. I don't have a sophisticated theory to offer as to why it works best for me. It just does.

Mastery of shaving can be a challenge (otherwise it wouldn't be so interesting to many of us), but the mechanics of shaving are very simple. Witness straight razors. In my opinion much, if not most, of so-called progress in razor design since before WWII has been driven by marketing, not a quest for real product improvement in terms of the art of shaving and enjoyment of its practice.

Marko, your thoughts are interesting.  Let's be honest, the bottom line for our hardware and software is that perfect shave, hopefully DFS or BBS.  No one piece of equipment has been able to produce those types of shaves for everyone every single time and I don't see that happening anytime soon.  Those vintage razors caught the essence of a  reliable and good shave just about every time once one got one's technique down.  I can still get a fantastic shave from my 109 year old Ever-Ready lather catcher and a GEM PTFE single edge blade, a beautiful combination of old and new with a sensation that is quite distinct from any other razor and/or blade.  The same can be said for my Schick adjustable injector razor and a modern Chinese Schick injector blade.  Yesterday, I finally retired a Personna 74 Tungsten Plus blade after an amazing twenty-eight shaves.

To me, our modern wet shaving shaving acoutrements do a fantastic job of tweaking a system that already works beautifully.  For those of us who love wet shaving, isn't that what it's all about.  After all, Gillette and Schick revolutionized shaving with their multiblade cartridge system yet most of us would not want to be locked into that system as much as those companies keep trying to get us to go there.

Lots of innovation in DE razors; Timeless, Barbaros and Rockwell to name the obvious ones.  All the new slants from, well, just about everyone.  New materials from the likes of Wolfman.  Or Standard.  There are only so many ways to make a razor based on a universal blade.

My reply above wasn't intended as a shot at makers like Wolfman. I haven't tried many new razors since the Futur. But I traded for a Wolfman solid-bar razor, and the the quality is amazing. What impresses me about it, however, doesn't have much, if anything, to do with innovation. The design is simple, geometry is acutely dialed-in, and execution is flawless. What I admire most about that razor is that which is old about it -- including mastery of craft and commitment to excellence in every fine detail -- not that which is new (e.g, titanium).

Here is my take on this OP,. Rockwell 6s $80 adjustable ss razor, supply provision ss injector adjustable $76, Rockwell model T $70 adjustable tto all brass, razorock wunderbar slant ss machined to perfection $130.... I see bunch of innovation and price competitive stuff in the modern razors

What are you talking about?  O.o

Lots of innovation in DE razors; Timeless, Barbaros and Rockwell to name the obvious ones.  All the new slants from, well, just about everyone.  New materials from the likes of Wolfman.  Or Standard.  There are only so many ways to make a razor based on a universal blade.

Then there are all the SE variations from Mongoose, General and others.

Straight razors?  Got them, too.  Blades made from Damascus steel, scales in just about every material and color.  Maestro Livi, anyone?

Nah, all just variations on a theme. I mean innovation. Maybe we've achieved perfection, I mean there's only so many ways to put blade to face right?

 There are only so many ways to make a razor based on a universal blade.

That speaks to my other point, why has the blade not changed in over 100 years and it continues to drive the razor design? Is it perfect or just good enough?

I think that in order to see innovations in razors there will need to be innovations in faces. The job is the same today as t was over 100 years ago and the materials that are affordable haven't changed a great deal either. Yes, as steel gets better new alloys are used, as are new or better coatings. I can remember as a child seeing the ads for the new SS blades and the ads compared them to the old carbon steel blades. But how much do you want to spend for innovations? A few years ago there was a razor with a lifetime sapphire blade. Did you buy one? OK I jest, the cost for that innovation was in the mid $20k from what I remember. But it was innovative.

An obsidian blade? Sure it would be sharp and they'd also be handmade one offs and therefore expensive. I have no doubt that you could contact someone knowledgeable in knapping (sp?) flint or obsidian and acquire a piece. It probably wouldn't have a very large cutting edge due to the way it flakes and I'd want to wrap it somehow with leather to protect my fingers from any 1 molecule wide sharp edge that I'd be holding. But it would be extremely sharp. I know that obsidian scalpels are made for facial plastic surgery. They result in almost no scarring due to the incredibly sharp edge, so you might be on to something there. But it might take a very long time to get a shave from the tiny blade.

I very much doubt that blades are made on the same machines that were in use 100 years ago. There might be a few left, but blades are made incredibly fast today and I doubt that they had the speed 100 years ago that is required to be competitive today.

I have no doubt that the innovations that you seek are happening if they are cost effective. Like that sapphire bladed razor it's one thing to innovate, and another to make it so that folks can actually afford to buy it.