Why No Innovation?

Marko, I'm sure it's frustrating yet eye opening!  Hope the surgery went well and back to 100% soon.

Marko, I'm sure it's frustrating yet eye opening!  Hope the surgery went well and back to 100% soon.

Thanks vtmax , everything went well, its just a long recovery/rehab process. 6 weeks in a sling then 6-9 months of rehab. But I know if iWork hard I'll be 100% by summer.

Mark, I hope you recuperate, quickly.

Mark, I hope you recuperate, quickly.  

Thanks celestino , I finally, 3 1/2 weeks post surgery, screwed up my courage to look on Youtube for videos of similar surgical procedures. I'm feeling a bit nauseous right now. I'm amazed at what surgeons can do, and very grateful too.

Mark, I hope you recuperate, quickly.  

Thanks celestino , I finally, 3 1/2 weeks post surgery, screwed up my courage to look on Youtube for videos of similar surgical procedures.  I'm feeling a bit nauseous right now.  I'm amazed at what surgeons can do, and very grateful too.

Surgeons are terrible shavers -- they can't resist the temptation to draw blood!  That's why they have aides do the "prep".

Best wishes for a quick and successful recovery -- and stay off YouTube!

Mark, I hope you recuperate, quickly.  

Thanks celestino , I finally, 3 1/2 weeks post surgery, screwed up my courage to look on Youtube for videos of similar surgical procedures.  I'm feeling a bit nauseous right now.  I'm amazed at what surgeons can do, and very grateful too.

Surgeons are terrible shavers -- they can't resist the temptation to draw blood!  That's why they have aides do the "prep".

Best wishes for a quick and successful recovery -- and stay off YouTube!

Thank you and thats hilarious I've always said that the last person you should consult about whether or not you need surgery is a surgeon. When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Or in this case, cutters gonna cut.

On the subject of devices for one handed people, I found this item on a high school student who invented a computer mouse/sandal for people with no hands. Brilliant!

https://www.rt.com/viral/369181-teen-mou...-disabled/

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:

Gillette did innovate, but we eventually rejected the results - cartridge razors and canned gel - as sub-optimal. Infinitely more people accepted the changes and still use the resulting products to this day. Newer is not always better, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" sometimes applies. When something has been improved to the point that it both works really well and offers great value for the money, it is often makes sense to just leave it as it is.

Edwin Jagger and Muhle collaborated to evolve their safety razor head. While some might call that a minor change, it yielded a substantial improvment. That change made sense, but further changes are not needed for their current razor heads to get a great shave from their mainstream product lines. Any additional changes would have to make sense from a return on investment point of view. Gillette did the same thing over many decades, eventually resulting in safety razors and blades that were so good that there was little room for improvement. They could have introduced traditional shaving accessories, such as mugs, high-quality soaps, creams, aftershaves, etc., but that might not have made business sense at the time. That was an innovation left to traditional shaving enthusiasts decades later. Gillette continued to innovate, but long ago reached a point where they could not really improve the product. The attempted to do so by adding what were essentially marketing gimmicks, "innovating" when there was little or no room for improvement. Many people then returned to the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it solution, innovating in ways Gillette had failed to do years earlier by combining newer safety razors with very old school shaving accessories.

Revolutionary changes, such as the laser razor, would require a very large amount of investment for very uncertain returns. It is far more likely that we will see further incremental improvements in marketing, distribution and accessories rather than in razors, brushes or blades.

If anything, the greatest innovation is the successful rebirth of wetshaving refuting all the 'innovation' of plastic, multiblade foolishness. give it another decade and I predict a return to the superlative baldes of yesteryear.

I see that people who dislike the act of shaving, have some choices, from multiblades with a battery to electric devices from Philips, Panasonic, Braun, to the laser solutions. Here we have more of a psychoanalytical answer, with lathering, brush hair, and a man activity that depends on a knife or a sharp object with two edges... I'd like not innovate at all with this for me. Oldie and gentleman, that's what I search in this manly activity that links everyone with the men that were here before he get born. But, well, I'm more a cotton than a Tectel plus wearables shirt man.

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I see that people who dislike the act of shaving,  have some choices,  from multiblades with a battery to electric devices from Philips,  Panasonic,  Braun,  to the laser solutions. Here we have more of a psychoanalytical answer,  with lathering,  brush hair,  and a man activity that depends on a knife or  a sharp object with two edges... I'd like not innovate at all with this for me.  Oldie and gentleman,  that's what I search in this manly activity that links everyone with the men that were here before he get born. But,  well,  I'm more a cotton than a Tectel plus wearables shirt man.

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Well said Thalasos , and with a laser razor you'd have to wear a nomex bib and welder's glasses!

There have been some excellent posts on this thread. Basically innovation is needed when there is a problem inadequately addressed by existing tech. Innovation for its own sake usually places form over function resulting in a "novelty" item rather than a practical tool. I do like the point you make that doing things in the old way that is still practical and effective connects us with those men who came before us. The soul's need for that connection is a powerful force. The sense that we are part of bigger family that stretches across time is comforting.