Do You Owe Your Crappy Shave To Patents?
from the might-be-a-bit-extreme dept
As some people know (my colleagues at work are sick of me talking about it), I recently became slightly... er... obsessed with the wonders of shaving with an old fashioned double edge safety razor. I won't go into the details, but in reading about shaving with such a device, I couldn't get it out of my mind and have been happily shaving with one for a few weeks now. To be honest, I never thought that I'd ever have reason to mention this in any way, shape or form on Techdirt, but just weeks after I started using one, I saw Stephan Kinsella point to a story by Callum Makkai entitled How Intellectual Property Destroyed Men's Shaving. Given my (entirely separate) interest in both subjects, I dug in. It kicks off with a reference to Andy Kessler's Eat People story about King Gillette's disruptive manufacturing of disposable blades that "challenged at least two professions: the barber with his straight razor and the blade sharpener with his strop."From there, however, Makkai suggests patents have actually been making shaving worse. His argument is that as the makers of shaving equipment have been fearful of competing with commodity products, they keep "inventing" new ways to shave that they can lock up under patent -- and then try to convince you that it creates a better shave, even if none of the "improved" razors come close to one of those old safety razors:
The commodification of the razor blade was punishing to the profit margins of the razor companies. So the way ahead was clear: come up with new designs, patent them, and make a killing selling the disposable blades.Admittedly, this is a bit of a cynical view on things. And one could make the argument that this isn't so much about patents as it is about marketing -- though it could be a combination of both. Frankly, the story reminds me of what we see all too often in the pharmaceutical world these days -- where when Claritin is about to go off patent, suddenly we get Clarinex, with an associated marketing campaign about how you have to use that rather than the original (much cheaper and equally effective) Claritin. Of course, if people didn't fall for the marketing campaigns, none of this would matter -- but they do. So combine that with the ability to charge monopoly rents due to patents, and voila, many of you are getting a crappy shave, despite the ten blades or whatever they're shoving on those darn cartridges these days. We should always be wary when life imitates The Onion, and wonder if, perhaps, the incentives are screwed up somewhere along the line.
Thus the 1970s saw the emergence of the BIC disposable razor. Why replace just the blade when you can throw out and replace the whole razor?
Then in the 1980s, Gillette introduced the double-bladed Sensor cartridges. Now the question was: Why throw out the whole razor when you can just replace the cartridge?
Needless to say, these innovations were driven not so much by an improvement of the shaving experience but by the need to create a technology which could be patented.
Indeed, the injector razor did not improve the shaving experience compared to the classic double-edged safety razor, and the disposable razor was in no way superior to the injector razor. Likewise, the Sensor cartridges did not improve on the disposable razor. These developments only made shaving more expensive.
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I've been thinking of trying a safety razor - almost impossible to find in shops though, time for amazon i guess.
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Response to: Anonymous Coward on May 8th, 2012 @ 3:22am
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Throw out your overpriced can of shaving goo and your gillette 12 bladed electricly buzzing deathmachine, and get a brush, some soap, a nice DE-razor and blade, and lather and shave away.
But more on topic, I can't say that I'm surprised. It should be that patents encouraged innovation, but it is being used to punish people who dare to innovate for quite a few years now.
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Me too! Mike cruelly doesn't give me credit here ;) but it was me who got him on this tip
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http://www.shavingstyle.com/safety-razors/parker-22r-butterfly-open-safety-razor.html
Mike went with a similar Parker - not sure which one exactly. Blade-wise I'm all about the Wilkinson Sword but haven't really done much experimenting with other options.
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But that Parker looks really gorgeous.
Blades, I'm also still looking around, but so far I like Derby's best.
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I'm using a Parker 99R. It's great. For blades, I've been using Sharks, but I just got a sample pack of a bunch of other blades, so I may do some testing. I like the Sharks, but figure I should see what else the world has to offer.
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I've tried a few different blades. For me, the Personna worked well for several years, the Feather Platinums are awesome but I object to the plastic dispenser (I consider it environmentally wasteful), and the Astra feel like they're tearing my skin at the corners (they're not, but I keep looking for blood). I'm working through one of the variety packs on Amazon right now and the Sharks and the Lords seem OK. (Gods. Sounds like a crappy gang movie.)
Keep in mind that I never really shaved until I was in my late 40s so I'm probably doing it all wrong. :) But like others, I too prefer a soap and brush, and I'm planning to stick with my trusty ol' safety razor.
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Me three! And also enjoying a smoother, cleaner shave. And I'll give you both a tip, if you haven't heard it yet:
Dry your blade after each use, and it will last a CRAZY amount of time. I've used the same blade for over a month! It's actually rust that makes the blade appear "dull", if you prevent the rust, you can re-use blades for quite a while. And yes, I stole that tip from Clark Howard.
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That's nothing! The men in my family have all been using the same hunk of sharpened obsidian for generations! Rumor has it that our ancestor got it from a South American chieftain when he saved his life from a jaguar.
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Thank you Dave.
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A new way to shave
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Dear entrepreneurs: there is a kickass opportunity for someone to launch something like DSC with safety razors, offering blade/soap subscriptions and giving away razors/brushes as incentives to sign up for various chunks of time. It could be marketed using a blend of DSC's quirky classiness and the greatest-generation nostalgia employed by brands like Old Spice with its "if your grandpa hadn't worn it, you wouldn't exist" marketing campaign. Remind everyone that DE razors are Mad Men-era razors. You will be rich!
PLEASE DO THAT! :)
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Too many blades
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Nope I never have a crappy shave, I have a cup with shave soap, a badger hair brush and a long handle double edge razor.
After my morning shower I use very hot water to make up a softening lather with the soap and brush and remove my facial hair with the safety razor. Pulling the facial skin taught as I shave.
The blades are $0.17 each, the shave soap $0.89 and the shave is better than any but from a barber shop.
Sometimes the older tried and true just works.
Though the razor that Edward James Olmos used on the TV show Battlestar Galactica is one that I would like to acquire.
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Curious: Just how notable is the badger hair? I currently have boar bristle and have been thinking about upgrading, but wasn't sure if I'd really care about the difference...
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stop changing things!
aaaaaarrrrrhhhhh
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Re: stop changing things!
Bye, bye Gillette!
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Re: stop changing things!
I've been using a Sensor Excel for probably a decade. You can still get the cartridges, despite the new 3, 4, 5-blade options
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Tooth Brushes
I've since started using a manual toothbrush again, and I've found that it is what is more effective, while the electric toothbrush has the inferior effectiveness.
This all spawns from the fallacy that technology keeps getting better and that newer automatically means better, when in fact it quite often gets worse. And sometimes, it gets both better and worse (thanks to things like planned obsolescence or just poor quality in general).
How many of you have upgraded an OS or application for its much-touted newer features, but found yourself downgrading to the previous version because it worked better?
Sadly, in spite of this a lot of people continue to believe that newer is always better, and marketers love to take advantage of such beliefs.
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All this buying new blade-heads and new razor entirely every year is born of marketing and little more as far as I can tell.
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culture
At seventeen I was fed up, and saved up the money to buy a straight razor. I got some bad advice on how to sharpen it, and shaved with a dull straight for several years. Who knows how to sharpen a razor these days?
Then I asked a barber, got better advice, started sharpening it the right way (which is actually easier than the wrong way) and had the pleasure of a sharp razor from then on. But my shaving technique was still lousy, carried over from what I'd taught myself in the years with the cartridge razor. I had vague suspicions that I was doing it wrong, but the only tutorials I could find were from the early 20th century; they didn't make much sense and didn't tell me the basics which I suppose boys were supposed to learn from their fathers. Who knows how to shave with a straight these days?
Then along came the Web, with blogs and videos, and I could learn good technique without a teacher. Now shaving is a pleasure, I get a great shave every time, better than I recall getting from the cartridges, faster too, with no trouble spots, I haven't bought a new blade in twenty years, and the one time (since 9/11) when I forgot and left my straight razor in my carry-on bag, the TSA didn't notice it. What's not to love?
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overwrought nonsense
I can be as much of a cheapskate as I want to really. Cheaper and more traditional options remain available and I can use them if I want. I can also use the "new nonsense" too if I find it helps.
This is a nice and relatively harmless demonstration of how patents are inherently harmful to the market regardless of whatever long term public good is derived from one.
Patents are treated as trivial and harmless and that's just wrong even if you happen to be "pro-patent". There's a clear downside that needs to be acknowledged here in any public policy discussion. The evil side of patents is usually just ignored and dismissed.
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5 blades, ohh ha!
So recently I accidently bought the 3 blades and they shave so much smoother. And I think their prices went up, too.
Maybe I should go down to those weird double edged razors, I've always wanted to try one.
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I recently checked the prices of razors for the common sucker, due to an article saying they are the most commonly stolen article in supermarkets:
8o ...
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“But Customers Are Discerning,” We’re Told
So, does the Free Market work, or not?
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Not convinced patents have anything to do with it
The brand names would never throw away their brand value (e.g., compete on price), so they have to compete on innovative features. Whether they could patent their features or not and minimize copying (theoretically), they would, IMO, still behave the way they are now. Perhaps even more so.
I do agree, though, that it would be interesting to see what the prices would be in a patent-free market.
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You're a weird guy, Masnick....
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I don't know...
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Big difference between a straight razor and a DE safety razor - but yeah, still not sure how that would play out for shaving your head, which is something i hope to never do :)
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Does this explain..
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Shave Secret
1. Shave Secret, http://www.shavesecret.com/ -- LOVE this stuff. plus
2. Gillette Fusion razor with power-- a little battery in the handle makes the blade vibrate so that the razor just cuts thru whiskers like I've never seen. This combination gives me no irritation and an unltra-smooth shave. Better than anything in the past that I've ever tried.
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I'm calling BS on that. The shave I get with a Sensor Excel far exceeds anything I've gotten with other disposable razors or cartridges.
It is also better than the one or two shaves I've gotten from a barber with a straight razor (I guess "safety razor" is the terminology), which resulted in severe razor burn.
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For what it's worth, it sounds like your barber is crappy with the straight razor. Also, the safety razor and the straight razor are different things...
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But my own experience tells me that the Sensor Excel is vastly superior to the bic disposables or even the Schick models that tried to mimic it, contrary to that article claim of no improvement.
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Technically it doesn't offer an improvement, as more blades don't generally offer a better shave, despite what the ads claim. But if that particular kind of razor works for you, more power to you.
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Anyway, simply saying "technically" before you make an assertion doesn't make it sound more or less right.
The Sensor Excel gives a better shave than its predecessors, based on my experience. I'd call that an improvement.
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But then again I prefer to have just 1 blade.
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But the difference is very noticeable for me.
Also, I don't necessarily have anything against the 3, 4, 5, N-blade cartridges, except that they use a different pivot point, which I don't like.
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I use a Norelco electric
Works great and I've been using the same one for a decade. It costs me a few cents of electricity.
BTW, I get flirted with every Thursday like clockwork.
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If I shave on Monday, I've basically got a scruffy beard by Thursday.
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My original post wasn’t as clear as it could have been, and you’ve helped clarify that the problem lies not only with intellectual property but also the way large companies get to spend marketing resources and use distribution power to get their patented products into the marketplace. There is at least a three-pronged approach: IP, marketing, distribution.
As for being cynical — I guess I’m guilty as charged. =)
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I, for one, have had a far better experience using a Sensor Excel than any Bic or Schick product that came before it (and some that came after).
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