Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 3, 1990 TAG: 9005020170
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GORDON MONSON LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
Our purpose here is to relieve human suffering, search for, seek out, discover the perfect shave.
A worthwhile pursuit, considering that most of the 190 million adults in this country attempt to safely drag some sort of razor across some body part, if not daily, at least a few times a week.
On a good day, they get a close, comfortable shave. On a bad day, they feel like they've been hacked to death, as if their trusty little chromium-coated, ultra-lubricated blade somehow transformed itself into a ninja weapon, leaving behind a path of pockmarks and violent destruction.
Exactly how a 3/4-inch sliver of steel can do damage to an ankle or upper lip equivalent to that of a banana knife is one of the great mysteries facing mankind.
But there is hope. High technology, with all its promise of elevating shaving a notch or two above self-sacrificial gardening, has supposedly found the bathroom door.
We might even be entering a time when the heretofore laughable term "comfortable shave" may no longer be oxymoronic.
Where can this best, perfect, life-renewing shave be found?
Gillette says: right under the "Gillette, the best a man can get" sign at your local drug store.
The longtime manufacturer of razors and other shaving products recently developed and began marketing its Sensor shaving system, a design Gillette, in its marketing material, calls "revolutionary . . . incorporating the most technological advances ever combined in a single system. Sensor offers the world's first and only personalized shave."
This is a razor, they say, that understands and respects your face, your legs, your whatever.
Such respect and understanding did not come cheap. Gillette says it spent in excess of $150 million in research and development on the project over a period reaching back to the 1970s. Gillette engineers came up with a razor that includes:
Individually spring-mounted blades (twin blades mounted on springs that supposedly sense and adjust to the smallest curves and details of a face, including warts, blemishes and the like).
An individually suspended metal skin guard (spring-mounted to work in concert with the blades).
Pivoting action.
A narrow cartridge (to allow for maximum maneuverability and visibility).
Advanced razor design (offers durability, sturdiness and balance).
Apparently, the concept of putting razor blades on shock absorbers was made possible through some kind of laser-welding process used by NASA in rocket building.
Pretty impressive-sounding stuff, even if it were a crock of baloney, don't you think?
"The thing has 18 patents," said Michele Szynal, a company spokeswoman. "That's incredible. I mean, it's a razor, not a car. But the engineering is phenomenal."
Maybe, but the folks at Schick, a manufacturer of blades and electric shavers, and a Gillette rival, say they have a new, more advanced, as-close-to-perfect-as-can-be shaver just about to hit the market.
Gillette "has taken the same old thing with their razors - one pivots, one swivels, one goes up and down," said John Gill, an assistant to Schick president James Mabe. "They make it sound like it's got built-in radar.
"I don't want to minimize their work, but if you take a Sensor, use it, then take our [new electric shaver] Eltron and shave again, you'll still take off whiskers. You'll hear the whiskers being cut.
"Nothing's going to beat it," Gill said.
What separates Schick's Eltron Universal shaver from others, according to Gill, is a list of features that includes 22-karat gold-plated screen, 32 multifaceted blades, adjustable trimmers, a housing covered with rubber nodules (conducive to good handling and quiet operation).
"The gold-plated screen is good for the face," Gill said. "It's like rubbing a piece of butter, that's how it feels. It's totally revolutionary. Better than any blade, better than any shaving device."
Hold on. Remington, like other companies, has a shaving system that utilizes features of razors and electric shavers.
The Remington Lektro Blade, for men who "prefer the feel of the razor as opposed to a shaver," includes a vibrating blade that pulsates and massages as it moves along the skin. This supposedly creates less drag, less pull on legs, faces, underarms of all sizes and shapes.
Sounds perfect enough, but Wayne Jones, 35, a Southern California resident who has been shaving for 20 years, said he has tried two similar "tweener" shavers and sadly discovered "it's just another way to rip your face apart."
"They may work for some people, but not for me," he said. "My skin is too sensitive for blades. I've tried all [methods], from razors to electric shavers, and none of them are perfect."
Estee Lauder takes a different tack in its pursuit of the perfect shave.
In fact, the skin-care company markets a shave kit called the Perfect Shave. But it relies more on lotions and cleansers for the skin than high-tech blades or precious metals.
The kit includes a traditional razor, shaving gel, after-shave and cologne. The company also sells face tonic, a daily cleansing bar and lotion, all offered with the perfect-shave dream in mind.
All of which is a noble pursuit, in Claude Gipson's mind, but all the potions, space-age materials, rocket technology, crossbreeding and rubber nodules combined do not even approach the perfect shave, the one that has been around for a few hundred years.
This ultimate shave comes from a straight blade in trained hands in the barber's chair.
"Those new shavers and razors shave too close," said Gipson, an instructor at the American Barber College in Los Angeles and a barber for the past 33 years. "They scrape off a layer of skin with the hair. That puts the skin in a sensitive state, makes the skin open to bacterial infection.
"I'd recommend staying away from the scrapers."
He does recommend, as you might have guessed, that men head forthwith every morning to their local barber.
"A consistent visit to a barber, I recommend it," he said, "because a barber slices the hair off, rather than scraping it off. He doesn't cut into the skin."
A lot of regular bathroom shavers would settle for just feeling unscathed, uninjured, healthy and whole again, like they had never taken hedge clippers to their necks or legs.
The heck with the perfect shave. They'll take one they can survive.
by CNB