Now, I think of it as a mix of safety belt (not a nuisance) and training wheels (very much a nuisance).
Yeah, interesting analogy, and spot-on IMO. The training wheels aspect can be overdone. The Henson razor is a design that exemplifies this I think; safety to the detriment of technique development. (Again, IMO. Judging from what I see in pictures). I became aware of technique during my first bout with straight razor shaving years ago. Admittedly, I really didn’t focus on it until I took up wetshaving as a hobby. That was a big mistake.
DE razors were probably much cheaper to manufacture than Micromatics?
This is certainly true about 3-piece razors, but I think the “big win” was with the band steel used for DE blades. There’s less steel mass to each blade and almost zero cost to machining both sides of the band. I’m not sure how the user benefits from this. I guess it was a greater benefit to manufacturers than anyone else. I’ve heard many times that Gillette made razors in order to sell blades.
You’re right. If you want to confirm your suspicion for yourself, I’d be happy to loan you my Henson mild.
I’ve heard many times that Gillette made razors in order to sell blades.
I think that works for every blade format of Gillette except the DE blade, which was very quickly copied and Gillette had to compete unlike the later monopolies on patented cartridges.
I think the “big win” was with the band steel used for DE blades
GEM did that too with the double edge Micromatic blades. Single, spineless piece of band steel with an edge on either side and relatively simple cutouts.
Injector blades are single edge, but very narrow and probably don’t use much more steel per edge that DE blades of the time (they weren’t thin like today).
If you take into account that people used to hone even disposable blades to save money, the GEM format has a huge advantage over DE: if you sharpen a DE blade many times, the edge disappears behind the top cap and becomes useless. A GEM blade can be filed down several millimetres before the mechanism doesn’t push it all the way to the blade stops anymore.
I think the victory or the DE blade might be due to non-technical reasons. Better marketing and early market penetration?
Yeah, interesting analogy, and spot-on IMO. The training wheels aspect can be overdone. The Henson razor is a design that exemplifies this I think; safety to the detriment of technique development. (Again, IMO. Judging from what I see in pictures). I became aware of technique during my first bout with straight razor shaving years ago. Admittedly, I really didn’t focus on it until I took up wetshaving as a hobby. That was a big mistake.
This is certainly true about 3-piece razors, but I think the “big win” was with the band steel used for DE blades. There’s less steel mass to each blade and almost zero cost to machining both sides of the band. I’m not sure how the user benefits from this. I guess it was a greater benefit to manufacturers than anyone else. I’ve heard many times that Gillette made razors in order to sell blades.
You’re right. If you want to confirm your suspicion for yourself, I’d be happy to loan you my Henson mild.
I think that works for every blade format of Gillette except the DE blade, which was very quickly copied and Gillette had to compete unlike the later monopolies on patented cartridges.
GEM did that too with the double edge Micromatic blades. Single, spineless piece of band steel with an edge on either side and relatively simple cutouts.
Injector blades are single edge, but very narrow and probably don’t use much more steel per edge that DE blades of the time (they weren’t thin like today).
If you take into account that people used to hone even disposable blades to save money, the GEM format has a huge advantage over DE: if you sharpen a DE blade many times, the edge disappears behind the top cap and becomes useless. A GEM blade can be filed down several millimetres before the mechanism doesn’t push it all the way to the blade stops anymore.
I think the victory or the DE blade might be due to non-technical reasons. Better marketing and early market penetration?
Anecdotally, I’ve bought an MMOC with an old blade in it that had been honed so many times that it had a very obvious frown