Men’s razors have become quite the whisker weapons, with multiple blades, edgy ergonomics and a heavy dose of gloss and image.
“You are what you shave with,” said Gillette spokeswoman Michele Szynal. “It’s no longer a piece of steel scraping across your face. It’s a finely engineered instrument.”
Then again, don’t 20,000 plus hairs–boasting the strength of copper wire–deserve more than a cheap slice of steel and a hollowed plastic bar?
“Guys are looking for ways to make the shaving experience more pleasurable,” said Stan Williams, editor of grooming and fashion for Maxim magazine. “And it’s becoming more of a big deal.”
The preferred manner to shear one’s face is still the classic: a razor blade, cream and hot water, an act performed by 78 percent of all men who shave.
But now, almost three decades after “Saturday Night Live” parodied the concept of a triple-blade razor, that number is the norm. It’s even been eclipsed with a four-blade entry, as razor companies vie for a cut of a near $2 billion industry.
The undisputed razor king, Gillette, claims the most male skin with nearly
70 percent of the market. Schick comes in second, with close to 25 percent. And these two are engaged in one of the hottest brand rivalries around.
The sexiest entry into this contest is Gillette’s M3Power, unveiled earlier this summer. The latest generation of its top-selling Mach3 series of triple-blade razors, this $15 model–razors are now “models,” like cars–boasts a trio of blades, plus the added boost of a tiny motor powered by a AAA battery. Resulting vibrations are supposed to make those hairs stick up for easier mowing.
“The name of the game is getting people to buy cartridges,” Szynal said. “If you can get someone to buy your razor, they’re not going to get the next one that comes out.”
Unless they don’t have to buy it.
Slick Schick has struck back. A coupon for a free Quattro, the first four-blade entry, was inserted into millions of Sunday newspapers nationwide.
“It’s a hypercompetitive marketplace right now,” said Amy Roman, senior brand manager for Quattro at Schick. “The person who wins is the consumer because you have a variety of products out there.”
Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Gilbert, 26, who shaves his face and scalp clean, is a sucker for any razor that boasts being the best. His favorite? The Mach3. “It doesn’t hurt as bad,” he said, although he’s been dragging a Quattro across his skull after picking up free promos at a racecar event.
A morning with the battery-charged M3Power also proved positive.
“It was a little weird at first,” he said. “I thought I was going to cut my head off.”
Other challengers, however, are trying to get a piece of the action. Old Spice unveiled the H.E. 4×4–how rugged!–last month, the market’s first four-blade disposable razor.
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“In the shaving business, product innovations once came every five to seven years,” said Afshin Moghavem, president of Universal Group, which manufacturers Old Spice razors and shaving products. “Today, you’re having changes on a literally yearly basis.”
Chic shaving
Some are taking shaving to a more elegant–and perhaps a bit elitist–level.
“Men are understanding they can turn it into a pleasure instead of drudgery,” said Cary Brown, vice president of marketing for the Art of Shaving in New York City, a boutique line of men’s grooming products sold at Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. These upscale razor handles are made from nickel, horn and various woods, and costs run from $130 to $220. A sterling-silver version is $650.–Cox News Service
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])