This is a classic article from New 杏吧原创鈥檚 archive, republished as part of our 50th anniversary celebrations
SOME time during the next few months Gillette will embark on an expensive advertising campaign promoting a new shaving device. Science actually played a role in this marketing gesture 鈥� Gillette says that its new razor was developed after Dr Norman Welsh discovered 鈥渂eard hysteresis鈥�. As a razor blade cuts a bristle it also pulls the hair out of its follicle. The hair soon retreats back into the skin, but it takes about an eighth of a second to do this. Dr Welsh decided that if the shaver could cut off the extended bristle before it retracted into the chin, then the shaver would get a much closer shave than he would when shaving with a single cut. In fact, Gillette鈥檚 scientists believe that they have postponed the five o鈥檆lock shadow by 2陆 hours.
The development of this new shaving system followed measurements on beard behaviour during shaving. The Gillette research team used a fibre optic magnifier to photograph the way in which a razor operates. This revealed the hysteresis effect. Other measurements showed that a shaver cannot do more than four strokes per second with his razor. The answer is to put two blades on a razor so that one follows closely behind the other and quickly cuts off each hair before it has a chance to withdraw into its follicle.
Advertisement
That was the source of the idea but Dr John Terry then had the job of turning the idea into a product 鈥� a process that took seven years. The two-blade notion had to be adapted so that the blade spacing was right. The next problem was how to get rid of the shaving debris thrown up by the first blade. The 鈥渢railing edge鈥� had to be designed so that the lather and foam from the first blade did not clog up the razor.
Consumer science like that involved with the development at Gillette throws up several questions. The scientists involved live in a strangely alien world. They cannot talk too much to each other 鈥� so much money is involved that competitors such as Gillette and Wilkinson, for example, discourage their workers from any contacts with the opposition. Gillette lets its scientists talk only to people working in other laboratories of the company. And scientific papers come way behind commercial considerations. Beard hysteresis, for example, might have warranted a scientific paper 鈥� more spurious academic research finds its way into the learned journals. In fact Dr Welsh and Dr Terry have not yet published their findings. Perhaps the marketing men feel that the scientists should be satisfied because they have found a way to increase their share of a potential multimillion-pound market.
This article was originally published in New 杏吧原创 on 13 July 1972
50 Years of New 杏吧原创: The Best Articles 鈥� find many more in our exclusive Special Report. You can also have your say on what you think was the biggest scientific advance of the last 50 years, in our
