New York magazine:
The Wall Street Journal obtained the marketing materials for Gillette’s new razor, the ProGlide FlexBall. The ProGlide FlexBall can cut each whisker 23 microns shorter — about a quarter of the width of a strand of human hair.
I won’t mince words: ProGlide FlexBall is a bad idea. A really bad idea. In fact, the razor represents everything terrible about America’s innovation economy.
It’s amazing how many gimmicks razor manufacturers have come up with to try and get us to buy sharp bits of metal to scrape along our faces.
I just stopped shaving.
I switched a couple years ago to a good old fashioned Merkur safety razor. Wish I had done it 30 years ago. I will never have to buy another razor handle as long as I live. I used to feel so ripped off buying 4 blades for the same price as my box of 100!
And American innovation is doing just fine in certain parts of Cupertino…
Reminds me of The Onion article
http://www.theonion.com/articles/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades,11056/
I’ve used it already and it’s really quite good. It’s not the extra 23 microns or whatever, it’s the new direction the razor can pivot in. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t stand Gillette and the fact they sell razors at those ungodly prices, but I got a really great shave with the new FlexBall.
The app industry has plenty of FlexBalls to show for itself. There aren’t enough market participants of sufficient size in the razor business to keep the majors focused on customer needs.
Absolutely agree, Bought a Merkur, a carton of 100 blades (for $15!) and have never looked back!
I’d had enough of being ripped off by Gillette and was considering dollar shave club or similar, but in the end I decided on a safety razor. I got a beautiful Edwin Jagger shaver, a badger brush and shaving supplies for not much more than what you’d pay for 8 Gillette refill cartridges. $5 worth of feather blades (10 pack, each of which last me about a month) and now I actually enjoy the ritual of shaving in the old-fashioned way. Our fathers and grandfathers were doing it right all along. New-fangled is not always better, at least not you’re talking about an over 4,500% profit margin on blades from Gillette and similar.
I quite liked my Fusion, but I’ve started shaving with a set of clippers. It took me years to realize this, but I don’t like a close shave. 🙂
SNL was lampooning this industry back around 1976 when they made a commercial parody about a ridiculously-described razor that had three blades. The audience found it hilarious.
But, like expired satire from The Onion, all we had to do was wait.
This is quite hilarious. Unfortunately, this bs is not relegated to shaving. The article mentions silly valley at the end, but this kind of pseudo-innovation can be seen all over the place, from toothbrushes to cars.
My significant other loves his Gillette Fusion. What I didn’t realize at first until I saw him flip it over is that there are only four blades on the front. The fifth is a tiny one on the back, and with it he can reach those tiny places such as just below the nostril.
In my opinion it’s the best shave he’s ever had.
The article was fun to read, but this comment takes the cake. 😀
“What I want is a Roomba Razor that drives around your face while you’re laying down taking a nap. THAT I would pay for.”
my god, what have I been doing with a hairy under-nostril all my life??
Sweet! It’ll complement my Dyson ball vacuum nicely.
As John Cage would mutter, “Balls, balls, balls…”
Scaring children.
The beard bias at the Loop is just disgusting.
That being said, what the shaving industry is doing is despicable.