CASE STUDY

Materials and d e s i g n in Gillette razors

J C Terry*

Abstract
The historical development of Gillette wet shaving products is described in relation to the problems posed by
the nature of the hair and skin, and the features introduced to improve product performance. The materials
and processes used to manufacture the products by the hundreds of million are explained.

This paper aims to give s o m e understanding of the

science and engineering behind sophisticated wet
shaving systems. It helps to first consider the question,
'What are we trying to do?' The answer in general terms
is to remove as much of the hair growing out of the skin
as possible, while inflicting minimal d a m a g e to the skin.
To understand what a challenge this is, one n e e d s to
look at an area of hairy skin. Figure 1 is an SEM picture
of a replica of an area of c h e e k on a man's face taken
using a technique developed at the Gillette Research
Institute, Washington DC. The procedure used is to
m a k e a cast using silicone rubber and then a positive
of that in polyethylene which simply needs to be metal-
c o a t e d to b e examined in the $EM.1 T h e reproduction
is extremely g o o d and this picture shows well how the
hairs vary in size and shape, and how rough the skin
is from which they grow. Immediately after shaving the
skin is as shown in Figure 2. No hairs are visible above
the surface and there is evidence of the removal of some
cells from the skin surface around the follicles. T h e
a m o u n t of skin removed is d e p e n d e n t on the shaving
system used, but it does no lasting harm as the skin is
SEM image of a replica of a male cheek
naturally shedding skin cells continuously.
s h o w i n g hair variety and skin surface
roughness On male faces the average hair 'diameter' (a
misnomer since very few hairs have a circular cross-
section) is around 0.1ram. T h e r e is about 3 m m of hair
between the root and the skin surface. The surface
layers of the skin, the stratum corneum, are relatively
hard, dead cells, but below these the tissue is relatively
soft and it is largely b e c a u s e this tissue is soft that the
hair has considerable mobility - a factor of s o m e
importance.
The hair shaft, the hair root, and the surrounding skin
are highly innervated. This factor is also extremely
important in the design of shaving systems since shaving
should be as comfortable as possible. The skills of the
formulation chemists who produce shaving foams help
in this task.
There are two key aims in preparing a beard for
shaving. One is to hydrate the hair, to soften it. To prove
Fig 2 SEM image of a replica of a male cheek this one can try shaving dry with a blade razor. The blade
immediately after wet shaving edge will be destroyed in less than half a shave.
Hydrating the hair causes it to swell but, most
*Corporate Research & Development (UK), Gillette importantly, makes it m u c h easier to cut. The s e c o n d
Management Inc., 454 Basingstoke Road, Reading, Berkshire aim is to provide lubricants on the skin surface to assist
RG2 0QE, UK. Tel: +44 (0)734 875222. the blades to slide over it. Again, in the completely dry

MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 12 No. 5 OCTOBER 1 9 9 1 0261-3069/91/050277-05

© 1991 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd 277
 Finally, the edges are coated with low molecular
weight PTFE that is bonded to the surface by heating.
It is interesting and important that the ultimate tip of
the blade is not softened by this process; in fact, it needs
to be raised to 500°C before softening occurs. The
reason is the heavy working that the tip undergoes in
the grinding process. This work-hardened zone is
restricted to the ultimate few microns of the tip, but that
is the region subjected to the highest stresses in use.
The PTFE coating is key to the performance of
modern systems. It dates back to a Gillette discovery
made in the 1950s, in the days when blades were made
from plain carbon steel, that certain low friction coatings,
applied to the blade facets under certain conditions, can
greatly reduce the force to cut hair. The first blades to
exploit this phenomenon, the Blue Gillette Extra blades
(Gillette Super Blue in the USA and some other
markets), had an enormous comfort advantage over
their competition because of this reduced cutting force.
However, the siloxane gel coating used on these blades
lost its effectiveness in just a few shaves. They were
superseded by stainless, more temper resistant blades,
Fig 3 SEM image of a blade edge (x 20 000) which could survive the temperatures needed to sinter
PTFE which was itself more durable than the siloxane.
So, to summarise, the blade edge is extremely sharp
shave the skin will quickly become sore. So, the best
stainless steel, coated with 30 nanometres of chromium-
procedure is first to wash the face with soap and warm
platinum, over-coated with low molecular weight PTFE.
water - this removes sebum around the hairs and starts
the softening process. Then apply shaving gel or foam Razor s y s t e m s
lather, which surrounds the hairs in a damp The shaving system invented by King C. Gillette at the
environment, provides the skin lubricants, and provides turn of the century was what is now known as a double-
a marker to show what areas have been shaved. edge razor and blade having an edge on either side of
the blade. A typical razor is shown in Figure 4. The
The blades razors are generally made of nickel-plated brass or mild
The heart of any wet shaving system is the razor blade. steel with metal or polypropylene handles. Their
Modern razor blades are made from a semi-stainless performance is very dependent on blade performance
steel containing 0.65-0.7% carbon and 12-14% and, as a consequence, prior to the 1960's most R&D
chromium. Most of the blade steel used in the world is was directed at blade improvements.
made by two manufacturers, Hitachi Metals in Japan
and British Steel in Sheffield. it is supplied 0.1mm thick,
slit to width, and in a cold rolled condition.
In recent years both Hitachi Metals and British Steel
have developed processes which give a fine carbide
distribution around 70/sq.mm. This obviously assists the
austenitising process. Blades are perforated and
hardened in strip form. The strip is lightly tempered to
give adequate impact strength. It is important to control
the tension on the strip as it is pulled through the
hardening furnace or excessive stretch will result and
perforations will not align.
Blade sharpening is carried out at very high speeds
in modern continuous edge sharpening process~es. The
strip is ground from both sides with wheels of decreasing
coarseness so that a low angle coarse ground facet is
produced first, followed by two further stages using finer
grit sizes to produce facets with increasing included
angles. At the end of the sharpening line the strip is Fig 4 Double.edge razor
cropped into individual blades, loaded onto magazines
and into RF sputtering units which, in the case of Gillette, Figure 5 shows a cross-section of a double-edge razor
deposit a coating containing chromium with around 25 with the key parameters of the geometry indicated. The
atomic percent platinum. The aim is to produce Cr3Pt shaving angle is the angle between the centre plane of
intermetallic which is much harder than chromium or the blade and a plane tangent to the guard, ahead of
platinum. The deposit is around 30 nanometres thick. The the blade and the cap behind it. The blade exposure
tip radius is of the order of 2 0 - 3 0 nanometes. Figure is the amount by which the blade edge projects beyond
3 shows a typical SEM photograph of a blade edge. the plane tangent to the cap and guard. The guard-blade

278 MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 12 No. 5 OCTOBER 1991

 Tangent ~)

Exposure Blade

Fig 5 Cross-section of the double-edge razor s h o w ~ g

razor geometry

F07 SEM image of an area of cheek after twin-blade

shaving. The hair has withdrawn deep into the
follicle

Fig 6 The first tandem blade system - Gll

and cap-blade spans are also measured. The basic

problem is that altering any of these parameters has
Fig 8 The swivel-head razor - Contour
both good and bad effects. An increase in exposure, for
example, increases the closeness of a shave at the
expense of more nicks and cuts and discomfort. A with the blade, they are carried along by the embedded
reduction in the shaving angle would improve comfort blade tip, rotating and being effectively extended as they
but reduce efficiency, and so on. In fact, all aspects of do so. This extension is made up largely by distortion
the double edge blade system were compromises. Even of the soft tissue between the hair root and the skin
the blades needed to be as sharp as possible to cut hair surface layers. This material behaves in a visco-elastic
with minimum force, but this could make them so weak manner so that when the hairs are severed they rapidly
- if achieved by reducing the tip wedge angle - that spring back to their starting positions driven by the strain
they would not resist the stresses on them or, if achieved energy in the distorted stratum corneum, but only more
by a smaller tip radius, give tips so sharp that they would slowly return to their starting level as the softer tissue
cause too much skin damage. There was no way out recovers. The time to retract can be as long as an eighth
of the limitations of these compromises except to give of a second, more than enough time for a second blade
the user the opportunity to adjust the razor to suit only 1.5mm behind the first, to engage the hair in the
himself and adjustable razors were sold in large elevated state. Exploiting this gave a measurable
numbers. improvement in closeness of the order of two hours'
A paper on shaving systems could be usefully entitled growth, despite using a lower exposure geometry which
'the reduction of compromise', since that is what modern gave improved safety. Figure 7 shows a hair which has
systems have done. The first step along this road was withdrawn deep into its follicle after being shaved.
GII* (Trac ll* in North America), the first tandem blade The GII cartridge consists of 5 parts. The cap and
system (Figure 6). It achieved the previously the platform are high impact polystyrene and the spacer
unattainable: it improved closeness and safety at the between the blades is aluminium. The cartridge is
same time. To do this it exploited the mobility of the assembled at high speed by placing the blades, spacer
hair referred to earlier. Film observation of the and platform on the cap from which the rivets project
movement of hairs during shaving had shown that, and then cold heading the rivets. To produce this
rather than being cut through immediately on contact cartridge, ultimately in huge numbers, needed the

MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 12 No. 5 OCTOBER 1991 279

 development of assembly processes capable of improve shaving comfort followed. The problem was
repeatedly positioning the blades to high precision at exactly how to incorporate it.
high speed. The solution was to create a moulded two-phase
The successor to GII was Contour* (Atra* in North structure of PEO and polystyrene. The styrene gives
America), shown in Figure 8. Its development can be stability to the form of the part but releases the PEO in
looked at in two ways. The concept evolved out of contact with water at a slow but steady rate. In fact, the
research pioneered at the Gillette UK Research and strip is about 20% styrene, 80% PEO, the latter being
Development Laboratory. The skill of shavers - in terms a mixture of molecular weights giving a broad molecular
of how much of the time both blades in GII spent in weight distribution around 1 million in the final product.
contact with the skin during shaving - was measured It took many experiments to establish this blend
by replacing the aluminium spacer with a plastic one, empirically and determine the processing conditions to
making electrical contact with the blades, and using the get the right structure. When first introduced the strip
shaver's body to complete a circuit to the handle. was glued into place, but subsequently it was moulded
Counting circuitry enabled the time each blade was on in place using the 'two-colour' moulding process used
the face to be determined, revealing that for around on items like typewriter keys. This process consists of
25% of the shave only the leading blade was working. moulding the HIPS part of the cap using runnerless
The conclusion was that this was because keeping both moulding, then with the parts retained in the mould,
blades on the skin asked too much of the skill of the rotating it to inject the Lubrastrip mixture, again with
user, and swivel head razors which would do it a runnerless process. These moulds are multi-cavity and
automatically were born. The cartridge construction large. It was a big engineering task to create machinery
method was exactly the same as GII but the opportunity to rotate these large moulds quickly and frequently.
was taken by the product designers in Gillette, Boston By measuring the friction of cartridges moved over
USA, to reduce the size of the cartridge to ease access the face it is possible to demonstrate a significant
to heavily concave areas of the face. reduction in the drag on the cartridge. The positioning
Another way to look at this development is that a of the strip behind the blades rather than in front has
compromise built into all earlier razors was being seemed an illogical arrangement to many, but in front
removed. The angle between the plane of the shaving of the blades is the guard whose function is to stretch
surface and the handle axis was about 45 °. This was and flatten the skin.
a compromise between the comfortable attitude of the
handle for strokes down the face, which is nearly parallel The Sensor shaving system
to the skin, and that for strokes up the face, All of the features discussed so far, and a few more,
approximately normal to the skin. With Contour it was are incorporated in Sensor, the new Gillette shaving
possible to use the razor handle in its most comfortable system introduced in 1990 (Figure 10). Sensor had
attitude with no loss in efficiency. quite a long gestation partly because the principle was
The next step was not seen as major by some but not identified immediately and partly because turning
it presented an interesting technical challenge and has the idea into mass-produced reality took the efforts of
proved extremely successful. The product was marketed many engineers primarily working in the Gillette
as Contour (or Atra) Plus (Figure 9), the 'Plus' being a laboratories in Boston, USA.
white strip given the name 'Lubrastrip: The active A negative experienced by some users of Gll and
ingredient in the Lubrastrip is polyethylene oxide (PEO), Contour was clogging of the space between the two
which is an interesting material: very small amounts blades with shaving debris. Channels were provided
dissolved in water greatly alter the lubricity and flow through the primary blade and the base of the cartridge
characteristics. It has been patented by the US Navy as to enable the area to be rinsed, but heavy beard growth
a way to make torpedos go faster through the solution combined with infrequent rinsing could lead to a
of PEO at the nose of the weapon, and it can increase cloggage almost impossible to remove.
the distance reached by a fire hose by over 30%, to give Thinking about this problem, one of the engineers
just two examples. PEO is injection mouidable and when at Gillette UKRDL conceived the idea of welding narrow
that was realised the thought that it could be used to strips of blade to wires to give them support, and

~ i¸

Fig 9 Swivel-head razor with 'Lubrastrip' F~g 10 The 'Sensor' razor introduced in 1 9 9 0

280 MATERIALS & DESIGN Vol. 12 No. 5 OCTOBER 1991

Fig 11 The nine components of the Sensor cartridge Fig 13 Dispenser clip with five cartridges

At the back of the housing is a slot for Lubrastrip.

The blade supports are not simple wires, but are
formed carriers made from 305 stainless steel 0.28ram
thick, and the blades are attached to these by laser
welds, 13 to each blade. The lasers used are
Neodymium - YAG supplied by Lumonics, of 250 watt
rating, and cost $3 million for the lasers alone. The
lasers are achieving up to 100 million shots per lamp.
The assembly of the cartridge consists of inserting
the aluminium guard member, the Lubrastrip insert, and
the blade members, all of which are retained by
aluminium clips at the ends. Automatic sensors on the
machines ensure as far as possible that all operations
Fig 12 The handle of the latest razor has 14 separate are completed correctly. The clips put a small pre-load
components made from a variety of materials on the springs supporting both the guard and the blades.
After assembly, the cartridges are inserted into overcaps
mounting these wire-supported blades in an open and then loaded into the clip which makes up the
frame. Such structures showed advantages, particularly dispenser (Figure 13).
in efficiency towards the end of two weeks' use because The handle was required to have a metallic
of the reduction in clogging, but the real breakthrough appearance and a weight consistent with that
came with the realisation that because the blades on appearance. Balance and grip are also important
features and these were built into the design. The parts
their supports had inherent stiffness they could be
mounted on springs. Providing that the guard was also are shown in Figure 12. The metallic look is provided
by shells produced from a deep drawing stainless steel
mounted on springs it was thought that this should allow
given a satin finish and a light chromium plate. The head
much greater conformance to skin contours to give
spine is ABS and the grips are HIPS. The shell bearings
improvements in safety and closeness, as achieved
many years previously by GII. Testing has demonstrated to which the cartridge attaches are a nylon and the cam
that this is indeed the case. The incidence of nicks in follower is acetal. It is quite a complex assembly, but
shaving has been halved compared to the previous best, 21 million were shipped between January and
Contour Plus, while at the same time shaving closeness September of 1990.
has been significantly improved again. The Sensor system has been a great success. It has
A huge amount of development went between the achieved a best of category design award from the
International Design Magazine2, and the 'Good Design
conception and the marketed reality of the product. The
Award for Foreign Products' from Japan's Ministry of
cartridge consists of nine separate components (Figure
11) and has involved new technology in its production. International Trade and Industry. These awards are
The handle has 14 separate components (Figure 12) tributes to the Gillette design team, particularly Mike
to achieve the aesthetic and ergonomic features required. Gray and Bob Trotta in Gillette, Boston. I hope that this
paper has given some feel for the complexity of the
The cartridge housing, as can be seen from Figure
11, is a complex moulding involving six moulded tasks facing engineers, scientists and designers of a
springs, two each for the blades and two for the guard. modern everyday consumer item.
The housing is moulded in Noryl. Noryl is a blend of
polystyrene and poly (phenylene oxide) and has proved References
1 B e r n s t e i n , E O a n d J o n e s , C B. Science 1 6 6 , 252 (1969)
to give adequate stability to the spring response. In 2 International Design, July-August 1990, p34
Contour the cartridge swivel feature is provided by
simple pivots just underneath the primary blade. That Acknowledgements
approach could not be used in Sensor and a shell GII, Tracll, Contour, Atra, Lubrastrip, Sensor are
bearing design is incorporated which gives superior registered Gillette Trademarks. Noryl is a Trademark of
conformance to general contours than the old system. G.E. Plastics.

MATERIALS & DESIGN VoI. 12 NO. 5 OCTOBER 1991 281