Shaving by Numbers or "one versus many and the trojan horse"

By James Whittall
MenEssentials President
Published April 2006

Unless you spent the last two years cloistered in a Tibetan monastery, you know all about the much-ballyhooed dick-measuring contest between Gillette and Schick. Gillette's Mach3 razor, the market leader for almost a decade, trumped by Schick in early 2004 with the four-blade Quattro; and then, on September 14, 2005, the death-dealing blow from Gillette – five blades, with a sixth on the back of the cartridge for trimming and shaping. Wow.

On the surface, it seems a trivial thing, this competitive tit-for-tat over who has the most blades, or whose razor lights up like a slot machine. But in an age when our lives are increasingly defined by brand allegiance, the issue of whether you shave your face with Gillette or Schick is of considerable – some analysts might say vital – importance.

One reason for this is because men's skin care is the hottest product category in years to hit the otherwise lackluster male grooming industry. And every mass-marketer knows the way to a man’s face is through his beard. So, to the victorious razor manufacturer go the spoils of the burgeoning skin care niche. Industry insiders call this a Trojan-Horse strategy.

Multi-blade Countdown
Trojans and horses aside, the real question of who shaves you better is still open for debate. Gillette may have scored a public relations coup d'etat with its Fusion, but which multi-blade razor is truly the Chin King?

I decided to find out. And not Fusion versus Quattro, which would be boring and predictable; but to set the full numerical spectrum of mass-market razors against itself, regardless of manufacturer. Shaving by numbers.

My test was simple. Acquire a Sensor Excel, Mach3 Turbo, Quattro and Fusion – no "power" razors; the vibration does nothing to improve your shave (though it brings an entirely new sensory dimension to pocket pool). Use each razor for one week, under identical shaving conditions. That is, to shave in my morning shower, with my favorite brush and shave cream, and with one full day's worth of beard growth to challenge each cartridge.

The judging criteria? None, really, and hardly scientific; but I know what feels good and what doesn't. How else do you estimate the comfort of a shave?

The outcome? Not what you might expect. The premise behind any multi-blade razor – that hook on which marketers hang their pitch – is that you use fewer strokes and therefore experience less irritation. So five is better than four, and four is infinitely superior to one. Right?

We'll see.

Gillette Fusion (Five Blades)
I confess the Fusion excited me most, due in no small part to the buzz surrounding its North American debut. With so many guys raving about the Fusion – and because I’m as jelly-kneed-susceptible to viral marketing as the next boob – it seemed the perfect place to start.

As you already know, the Fusion consists of a tightly-packed, five-blade shaving surface and a single "precision trimming blade" on the back, no doubt Gillette's concession to the single-blade wetshaving craze started last year by the weekend edition of MSNBC Today.

The gorgeous "hologram" on Gillette's silly Fusion Web site (www.gillettefusion.com) informs us the blades are placed so closely together to reduce the pressure you apply while shaving – the key to an irritation-free experience. The precision trimming blade is for … well, for precision trimming.

A good thing, too. Contouring a goatee with the Fusion's five-blade shaving surface is very much like shaping a hedge with your lawnmower. That precision trimming blade is at once innovative and unnecessary, depending on how you feel about single-blade razors.

The Fusion offers a remarkably close but only reasonably comfortable shave. It left my skin feeling very smooth and soft, but also noticeably sensitive throughout the day. A vague prickling sensation, not easily identified, but immediately remedied with one application of Brave Soldier Code Blue and two applications of aftershave balm.

According to the Enhanced Indicator® Lubrastrip™ (that green thing at the top of the shaving surface), my cartridge gave up the ghost after precisely five shaves. Not too impressive, even by today's planned-obsolescence standards, but certainly long enough to last a single workweek.

Perhaps Gillette knows men rarely shave on weekends. Clever.

Schick Quattro (Four Blades)
I wanted to love this razor. I really did. The handle itself is beautiful in its design ergonomics – weighty in the hand, nicely arched at the razor head, with a masculine rubberized grip for optimal dexterity in the shower. Plus, I like dark horses … and the idea of Schick sticking it to Gillette for leadership of the men's grooming market – well, what can I say? They got cajones.

Sadly, my first shave with the Quattro felt like I was peeling a potato with a butter knife. I reported as much to my wife that morning, and she told me to give it another try.

Which I did. And a third. And a fourth. By the fifth morning, I'd switched back to my Fusion.

Sorry Schick. Upon careful examination, it appears to me that the Fusion blades are set at a steeper angle relative to the skin's surface. As anyone who's used a straight razor knows, the angle of the dangle is what makes or breaks a comfortable shave. Maybe you should take your Quattro back to formula. It has unrealized potential, Schick, and I have faith in your engineers.

Gillette Mach3 Turbo (Three Blades)
I haven't used a Mach3 since I switched three years ago to a Merkur Futur double edge safety razor. Even then, I was never so much a fan as dutifully keeping up with the changing times.

Three blades. Five blades. To me, the Mach3 and Fusion shaves seem identical. Which either attests to Mach3's status as a true innovation, or tells us the market never needed Fusion.

Perhaps it's a bit of both.

Gillette Sensor Excel (Two Blades)
The question I ask myself is why inferior (i.e. lower blade count) razors still line the shelves at my local pharmacy, when the Fusion is all that and a bag of chips? I mean, if five blades represent the pinnacle of shaving technology, surely the twin-blade razor must be languishing like so much copper landline in a wireless world.

Au contraire. The 1990 Sensor was born of Gillette's 1971 innovation, the Trac II, which it released in response to the commoditization of double edge safety razor blades, and the Atra (1977), which featured the first pivoting head. Sensor Excel (1995) offered spring-loaded twin blades, allowing Gillette to move the blades forward inside the cartridge without slicing their customers' faces to ribbons.

Closer shave, fewer pools of blood. Small wonder the contraption instantly seized a leading 27% of the US market for disposable razors. And while the Mach3 shaving system usurped its kingship a mere three years later, the Sensor Excel remains a perennial favorite among women leg-shavers and in international markets.

Not having used a Sensor Excel in almost a decade, I was instantly taken aback by the comfort of the shave. If pressed, I'd have a hard time differentiating it from the Mach3 or Fusion – save for the narrower profile of the shaving surface, which permits expert trimming and shaping with minimal effort.

The poky handle design, featureless cartridge (What, only one lubrication strip?) and retrograde packaging make the Sensor Excel seem like the Studebaker of mass-market razors. But these deficiencies belie a product that is as equal to the task of shaving without irritation as its richer, more elaborate (and therefore more expensive) successors.

Given the negligible cost and relatively long life of its refills (seven days and counting, as I write this), my vote for best multi-blade razor goes to the Sensor Excel.

My Results?
At the risk of looking like an officious over-achiever, I thought it might be helpful to tabulate the results of my test for easy consumption:

As I said, judging criteria is purely subjective. But the prices come from Drugstore.com, CVS.com, Amazon.com, and a few other reliable sources, so that part of the test can be reproduced under laboratory conditions. If you were so inclined.