Why No Innovation?

Isaac Asimov described a futuristic shaving system in his book ' The Naked Sun' (A great SciFi book, by the way). In it the shaving instrument released tiny bubbles that attached to the whiskers and then chemically (I guess) removed them. I'm relying on my memory of a book I last read decades ago, so forgive me if I'm a little vague on the exact scene.

This is certainly pretty possible - hair removal treatments are available now, but getting the specificity of the chemical agent may take some work. I envision a biochemical agent (an enzyme) with a specificity for cleaving hair keratin specifically, that will not affect the skin. Also the mode of delivery will have to be very accurate, as you don't want to lose your head hair.

Current hair removal chemicals are not always gentle on the skin. It should be possible to get them to be more specific and deliver them accurately. This certainly could make facial hair removal more accessible.

Still, I'm not sure I want to give up my straights.

a razor is a razor...it can only be designed so many ways.  most people simply improve on previous iterations of a design that's already in the market.

WE live in a world where anything is called innovationg. Change the color of the handle and youll be called a hero of design, and get to charge twice as much for it.


But since I started perusing shaving forums. the main fret was that it was impossible to design an adjustable razor that could be made at a price point that could be sold for less then what a standard merkur 3 or 2 piece DE razor currently sells for.

SO I set out and came up with the design. Yes its an improvement because the adjustment system attaches to traditional razors that were first patented in 1904. But the innovation comes in the fact that if I wanted to release the plans, anyone on this forum could make own in their garage or basement if they had enough hand tool knowledge.

If you partnered up with Baili or Rimei or Weishi or Ming Shi in china, and using my thoughts and observations. You could produce a really nice nearly identical copy of the SLIM in STAINLESS that could retail for under 50$ and give you a rough 20-30 dollar profit simply based on international shipping and shipping taxes.

When a true innovator like me comes along, there are not many people who get happy

It seems that people have many definitions of "innovation" - its a bit of a buzz word nowadays in corporate circles. There are Vice Presidents of Innovation out there and I'm sure if you were to see their performance metrics there'd be little content that most would consider innovation. Increase profits, make the company look hip and cool by appearing to embrace innovation. Apple innovates but not that many others, at least companies with a profile.

Innovation can be economic as you discuss, bring a functional, adjustable razor to market at/below a certain price point and still earn a profit. Design innovation in the razor space seems to focus on embellishments rather than functional features. Cool scrolled handles in exotic materials for instance. I'd be interested to see your line of razors for persons with disabilities - earlier in this thread I touched on that as I had just undergone shoulder surgery at the time and was 5 weeks in a sling and several more weeks beyond that being functional unable to shave with my right hand - I grew a beard. But during that time I was acutely aware of the challenges faced by persons with only one arm/hand, especially if they'd lost their dominant limb. What about ergonomic razor handles that can be held steadily by someone with difficulty gripping because of age or disability? What about a device that can help train your non-dominant hand to function as well as your dominant hand? Isn't it all about laying down neural pathways? There must be some way to accelerate that process. I have to tell you it was frustrating doing things with my left hand, basic things we all take for granted. I think this is a product space that has potential.

Have you looked at the crowd funding/kickstarter websites as a means of financing your innovations? You're able to access a broader cross section of potential backers and if your product is good or has promise theres a good chance that you can be successful. Heck, I look at the Rockwell story and those guys made every mistake it was possible to make and then some in their first campaign and if they'd been working with their own money or traditional financing sources they'd have been dead in the water very early on but, the power of other people's money without strings enabled them to power through and their ultimate product, the Rockwell 6s is excellent. It could be cheaper but otherwise a great razor.

Minuteshaver don't give up. Persevere and power through all the naysayers and defeats because no defeat is final unless you give up. I know that may sound hokey to many people but they are words to live by - in the words of Rocky Balboa "life will beat you down if you let it..."
Marko

a razor is a razor...it can only be designed so many ways.  most people simply improve on previous iterations of a design that's already in the market.

WE live in a world where anything is called innovationg. Change the color of the handle and youll be called a hero of design, and get to charge twice as much for it.


But since I started perusing shaving forums. the main fret was that it was impossible to design an adjustable razor that could be made at a price point that could be sold for less then what a standard merkur 3 or 2 piece DE razor currently sells for.

SO I set out and came up with the design. Yes its an improvement because the adjustment system attaches to traditional razors that were first patented in 1904. But the innovation comes in the fact that if I wanted to release the plans, anyone on this forum could make own in their garage or basement if they had enough hand tool knowledge.

If you partnered up with Baili or Rimei or Weishi or Ming Shi in china, and using my thoughts and observations. You could produce a really nice nearly identical copy of the SLIM in STAINLESS that could retail for under 50$ and give you a rough 20-30 dollar profit simply based on international shipping and shipping taxes.

When a true innovator like me comes along, there are not many people who get happy

It seems that people have many definitions of "innovation" - its a bit of a buzz word nowadays in corporate circles.  There are Vice Presidents of Innovation out there and I'm sure if you were to see their performance metrics there'd be little content that most would consider innovation.  Increase profits, make the company look hip and cool by appearing to embrace innovation.  Apple innovates but not that many others, at least companies with a profile.

Innovation can be economic as you discuss, bring a functional, adjustable razor to market at/below a certain price point and still earn a profit.  Design innovation in the razor space seems to focus on embellishments rather than functional features.  Cool scrolled handles in exotic materials for instance.  I'd be interested to see your line of razors for persons with disabilities - earlier in this thread I touched on that as I had just undergone shoulder surgery at the time and was 5 weeks in a sling and several more weeks beyond that being functional unable to shave with my right hand - I grew a beard.  But during that time I was acutely aware of the challenges faced by persons with only one arm/hand, especially if they'd lost their dominant limb.  What about ergonomic razor handles that can be held steadily by someone with difficulty gripping because of age or disability?  What about a device that can help train your non-dominant hand to function as well as your dominant hand?  Isn't it all about laying down neural pathways?  There must be some way to accelerate that process.  I have to tell you it was frustrating doing things with my left hand, basic things we all take for granted.  I think this is a product space that has potential.

Have you looked at the crowd funding/kickstarter websites as a means of financing your innovations?  You're able to access a broader cross section of potential backers and if your product is good or has promise theres a good chance that you can be successful.  Heck, I look at the Rockwell story and those guys made every mistake it was possible to make and then some in their first campaign and if they'd been working with their own money or traditional financing sources they'd have been dead in the water very early on but, the power of other people's money without strings enabled them to power through and their ultimate product, the Rockwell 6s is excellent.  It could be cheaper but otherwise a great razor.

Minuteshaver don't give up.  Persevere and power through all the naysayers and defeats because no defeat is final unless you give up.  I know that may sound hokey to many people but they are words to live by - in the words of Rocky Balboa "life will beat you down if you let it..."
Marko

I have tried talking with the Rocnel folks, they take pride in having their adjustable razor designed FOR them by an independent design company located in Canada. But they have no interest in a new comer with new design ideas. Particular if those ideas can undercut them by 80%.

I haven't been able to get a response from other smaller companies like Rocnel, Barboros, and so forth. I did get a small reply from the man who is Wolfman Razors, I even gave him a thought on how to make his production of razors 40 % easier just by making a change to the studs. But because I had no experience in using or maintaining the brand of cnc machine he has, he had no interest in what I said to him.

The kick starter thing has no interest for me. Although razors get popular interest on them, even things that have no chance at all of being buildable, I have no interest for kickstarter or gofundme stuff.

Their business model and its associated rules of bank account linking and so forth, raised to many flags with me. A simple thing of showing pictures and a business idea should not have more fincancial requirements than a home loan.

The whole world of disabled shavers is the most untapped market of all. Its actually a bigger market then Viagra, or home pregnancy tests the month after prom. Far to many people use electrics because they cant control a razor by hand, wrist, arm issues.

Ive discussed it before on the shaving room, and a good number of folks simply have the issue of not being able to simply hold the top cap and razor blade together in a manner that is safe for them to screw the handle in. I have good solutions for that. I have easy things. Complex things. Its a matter of development cost.

At this stage I merely need a ram upgrade, a copy of turbocad, and a new monitor for my pc. And some cash for purchasing supplies. Namely some low cost razors I can mutilate.

DE blades are much different than when I first started shaving. Almost all the blade sold today have some sort of coating on then. I am not sure if that is an improvement or not.
When I watched my Dad shave in the old days, he would remove the blade rinse it off and after cleaning the razor, dry the blade and return it to his razor for the next day.
With the coated blades you are advised to now wipe them and with the full bodied soaps of today, even a rinse in running water is not enough to clean some of the soap that remains.

As for why DE blades are still around, its kind of like Window$ , most people realize it is a putz system but the user base is so broad that it is the mainstay of operating systems, even though it if far from the best.

ANother aspect of innovation is that people only want innovation that creates products with bragging rights. Make a titanium double ring copy, youll get more sales that Gillette got for techs.

When you come up with an item that is as good as the originals, is as good as anything made today, and costs less, almost as little as some originals sell for on ebay,,,, you make enemies.

Its easy to parade around a forum waving a wolfman or traderre open comb razor, but not with a 3 dollar razor.