"Many a man began to wonder how he had got along without one."
Time magazine
Shaving without soap or water had been the dream of men (and probably some women) for centuries. The traditional "cutthroat" razor had given way to the safety razor in the late nineteenth century, but shaving was still a wet, time-consuming, and delicate operation.
The electric, or dry, razor was patented by the U.S. inventor Jacob Schick (1878-1937) in 1928. Having dabbled with some very unwieldy devices, powered directly by household electricity and large external motors, Schick's most successful innovation was finding a way to house a small but powerful electrical motor inside a handheld shell. The motor drove a sharp, sliding cutter capable of slicing through a beard. All the parts were contained neatly within a Bakelite case.
After a slow start, the first successful Schick electric razor appeared in 1931. As the design improved, sales took off. Although it was doubtful whether the electric razor provided a closer shave than the safety razor, it had clear advantages with no need for water, soap, or cream and liberating the user from the sink.
Later developments included the introduction of a foiled shearing head by the Remington company in 1937 and rotating cutters invented by Alexandre Horowitz of the Philips Laboratories in the Netherlands. The first "Philishave" rotary electric razor appeared in 1939. Battery-powered, cordless razors were introduced in the late 1940s, followed by Remington's first "Lady Shaver" in 1947. The rechargeable battery-powered razor appeared in 1960. Ironically, some recent electric razors have been designed for use with shaving cream.
