"If I had been technically trained, I would have quit, or probably would have never begun."
King Gillette, American businessman
Before the safety razor was invented, the dangers of shaving were evident in the description of the traditional instrument as a "cut-throat" razor. Shaving was a tricky operation, typically carried out by barbers or trusted family members rather than individuals.
To protect the skin while shaving, a Frenchman, Jean-Jacques Perret, introduced one element of the safety razor in the late eighteenth century namely a guard. Inspired by the design of a carpenter's plane, he used a wooden sleeve around the blade so that only the leading edge protruded. However, the first true safety razor, combining both a guard and a removable blade, was introduced in the United States in 1875 by the German Kampfe brothers (Frederick, Richard, and Otto). The Star Razor featured a hoe-type razor with a wedge-shaped blade
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