Women and men have shaved their hair for thousands of years. Scientists believe that the first shavers or razors were made in 30,000 B.C and were made from flint and that shaving was part of some kind of ritual, body modification and body art. For many primitive tribes, it was considered a form of status symbol and wealth. In 3000BC, there were advancements in metallurgy in countries like Egypt, India and Greece. Because of these advancements, they were able to make permanent and reusable razors. The straight edged razor was not invented until the late 1700's by Benjamin Huntsman. It is a razor that can fold into its own handle like a jack knife but without the spring. This kind of shaver is still used today in most barber shops around the world because it is said that it can give the closest shave compared to other razors. However, very few people use it for personal use because of safety reasons. In the 1800's, the first safety razor was invented. It was a stick shaver that had a blade that can be fitted into a razor guard.
In 1895, King Camp Gillette an idea flashed through his mind about a razor that is safe, inexpensive and had a disposable blade. With the help of William Nickerson, he was able to realize his invention in 1904 and started selling them as the Gillette Safety Razor. During the First World War, Gillette struck a deal with the government to equip soldiers with razors and blades which totaled 3.5 million razors and 32 million blades.
Col. Jacob Schick invented and patented the first electric razor in 1928 and was further developed by a bigger company. Prof. Alexander Horowitz, another important inventor from Philips Laboratories based in the Netherlands, invented the revolving electric razor. The razor that he invented had a shaving head of cutters that cut off hair at the skin level. This new type of razor did not caught until it was feature in a movie in the late 30's.
During the 1950's many companies started selling cheap wholly disposable razors. In the 1970's, razors with disposable cartridges came out. They have twin blades that can cut closer to the skin. Then the three-bladed cartridges came out and just recently, the four bladed cartridges.
In the early years of the electric shaver, it had to be plugged into an electric outlet and can only be used as a dry shaver. Today, most electric shavers are cordless because they have built in rechargeable batteries. Some can be used with shaving creams and even some can be used while taking a shower.
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