Razor’s Back : Shavers Are the Big Item on Father’s Day
On his deathbed, George Washington, the childless father of this country, was bled repeatedly by a zealous barber-surgeon.
While bloodletting is no longer part of most barbers’ routines, continued mistrust of the profession of knife-wielders may have convinced modern fathers to take matters into their own hands--with electric shavers and safety razor blades.
Or perhaps fathers were persuaded to continue trimming their daily stubble by unimaginative mothers and children, whose desperate searches for last-minute Fathers’ Day gifts have netted many men an ocean of after-shave and a scrap yard of shavers.
Whatever the reason, Father’s Day has become a holiday of razors.
At least 15% of the 7 million men’s electric shavers sold annually in the United States are bought from one of the “Big Three” electric shaver companies--Norelco, Remington and Braun--for this single day. With the average shaver selling for about $55, Sunday’s holiday will generate some $60 million in sales.
To capitalize on this seasonal surge, second only to Christmas, producers of electric razors inevitably increase their advertising and introduce new products.
This year, for example, Remington has aired a series of national television commercials, and Braun has launched a $17-million advertising campaign to herald the Father’s Day introduction of its new “Flex Control” shaver, which boasts a pivoting head.
For Braun, a unit of disposable razor maker Gillette Co. that has been on the market only since 1985, that pitch represents a substantial expenditure. Braun had a 1991 market share of 14%, according to estimates by independent market researchers, but Braun says its share was 20% or more.
In this fiercely competitive market, manufacturers agree on very little.
Even the profile of today’s typical shaver--greatly changed since the Roman era, when beards were worn only by slaves, mourners, and philosophers--is a matter of debate.
Braun maintains that blade shavers, who represent 60% of the American men, largely stick to blades.
Maureen Bennett, Braun’s market research manager, therefore maintains that the company’s growth has come at the expense of its competitors, rather than from the conversion of blade users to electric shavers. “Mostly we’re trying to get people who already use an electric shaver,” Bennett said.
On the other hand, Remington Vice President Bruce Gold claims his company has been “very successful at converting blade shavers into electric shavers.”
“That’s why our slogan is, ‘Shaves as close as a blade or your money back,’ ” Gold said.
Perhaps the only thing the two do agree on is the importance of holidays such as Father’s Day to sales. More than half of all electric shavers are now given as presents, which means that companies must sell to the gift-giver as well as to the shaver.
Braun’s President Jorgen Wedel defended the choice of a shaver as a gift. “I don’t think it’s a lack of innovation,” he said. “At the worst time of the day, when you just got out of bed, it’s nice to use a product you appreciate.”
But Wedel, whose “easy access” to new shavers means he uses five or six on a rotating basis, may be one of the few men who says, “My wife thinks I have too many shavers at home.”
Even his collection, however, pales next to that of Ed Jeffers, head of the National Assn. of Barber Boards and founder of the Barber Museum outside of Columbus, Ohio.
A former barber, Jeffers, whose motto used to be “You grow it, I’ll mow it,” now devotes his time to certifying the country’s 180,668 barbers and to displaying his collection of 100 electric and 600 straight razors.
His own attitude toward hair is simple. “Society will now accept you if you have long hair, short hair, or whatever,” he said. “But once a person hits 40, they’re better off to have short hair and a clean face.”
Unmarried, Jeffers has never received any shaving equipment for Father’s Day. He bought his own father’s electric tools, but said he sympathizes with many women’s complaints about shopping for men: “A man--if he needs something, he gets it.”
Afton Alder, president of American Mothers Inc., a 5,000-member organization that selects a Mother-of-the-Year, concurred. “If my husband has any vague idea that he wants something for the garden or for golfing, he just goes out and gets it,” she said.
But Alder’s and other mothers’ concerns about appropriate gifts for fathers are, like the electric shavers they often fall back on, relatively modern.
According to Theodore Kaufman, executive director of the Father’s Day Council, an organization devoted to increasing awareness of the occasion, the holiday was originated in Spokane, Wash., in 1910 by Mrs. John Bruce Dodd. Commemorating Dodd’s own father, a Civil War veteran, it was marked by a simple sermon.
“Now,” said Kaufman, the father of three and grandfather of six, “Father’s Day is an excuse for mother to see father look the way she’d like him to look.”
The Electric Shaver Market
Braun has more than doubled its market share since 1987. The three major producers of electric shavers account for 88% of the national market.
Dollar share of the U.S. market, in percent.
1987 Norelco: 47% Remington: 34% Braun: 6% Other: 13%
1991 Norelco: 48% Remington: 26% Braun: 14% Other: 12% Source: Market Research Surveys
A Brief History of Shaving
“And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard.” -- Ezekiel 5:1
Prehistory: Cave drawings indicate that clam shells, shark’s teeth and sharpened flint were all used to cut hair.
4th Millenium BC: Egyptian pharaohs were buried in their tombs with razors made of copper and solid gold.
6th Century BC: According to the Roman historian Livy, the Roman King Lucius Tarquinius Priscus introduced the metal razor.
5th Century BC: Greek Sicilian barbers arrived on the mainland from Sicily and set up barbershops for free Romans who could not afford slaves to trim their beards. The beard was a symbol of mourning among free men, although Roman philosophers continued to wear them.
400 BC: The King of the Macedonians, Alexander the Great, instructed his soldiers to shave before going into battle so the enemy could not not grab them by their beards.
Early Christianity: Christians forbade beards, thinking them sinful.
1163-1745: Barbers, called “Doctors of the Short Robe,” acted as surgeons as well as beauticians, bleeding patients as part of their treatments. The barber pole, originally striped with red and white, symbolized blood and bandages.
1698: Peter the Great of Russia imposed a special tax on men with beards.
1828: The prototype of the first safety razor, a blade with a guard on one edge, was introduced in Sheffield, England.
1900: The safety razor took first prize at the Worlds Fair, held in Paris.
Early 20th Century: King Camp Gillette invented the first safety razor with a replaceable blade.
1920s: American women began shaving the backs of their necks and their armpits to emulate the dancer Claire Powell.
1928: Jacob Schick, a retired U.S. army colonel, received a patent for the world’s first electric shaver. Sales begin in 1931.
World War II: Khaki-colored safety razors were distributed to all U.S. soldiers. English soldiers were issued straight razors made by Rolls. In the U.S., a shortage of silk stockings led women to begin shaving their legs.
1960s: Several countries introduced stainless steel blades for safety razors.
