Editing Safety razor (section)

{{Short description|Shaving implement}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox tool
| name           = Safety razor
| image          = Parker-76R Safety Razor.jpg
| image size     = 300
| caption        = Double-edge safety razor and blade
| alt            = 
| title          = 
| other_name     = 
| classification = [[Personal grooming]] device
| types          = {{Plainlist|
* single-edge safety razor
* double-edge safety razor
* cartridge razor
* disposable razor
}}
| used_with      = [[Shaving cream]], [[shaving brush]], [[shaving soap]]
| inventor       = {{Plainlist|
* Jean-Jacques Perret (straight razor guard)
* [[King C. Gillette]] (double-edge)
* [[Wilkinson Sword]] (cartridge)
* [[Société Bic]] (disposable)
}}
| manufacturer   = 
| model          = 
| related        = [[Electric shaver]], [[Straight razor]]
}}

A '''safety razor''' is a [[Razor|shaving implement]] with a protective device positioned between the edge of the [[blade]] and the skin. The initial purpose of these protective devices was to reduce the level of skill needed for injury-free [[shaving]], thereby reducing the reliance on professional [[barber]]s.

Protective devices for razors have existed since at least the 1700s: a circa 1762 invention by French cutler Jean-Jacques Perret added a protective guard to a regular [[straight razor]].{{sfn|Waits|2014|loc=page 5 of the introduction}} The first known occurrence of the term "safety razor" is found in a patent from 1880 for a razor in the basic contemporary configuration with a handle in which a removable blade is placed (although this form predated the patent).<ref name="1880-patent"/>{{sfn|Waits|2014|loc=page 6 of the introduction}}

Safety razors were popularized in the 1900s by [[King C. Gillette|King Camp Gillette]]'s invention, the double-edge safety razor. While other safety razors of the time used blades that required [[Razor strop|stropping]] before use and after a time had to be [[Sharpening|honed]] by a cutler, Gillette's razor used a [[disposable]] blade with two sharpened edges. Gillette's invention became the predominant style of razor during and after the [[First World War]], when the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] began issuing Gillette shaving kits to its servicemen.{{sfn|McKibben|1998|p=5-6}}{{sfn|McKibben|1998|p=18-22}}

Since their introduction in the 1970s, cartridge razors and disposable razors – where the blades are embedded in [[plastic]] – have become the predominant types of razors.<ref name="crl-shaving-market"/> In 2010, [[Procter & Gamble]] stated that almost a billion men were shaving with double-edge razors.<ref name="guard-factsheet"/>