Editing Safety razor (section)

=== Early designs ===
The first step towards a safer-to-use razor was the guard razor – also called a straight safety razor – which added a protective guard to a regular [[straight razor]]. The first such razor was most likely invented by French cutler Jean-Jacques Perret circa 1762.{{sfn|Waits|2014|loc=page 5 of the introduction}} The invention was inspired by the [[Plane (tool)|joiner's plane]] and was essentially a straight razor with its blade surrounded by a wooden sleeve.{{sfn|Waits|2013|loc=chapter one: The Cutler and the Lacemaker}} The earliest razor guards had comb-like teeth and could only be attached to one side of a razor; a reversible guard was one of the first improvements made to guard razors.{{sfn|Waits|2014|loc=page 5 of the introduction}}

The basic form of a razor, "the cutting blade of which is at right angles with the handle, and resembles somewhat the form of a common hoe", was first described in a patent application in 1847 by William S. Henson. This also covered a "comb tooth guard or protector" which could be attached both to the hoe form and to a conventional straight razor.{{sfn|Waits|2013|loc=chapter one: The Cutler and the Lacemaker}}

The first attested use of the term "safety razor" is in a patent application for "new and useful improvements in Safety-Razors", filed in May 1880 by Frederic and Otto Kampfe of Brooklyn, New York, and issued the following month. This differed from the Henson design in distancing the blade from the handle by interposing "a hollow metallic blade-holder having a preferably removable handle and a flat plate in front, to which the blade is attached by clips and a pivoted catch, said plate having bars or teeth at its lower edge, and the lower plate having an opening, for the purpose set forth", which is to "insure a smooth bearing for the plate upon the skin, while the teeth or bars will yield sufficiently to allow the razor to sever the hair without danger of cutting the skin."<ref name="1880-patent"/>{{sfn|Waits|2014|loc=page 6 of the introduction}} The Kampfe Brothers produced razors under their own name following the 1880 patent and improved the design in a series of subsequent patents. These models were manufactured under the "Star Safety Razor" brand.

A third pivotal innovation was a safety razor using a disposable double-edge blade for which [[King Camp Gillette]] submitted a patent application in 1901 and was granted in 1904.<ref>{{US patent reference | number = 775134 | y = 1904 | m = November | d = 15 | inventor = King C. Gillette | title = Razor }}</ref> The [[Gillette|Gillette Safety Razor Company]] was awarded a contract to supply the American troops in [[World War I]] with double-edge safety razors as part of their standard field kits (delivering a total of 3.5 million razors and 32 million blades for them). The returning soldiers were permitted to keep that part of their equipment and therefore retained their new shaving habits. The subsequent consumer demand for replacement blades put the shaving industry on course toward its present form with Gillette as a dominant force.{{sfn|McKibben|1998|p=18-22}} Prior to the introduction of the disposable blade, users of safety razors still needed to [[Razor strop|strop]] and [[Sharpening stone|hone]] the edges of their blades. These are not trivial skills (honing frequently being left to a professional) and remained a barrier to the ubiquitous adopting of the "be your own barber" ideal.{{sfn|Waits|2013|loc=p. 264}}

<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Vintage Durham-Duplex Straight Razor, The Blades Men Swear By--Not At, Made In USA (26268173968).jpg|A straight razor that uses exchangeable blades (shavette) with a protective guard
File:US Patent 775134.PNG|[[Gillette (brand)|Gillette]] safety-razor patent drawing
File:Rasierklinge cropped.jpg|A modern double-edge safety razor blade
</gallery>