Men drawn to shaving wars

For the closest shave, use your grandpa's method

There's a battle going on over men's faces. And much is at stake in the shaving wars.

Fewer than one in 10 U.S. males wears a beard, while the rest of us spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on blades and razors for this exclusively male face-defining ritual.

The rhetoric among the shave-obsessed factions can get sharp. Just listen to Raleigh barber Richard Creech on the hugely successful multi-blade razors.

"Once the first blade is dull, it doesn't matter how many more are behind it," Creech said the other day at Man-Mur, his workplace on Hillsborough Street. "It'll still pull."

And don't even mention electric shavers. People who use those are summarily dismissed.

"They are not worried about a quality shave," said California razor-blade revivalist Michael Ham, author of the self-published "Leisureguy's Guide to Gourmet Shaving: Shaving Made Enjoyable."

In a looks-dominated society where dermatology is one of the hottest medical specialties, anything that makes a man come across smoother stands out amid lots of competition. And in this politics-soaked year, it's worth remembering that in an election cycle long ago, the U.S. presidency may have been lost to a dull blade.

"He didn't understand how important it was," Ham, 68, said sadly of Richard Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow during his 1960 debate with a younger and clean-shaven John F. Kennedy.

Keen competition

In a war of swords, shaving giants Gillette and Schick are locked in a technical, marketing and legal duel over who can sell the most products.

Each seeks to win over a worldwide "shaverati," as they pursue the best shave possible. People consult blogs and Web sites, frequent specialty marketers, and search for razor manufacturers in a dozen foreign countries.

It would seem that the closeness of a shave shouldn't be a matter of debate. Isn't it possible to measure whiskers before and after shaving in some scientific test?

There must be some data behind claims such as this one from Gillette: "The Fusion will give your face the cleanest, closest, and most comfortable shave you'll have ever experienced."

Neither Gillette, the market leader, nor Schick responded to requests for the basis of their claims.

But deep in federal court records, it seems that the companies do get down to measuring micrometers of whisker length, if sometimes only as part of litigation. In 2005, Schick carried out its own tests to successfully challenge Gillette's claim that its M3Power razor caused facial hairs to "stand up," producing a better shave.

"Schick's study took place over three days and included 37 test subjects," a verdict in Schick's favor said. "With respect to each test subject, twenty hairs were measured before and after strokes with an M3 Power razor." Science did not support Gillette's "stand-up" claim, the court found.

The straight truth

For all the fancy marketing, the basic idea for a shaving tool hasn't evolved all that much.

Straight razors date to at least 3000 BC, to copper razors found in India and Egypt, and they remain in vogue today as a specialty item. Modern straight razors are usually handles that have replacement blades inserted into them, rather than a single blade requiring regular honing.

"Nobody uses the kind that you strop any more," said Creech, the Man-Mur barber, marking the change down to hygienic concerns.

Creech can and does still shave customers with a straight razor. Best customers for that luxurious, complicated rite tend to be men in wedding parties, who sometimes come in en masse to get a super-smooth look for the ceremonies.