 thumb|a selection of low cost safety razors a safety razor is a 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 barbers for providing that service and raising grooming standards. the term was first used in a patent issued in 1880, for a razor in the basic contemporary configuration with a handle attached at right angles to a head in which a removable blade is placed (although this form predated the patent). plastic disposable razors and razors with replaceable disposable blade attachments, often with one to three cutting edges (but sometimes with four and as of recently, five cutting edges), are in common use today. == history == === early designs ===  thumb|one-piece double-edge safety razor thumb|160px|double-edge safety razor blade 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. 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 fredrik 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." 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 that king camp gillette submitted a patent application for in 1901 and was granted in 1904
1880_introductions American_inventions Cutting_tools Hair_removal Shaving