Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave • Hacker News Board

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#51

Post by sopooneo » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 5:31 PM UTC

mistercow wrote: post #22

>but instead of making the costly trip abroad, they had Indian students at nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology test the razor. This is one of the hard things about being a tiny startup like P&G with very little capital to spare: you sometimes have to cut costs on little things that turn out to be more important than you thought. A few thousand dollars to fly your employees to India might not seem like much,…

I agree with your point. It seems insane to me to not have someone with a sharp mind and a friendly demeanor just go and travel around rural India for a couple weeks. Hire a guide once you're there. This would be in addition to any formal trials and focus groups. I am constantly amazed at how little importance is place on general, informal acquisition of domain knowledge. You never know what tiny fact is going to be important.

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#52

Post by rayiner » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 5:41 PM UTC

meepmorp wrote: post #16

As an alternative solution to the problem, try growing a long, luxurious, and sexy beard. No unnecessary waste from shaving products, no razor burn, and less time dicking around in the mornings. When it gets too long, take 5 minutes and trim it back.

While I'm on sabbatical from corporate America I've grown a short one and not shaving is amazing. Especially since my hair is stiff and wears out razors quickly.

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#53

Post by rayiner » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 5:43 PM UTC

lnanek2 wrote: post #44

meepmorp wrote: post #16

As an alternative solution to the problem, try growing a long, luxurious, and sexy beard. No unnecessary waste from shaving products, no razor burn, and less time dicking around in the mornings. When it gets too long, take 5 minutes and trim it back.

Not my decision, unfortunately. No girlfriend I've ever had liked beards, and I don't like to sleep alone.

West coast? My wife loves beards and so does nearly every woman I know. Just look at how all the guys in Hollywood have long subble theae days. I feel like close shaves are very 1990's.

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#54

Post by jckt » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 5:46 PM UTC

> They spent 3,000 hours with more than 1,000 consumers at their homes, in stores and in small group discussions. They observed people's routines throughout the day, sometimes staying late into the evening.

Is this really necessary?

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#55

Post by meepmorp » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 5:47 PM UTC

lnanek2 wrote: post #44

meepmorp wrote: post #16

As an alternative solution to the problem, try growing a long, luxurious, and sexy beard. No unnecessary waste from shaving products, no razor burn, and less time dicking around in the mornings. When it gets too long, take 5 minutes and trim it back.

Not my decision, unfortunately. No girlfriend I've ever had liked beards, and I don't like to sleep alone.

You need to step up to better quality women. ;-)

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#56

Post by stevewillows » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 6:27 PM UTC

tlrobinson wrote: post #50

kemayo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bit which really tripped my PR filter was: > To do that, P&G executives would have to attract the nearly 500 million Indians who use double-edged razors, an old fashioned T-shaped razor that has no protective piece of plastic that goes between the blade and the skin when shaving. ...such razors are generally called "safety razors", and unless there's a radically different design in use in India, they're pretty ha…

Maybe I don't know how to use them properly, but I cut myself way more often with safety razors than Gillette style razors.

Slow and with the grain, short strokes with medium temperature water. I've been using one for about two years now and won't ever go back to that multi-blade, whisker tugging nightmare.

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#57

Post by christoph » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 6:31 PM UTC

kemayo wrote: post #36

jblow wrote: post #14

This is a contemptible article. It seems mostly to be a product of PR, and for an American audience it seems intended to perpetuate the cognitive capture regarding razors being things that a lot of thought goes into and that therefore justify high prices. Do the math for how much a razor "should" cost, and ask why you can't buy one for remotely that much at your local Walgreens. Ask why stuff like Dollar Shave Club e…

The bit which really tripped my PR filter was: > To do that, P&G executives would have to attract the nearly 500 million Indians who use double-edged razors, an old fashioned T-shaped razor that has no protective piece of plastic that goes between the blade and the skin when shaving. ...such razors are generally called "safety razors", and unless there's a radically different design in use in India, they're pretty ha…

I invested in one of these recently, along with a badger hair brush, some proper shaving foam, and something like 100 blades from a variety of manufacturers. The total outlay was maybe £50.

I am honestly never going back to a mass manufactured multi-blade type razor again. I get a much better, closer shave and way less rash and burn. It takes longer, but i feel the trade off is well worth it. There is the obvious financial benefit that will more that pay for itself within a couple of years as well. I forget how much a gilette mach whatever blade was, something like £3-5.

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#58

Post by mistercow » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 6:37 PM UTC

masklinn wrote: post #35

mistercow wrote: post #22

>but instead of making the costly trip abroad, they had Indian students at nearby Massachusetts Institute of Technology test the razor. This is one of the hard things about being a tiny startup like P&G with very little capital to spare: you sometimes have to cut costs on little things that turn out to be more important than you thought. A few thousand dollars to fly your employees to India might not seem like much,…

> This is one of the hard things about being a tiny startup like P&G This was during the Vector's R&D circa 2002, Gillette was only bought by P&G in 2005. It's got nothing to do with P&G.

Fair enough, but that doesn't really affect my point.

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#59

Post by j-g-faustus » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 6:38 PM UTC

jblow wrote: post #14

This is a contemptible article. It seems mostly to be a product of PR, and for an American audience it seems intended to perpetuate the cognitive capture regarding razors being things that a lot of thought goes into and that therefore justify high prices. Do the math for how much a razor "should" cost, and ask why you can't buy one for remotely that much at your local Walgreens. Ask why stuff like Dollar Shave Club e…

I've no idea how much a razor "should" cost, perhaps you would enlighten us with your calculations?

If I decided to produce my own razor blades, I suppose I would need to buy an iron mine, a factory to melt the ore to iron, and a factory to turn the iron into razor blades. And presumably hire a few industrial designers or engineers to ensure that I got a nice razor rather than a lousy one.

I've no idea what any of these things cost, so I'll pick a random number and estimate a few hundred million USD.

And say I did all that just to get razor blades for myself, because I thought the market offerings were too expensive.

So my math is: Say $500m to aquire the means of production, an unknown yearly cost to keep them running (so I'll just ignore that part), and a consumption of one razor blade per week or slightly more than 3,000 blades in a lifetime (assuming 60 years, age 17-77, of shaving). According to my calculations, razor blades "should" cost in the neighbourhood of $160,000 per blade.

That's my math. What's yours?

Re: Cheap razor made after P&G watches Indians shave

#60

Post by doorhammer » Sat, Oct 05, 2013, 6:44 PM UTC

christoph wrote: post #57

kemayo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bit which really tripped my PR filter was: > To do that, P&G executives would have to attract the nearly 500 million Indians who use double-edged razors, an old fashioned T-shaped razor that has no protective piece of plastic that goes between the blade and the skin when shaving. ...such razors are generally called "safety razors", and unless there's a radically different design in use in India, they're pretty ha…

I invested in one of these recently, along with a badger hair brush, some proper shaving foam, and something like 100 blades from a variety of manufacturers. The total outlay was maybe £50. I am honestly never going back to a mass manufactured multi-blade type razor again. I get a much better, closer shave and way less rash and burn. It takes longer, but i feel the trade off is well worth it. There is the obvious fin…

I recently started purposefully taking longer to shave and it seems that my quality of shave has gone of pretty dramatically. Granted, I'll usually just be shaving my neck, but I don't get the nicks and burn anymore. ymmv

I've thought about going the safety razor route but there was a span of time where I was travelling almost constantly and, from what I understand, you're not allowed to bring them in your carry on (I don't usually check luggage).

Might give it a shot now that I don't really travel anymore.