Scratch, scrape and ouch. Ugh... every morning...

It's not much of a mystery - we're talking about shaving.

There' something vaguely odd and amusing about shaving. Let's picture a small, smart, and slightly less hairy monkey - proud of his slight blush of evolution - and a bit smug in the knowing he has risen above other animals. It's morning - and the sun as well has risen - only just. And so there stands monkey-boy, barely awake, squinting into the light and looking at his reflection in the mirror as he holds a very sharp knife to his own throat.

The recently closed twentieth century has without a doubt seen more innovations for how a man can scrape his face free of hair than any other hundred year period. And during this last hundred years, advertisers and marketing experts have been trying to sell men a variety of ways to manage the removal of hair from their chins in a variety of weird and wonderful ways.

What's a guy to do?

First the history

There are claims that ancient cave paintings show beardless men using tools ranging from what appear to be clam-shell tweezers through to sharpened shark teeth for removing hair. We may never know the full truth. However, Egyptian tombs have contained examples of metal razors made of gold and copper. We also know that at various times in the past a man's beard has been encouraged and discouraged, looked upon as a sign of wisdom, or a mark of disrepute. It's said that Alexander the Great (shown in our graphic so wonderfuly clean-shaven, charging into battle astride his horse) insisted that his troops shave their beards so that their enemies could not grab them during combat. And despite however, strange, a variety of European coutnries have imposed taxes on beards during the last few hundred years.

Getting to the 'point'

Walking into any modern shop which sells tools to help men shave their beards, we'll see that there are a number of options available to achieve the goal of a baby-smooth chin. Generally, the the furry fellow is presented with an arsenal of different blade varieties, some expensive, some very cheap - or a number of electrically powered devices. There they gleam - awaiting trial and judgement by the brave man willing to test the benefits of each - and who has perhaps prepared for failure by knowing own his blood-type beforehand - and the route to the nearest hospital.

The cut throat razor - or straight razor

In appearance at least, it doesn't instantly look more sophisticated then a big knife. It's the type of razor that we see cowboys shaving with in Western style movies. On goes the foam, out comes the big blade, and everything gets scraped off... foam, water, beard.

The 'safety' razor

This style of razor had been around for about 80 years - but in 1909 a man with the flowery name of King Camp Gilette improved on the original by innovating a method by which the thin metal blade could be mass-produced very cheaply. The Safety Razor worked by allowing a thin metal blade to be pinched tightly between two hard frames - like a 'knife sandwich'. The actual cutting blade only protruded a tiny bit past the edge of the hard frames which held it on each side - and thus, prevented deep cuts which were possible when using the straight razor.

The Cartridge Razor

In the 1970's the Cartridge Razor appeared on the shaving scene. Essentially, it was in principle, the same as a Safety Razor. The only difference to the consumer was that they could very quickly change cartridges and didn't have to fuss with carefully removing and disposing of the thin metal blade. The cartridge razor contained at first a single shaving blade which was held in place by a plastic frame. The Cartridge Razor is still hugely popular, but has now evolved to a dizzying five blade model!

The Electric Razor

Electric razors first appeared in the early 1940's. Growing in popularity over the years, they all worked roughly on the same principle. An 'oscillating' or vibrating set of blades were run at high speed next to a grate, or 'foil' through which the hair protruded - or rotating blades chopped the hairs off as they poked through a similar round foil. Until recently, the electric razor offered what was known as a 'dry' shave - as it didn't require any lubricants or foam on the beard prior to chopping it off. Recently, improvements in technology have allowed manufacturers to offer an electric razor which can be used with a lubricant or gel on the face.

So... we know what the different types of razor are. Which is best?....