I was never a big fan of hi-tech shaving razors. Until I finished my B-school, I generally used double-sided razor blades (remember Supermax?!) and a basic plastic case to hold the blade. I had tried Gillette Presto a few times in my college days (do you recall the famous "saTaa-saT vaah!" ad showing a young boy and his dad trying out the newly introduced twin-blade shaving razor). When I started working after completing my B-school, I felt I should move up to a good quality razor and purchased Gillette Sensor Excel. Although I felt that the cartridges were too costly (at about Rs. 40 each?), I loved using it. Until last year, when I lost the razor handle, and I was left with a box of cartridges without the handle. I scoured several stores in search of Sensor Excel handles, but couldn't find one. In the meantime, I purchased a bunch of use-and-throw razors and used those for a few months.
Last week, finally I gave up my search for Sensor Excel, and decided to buy a new razor. After considering options at Fred Meyer, I finally decided to go with Gillette's latest introduction - Fusion ProGlide. I bought it a bit grudgingly - like Sensor Excel, I felt Fusion ProGlide was a bit too pricey. However, the moment I used it, I was pleasantly surprised; I would say, I was almost stunned! The shave was too smooth! More importantly, I didn't feel that I had shaved. There was absolutely no scratching of the skin. I could almost throw away the after-shave, because with Fusion ProGlide, after-shave is redundant! When I bought the razor, I thought that the 5+1 blades of Fusion were just a marketing gimmick. "They are just adding more and more blades to the razor 'system' hoping to impress consumers. But the trick won't work on me", I thought. But after using it, I am willing to admit that it seems that it (I mean, the razor, not the trick) does work, and it (again, razor) works better.
Now that I am thoroughly impressed by Fusion ProGlide, and will be happy to shell out unjustifiably exorbitant price for the cartridges, I am still pondering over the oft-asked question, "should it cost a world for Gillette to develop a new razor"? Reportedly, Gillette spent $750 million in developing Mach3. R&D costs for Fusion would be on similar scale. No matter how good it is, is such expenditure to modify a petty shaving razor justifiable? I have no answer.
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