“F--k Everything, We're Doing Five Blades”

Decoder Ring · Apr 19, 2022 · 36m

In the early 2000s, an arms race broke out in the world of men’s shaving. After decades with razors that had only one blade and then decades with razors that had only two, the number of blades rapidly spiraled up and up and up.

It’s a skirmish sometimes referred to as The Razor Blade Wars, and it was a face-off about innovation, competition, capitalism, masculinity, and most of all, how strange things can become after you’ve created something that’s the best a consumer can get — and then you have to keep going.

Some of the voices you’ll hear in this episode include Rebecca Herzig, author of…