While I know that a simple razor can sound boring - the Venus holds a User Experience secret. One that they don’t advertise.
The tip.
Yea I know. It is every bit as exciting as it sounds.
When a woman shaves (or this woman), it needs to happen fast. And what ends up happening is lather, shave, lather, shave. Obvious right?
When a woman switches from left leg to right leg - she usually ends up putting the razor in her mouth while she lathers the 2nd leg. And the end of the Gillette razor is shaped perfectly for a mouth. 1
And I don’t own the Breeze, Embrace, or Swirl, (these names are hilarious). I’m old-fashioned like that. My late 90s-style Gillette Venus Original will always be in vogue. Like those dumb fake Doc Marten’s all the hipsters are wearing. 2
Anyway, every time I shave I picture a simpler time… At a Midwestern company called Proctor & Gamble and the lovely Cincinnati ladies who tested new razor models. These user tests were studied and they realized how simple it would be to solve this (albeit) slightly unsafe problem of putting a sharp razor in your mouth. (I never said it was smart, just efficient)
I imagine the smart 1990s lady execs in their pinstriped pantsuits discussing how to improve the shaving experience for women... "and have any of you seen that new show about 6 friends in New York City on NBC? My favorite is Pheobe."
This moment is always my moment of delight (“hell yea, I don’t have to contort my body to drop my razor, save that for yoga later”) – and that THAT exact thing is why I have used the Gillette Venus since it was released almost 20 years ago. 3
Special thanks goes to those shaving ladies, the P&G executives who made the decision for a secret pacifier shaped tip and my mom for giving me these super sweet gams.
1 My psychologist friend wondered what the connection could be between a razor and a pacifier / nipple. Was I trying to cut off my own womaness to succeed? Detach sexiness from myself to be taken more seriously? Or maybe sever ties to my family because my last name is Teets? And I told him it's these kind of questions that keep him from getting invited to parties.
2 You know they sold the company and now all the boots are made in China, right? Remember back when they were sold with a guarantee? Remember Ethan Hawke? Oh, amazing grunge bliss.
3 Well, a brief scour of the Internet points out that the Venus is the female version of the Mach3, the She-Ra to the uglier He-Man, and the Mach3 came out in 1998. Just like the delightful pacifier-ish tip, they aren’t so keen to brag about when they debuted the Venus.
