American Safety Razor Company American Safety Razor Company "For the company of the same name that was founded in 1901 and renamed as the Gillette Safety Razor Company, see Gillette (brand)" American Safety Razor Company is a personal care brand founded in the early 20th century (1906) by a merging of the Gem Cutlery Company & Ever-Ready and has been a principal competitor to Gillette for a century and more. Unrelated to the Gillette company which also used the name " 'American Safety Razor Company' " in 1901 until 1904 before it was renamed for its founder, King C. Gillette. The company produces a
Razor honing. The first step towards a safer-to-use razor was the guard razor – also called a straight safety razor – which added a protective guard to a regular straight razor. The first such razor was most likely invented by a French cutler Jean-Jacques Perret circa 1762. The invention was inspired by the joiner's plane and was essentially a straight razor with its blade surrounded by a wooden sleeve. The earliest razor guards had comb-like teeth and could only be attached to one side of a razor; a reversible guard was one of the first improvements made to guard razors. An