Razor razors were the most common form of shaving before the 20th century and remained common in many countries until the 1950s. Barbers were specially trained to give customers a thorough and quick shave, and a collection of straight razors ready for use was a common sight in most barbershops. Barbers still have them, but they use them less often. Straight razors eventually fell out of fashion. Their first challenger was manufactured by King C. Gillette: a double-edged safety razor with replaceable blades. Gillette's idea was the use of the "loss leader" concept, in which the razors were sold at a
Safety razor and inaccurate". Safety razors originally had an edge protected by a comb patterned on various types of protective guards that had been affixed to open-blade straight razors during the preceding decades. To maintain their cutting action, razors can be stropped using an old piece of jeans. Safety razors are usually made of razor steel which is a low chromium stainless steel which can be made extremely sharp, but corrodes relatively easily. Safety razor life may be extended by drying the blades after use. Salts from human skin also tend to corrode the blades, but washing and carefully drying them can