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 barber use, some of which have been re-adopted for shaving by modern designs. Until the 1960s, razor blades were made of carbon steel. These were extremely prone to rusting and forced users to change blades frequently. In 1965, the British company Wilkinson Sword began to sell blades made of stainless steel, which did not corrode nearly so quickly and could be used far longer. Wilkinson quickly captured U.S., British and European markets. As a result, American Safety Razor, Gillette and Schick were driven to produce stainless steel blades to compete. Today, almost all razor blades are stainless steel although carbon