Glide systems for manual shaving razors

Abstract

Manual razor blade shaving devices each feature a razor head structure with sharpened razor blade strips positioned between a pair of large-area non-shaving pressure-applying pads, called glides. These side-located glides, in combination with front and rear blade guards, provide a razor blade shaving head with an effective skin-shaping and guarding system for safely shaving soft pliable contoured skin surfaces, such as the underarm areas. The glides serve as pressure pads to allow significant non-shaving forces to be applied to the pliable skin and subcutaneous body tissue near the razor-sharp blade edges so as to reshape the skin to be shaved to match more closely the razor blade edge profile. This new razor head architecture thus reduces nicks and scratches in sensitive skin areas, like the underarms, by lowering the forces applied to the skin through the blade edges, while providing for closer shaving. The new razor heads are used with conventional T-bar razor handles and head connection arrangement. Multiple embodiments show glides that are rounded, flat or curved, and formed as part of the blade platform, the cap member or non-shaving base structure. Also, the length of the blade strips may be reduced to promote ease-of-use in contoured areas. The use of large-area non-shaving glides on one or both sides of exposed sharpened razor blade edges creates a new class of wet shaving razor blade devices that can be implemented in a variety of forms, including cartridges, flexible razor blade heads, and curved razor blade heads.