UPDATE: The prototype has been deemed kinda shitty by Kickstarter. Skarp is now on Indiegogo.
I am not sure when the trend of “we need to fix shaving” started but its been in full swing for a long time now. While some companies continue the strategy of “more blades!” others are competing on price and delivery methods, we see examples of subscriptions services for cheap blade and supply delivery in companies like Dollar Shave Club and Harry’s.
Then comes along Skarp Technologies, hoping to fix shaving in a surprising way. Skarp offers to put a laser powered razor in the hands of the bearded across the globe and frankly, I’m terrified.
We’ve all heard of laser hair removal and the Skarp is an extension of that concept. Fitting then that it would be developed by cosmetics industry veteran, the very clean shaven Morgan Gustavsson.
Gustavvson leads the product introduction video and discusses the technology that goes into the Skarp razor while the video shows us shots of big lasers and burning hair. This is the part that makes me uneasy. Watching the hair seemingly burn away from the guys arm makes it hard to believe them when they say “it doesn’t burn!”.
My fear of facial burning aside, the Skarp does really offer to change the shaving industry in the form of environmental impact. In the video they rightly point out that disposable razors create a tremendous amount of waste, and the Skarp offers to last through 50,000 hours of use. That’s definitely a benefit of this technology, especially if you consider that by shaving 30 minutes everyday with the Skarp it will last you over 11 years.
For someone like me, who wears a beard and shaves infrequently, this razor should last me much, much longer. Of course it comes with an upfront cost higher than your average razor ($189) and requires one AAA battery to operate, but the long term savings seem to make it worthwhile.
Plenty of people seem to agree that this technology is worthwhile as the Skarp Kickstarter campaign has managed to raise a whopping $3 million, well past their goal of $160k. If you want to be a part of the shaving revolution check out the Kickstarter. My only concern is why do so many of them have beards?
Well, I suppose that answers that.
