Learning Materials Razor - Storyline Seymour Powell’s quest for a better razor starts with a visit to high street retailer Boots. The designers accept that the new shaving product should appeal to women as well as men. "If I could persuade my wife to stop using my razor that would be a start," says Dick Powell. Craig Farina, head of male grooming products at Boots, describes the challenge as "very difficult, particularly if they want to provide innovative performance". So it proves. As is customary at the start of their projects, the designers convene a meeting of shaving experts to brainstorm ideas. But they soon find themselves going round in circles in trying to combine the smooth shave of a wet razor with the go-anywhere convenience of an electric. In the group is an engineer, a barber, a manufacturer of wet shavers, a representative from the national blade testing centre and an expert on hair growth whose knowledge of follicles stimulates one creative idea. This is to contract each hair muscle electrically and then cut the hair as it stands on end, using a ‘lube tube’ to spray lubricant on the face. Another idea is to use ultrasonic technology to make the blade vibrate at over 20,000 times a second so each bristle receives hundreds of clean cuts in one pass with blade friction dramatically reduced. Seymour Powell take their ultrasonic razor concept to engineer John Bowman, who has developed an ultrasonic knife used in the food industry. But Bowman is pessimistic about their prospects. Finding the right frequency to make a blade vibrate ultrasonically is not straightforward, he tells them. Undaunted, Seymour Powell press on with their idea. They incorporate the ‘lube tube’ concept of spraying a fine mist of lubricant onto the blade. Their wet shaver, which doesn’t need a bathroom, is taking shape. The designers visit Andrew Sant of Cambridge-based development engineers Technology Partnership, a specialist in micro-technologies. He believes the concept is feasible, but despite trying every combination of ultrasonic frequency, he can’t achieve the right chopping action for the blade. He advises Seymour Powell to give up on ultrasonics but suggests that the idea may still work at lower frequencies. Richard and Dick experiment with a synthesiser and by going lower and louder, they find a frequency that cuts hair best. "The opposite to what we thought originally," says Richard Seymour. Creative engineer Paul Ryan, one of the brainstorm group, builds a rough working prototype of the concept with a tiny motor attached to the blade. Its vibration is not as fast as with ultasonics but it is fast enough to give a really clean, smooth shave. Dick Powell is the guinea pig but he emerges from his shave proud and unbloodied. "You can feel it’s cutting. I’m convinced!" But to convince high street giant Boots to take the new razor into development, the designers need to present a much better appearance model showing what it might look like on display in a store. So, against a tight deadline, modelmaker Keith Brooks makes an exact replica of a sleek, smart razor complete with recharger and reservoir for lubricant. He machines separate components as if it was the real thing, and the finished object has the desired effect on Craig Farina at Boots headquarters in Nottingham. Having studied the model and shaved his arm with the working prototype, Farina pronounces the concept worthy of development. "That’s not an unattractive piece of kit either," he adds. Boots is now discussing the development of Seymour Powell razor with a major shaving manufacturer. The company estimates that the new design could be in Boots stores within two years.