Henson Shaving

Our namesake, William Samuel Henson, was a pre-Wright Brothers aviation engineer and inventor. Henson invented the modern form of the razor, the ‘T’ shaped safety razor, and patented it in 1847. While a major improvement on the previous form of the safety razor, additional improvement was needed to make safety razors common and useable for everyone.

In 1901, Gillette combined Henson’s T-shaped safety razor with disposable blades, and produced the modern razor. Since the early 1900’s, the Safety Razor has remained relatively unchanged and the market has more recently become flooded with manufacturers wanting to jump on the eco-trend, with nearly all sending their manufacturing overseas.

As the individuals (who would soon end up starting Henson Shaving) started looking at the options available to partner with manufacturing, the lack of precision with “standard approaches” to manufacturing became frustratingly evident. Most Safety Razors are cast metal then chromed or painted with sloppy tolerances built into the design. Casting and coating thicknesses cannot typically be accurately predicted, so wiggle room is built into the design… but “wiggle room” is not something you want in a razor as it makes for a poor shave. In seeing this lack of precision with several “top rated” razors, the team at Henson Shaving sought out a solution. The result? The Henson AL13 safety razor.