Skarp Technologies just created a laser blade that will probably soon replace the old-school method of shaving. The “razor” is called Skarp Blade.
Skarp is planning to make their blade available to everyone. The machine will be called Skarp Blade. The project was initiated just a week before this post, on September 21. Skarp Technologies raised so far more than $790,000 only from foundations, much more than their initial goal of $160,000.
Skarp was concerned that people in the United States alone throw out about 2 billion blades a year. Blades cannot be recycled, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Most of the blades just end up taking space in garbage dumps. Not only that blades razor blades cannot be disposed of properly, but their shaving efficacy is limited, and they can cause rashes, cuts and ingrown hair.
To help us get rid of the old-school shaving methods, researchers at the company have created their own razor blade, one that actually uses lasers. It is 2015, so why not?
According to Skarp Technologies, the Skarp Blade will no only help reducing global waste, but also cause no irritation and it will shave just far more smoothly than normal blades. The leading scientists of the projects were Paul Binun and Morgan Gustavsson.
Morgan Gustavsson is known for inventing the Intense Pulsed Light, which is the most common and advanced procedure of hair removal available. This was in 1989. Gustavsson worked in the laser industry for decades, but the idea of creating a razor that is based on lasers has only occurred to him in 2001. Unfortunatedly, Gustavsson had to wait more than a decade to make his dream happen, because the technology was not yet available.
Many types of lasers were created during the last decade, but not all of them had the capability to cut hair of any color. For instance, in 2001 we had the technology to cut dark hair, but the wavelengths were not powerful enough to handle hair of other colors. The technology was invented in 2009, and Gustavsson and Binun joined their efforts in order to implement it in a razor blade.
Four years later. They founded Skarp Technologies, and they have developed a blade that can cut through any hair. The wavelengths eliminates a molecule that can only be found in our hair – chromophore. The laser will basically melt the hair from skin’s surface. That makes the shaving more pleasant than ever, because traditional blades tend to cut hair at a diagonal angle.
Skarp is water resistant and the laser has a lifetime of 5-to-6 years, the device also uses convenient AAA batteries. The company is currently approached by a large number of manufacturers. So, chances are that the Skarp Blade will be found in stores by the end of the next couple of years.
Photo credits: Shavingguide
