Following up on previous coverage, after raising over $4M toward their $160K goal, Kickstarter has suspended funding of the Skarp Laser Razor and cancelled all pledges for violation of Kickstarter rules requiring working prototypes of physical products that are offered as rewards.
From The Register:
KickStarter has suspended funding for the Skarp Laser Razor, a crowdfunded effort to replace conventional razors with a laser-powered shaving implement.
Reg readers have shared a KickStarter communique in which the crowdfunding platform says "we've concluded that it is in violation of our rule requiring working prototypes of physical products that are offered as rewards."
In other words, the Skarp crew doesn't have a working prototype. This video from the project's KickStarter page suggests there is a prototype in existence, but not a very effective one: the device does knock off a few hairs, but is a long way short of the experience of pulling a conventional razor down one's skin and having the majority of hairs beneath the blade cleft.
takyon: Update: The razor has resurfaced on Indiegogo.
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Shaving can be the absolute worst, especially for people with sensitive skin. Razors can leave behind razor burn, ingrown hairs and cuts, and when you've worn down a razor so that it's no longer usable, it joins the others in landfills to the tune of 2 billion razors per year in the US (PDF).
The makers of a new product called the Skarp Laser Razor want to give you an incredibly close, irritation-free shave using lasers. The prototype is an aluminum razor-shaped gizmo that they say uses a laser to cut (not burn) the hair at skin level for a close shave, and works for all hair colors.
Because the laser is supposed to last about 50,000 hours and be usable without water, it would be good for the environment as well.
http://www.cnet.com/news/forget-blades-the-skarp-laser-razor-wants-you-to-shave-with-lasers/
[Kickstarter Campaign]: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skarp/the-skarp-laser-razor-21st-century-shaving
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ikanreed on Tuesday October 13 2015, @08:40PM
Not because denaturing a protein with light is an impossible to solve problem, but because every example of that that I know about in the real world lives in the "ionizing radiation" bands of energy levels. You don't want to spray high-energy ultraviolet or x-rays all over your face every day.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:00PM
Not to mention that it's a ridiculously complicated solution to a long (and inexpensively)solved and well-understood problem.
If this ever gets off the ground (which it won't) it'll be yet another yuppie status symbol shown off inappropriately at regular opportunities.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:04PM
If it worked like they said it does, it could easily save money for most shavers. I could see how it would be less irritating on the skin.
The problem is that they don't have shit that couldn't be reproduced by a rogue Gillette employee in his basement.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Funny) by Hyperturtle on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:15PM
Still, I would like to get a hold of one. If it can melt hair like nair, then imagine what it can do as a magnifryer replacement! You don't need the sun anymore! MUUAHAHAHA
ahem
What I meant is that once these are available to the law abiding public, we will need to redouble our efforts and remain on the lookout for deviant children abusing the tolietries belonging to their parental units--beyond the typical pale that they are wont to do. It is likely that there shall henceforce be even greater uncouth discoveries upon apprehension of such deviancy, I fear.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:24PM
http://www.laserpointersafety.com/news/news/other-news_files/tag-wicked-lasers.php [laserpointersafety.com]
http://laserpointerforums.com/f41/never-buy-form-wicked-lasers-68779.html [laserpointerforums.com]
http://www.dragonlasers.com/ [dragonlasers.com]
Might want to get a green laser for astronomy or confusing drones before they disappear.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2015, @11:38PM
Hyperturtle is feeling kind of... hyper today? :)
(Score: 4, Informative) by SecurityGuy on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:36PM
If it's just about shaving a few bucks off your personal care budget, straight razors cost about the same ($100-$250) as this and last forever if you take care of them.
That's why this thing didn't spark my interest. It's not "is it better than an endless supply of razors (assuming it works)?" Yes, it is. Is it better than a straight razor? Meh. Not to me.
(Score: 2) by jcross on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:29PM
If it worked as badly the prototype in the video, it really would take him all day to shave.
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Wednesday October 14 2015, @11:18PM
No doubt. $30 bucks for a Murker 34c and $8 for a pack of 100 Dorco blades. I highly recommend this. You can get vintage Gillette's tech off eBay for $15. They don't shave as nice as the Murker but they are made of machined stainless steel so they should last your and your sons lifetime, opposed to the Murker which is made of Mazak (cheap chrome plated pot metal that is moulded not machined).
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by jasassin on Wednesday October 14 2015, @11:21PM
Sorry it's zamak.
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday October 16 2015, @08:32AM
It's amazing really. I see those 2000 blade window blind style shavers and they want a pile of money for the blades, yet a safety razor gives a much better shave for next to nothing if you have half a clue what you're doing.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:30PM
Just go thermal.
What they were proposing is basically a laser version of me throwing burgers on the grill and the radiant IR from the coals burning the hair off my arm.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by sudo rm -rf on Wednesday October 14 2015, @07:31AM
That's how roman emperor Nero (and maybe others as well) was shaved. He, being the emperor, could of course not do it himself but he also didn't want someone with a knife at his throat, so he ordered to be shaved with glowing coal.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday October 13 2015, @10:25PM
Laser hair removal has been commercialized for decades, but it's usually semi-permanent, and a little uncomfortable.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by D2 on Tuesday October 13 2015, @10:39PM
Not to split hairs (couldn't resist the cliche), but the difference here is killing follicles vs. cutting whiskers.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Tuesday October 13 2015, @11:35PM
I briefly backed it so I could comment on it.
This is something that I wanted to be real, but the power issue is one that wasn't adequately explained. The laser is something that could work, if they can prevent it from damaging the skin or get in the eye, which is plausible. However, powering it for an entire month on a AAA battery is difficult for me to believe.
Then there's the talk of the chromophores, which was kind of like WTF, and yeah.
As a man who has a beard because current shaving implements aren't sufficient, I'd love for this to work, I would just need some real evidence to buy into it. All the secrecy was problematic for a device that's this revolutionary.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:17PM
I gave up thinking of improvements to shaving technology, when I discovered the electric and wet shavers were sold by the same parent company.
A more useful method, would to have a cream with an enzyme to dissolve hair - of course it would take your nails with it!!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:28PM
You could wear gloves while smearing. Eureka!
I doubt an enzyme face cream would work very fast... this could be tested by applying Drano to your face (contains keritinase). [wired.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by opinionated_science on Wednesday October 14 2015, @11:01AM
you know that's a Darwinian experiment in progress...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:39PM
Wear gloves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:32PM
And no I didn't read the article.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:53PM
The reviewers seem pretty unhappy with it. It looks like it is intended for temporary hair removal by messing with the root, so that it grows back slower. Whereas the Skarp supposedly cuts the hair with the laser because of the "chromophore in the hair that would be cut when hit with a particular light wavelength".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by tftp on Wednesday October 14 2015, @02:16AM
because of the "chromophore in the hair that would be cut when hit with a particular light wavelength".
People had been exposed to all kinds of visible and invisible light, up to and including gamma radiation. Radiation sickness will make you bald - but there are no known cases of safe destruction of grown hair by any light whatsoever.
One would think that a demo would be trivial. Cut a lock of hair, put it in front of a stationary laser with the "right" wavelength and show to all how the beam safely cuts those hairs. Then measure the beam's power. If it is below the limit of safe use, proceed with funding. If above, stop.
Many people wouldn't even mind if the laser is in a 1 cu. ft. box in the corner, and the handle is connected to it with a fiber. It's OK for home use or hair salon use. The trick is in proving that light can cut hairs but cannot cut your skin and bones. Quite a few science-minded people are skeptical.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 13 2015, @09:57PM
I just opened the Indiegogo page. They have a flexible funding goal (which can be a red flag) but they have already raised $159,455 of $160,000 in 15 hours. So they will meet their goal and hundreds of people will be able to let us know if it was a scam in March 2016 (pretty aggressive ship date for no working prototype!).
As someone else said, wait 2 years, and there will be a $50 knockoff of the Skarp that works just as well.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Wednesday October 14 2015, @12:05AM
I'll buy it for whatever price they charge when it comes out. Assuming that it actually works as advertised.
That being said, I'm not saving my money for it because it's not going to happen any time soon. The idea is OK, I just don't think they can produce it so soon.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Zz9zZ on Tuesday October 13 2015, @10:00PM
Geeks with frickin LASER BEAMS attached to their heads!
Now we can enjoy the freshest sea bass cooked mere moments before entering our mouths.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 5, Touché) by Tork on Tuesday October 13 2015, @10:40PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday October 13 2015, @10:16PM
The Skarp may take the cake, but if you hunt through kickstarter you will see many proposals for razors. Typically they mimic the classic DE safety razor, which you can get for 5 bucks on Amazon.
I will give credit for one thing with the Skarp. The proposal does eliminate the need for blades, thereby undermining the entire horrible razor blade business model. Unless of course they had a custom battery that you need to buy.
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday October 13 2015, @10:53PM
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday October 14 2015, @01:55AM
I bought two of these things about 30 years ago. Still using 'em. One has a broken foil latch. The other one's battery died, and I now jack power into it from an external 18650 cell.
These were the ones with "420/U" stamped into the foil.
Best damm shaver I have ever had. So friggen simple. Typical German engineering - Could not be more elegantly designed. The line powered one ran on a simple electromagnet driving a spring-loaded mechanically resonant blade holder... the battery version had a little DC motor.
I wish they would start making them again. Every shaver I have used since then had just been a royal pain to use. Either have to make dozens of passes, or have it snag, bind, and yank. One day, I will have enough things break I can no longer keep one shaver operational. I have a few others, but really hate to mess with them.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by engblom on Wednesday October 14 2015, @05:55AM
They have a prototype but it hardly shaves at all. You probably could find the video still on youtube. They had to go over one single hair several times before it was cut.
Now, lets assume they would actually get a working laser that could instantly cut one single hair. Still we would have serious problems:
- First, if you have a dense beard, the first hair hit by the laser will create a shadow. Unless that hair is instantly falling away, the laser beam will not hit the other hair
- Second, you can not glide on a laser in the same way as you can glide on a blade. You will have difficulties to keep the laser exactly at level with the skin. There is a big chance you either will lift the laser leaving stubble behind or you will push the laser into the skin, shaving nothing. They would need really many laser beams in parallel to solve this and then an AAA battery would definitely not be enough.
Considering they plan to have the product both developed and produced until Mars 2016 and no working prototype, this is going to fail big.
(Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday October 14 2015, @10:32AM
They would need really many laser beams in parallel
Fuck it... we're doing five lasers [theonion.com].
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday October 14 2015, @10:17AM
1. Put ridiculously outlandish sci-fi product idea on Kickstarter
2. Get suspended from Kickstarter and make the news
3. Put product on Indiegogo
4. Raise $160,000 in 15 hours
...
x. Bahamas!
systemd is Roko's Basilisk