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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: 4, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday September 30 2015, @04:36AM
Now that's a dodgy-ass euphemism if I ever heard one. The issue is not the color of the hair but rather the thickness and curliness of it. Or, put more directly, it's about race/ethnicity. You can see the occasional hair salon with a sign that says, "We work with ethnic hair." So that means weaves and extensions along with other methods most commonly associated with African-Americans.
Every pasty-faced White boy who actually has Blacks as friends knows about the shaving issue, which is addressed now with Bump Fighter [images-amazon.com] brand razors targeted to African-Americans. If you've served in the military you probably know that most people who are granted shaving waivers are African in origin. It's an issue of health and hygiene because curly hairs become more readily ingrown.
(Score: 4, Funny) by takyon on Wednesday September 30 2015, @04:39AM
*hairs of color
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 30 2015, @04:54AM
Not sure you're right. Laser hair removal often doesn't work well for people with very light blonde hair.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Jiro on Wednesday September 30 2015, @05:57AM
Laser beams are made of light and one could reasonably think that blonde hair would be harder to cut with a laser than dark hair, so it could genuinely be about hair color.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 30 2015, @07:23AM
That is exactly what it is about. Laser hair removal is significantly less efficacious for blond hairs than for black hairs because black hairs absorb the energy much better. E-fueled is just so racist he thinks everything is about race.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Wednesday September 30 2015, @02:42PM
Speaking of color, I totally understand how a pasty white vampiric complexion guy with dark hair could preferentially burn the hair off. Hows that work if you're a black skinned dude with equally black hair, superficially it would tend to sear skin as the same rate as hair due to similar color, right?
Maybe its some kind of surface area to volume ratio thing where frying off a hair's thickness of skin wouldn't really do much to my skin but would pretty well annihilate a single hair.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 30 2015, @07:24AM
Then again, perhaps it would only kill the hair follicle - which means you wouldn't need to shave that particular hair till the follicle is regenerated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 30 2015, @07:38AM
For laser hair removal it is the dark hair that works like an "optical fibre" - the dark hair absorbs the heat and channels it to the root which then burns out. If you are lucky the root is damaged so much that it won't grow any more hair, but most of the time, especially if your hair is blond, it just burns it enough to make the hair fall out but not enough to permanently injure the root.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 30 2015, @03:04PM
*sigh*
Laser. Laser is light. Hair comes in a variety of colors. Meaning, hair reflects and absorbs different light frequencies differently. I think they meant what they said - it works on hair of all colors. Don't know what color your hair is, nor do I want to know, but have you ever tried to shave someone else? Even with a traditional razor, not all hair acts the same when you start whacking it. I fully expect that different color hair might react differently to some types of laser. Thin, translucent red hairs may or may not react the same as coarse brown hair.
As for Africans, African-Americans, and others who have nappy hair - this product promises to cut their hair just as efficiently as it cuts Euro, Asian, or Native American hair. It makes no claims about those damned irritating shaving bumps, does it? If they've made such a claim, I've missed it. That curly hair is going to grow back just as curly, I would imagine - and be just as likely to become ingrown as if it were cut with a razor.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by penguinoid on Thursday October 01 2015, @03:23AM
Didn't Ethanol-fueled get the memo? All people of all genders and races are exactly the same, except for boob size and melanin content.
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 03 2015, @07:40PM
Although I agree with you and recognize genetic differences, I am obligated on behalf of tumblr to say "Das Rascis". In my country you can be locked up for stating a medical fact if some people think that a particular medical fact is a "Hate Crime". You don't even have to call for violence against anyone, you only need to state a medical fact and you can be arrested. American Style "Freedom of Speech" does not exist here. I'm not looking for permission to spew hatred, I'm only looking for the ability to talk honestly about factual information, not Neo-Nazi garbage. I can actually get questioned over this comment but hopefully I won't. I've taken precautions so my connection is obscured. I wholly expect people to criticize me and dismiss my comment but it is the truth.