King Camp Gillette was born in Fond du Lac,  Wisconsin in 1855 and became a traveling salesman to support himself when the family's home was destroyed in the Chicago Fire in 1871.

In 1895, after several years of considering and rejecting possible inventions, Gillette suddenly had a brilliant idea while shaving one morning. He had in mind, an entirely new razor, one that was safe, inexpensive and had a disposable blade.

It took his idea six years to evolve.Technical experts said that it was impossible at that time to produce steel that was hard, thin and inexpensive enough for commercial development of the   disposable razor blade. Then in 1901, William Nickerson agreed to try.

By 1903, he succeeded. The Gillette Safety Razor Company started operations in South Boston and grew steadily, During World War I, the U.S Government issued Gillette safety razors to the entire armed forces. By the end of the war, some 3.5 million razors and 32 million blades were put into military hands, thereby converting an entire nation to the Gillette safety razor.

Ever since Gillette inception plenty of new big safety razor brand names have appeared and there’s more choice than ever on the market, read about the various safety razors here.