Philips started with the production of incandescent light bulbs in 1891, then moved on to radio parts and radio development. Considering that radios at the time used vacuum tubes, it is easy to understand this as an application and development of light bulb technology. "Light and Sound" were cutting-edge technologies at the time, and light bulbs and radios were their applied products. So why did they choose electric shavers as their third product? The first Philishave Model 7730 was announced in Utrecht in 1939, with the first six units assembled just a week before the exhibition. The birth of Philishave is marked by the production of the first unit on March 9.

Two important materials were pivotal in the development of Philishave: the Philidyne bicycle generator and Philite, Philips' version of Bakelite, the world's first synthetic resin.

Along with the radios, efficient magnets used in speakers were developed, leading to the creation of the Philidyne bicycle dynamo. The development of the dynamo directly contributed to the know-how for developing small motors. The technology for small, efficient bicycle dynamos was applied to create small motors. Based on this tradition, the motors for Philishave were (with some exceptions) self-manufactured. Philips, which started with the development of incandescent light bulbs, naturally expanded into "bicycle lights" and their "generators" as a company in the Netherlands, where bicycles outnumber the population. Philidyne originally referred to the bicycle dynamo generator itself but was sold as a complete bicycle lighting system, including the lamp.

In 1907, Belgian scientist Leo Baekeland invented the synthetic resin known as Bakelite, the world's first synthetic resin. In 1923, Philips started operating a factory to mold this Bakelite resin, producing radio parts and electrical components. However, the name "Bakelite" was globally trademarked by the Bakelite Corporation, so Philips registered "Philite" as a trademark in 1930 and widely used it for Philips molded products. The Philips Philite factory was the largest plastic molding factory in the Netherlands until around 1940. In 1967, it merged with Philips Metal Works, initially named Philite and Metal Products Factory, later becoming Plastics and Metal Products Factory (PMF), and the name Philite disappeared. Philite required high temperatures and pressures, and continuous operation was necessary to increase production efficiency. Therefore, radio parts and radio cabinets alone could not meet production capacity, and various daily items were molded. Philite-made speakers, cups, plates, bowls, and ashtrays are still treasured as collectible items. Many daily items were molded from Philite even after the war, including toilet seats.

When the prototype head of the Philishave, using the housing of the Zephyr Shaver, was disassembled, both the cutter and cutter guard were almost ready for mass production.

Philips' second-largest business, radio, was skewed towards the autumn season (with the Christmas season being the biggest opportunity), so developing items that could be sold year-round was urgent, and efficient operation of the Philite resin molding factory was essential. To overcome the global depression, new products were needed, and a plan to develop a third item was launched. Electric shavers were cutting-edge household appliances at the time, but the idea of making electric shavers was initially met with skepticism by then-president Anton Philips, who reportedly asked, "Are we becoming barbers?" Initially, there was an option to import and sell the latest electric shavers from the advanced US market, so a representative was sent to the US to conduct market and product research, bringing back a suitcase full of the latest electric shavers. The technical department was asked to investigate these electric shavers, and Alexander Horowitz began to think about whether a faster and safer "shaving" method could be developed. He believed that if a straight blade could be made circular, it would capture hair from all directions, significantly improving shaving efficiency, and that rotary motion would allow continuous cutting without interruption (unlike reciprocating motion, which always stops at both ends of the stroke). He created a prototype with an cutter guard with 48 grooves and an cutter rotating at 10,000 rpm. Based on this, development funds were officially allocated, and Model 7730 was born. However, while there was still internal debate about whether to officially produce it, even Gillette, the top brand of safety razors in the largest market, the US, released an electric shaver. It is said that Philips officially gave the go-ahead for the shaver project in March 1938. The goal was to have it ready for the "Spring Exhibition" in Utrecht in March 1939. The first PHILISHAVE Model 7730 left the production line just a week before the Spring Exhibition on March 9, 1939.

The first Philishave. It had an cutter guard with 48 grooves on a 17mm diameter cylinder and a triangular three-blade cutter made of bronze. The 12 holes around the cutter guard were for beard debris discharge. At the end of 1939, the cutter shape changed from triangular to circular disc shape. At the beginning of 1940, a "Skin Stretching Ring" was added to the outer circumference of the cutter guard, and the cutter material was changed from bronze to steel. At the end of 1940, the cutter became a six-blade, called Philishave 6.

In 1947, the cigar-shaped body became more linear, the cutter guard size increased to 19.5mm with 60 grooves, and the cutter changed from a disc shape to a branched shape that continues to this day. The symbol character "Mr. Steel Beard" was born.

The symbolic character created from the advertising campaign

The 1948 model "IVORY" was released, with a new design featuring a head attached to the side of the body and a bright ivory-colored housing. Nicknamed "Mouse." Attaching the head to the side of the housing improved handling, and from this model onwards, the Philishave head had an angled design. This model marked the full-scale entry into the American market.

The 1948, Nicknamed "Egg." It was very popular, and this design was carried over to the successor Two Header, with many derivative models developed.

The working sample housing of the Two Header Shaver was made of wood.

Six prototypes of two header model were completed during the war, but they were kept top secret until the end of the war, and the actual release was the 1951 Model 7743. Why did it take so long? Naturally, the Two Header required twice as many blades to produce the same number of shavers, necessitating increased production of shaving heads.　In 1950, Drachten in northern Netherlands was chosen from three candidate sites for a new factory.This factory became the center of Philishave development to this day.
Until the Drachten shaver factory was built, radio factory engineers were also responsible for shaver development. Rather, all development seemed to be concentrated in the headquarters development department, and the Two Header was conceived by two engineers from the headquarters design department (Lex Van Dam and Appie van der Lee). The development of the Two Header was not an official project but emerged from the independent activities of these two engineers. With the cooperation of other departments, they completed the working sample, reported it to their superiors, who then reported it to management. They were formally granted permission to produce six working samples, but the details were kept top secret until the end of the war to prevent them from being used by the occupying Nazi forces. Additionally, wartime material controls led to shortages of materials for civilian products, resulting in lower production scales.

Schick and Remington released two-blade models in 1940, but the Netherlands was occupied by Germany in May 1940 and took five years to regain freedom. In that sense, this model can be considered the first to be marketed on a truly global scale (in the new market of America at the time).

American manufacturers had already entered the era of multiple heads before the war (1940s), but Philishave only released the Two Header after the war. The full-scale production of multi-head Philishave began after the Drachten factory started operations, several years after the war. Compared to war-torn Europe, America was the largest market at the time. Philips began activities in America in the 1930s and released the first Model 7730.
In the early 1940s, the American company PHILCO registered "Philips" as a trademark due to the similarity in sound. Unable to use the company name "Philips," they used the initials of North American Philips [Electrical] Company to create the brand "Norelco," which continues to this day. The first shaver officially launched under the Norelco brand was the 1948 "IVORY." In 1951, they introduced the Double Header to the American market, but it was not very successful. A few years later, they renamed the same model "Speedshave," which significantly increased recognition and market share. Subsequently, they adopted new models and features such as the "Floating Head," "Flip-top Head," and the Three Header, focusing advertising on the Christmas sales season to increase market share. Recently, some products have used the Philips brand, but most Americans still think of Norelco as an American shaver, indicating how deeply it has penetrated the American market.

90 grooves + 12 blades, Type HP1912 Telephone hook design HP1126

In 1966, the first three-head shaver Model SC8130 was released. To improve the "fast shaving" feature that made Norelco's Speedshave successful, increasing the number of heads was effective. From then on, the Three Header became the basic model for Philishave. The 1972 model HP1118, known as the "camera look," and the famous 1975 telephone hook (TH) design HP1126 followed. The head with 90 grooves + 12 cutters, called "90 Super 12" (replacement head HP1912), adopted from HP1126, remained a common head for Philishave for a long time.

Trivia: Until the 1980s, Panasonic's shavers had a double header using this "90 Super 12." This is a remnant of when Panasonic sold Philishave as Matsushita Philishave.

Lift & Cut Head HP1915

In 1980, an innovative model of Philishave was introduced. Called Rota80, it followed the concept of the groove blade cutter guard and rotary cutter, creating a new "deep shaving" mechanism called "Double Action" or "Lift and Cut." The head became slightly larger, with the same 90 grooves, but the cutter increased from 12 to 15. The 15 cutters had spring-like lifters that pulled the hair up before cutting, a revolutionary feature. Until the "90 Super 12," the head rotation direction was clockwise, but from the Lift and Cut, it became counterclockwise.

The first rechargeable model was released in 1965. Innovations in rechargeable shavers were directly tied to innovations in rechargeable battery technology. Initially, the charging time was 24 hours, which is hard to believe now, but 8-hour charging was considered "quick charge." Once 8-hour charging (overnight from evening to morning) became standard, quick charge referred to "1 hour." In the 1980s, developments related to rechargeable batteries for shavers continued, addressing the weakness of "rechargeable battery capacity depletion" with features like "charging reminder lamp" and "spare battery switch." The innovation in rechargeable shavers was the "remaining battery display." In 1987, the three-head HS950 featured a five-level remaining battery display. In Japan, the HS470, a Japan-exclusive two-head model, was the first shaver in the world to adopt the "remaining battery display."

In April 1995, cumulative production at the Drachten factory in the Netherlands reached 300 million units. The representative models were the three-head HS990 and the two-head HS485.

In the 1990s, wet shavers like Gillette and Schick launched aggressive campaigns. Gillette, in particular, introduced the "Sensor" model simultaneously worldwide. Many users started using Gillette after receiving samples distributed at major train stations. It is said that a million units were distributed in one campaign. Schick, the top share in Japan, also retaliated with a similar scale of sample distribution. Electric shavers, called dry shavers, lacked the refreshing feeling after using wet shavers with water, soap, or shaving foam. The strategic model to counter this wet shaver offensive was the Philishave "Cool Skin." During shaving, Nivea cream was dispensed from the head to prevent skin irritation, and washing off the cream after shaving provided a refreshing feeling similar to a safety razor. This model also introduced waterproof functionality.

The waterproof and washable features of electric shavers were developed by Japanese shaver manufacturers. Panasonic initially targeted wet shaver users by promoting soap shaving. Do you remember the TV commercial showing shavers being used in public baths? This evolved into a differentiation strategy with the "washable" feature, with rechargeable models that allowed "shaving" and "washing" in a cordless state after charging on a charging stand. Philips adopted an external adapter to lower the voltage between the shaver body and the adapter, achieving "rechargeable AC/DC dual-use" and "washable" functionality. In 1999, the QUADRA ACTION series was released. Quadra Action introduced round hole patterns in part of the head for the first time, and all models were waterproof and washable.

In 2002, the SENSOTEC model introduced a new pattern of cutter guard and cutter with "lifters twice as thick," increasing the amount of hair pulled up (called Super Lift and Cut). It also adopted lithium-ion batteries for the first time in Philishave, achieving very long battery life.

The 2005 Smart Touch model featured a pivoting head that moved to follow the contours of the face. The cutter guard had triple concentric circles (Triple Track), promising faster shaving.

The 2008 model "Arcitec" featured a pivoting head that moved freely, becoming a design accent and creating a unique shape not seen in other models.