Shaving with an Electric Razor

 

Translated and adapted by Rav Eliezer Kwass

 

INTRODUCTION

 

     The Torah (Vayikra 19:27) prohibits "destroying the corners" of one's beard.  The word "destroying" (hashchata) is explained in the Oral Law as referring to shaving down to the skin with a razor blade.  Before modern times, a Jew who wanted to follow the halakha but did not want a beard would either have to remove his facial hair with (sometimes painful) cream or try his best to get a close shave using scissors (which is permitted according to many authorities, though some forbid it - see below).

 

     The invention of the modern electric shaver challenges the halakhist to clarify the distinction between the prohibited razor and the permitted scissors.  A group of modern poskim were presented with this question and many prohibited the use of electric shavers to achieve a close shave.  Others permit its use, and among some segments of the observant community shaving with an electric razor is common practice.

 

     The following article is an attempt to clarify the distinction between shaving with a razor and shaving with scissors, and then to apply it to some of the electric shavers on the market at the time the article was written (1989).  [One would obviously have to re-examine shavers in today's market.]  It does not include a summary of responsa literature on the topic.

 

     Several years ago, the first section of an article of mine about shaving with an electric razor appeared in Daf Kesher (#66, Cheshvan 5747, vol. 1, pp. 261-265).  That article dealt with the difference between shaving with a razor blade ("ta'ar"), which is biblically prohibited (Vayikra 19:27), and shaving with scissors ("misparayim ke-ein ta'ar"), which many poskim, among them the Shulchan Arukh and Rema (YD 181:10), permit.

 

     I came to two conclusions:

1. The reason for the permissibility of scissors is not that they cannot achieve the RESULTS that a razor blade can, but because the shaving PROCESS involved is different.  Even if someone would invent a pair of scissors that could shave as close as a razor, it would still be permitted to shave with it.  According to the poskim (especially the Maharshal in Yam Shel Shlomo, Yevamot 12:17), the process of cutting one's beard with a scissors is by definition excluded from the prohibition.

 

     The Talmud derives from one phrase that the biblical prohibition against shaving one's beard does not apply to plucking it out, and from another it learns that the prohibition does not apply to using scissors.  If shaving the beard with scissors is permitted only because it is an abnormal method, why the need for a second derivation?  Apparently, I reasoned, PLUCKING is abnormal, while using SCISSORS, though a normal enough method for shaving, is a different process than that of using a razor and is permitted for that reason.

 

2. The prohibition of shaving the corners of one's beard differs from the prohibition of a man removing hair in a feminine way, which is one aspect of the injunction, "Lo yilbash" - "A man should not wear a woman's clothes" (Devarim 22:5).  Scissors are excluded from both prohibitions, but for different reasons.  The removal of a man's hair in the manner of "lo yilbash" would be permitted with scissors, because it is irregular for a woman to remove bodily hair with scissors.  On the other hand, for a man to use scissors to remove his beard is normal, but it is permitted because it does not involve destroying the beard ("hashchata").

 

     Because a woman is interested in totally removing hair for the sake of beauty, she usually uses a razor.  Therefore, even though there may not be a recognizable difference between a razor and scissors, only a razor is biblically prohibited.  But because scissors can achieve similar results, they are prohibited by a rabbinic decree.

 

     I closed that article with the following promise, which I now intend to keep: "What remains to be explained is what, ultimately, is the difference between shaving with a razor ("ta'ar") and shaving with scissors ("misparayim ke-ein ta'ar").  Though there is not necessarily a difference between the RESULTS achieved by the two, the PROCESS involved differs, and one who wants to remove hair completely usually uses a razor.  In a subsequent article, I will clarify this and its ramifications for the issue of shaving with electric razors."

 

RAZORS VS. SCISSORS

 

     The following is an attempt to clarify the distinction between a razor and scissors.  We can then determine whether an electric razor is included in the definition of a razor ("ta'ar").

 

     Experience shows that the sharper a razor is, the more easily and efficiently it removes body hair.  In order to cut something, one requires resistance to the knife and support for the object that is being cut.  One has to cut AGAINST something.  A piece of paper held in the air cannot be cut; the paper will simply move with the knife but will not be cut  because there is nothing exerting pressure on the paper to stop it from moving.  However, experimenting with a number of knives of various sharpness shows that SHARPER knives cut paper held in the air fairly easily, while duller ones just move the paper without cutting it.  The reason for this is that very sharp knives can cut using a minimal amount of pressure and therefore require very little resistance in order to cut.  Very dull knives need a good deal of pressure to cut and therefore a good deal of counter-pressure.  Without the proper amount of pressure, both applied and resisting, one cannot cut.

 

     When one shaves body hair with a razor, the skin itself holds the hair in place - one cuts against the skin.  Because of this, the razor cuts a hair as close as possible to the body.  Because skin is soft and pliable, it can exert very little pressure against the cutting.  One can therefore shave efficiently only with a very sharp razor which itself exercises very little pressure to cut in the first place.  A dull razor blade will only move the hairs and pass over them without cutting them.

 

     When, in contrast, one cuts or shaves with scissors, the resisting pressure comes from the scissors' second blade.  Sharpness is less important for scissors; the key factor in cutting is that the two scissors blades should be as close as possible to each other.  A pair of scissors gets ruined when its blades separate from each other, either because the connection between them weakens or bends, or because protrusions in the two blades separate them from each other.

 

     This is the meaning of the passage in the Terumat Ha-deshen (295) quoted by the Beit Yosef (YD 181):

 

"The Terumat Ha-deshen quotes the gilyon [marginal notes] on masekhet Shevu'ot which mentions that there are those who refrain from shaving with scissors whose upper blade moves but whose bottom blade remains stationary.  They are concerned that one will end up cutting the hair using only the bottom blade - for all practical purposes shaving with a razor.  This, he comments, is very difficult to be cautious for.  However [says the Terumat Ha-deshen], one should avoid using very sharp scissors to shave one's beard.  If they are not so sharp, the bottom blade cannot cut unless it scrapes against the top one ('beli dibuk ha-elyon')."

 

     The gilyon on masekhet Shevu'ot wrote of those who relate to the moving blade of the scissors as a razor.  They will, however, shave with scissors if the upper blade of the scissors is the one that moves and hence does not touch the skin.  According to their opinion, if the moving blade touches the skin, it will very likely cut the hair using the skin, not the other blade, for resistance.  This is tantamount to shaving with a razor, even though the blade used is that of scissors.

 

     According to the Terumat Ha-deshen, however, it is not its placement (the moving blade next to the skin) that can transform a scissors' blade into a razor, but rather its sharpness.  Only a very sharp blade can cut hair when its sole resistance is the skin behind it.  In order to cut hair, a duller scissors blade needs the resistance that only a second blade can supply.  No matter which of the two blades is the moving one, unless the scissors blades are sharp, one is indeed considered to be cutting the hair with scissors and not shaving with a razor.

 

     Although the Terumat Ha-deshen and the gilyon have different criteria regarding the issue of when a scissors blade acts as a razor, they agree that the permitted "scissors" cut hair using two blades and that a razor uses one.  Their dispute focuses on whether razor action demands a blade that moves or one that is sharp.  According to both, the razor that the Torah prohibits cuts hair off directly against the skin without the aid of a second blade.  This is the normal and most efficient way of getting a close shave.

 

ELECTRIC RAZORS

 

     We can use these definitions to test whether an electric shaver is permissible to use or not.  If its blade can cut hair by itself, using only the resistance the skin offers, it is acting as a razor and therefore prohibited; if it needs a second blade to cut, it is, for all practical purposes, a scissors.

 

     The protective metal screen housing a blade in an electric razor can work in one of two ways.  If it acts as a second blade that enables the first blade to cut against it, then one is shaving with a scissors.  Those who permit shaving with scissors which can produce the effects of a razor would permit such a razor.  If, however, the screen just protects the skin but does not aid in cutting the hair, then the hair is still being cut by a razor.  If a razor cuts the hair at the skin, it accomplishes "hashchata" even if it does not touch the skin itself.  I am of the opinion that using such an electric razor to shave with is prohibited, just as using a razor itself is.

 

     My method of checking how different shavers on the market operate (as scissors or as razors) was (in 5750) to check the patent requests presented by various companies to the U.S. Patent Office.  This is obviously much more reliable than relying on advertising claims.

 

     [For instance, in the summer of 1985 several Japanese firms advertised electric shavers that one could use after lathering one's face with shaving cream.  The image the consumer got was that he was getting all of the benefits of a normal razor with the advantages of an electric machine.  One's knee-jerk halakhic reaction would be to see this as shaving with a razor and therefore prohibited.  A look at the patent request revealed that the new shaver was cutting with standard scissors-like blades, but the manufacturers had simply succeeded in insulating all of the relevant parts so that the shaving cream would not adversely affect the operation of the shaver.  Apparently, market research had shown that people like to shave with shaving cream, so the companies played up the new model even though its operation was identical to earlier electric shavers.]

 

     My research revealed that most of the shavers on the market were using a scissors-like action and were permissible according to those who permit using scissors (even though one gets a close shave).  According to most of the patent requests, a metal net holds the hair in place, and then it is cut by the blade, using the resistance of the net as if it were the second blade of a pair of scissors.

 

     There are several notable exceptions.  One patent request was for a one-bladed shaver that cut hair using an up and down motion.  There were two metal screens that directed the blade to the angle of the skin.  Though I do not know if Panasonic (which took out the patent) ever marketed such a machine, this patent involves an actual razor cutting action.  There are also some cheaper machines marketed in the United States as electric shavers, when they are actually one-bladed razors moving inside a screen.  They are easily identifiable by their thin stainless steel blades, made out of the same material as disposable razor blades, except that they are fan-shaped and fit into these metal screens.  This is also a prohibited razor.  Besides these, all of the other machines I checked operate like scissors.

 

     Several of the innovations that appear in manufacturers' patents make shaving much more efficient but do not fundamentally change the operation of the shaver.  For instance, one patent uses a system of springs to enable the blade to come as close as possible to the screen that acts as the second blade.  It shaves closer and more efficiently than other shavers, but it still functions like a pair of scissors.  Another patent is for a shaver that uses a vacuum pump to suck in the skin and hair, but this does not alter how the blades work.  Both are still using a scissors-like action.

 

     It is important to note that the direction that the blades move is not relevant in determining whether it is working with a scissors-like or razor-like cutting process.  Braun razors, unlike others whose blades move parallel to the skin, move in the direction of the skin.  Its cut is also achieved by scissors-like action, blade to screen, but its close shave is achieved by an extremely flexible metal screen.

 

     One shaver put out by Matsushita might be prohibited by the gilyon on masekhet Shevu'ot which I mentioned before.  It is made of two sets of blades, moving in opposite directions.  The gilyon quoted the approach that avoided using scissors if the blade closest to the skin was the one that was moving.

 

     Norelco (Phillips in Europe) developed a shaver that they claim (though other manufacturers denied their claim) gives a totally smooth shave.  It is made of two interlocking sets of blades, with one of the blades of the first set placed between two of the second.  The function of the first blade is to pull out the hair from the skin.  Before it has a chance to sink back below the skin, the second blade cuts it off, achieving a very smooth shave.

 

     It seems that this shaver is also not operating as a razor, but rather as a combination of a tweezers (melaket) and scissors.  If one would pull out hair from the skin with a pair of tweezers and then snip it off with scissors, one would also achieve a close shave; but the Torah never prohibited such a process.  This similar process, though it achieves a very close shave, is not a razor cut.

 

SUMMARY

 

     According to those who permit shaving with scissors which achieve the same results as a razor (misparayim ke-ein ta'ar), as the Shulchan Arukh and Rema rule, it is permissible to shave with an electric shaver whose blades are not sharp enough to cut the hair using only the skin as resistance, but rather need two blades in order to cut.  Those shavers in which a metal screen functions as a second blade are also permissible to use, since they are like scissors.

 

(Daf Kesher #211, Kislev 5750, vol. 2, pp.390-392 and 394-395.

The article was not reviewed by the author.)