Gillette's real estate plan amidst the scruffy look
1922 advertisment
Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
Gillette, the razor-blade company owned by Proctor & Gamble, is setting a good example by planning to set aside about a third of new buildings on its 31-acre site in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood for housing, which of course in badly needed in “The Hub.’’ Other buildings will be for labs, offices and retail. But around half of the acreage will be for park-like open space.
All this is because Gillette is moving its Boston blade-making to a P&G site in Andover, Mass. Driving by the “World Shaving Headquarters’’ on the Southeast Expressway (often called the Distressway) brings back memories of frustration in traffic jams.
I have wondered how Gillette and the other companies making razors for males are doing these days when more and more men have beards, or at least three-day facial-hair growth, which makes some guys look like they’ve been on a three-day bender and look difficult to maintain in a stylishly scruffy style. The allure of the latter mystifies me, much as I dislike shaving myself; it can hurt a little. Is the aim of some to express manliness amidst a sense of identity insecurity? Hey, look at me! I’ve got testosterone!
The famous always semi-shaved Yasir Arafat (1929-2004), the Palestinian leader.