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In the early 1890's, while working as a salesman for the Baltimore Seal Company, King Camp Gillette developed a friendship with the company president, William Painter, who had recently developed a metal bottle cap that would become the standard for the bottling industry. Painter encouraged Gillette to invent a disposable product that consumers would use regularly and for which there would thus be a constant demand.

Gillette conceived such a product in 1895 while shaving on a moving railroad car using a straight razor, which required considerable skill to use under the most favorable circumstances as well as a great deal of sharpening and maintenance. Gillette envisioned a razor that would use interchangeable blades that never required sharpening and could employ guards to reduce the risk of injury to the user. Gillette began experimenting with various prototypes of razors and blades but quickly encountered difficulty fashioning blades that were thin enough to be cost-effective and sufficiently strong to withstand the rigors of shaving. He struggled with developing a successful prototype until around 1900, when he collaborated with William Nickerson, a mechanical engineer known for his skill in bringing ideas for inventions to fruition. Gillette and Nickerson became partners, forming the Gillette Safety Razor Company, so named because Gillette believed that including "Nickerson" in the company name would remind consumers of the nicked skin that often accompanied shaving.

Although other safety razors had been developed and marketed by the time Gillette introduced his razor to the public, the Gillette safety razor was the first to feature disposable blades. The use of these blades completely eliminated the tedious process of sharpening in addition to greatly reducing the risk of serious cuts. The company began mass-producing razors and blades in 1903, selling only 51 razors and 168 blades. The following year, sales of the product exploded as the company produced 90,000 razors and over 12 million blades.

In the process of marketing his safety razor, Gillette introduced a new business strategy that would be copied by countless other future entrepreneurs. In order to create a market for his disposable razor blades, Gillette marketed his safety razors at a very low cost. Those who purchased the razors and grew accustomed to using them had no choice but to purchase replacement blades, which would produce both short-term and long-term profits for the company. Gillette razors thus became an early example of a loss leader, an item offered for sale at or below cost in order to generate sales of another, often related item. This strategy later became known as the razor-and-blade model.

Gillette officially retired from day-to-day operation of his company in 1913. Although he would continue as company president, Gillette devoted much of his later years to political writings and activism. Meanwhile, the company that he cofounded continued to expand as its product became increasingly popular in the United States and in overseas markets. A Gillette razor designed specifically for women was introduced in 1916 and became an immediate success. Gillette initially resisted the sale of overseas rights to Gillette products, but he relented after U.S. soldiers involved in World War I introduced Gillette razors to Europeans. Gillette had entered into an agreement with the U.S. government in 1917 to provide Gillette shaving products to American soldiers, just as the U.S. military was expanding in preparation to enter the war. Gillette would supply approximately 3.5 million razors and 36 million blades to American troops, expanding its customer base dramatically and ensuring continued demand for disposable blades.

The success of his company provided Gillette with the financial security to pursue his passion for political reform. Unlike many proponents of socialism, Gillette thought that a utopian society could best be achieved through the development of monopolies, the culmination of which, he reasoned, would be the creation of a single global corporation that would employ all workers and produce all goods and services and in which each citizen of the world would hold stock and receive dividends. This corporation, Gillette reasoned, would pay sufficient dividends to allow each citizen to work only five years before retiring. Gillette also proposed the construction of a utopian city near Niagara Falls, New York, in which millions of people would reside in communal apartment complexes and share labor and resources. Utilizing his influence as a successful entrepreneur, Gillette published a series of political and economic treatises during the early twentieth century. Gillette was able to secure the assistance of several prominent individuals to disseminate his ideas, such as authors Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair, and fellow industrialist Henry Ford.

Gillette spent his final years in Los Angeles, where he continued to write and to serve as president of the Gillette Company until 1931, when he resigned his position because of ill health. Poor investments and the expense of publishing his political writings claimed a large portion of his vast fortune in the 1920's, and the stock market crash of 1929 resulted in more financial losses for Gillette. He died on July 9, 1932, at his home, with his wife and son in attendance.

While none of his social and political ideas were realized, Gillette exerted a dramatic influence upon society through the creation of his safety razor and the disposable blades that accompanied it. Simplifying the task of shaving led to a transformation of American fashion, as the beards, mutton-chop sideburns, and "soup-strainer" moustaches popular among men of the late nineteenth century slowly disappeared to be replaced by a more clean-shaven look. Shaving also became increasingly popular with women, instigating fashion trends emphasizing shorter skirts, sleeveless dresses, and smaller bathing suits. By the 1940's, advertisements touting the hygienic and aesthetic benefits of shaving legs and underarms frequently appeared in publications targeting women.

As one of the first disposable consumer products, the Gillette razor blade set a precedent for the marketing and use of goods intended for short-term use and frequent replacement. As a result, Gillette has been both praised as a pioneer of modern convenience and criticized as an architect of a culture of waste and superficiality. His reputation as a business innovator was enhanced by his creation of the razor-and-blade business strategy, which remained in use into the twenty-first century.

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