Paulius Musteikis
Stylist Debbie Desmarais uses a prototype beard trimmer to cut Adrian Flores’ hair, while product developer David Toy, right, observes.
Remington hair clippers and electric shavers are sold all over the world. They shape mutton chops in Maine, goatees in Guatemala and soul patches in Saskatchewan. Mustaches both sincere and ironic have been sculpted with a trimmer designed by Remington engineers.
But before any of the brand’s products hit the shelves, they are tested on local faces and heads in the Good Neighbor City: Middleton.
The “shaving lab” is located within the corporate headquarters of Spectrum Brands on Deming Way. Remington, which is owned by Spectrum, has been making electric shavers since 1937. The small room is reminiscent of a mall salon, except it’s next to office cubicles and laboratories.
Mirrors line one wall in front of a barber chair. Unseen cameras behind each mirror record the action, which is displayed on a flatscreen TV on the adjacent wall.
David Toy, a Remington product developer, says analyzing trimmers in a salon environment is a crucial step in developing products. “It lets us know how [a product] is being used, and it uncovers potential problems you wouldn’t discover any other way,” says Toy.
The test subjects are usually employees from other departments. Today, Adrian Flores, a graphic designer at Spectrum, is sitting in the barber’s chair, wearing a black smock. “I’m the guinea pig,” says Flores.
Debbie Desmarais, a stylist at the Hampton Court Salon, is brought in periodically to try out prototypes. Today, she uses a NB-4900 trimmer — known as the Perfector — to cut Flores’ hair. Since scalp hair is more dense than facial hair, using the beard trimmer for a haircut will demonstrate its durability.
“This is an extreme stress test,” Toy says. “If [Desmarais] is able to do haircuts, and do them without problems, that usually bodes pretty well for [beard trimming].”
The shaving department is busy these days. “Right now, beards and beard culture is huge,” he says. “We have to have the right products, at the right time.”
Clippers are just a few of the products that are given scrutiny in the salon. “Epilators. Curlers. Flatirons. Blow dryers. This room is ever changing,” says Toy. “You come in next week and they might be testing the effectiveness of hair straighteners.”
Giovanni Gonzalez, Spectrum senior engineer, says products are aggressively tested under many conditions before going to market. “What people don’t realize is most companies spend a lot of money correcting issues,” says Gonzalez. “We try to be wise. We want to utilize our time and energy right at the front. This way we can make adjustments or go back to the drawing board if we have to.”
An infrared camera in the salon can measure the number of red blood cells that come to the surface of the skin after a shave.
“By doing so, we can tell, statistically, the level of irritation,” says Gonzalez. “Because sometimes a person doesn’t feel it and the skin doesn’t get red.”
Gonzalez says Remington was also an early adopter of 3D printers, which allow the company to print prototypes in a manner of hours. “Major game changer,” says Gonzalez.
Spectrum’s long history in the Madison area started with battery-maker Rayovac, which was founded on Madison’s east side in 1906. Since becoming Spectrum, the corporation still makes batteries but also owns dozens of well-known products. George Foreman grills, Black & Decker coffeemakers, Juiceman juicer and hundreds of other products are run through a gauntlet of tests in Middleton. Those recipes that came with your bread maker? They were probably written in a test kitchen in Middleton.
Toy says it doesn’t take a lot of convincing to recruit employees to sign up for a free haircut. Fewer volunteers are willing to give feedback on how a beard trimmer performs on hair located on more sensitive areas of the body.
“It’s led to some interesting conversations, but hey, it’s a consumer need, and we have to do it,” says Toy. “But it can be a little bit more awkward to get the data than just doing haircuts in the salon.”
Longest beard on record:
17.5 feet. Hans Langseth of North Dakota spent 62 years growing the beard. Per his final wishes, it was preserved after his death in 1927. It was on public display at the National Museum of Natural History from 1967 to 1991. It’s currently stored in the Smithsonian archives.
Spectrum Brand stats (fiscal year 2015):
15,500 employees worldwide
500+ employees in Middleton
Products sold in over 1 million stores in 160 countries
$4.69 billion in net revenue
$1.67 billion in gross profit
Why President Abraham Lincoln grew a beard:
An 11-year-old girl sent him a letter saying it’d improve his appearance.