King Camp Gillette, a salesman from Baltimore, spurred the creation of the world-famous Gillette razor manufacturing company. Gillette developed his breakthrough innovation, the disposable safety razor blade, in 1901. He was in his 40s at the time, and he had followed his instinct to create a product that people couldn't live without but was literally disposable. Three years later, 90,000 razors and 12 million blades were sold, setting in motion decades' worth of shaving advances that continue today.