Schick Gamifies Head-Shaving for a World in Quarantine

Head shaving’s become a thing during the coronavirus lockdowns. Well, now you can shave dozens, or perhaps hundreds of heads, and all for a great cause, while pretending you’re a bald superhero riding a giant razor.

Such shear madness arrives today for iOS and Android via Schick’s “Shave the Day,” a free, endless-runner-style mobile game. Users play as XtremeMan, avoiding obstacles and shaving pates to raise money in the fight against childhood cancers:

Edelman and Playcrafting developed the game, which lets users earn “bald bucks” converted into real Schick donations—up to $250,000—supporting St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a nonprofit that backs research into children’s cancer. 

Matt Bell, North America vp for Schick parent Edgewell Personal Care, dreamed up the concept following a pre-pandemic “St. Baldrick’s” event at his daughter’s school, in which students shaved their heads to show solidarity with kids battling the Big C. (These youngsters often lose their hair as a side effect from chemotherapy and radiation, hence the punny name, “St. Baldrick’s.”)

Owing to Covid-19, the organization has postponed its live events through Sept. 1, so “Shave the Day” helps the group generate much-needed awareness and funds.

Naturally, there’s a Twitch tie-in, with star gamers Aydan and NMPLOL shaving their heads on a livestream in exchange for donations. (Twitch has been understandably hot of late, with 1.2 billion hours watched in March, up 24 percent over the previous month—and that’s before the full impact of most coronavirus lockdowns.)

“As a men’s razor brand, we of course want to target men, and obviously gaming is a great way to do that,” Bell says. “But we don’t want to stop at just men, knowing the cause impacts so many more. With ‘Shave the Day,’ it is our hope we reach not only our target consumer, but a broad range of people who are looking for a little levity and the chance to do good.”