Marquette engineers design Everaftershave Protector.

MARQUETTE -- Two Marquette engineers have turned a household headache into a profitable product, which went on sale this summer.  They say their device can triple the life of a razor blade.

After changing countless razor blades in their lifetimes, Jeff and Julie Hoffman, both professional engineers, turned an idea for a razor protector, into a reality.

It started five years ago when Jeff created a prototype razor protector to stop razor blades from corroding, which leaves them dull.

"The water begins to corrode that cutting edge," said Jeff.  "So what our device does is there's oil saturated foam and squeezes the head into the foam and essentially squeegees the water away from that edge."

After getting feedback from family and friends on their new device, called the "Everaftershave Protector," they applied for a patent, then settled on a selling price of $9.95.  The Everaftershave fits Gillette Fusions, Excels and the Mach 3 razors.

They're already receiving orders from their online store. 

"We've shipped throughout the U.S. and also Canada, the U.K., Japan and Estonia," Julie said.

Before online sales, the Hoffmans started selling the Everaftershave in Marquette at Downwind Sports and the Marquette Food Co-op.

While the Everaftershave protector is still new to the market, the Hoffmans are optimistic about their new business venture because overhead costs are low.

Since they operate out of their home while maintaining engineering jobs in Marquette and send only an instruction card in the mail with the product, their biggest investment so far has been time.

And that's what they hope to save others:  time and money spent changing razor blades.