[Avodah] Shaving with a Skarp - permitted?

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Sun, Oct 04, 2015 at 03:05:32PM -0400, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
:                ..., I was taught that the issur of hashchasa refers not to
: the destruction of the beard, but to destruction of the skin, and since ALL
: electric shavers have some sort of screen or guard between the skin and the
: cutting mechanism, they are all mutar to use. According to this view, I
: would imagine that the critical question is how well this device can
: distinguish between hair cells and skin cells...

It is allegedly tuned to a color which is absorbed by hair but not skin.
To quote their kickstarter:
    After years of research & development, they discovered a chromophore
    in the hair that would be cut when hit with a particular light
    wavelength.

    Chromophores are particles that absorb certain wavelengths (colors)
    of light.

    This chromophore they identified is shared by every human, regardless
    of age, gender or race.

I say allegedly because the people at Popular Mechanics believe they're
far from prime time, with some science/tech questions still open that
may not have resolution. See
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a17782>.

Still, here we discuss halakhah, and even if the case turns out to be
hypothetical, at least for the foreseeable future, I still think it
could push us to turn up some interesting lomdus.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             When we are no longer able to change a situation
micha at aishdas.org        -- just think of an incurable disease such as
http://www.aishdas.org   inoperable cancer -- we are challenged to change
Fax: (270) 514-1507      ourselves.      - Victor Frankl (MSfM)