A couple weeks ago, my razor broke.
For most people, this may not be uncommon, as theirs are made of plastic and are designed to be disposable. Mine was a 14-year-old Merkur 23C, a German razor featuring a brass handle, die-cast zinc head, all plated with lovingly-worn chrome.
It broke after about the 1700th time of replacing the blade and tightening the head, something I did every time I shaved on average every three days.
I didn't sweat it, as I had squeezed an obscene amount of value out of the Merkur, at least compared to how I was shaving previously.
Growing up, us men were inundated with ads hyping blade count. One become two. Two begat three. Three soon became five. I stopped halfway, and the Mach3 became my go-to after college.
But the Mach3 (and all cartridge-based razors) was expensive!
Looking on Amazon, the most-recent price is $37.58 for a pack of 15, which comes out to $2.51 per cartridge. Before bulk-purchasing, internet ordering and Costco became common, the cost per cartridge was higher than that.
Gilette knew that and would advertise one could expect to get seven quality shaves out of each cartridge. But if you were shaving everyday as a professional as I was, that seventh shave was murder on my sensitive skin. I was paying a lot of money to fuck my face up every week.
It wasn't always this way. Before Big Razor© brainwashed us into thinking they had found us our jetpacks, the world had already figured out efficient and economical means of regular shaving.
I'm talking about the safety razor.
They come in all shapes and sizes (and weights and materials), but most safety razors boil down to the same thing: you load them up with cheap double-edge blades, shave over and over until the blade gets dull, then switch it out with a fresh blade. Rinse, repeat
It is just like the cartridge-based cycle. However unlike cartridges, double-edge blades are motherfuckin' dirt cheap!
I first started shaving with my Merkur 23C in November 2011, while the Gilette Mach3 was first sold in June 1998. I recall getting onto the Mach3 train pretty quick, so let's assume I was buying cartridges from the get-go and going thru:
- 1 cartridge every other week during college (1998 - 2000), when I didn't have to be so presentable (83 weeks total)
- 1 every week after college (2000 - 2011), when I had to dress snappy-casual & be in an office everyday (622 weeks total)
That amounts to 664 cartridges. At $2.51 a pop (at best), I spent at least $1666.64 (128.20/year ➝ $10.68/month ) just to scrape hair off my face. And that doesn't account for buying razor handles, shaving cream, aftershave, etc.
$128 bucks isn't that much money. But as mentioned above, I wasn't getting much quality. And I really hated buying being in a cycle of purchasing then throwing away a bunch of plastic for the rest of my life.
One reason people don't switch to safety razors is the startup cost. But let me show you how it's actually cheaper in the long run.
When I started in November 2011, my investment cost the following:
- Razor (including 10 starter blades): $43.25
- Brush (to mix shaving soap): $13.15
- Stand (to store the above): $21.50
- Mug (for mixing shaving soap within): $12.99
Along the way, I did need to invest in razor banks (to store used blades), which so far have only run me $13.89 over the years. So let's say the startup total is then $104.78.
From there, the costs are either the same (shaving cream, aftershave, etc.) or for double-edge blades.
Since 2011, I've spent $79.80 on blades. $52.14 of that was spent in the first eight years, as I experimented with different brands, trying to find the one which worked best with both my razor and skin. Once I found one I liked, I've been buying boxes of 100 blades at a time, so I have only spent $27.66 on blades in the past five.
Breaking down the cost of those blades:
- Each shipment comes with 20 5-blade packs
- Cost varies over the years, but the most-expensive price ever was $10.01
- That puts the cost per blade at $0.10/each ($2.41 cheaper than a Gilette Mach3 cartridge)
These days, I don't shave everyday anymore, so I average a shave every 2-3 days. And blades are cheap enough that sometimes I change them out every other shave, so they are constantly-sharp & clean. This means I go through about one double-edge blade a week over 20 months (e.g. 679 days to be exact):
- 100 blades = $10.01
- 100 cartridges = $251
- Savings over 20 months = $241
- Savings since I started using my safety razor in November 2011 (minus startup costs) = $2825.77 (so far)
TL;DR = fuck Gilette!
My cost savings are skewed now that I need to replace my broken razor. Now that I know more about safety razors, I took the opportunity to upgrade to a Rockwell 6C adjustable razor (heavier with a short handle, but my god the shaves! they are so much better — I've cut myself exactly once since getting it).
It cost me $48,00 flat. So I guess I've saved only $2777.77. Oh well. 🤷
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