Photo by by Patrik429

I usually scan the lifehacker blog at least once a week. I ran across this post a couple of weeks ago, Learn the Economical Art of Wet Shaving.

It got me thinking about

• cost of razor blades per year
• cost of shaving cream
• environmental impact of all those razor blades and cans of shaving cream
• retro cool factor of using one of those safety razors
• survivalist factor

Cost:
I estimate I use one Gillette Mach 3 blade every couple of weeks so that’s approximately 26 blades per year at $4 each. I also use a can of shaving cream per month, I use expensive aveeno shaving cream so that’s another $8 per month. My total outlay for shaving per year is about $200.

Switching to a safety razor does require some startup costs. I followed the recomendations of the author of the article Lifehacker featured and purchased a Merkur saftey razor, 10 blades, a shaving brush, and a tub of shaving soap. All of this gear cost about $80 on amazon. After the initial investment the actual razor blades cost between $0.10 and $0.60 depending on where you buy them. There is no question that I will save money on the razor blades by making this switch.

Environmental Impact
I really don’t know how much impact Gillette’s super fancy razor blades have, but you have to believe that it is much higher than the simple sliver of stamped metal that makes up the blade for safety razors.

Retro cool factor
Simply put, I like the way the razor and brush look. I think they look cool, and it adds some adventure to my morning routine. There are also so really awesome razors out there, if I stick to it I’m going to get my self the Vision for christmas. So far I haven’t injured myself.

Survivalist factor
I’m a tiny bit paranoid about the collapse of the modern “grid”. As a result I like to know how to do everyday tasks without having to rely on some high tech gadget or delivery system. Researching these razors made me realize that without Gillette and Co. I would not be able to shave my face. I’ve grown up with disposable razors and had no idea how to remove my manly stubble without using one of their products. Switching to a safety razor, while still reliant on someone for blades, gives me a little confidence that if the grid fails, I’ll be able to stay clean shaven.

Status
I’ve been shaving with this razor for 2 weeks now, and once I got the hang of it, I think I’m going to like it. The shave is just as close as the mach 3 and once I learned what I was doing, I don’t really have any irritation. The first couple of days I just jumped in with the razor and shaved like I used to, with bad results. Much burning and irritation ensued. Then I decided to read up on technique. LeisureGuy has a great tutorial on this. Overall the important things are lather and pressure. DO NOT use normal shaving cream, get something like Taylors of Bond Street. Also, with a safety razor you do not press the blade down onto your skin like you’re used to.

One thing I wasn’t able to find information on readily was on disposal of the old blades. I solved this problem by purchasing ($4 at walgreens) a sharps container.

Keep any eye out on this blog, I’ll have more updates later on this experiment.

Funny vintage picture illustrating how safe these razors are:

‘Begin early… shave yourself’ – the Gillette Safety Razor lives up to its name. Date early 20th century by Joan Thewlis