Shaving: The Costs

This post is in the category of Ramblings.  There is a serious point, but it takes the pretty route rather than the direct one.

There was once a bookshop in Cheltenham that sold books about cooking.  It sold new cookbooks and second-hand cookbooks, and it was called:

COOKING: THE BOOKS

The bookshop closed a few years ago.  Since the first time I saw the name I’ve been looking for an opportunity to adapt it.  Now I’ve found one.  I present:

SHAVING: THE COSTS

 

The road to enlightenment

Last year, when travel was commonplace, L and I travelled to Maui.  We had set ourselves the challenge of spending a minimum of one night in every State in the US.  After visiting 36 others, the time had come to visit Hawaii.  This was to be a one-State trip, more of a holiday and less of an expedition than most of its forerunners.

We based ourselves in one of the resort complexes to the South of Lahaina. We quickly remembered that we are not resort people.  The resort was relegated to a place to sleep while we spent the days elsewhere.  One day we went exploring along the sea front, through other resorts, around the golf courses and into Lahaina itself.  We made the banyan tree at the Northern end of Lahaina our destination, but sightseeing along the way was at least as important as finding the tree.

As we approached Lahaina, we passed a small shop that stocked swimwear.  The fabric used in the swimwear was manufactured using salvaged fishing nets as the raw material (Econyl).  The shop wasn’t open on our outward walk, but we planned to check it later to see if it contained a holiday treat for L.

We spent a little time in the shade of the Banyan tree.

The shop was open as we headed back to the resort.  The proprietor discreetly extinguished a small spliff under the counter as we went in.  L spent some time trying on swimwear while I browsed the jewellery, Palo Santo sticks, and other items also on sale.  Among the items on display was a safety razor with a wooden handle.  Given the context, that razor was probably not destined to shave faces.  (I’ve recently seen an estimate that among women below the age of 45 in Europe and the US, fewer than 5% will allow hair to grow anywhere but on their heads.)

Let’s hold the idea of seeing a safety razor in Lahaina in 2019, and step back nearly half a century.

A modern history of shaving

In Autumn 1971 Gillette launched the first multi-blade razor.  It was known as the Trac II.  In England and Europe it was marketed as the G II. The concept was that the first blade passing over a hair follicle would pull the hair out as it cut it, and the second would cut off a little more before the hair retracted.  My father told me that this was nothing new – it was an old soldiers’ trick to put two worn-out blades into a safety razor to get a couple of extra shaves out of them.  (This saved money on razor blades which could more usefully be spent on beer.)

The launch of the G II in Europe only just preceded my entry into a profession that expected me to be clean shaven every day.  Like most of my generation and those that followed, I elected to use multi-blade cartridge razors.  I swallowed the marketing that pitched them as safer than the safety razors they replaced, and believed the claims they gave a closer shave.

The moment of resolution

Back in a swimwear shop in Lahaina in 2019 , a number of ideas were coming together.  I’d been uncomfortable for a while with the apparent cartels behind shaving products, but needed a nudge to attempt the switch to something unfamiliar.  I gave myself that nudge while L was trying on swimwear.  We left the shop with new swimwear for L and a few sticks of Palo Santo.  I left the razor in the shop to its fate, but took away a resolution.

Back at home, it was time to follow through on my resolution.  There are many good articles about switching to using a safety razor.  A quick internet search will turn up lots.  This is one that I liked.

Making the switch

I found a suitable razor (for GBP 15) and a supply of 100 blades (for GBP 8.50).  I determined to use the new razor for at least a month in case I found it difficult.

The safety razor comprises three parts, plus a blade:

I keep my used blades in a small tin that once contained mint sweets.  When it is full (in a few years’ time) I’ll just tape the tin shut and put it with scrap metal for recycling:

There was a little blood in the first week or two of shaving with the new razor, but nothing alarming.  After more than six months nothing would persuade me to use a cartridge blade razor again.  My morning shaving ritual is more mindful and a better start to the day.  That alone is powerful justification for making the switch, but it gets better.

Economics

In four months using a safety razor, I use 8 blades (one a fortnight).  That amounts to less than 5 grammes of scrap metal which is 100% recyclable.  Safety razor blades come packed in a tiny amount of paper and cardboard, and it is all recyclable.  Eight Gillette Fusion cartridge blades weigh more than 53 grammes with their plastic caddy.  The cartridges are made of mixed materials, plastic and metal, and probably end up in landfill because it’s not an economic proposition to separate the components.  They are sold in substantial mixed plastic and cardboard packaging which is also difficult to separate for recycling.

There is more than a tenfold difference in the trash generated by cartridge blade razors and safety razors.  The difference in costs is even greater.  Cartridges cost about GBP 2 each (and some much more).  Safety razor blades can cost less than GBP 0.10 each (if you avoid the premium brands such as Gillette and Wilkinson Sword) and last about as long.  That means using cartridge blades is more than twenty times more expensive than using a safety razor.  Using a payback calculation,  I saved the GBP 15 that I paid for my new razor in less than 4 months.

I wonder if anyone bought that razor in Lahaina…