Each of us turns (or in my case, as a baby boomer; returns) to DE shaving for a variety of reasons. One of these may be economic. It is simply cheaper, at least with respect to blade cost per shave to DE shave vs a Gillette Fusion cartridge.
Quantity And Quality
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For example: I found Gillette Fusion cartridges for around $3.50/cartridge – limiting my search to reliable sources to avoid counterfeits. Assuming 10 shaves/cart, something I personally have not been able to achieve, this comes to 35 cents/shave.
For DE shaving I use either Parker blades: 14 cents/blade, or Personna Med-prep: 60 cents/blade. I typically use a DE blade for three shaves. This translates to Personna: about 20 cents/shave, and Parker: about 4 cents/shave.
Hence, using a Gillette cart, on a per/shave basis is 75% more costly than the top-end Personna Med-prep blade, and over 800% more costly then the Parker blades.
Another primary reason is shave quality. As readers of this site already know, DE shaving, once one has overcome the steeper (than cartridge shaving) learning curve, provides a superior shave. Simply reference any of the many articles on this site that demonstrate how DE shaving leads to less irritation and fewer (none?) ingrown hairs. Cartridges, while a marvel of engineering, when used as directed, overshaves.
Secondary Considerations
In addition to these two leading factors are some, which are at least for me, secondary factors. They include
- A connection to my youth, my father, and my grandfather in a ritual essentially unchanged for over 100 years. I am pretty sure that my eastern-European great-grandparents and beyond all sported beards.
- A solitary zen-like slow, “analog,” activity.
- It’s fun to practice a skill that technology is working hard to make obsolete.
Environmental Impact
I wish to propose one more factor which tips the scales in favor of DE shaving: environmental impact, and in particular, packaging and landfill waste. Examining the full environmental impact of anything is a very deep rabbit hole which I am ill-equipped to go down. It entails an analysis of mining (for metals), fossil fuel extraction (for plastics), tree harvesting (for packaging), manufacturing processes (including environmental regulations where factories are located) and transportation. Regardless, I hope it is not overly simplistic to focus on packaging waste and what goes into our landfills.
Someone once “opened my eyes” to what we find on our market shelves: treated water, sitting in single use plastic containers. Sometimes the water is not even “treated,” it is literally just bottled water. Unless one lives in a location where the tap water is unsafe to drink (which include many parts of the world and some cities in the US where there is lead contamination) I never unraveled the mystery of drinking bottled water, i.e. someone else’s tap water. Putting bottled water aside, one sees rows of “treated” water as well.
By this I mean soda (or pop if you hail from the part of the US bounded from above by the Great Lakes, Pittsburgh on the east, Detroit on the West, and roughly Columbus to the south), liquid laundry or dishwasher detergent, etc. Bottles/containers made from non-recyclable plastic (yes, we put these bottles in our recycling containers, but the vast majority end up in landfills anyway – sorry to be the one to break the news to you) filled with liquids whose primary ingredient is water.
Getting Back To Shaving…
What does this have to do with DE shaving, you ask? Well, on one hand, nothing unless you shave with bottled water and use soda as your cologne – ouch, soda is very acidic. On the other hand, being cognizant of how our shopping choices affect climate change, pollution, landfills, etc, is also reflected in our purchases, DE shaving supplies included. For example, one can purchase liquid laundry detergent in what is for all practical purposes a single-use plastic jug destined for a landfill, or a powder detergent packaged in cardboard – and you supply the water to create/activate the soap.
This article is not meant to be a guilt trip down your local shopping market lanes, but a recognition of how DE shavers are already ahead of the masses when it comes to purchases with minimal packaging and what goes in our landfills.
I’ll start with razor blades. Consider the packaging for Gillette Fusion cartridges: How much packaging is there, and how much of it is recyclable/reusable? Alternatively, a box of 100 Personna Med-preps is a simple cardboard box filled with blades individually wrapped in wax paper, ditto for the Parkers. On the post-use side, the cart has to go to the landfill. As for a used DE blade, one could wrap it back up in waxed paper and send it to the landfill knowing the space it occupies is less than that of a cart. Alternatively, one could use a blade bank to store one’s used blades. After filling, the bank, as an all-metal artifact, is easily recyclable. It is clear, with respect to blades, DE shavers have a significantly lower environmental/waste footprint than cartridge shavers.
Lather?
How about the other primary shaving consumable: lather. We can consider three categories: shave soap (solid puck), shaving creams/gels (comes in a tube or tub; yes, technically still a solid, though there are few that are very liquidy), and aerosols (aka canned goo). Hopefully, as a Sharpologist reader, you’ve abandoned aerosol-based shave creams. Regardless of their performance (or lack thereof), aerosols have the worst waste footprint of the three. While the metal in aerosol cans is recyclable, many (most?) curbside recycling programs do not accept aerosols; any aerosol not completely empty is considered hazardous waste due to the risk of explosion.
What about creams (and gels)? While all creams and gels are superior to aerosols, both from a shaving performance perspective and from an environmental waste perspective –your empty tube of Proraso is not considered hazardous waste– some options are better than others. I prefer metal or plastic screw top tubs. As the old adage goes: reduce, reuse, recycle; these tubs are reusable in an infinite number of ways. Don’t want to carry a glass jar of jelly on your next backpacking trip, that empty tub of Trumpers lime shaving cream is perfect for the job. Looking for a paper clip, check the Oneblade lavender shave tub in the desk drawer.
Tubs vs Tubes? Creams vs Soaps?
Not all shave creams come in a reusable tub, many come in tubes. From a packaging/waste perspective, tubs are reusable and usually recyclable (in theory), tubes are neither. [Interesting factoid: all but one of the Sharpologist’s top specialty shave creams come in a tub, while all of the mass market shave creams, but one, comes in a tube.] Not only are these tubes bound for the landfill, but like toothpaste tubes, it is always a wrestling match to squeeze out the last couple of shaves worth. [Interesting factoid, outside the USA, toothpaste in a tub or toothpaste in pill form are starting to become more widely available.]
Before moving on to shave soaps, there are some shave creams that come in dispenser bottles (e.g. Taconic, Nivea Sensitive Liquid Shave Cream). My environmental waste report card is as follows: is the bottle reusable? no, but it is recyclable – again, in theory. Easy to access ALL of the product (as one can with a tub, but unlike a tube)? Yes, and no. The pump mechanism is inefficient at delivering all the product in the bottle. However, one can remove the pump and set the bottle upside down in a bowl to access what’s left in the bottle. Finally, it is not clear if the pump mechanism is allowed in one;s recycling bin; I usually just put it in the trash.
Last but not least we turn to shave soaps. The vast majority of soap producers sell their product in a reusable screw top tub. I suspect the primary reason is so they have a surface for a colorful label. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between the label on one of my shave soaps and the label on some boutique craft beers! A nontrivial number of soap producers also sell their soaps in a puck only format – the ultimate in waste reduction. Remember, reuse is better than recycling; but reducing one’s waste footprint is even better.
Cella
Before concluding I have to give a shout out to one of my favorite shave soaps (croaps?) that not only is a top performer but, in my opinion, gets the best score on the waste report card: Cella Shave Soap in their 1kg brick. This brick, sealed in plastic and packaged in a simple cardboard box, contains the equivalent of 12 standard (reusable) Cella soap tubs. Assuming one already has an empty screw top tub (forget storing rubber bands in that empty Castle Forbes tub, use it for Cella), one simply cuts off a chunk to place in your tub. As per Cella’s instructions, just wrap the remaining Cella product in plastic wrap and store in a back corner of your refrigerator. My brick is over 4 years old and still going strong! I turned a friend on to the Cella brick a few years ago. During a recent conversation, when I asked about the brick, he laughed indicating that sadly his brick lasted longer than his first marriage.
Summing Up
We arrived at the earth’s current state of pollution, climate change, environmental degradation, etc. through billions of small decisions/choices. Each such decision, when looked at in isolation, appears inconsequential. It is only when looked at in the aggregate do we see their impact. One way to affect change is for each of us to reconsider many (or at least some) of these small decisions; this includes our decisions and choices with respect to personal grooming – shaving included. Cartridge razors; no (unless traveling), DE blades; yes. Aerosol-based lather products; no, shave creams/soaps; yes – but only if their packaging is minimized or at least reusable.
Think about it, with a box of Personna Med-prep blades and a brick of Cella, one can shave for two years (1 blade/week) and only have generated two small cardboard boxes and one blade bank of waste – all recyclable, and nothing for the landfills except the original Cella plastic wrap.
Postscript
If this kind of thinking resonates with you, try to extend it beyond DE wet shaving. In addition to good ole’ bars of solid soap for the shower, there are excellent options for solid bar shampoos and conditioners (e.g. Liggetts, Ethique, or visit a local farmer’s market). Toothpaste is a bit harder to greenify; at best, some toothpaste tubes are now being labeled “compost ready,” –whatever that means. In the USA one can try Unpaste (available on Amazon), a toothpaste pill you pop in your mouth, chew a bit and then brush.
It is always a good feeling when one’s recycling bin is more full than one’s trash bin. It’s an even better feeling when both are nearly empty.
