The True Costs of Shaving:

Here lately, Gillette's advertising campaign has been horrible. First they stole the "Dyson Ball" technology which surprisingly has not generated any lawsuits. Now they've been going pretty hot and heavy with how long their blades last which is indeed complete and utter B.S. Here's what the costs really are and how long they truly last. I have a tough beard now mainly due to age and genetics. I was told that my late grandfather can dull a set of hair clippers in one sitting which explains a lot. And due to a life threatening illness I had along with a slight hormone imbalance that resulted, I have no problem growing a beard. It's nearly a 3 to 1 ratio now compared to a normal person's beard. If I don't do anything such as using the "Save a Blade" battery powered stropping system or stropping the cartridges themselves using blue jeans or denim, I can get a whopping 2 shaves out of a cartridge. The costs were $21.98 for 4 cartridges at a local super market. So $21.98 divided by 8 shaves equals $2.75 per shave (2.7475 to be exact). Due to my illness and genetics, I have to shave daily using a cartridge. So I'd only have enough cartridges for 8 days. In order for me to shave daily with a cartridge, I would need 12 cartridges per month. So that means I would have to buy 3 packs per month. $21.98 mulitplied by 3 equals $65.94 per month. Now if you take that total and multiplied that by 12 months and you get a yearly cost of  $791.28. I can't tell you exactly how many straight razors this will buy, and for sure I really can't tell you how many DE saftey razors this will buy. Right now I can contact a friend of mine via private message over on Facebook and get a brand new shave ready gold dollar straight razor for less than $40 dollars. And I can go on Amazon's website and get a double edge safety razor for less than $15 dollars. That's why Gillette here in North America hates traditional wet shaving period. Now I must add that this is my costs and not yours because everyone's beard is different in some form or fassion. So lets continue with the cost calculations that involve me personally. Next up DE safety razors. I recently purchased a pack of double edge razor blades that contains 100 blades. My costs for these blades with shipping included was $22.47. Now I can get more shaves with this blade depending on which DE safety razor I use but I usually get around 3 shaves per blade before I have to install a new blade. So 3 shaves multiplied by 100 blades equals 300 shaves out of this particular pack of blades. So if you take my cost of $22.47 and divide that by 300 shaves and you'll get a total cost of $.07 cents per shave (.0749 to be exact). Now this package of 100 blades provides 300 daily shaves. That's 65 days short of an entire year and amazon does sell smaller packs of blades, but why not just go ahead and get 2 packs of blades. Without shipping, this package of 100 DE or double edge blades costs $16.99 per box. The shipping I got was a flat rate and the costs would not a factor. So all I really have to do is add $16.99 to my actual costs and you'd get more than a year's worth of shave for $39.46. That is my costs for 600 shaves. So lets do a little bit more of basic math. 2 years equals 730 days. 730 days minus 600 day's worth of shaving equals 130 days short of 2 years. Now that 2 year total cost listed above is extremely close to the price tag of a brand new Gold Dollar straight razor that's been truely been made shave ready. But unlike using a double edge safety razor, it's a one time cost because a straight razor is not disposable. Now you will have to buy a strop which can also be a one time investment as well. There's people all over the web that sell vintage strops that are almost if not older than I am and the same can be said about straight razors as well. So they are a lifetime investment. A single honing stone would and could be your only cost per year if you wanted it to be. Most people that hone straight razors professionally usually get around 2,500 or more razors out of a single stone and these guys hone straight razors on a daily basis. You won't need to do this so your costs get even lower and there's a few places on the web that have a honing kit for sale that covers everything you'd need for honing your own straight razors. It's going to take another post to explain why I didn't factor in the costs of shaving soaps which is also mind blowing as well.