Oh, gimme a break. Gillette didn’t even create the Trac 2 until I’d been shaving for several years, so I learned on a safety razor. Maybe I wasn’t “willing to learn technique” (actually, I didn’t know there was ‘technique’ to it), but I don’t exactly have fond recollections of all the fucking times I nicked myself while shaving before they invented multi-blade cartridges.
I don’t want to “learn technique” in order to shave; I just want to be able to shave my face (or the portions of it that I still shave, given that I’ve had a full beard for 20 years now) while barely conscious and not slice my face open, without having to be awake enough to deal with “technique.”
The razor blade industry has made that not just possible but downright easy, and I am indebted to them for that. If that means I pay them more money than some guy thinks I should, well, we all have our opinions, but it’s damn sure worth it to me.
Look, the balance of costs and benefits is up to you. I’m not using my unchecked power to take cartridges off the market and deny you your preference. But if your concern is getting a better shave, you’re not going to get it with a cartridge, and the more blades they put on it, the farther you will get from a good shave.
As far as price is concerned “more money than some guy thinks I should,” really, look at the price. At CVS you get 10 DE blades for less than $6. Sensor and Mach 3 blades average 4 times as much for a worse shave. Fusion blades average 7 times as much. That’s not money you can find a better use for? If cost is really no object for you, then why do you scoff at getting a shave from a barber? Even with a shitty razor, a barber will give you a better shave than you can give yourself.
As for cutting yourself, I’ve cut myself more often with a cartridge razor than I have with a safety razor. (Are you really half-asleep when you’re shaving? Does that mean you haven’t showered? No matter what kind of razor you’re using, you’re going to get a worse shave if you do it before showering.)
You have a full beard? So you’re shaving at most a few square centimeters of skin? And to do that you’re afraid of cutting yourself? What’s up with that? I recommend not shaving under the influence of intoxicants.
Dagnammit, if one blade was good enough for my grandfather, it’s good enough for me. In fact, his old-fashioned safety razor is good enough for me, too, because that’s what I use.
I use the Fusion, and I spend about $20 on blades per year (I find they last a very long time before going dull). I’m willing to spend an extra $17 per year for faster shaves with no nicks and cuts.
No, but you’re the one who claims they’re a “scam.” I’m saying that’s a false claim. It may be better for you personally to use an old-fashioned safety razor, but that doesn’t mean cartridges are a scam.
I don’t know about more blades, because two has sufficed quite well for me, but yes, I do get a better shave with a cartridge. Because a shave that leaves my face chopped up is an objectively worse shave.
Numeracy time: forget multiples; what’s the difference? Even before I grew my beard, one cartridge would last me a couple of weeks. So that was five five-packs of cartridges a year. They used to run ~$3.49 for a pack back then, so I was spending the cost of a couple of pizzas a year on blades. (I honestly don’t remember what they cost nowadays, because I just don’t need to buy them that often.)
A high percentage of savings on something you’re spending very little on to begin with is a trivial amount of savings.
As already noted, cost is trivial - but time and effort are important to me. Why would I seek out an old-fashioned barbershop for a shave, which I can do in a couple minutes at home? Do they still have any of those, after all these years? (I haven’t been inside of one in 40 years; they never did know what to do with my curly hair.) I only go to my hairstylist for a haircut about once every five weeks; even if she shaved her male customers, if she were to give me a shave every morning, that would be a half hour each morning I’d have to spend going, coming, and at the shop. Where’s this extra half-hour going to come from? I’m already getting up much earlier than I want.
I’ve had the opposite experience. Again, I’m glad you have mastered the “technique” to be able to spend a few bucks less on blades each year, but nuts to that, AFAIAC.
That may be the case, but before showering, I get a shave that is quite good enough, and I don’t nick myself, so what’s the point of changing?
Unlike the guy in RHPS, I do have a neck. I shave it. And it’s more than a few square cm. (The outliers I trim on my cheeks amount to only that, though.)
Reading comprehension, friend: I’m not at all afraid of cutting myself; I haven’t done so in years. But I certainly used to, back when I used a ‘safety’ (hahaha) razor.
Sure you don’t want to substitute ‘posting’ for ‘shaving’ in that sentence?
I use a safety razor (armpits and legs) and have never felt like it involved “technique”. It’s a razor. It works the same as a disposable. You drag it along your skin? Maybe faces are more complicated.
I use a safety razor, but I used to use double bladed disposables. I find they both worked reasonably well if I shaved every day, but if I shaved once a week or less like I like to, multi blade razors suck - hair gets stuck between the blades of a multi blade razor and the safety razor does a way better job.
No, the price to value ratio, the repeated cycle of new versions to price increases and the fact that they are all junk-lock products (not interchangeable and without secondary suppliers) pushes them a long ways down Scam Lane.
Some of the best single-edge blades available cost less per pack than a single current miracle cartridge. You may call your choice “value” rather than “scam” if you like. Those of us who have learned to shave properly call a comfortable $25 handle that lasts a lifetime and around $0.10 a shave with an excellent blade “value.”
Here’s a tip – Dollar Shave Club’s razors are made by a company called Dorco. Dollar Shave Club charges $72.00 for 48 cartridges (four per month, $6.00 per month, according to their web site). Dorco will sell you 48 four-blade cartridges for $56.10. And no need to set up an auto-pay, which I hate. Their web site is here.
For those who swear by the old-fashioned safety razor and double-edged blade, I hear you. I decided a while back that my favorite Gillette Mach 3 blades cost way too much money, so I tried the safety razors. I found that I could get a perfectly good shave, and the price was great, but it took me about three times as long as shaving with a multi-blade cartridge. That’s too long for me – I just want to get up, have a shower, and shave, all in as little time as possible. So I searched around a bit and found the Pace (Dorco’s brand name for its razors) cartridges, which in my experience are about 90% as good as the Mach 3, but at less than half the price. For me, that was a totally acceptable compromise between cost and performance.
I usually use a shaver, but when I go non electric, I use double bladed disposables. Any more blades than that remind me too much of that mock commercial from the very early seasons of SNL.
I use the Power Fusion, and there is no shave better than the first one out of the package. Removes all hairs and feels like I’m shaving myself with butter.
An eight-pack is about $32, lasts me a year at six weeks per cartridge. I feel okay with that, which is apparently twice as cheap as the Dollar Shave Club!
Not trying to sway you, but one thing I like about the Gillette Fusion is that it has an open-back design. You can flush water through from behind and clean all the gunk from between the blades. As I said, though, I quit spending that much on refills.
