Hack your razor
We geeks (normally youngish, maleish, common-senseless types) often complain about the high cost of replacement razor blades for refillable razors. We also ridicule the pointless increase in blade-count, while clinging to whatever silly model was introduced when we came of age.
My generation was suckered in by the Gillette Sensor, whose refills cost $1.50 per blade. That feels a tad expensive (compared to, I don’t know, this $5 ethernet card) but I truly feel sorry for today’s newly bearded lads confronted with the monstrosity named Fusion whose refills cost over $3.50 per “cartridge”. Jesus.
Yet we’re trapped. Even if we throw away our “investment” in the base razor, there’s no razor on the market with reasonably priced refills. I thought maybe if I ventured into unknown Schick territory… nope. MrLittlePants noticed that Trac II refills approach the coveted $1 per blade mark, but alas, good luck buying a damn Trac II razor anywhere.
Frustrated, we started to wonder why we were even fooling with refillable razors. Don’t most women just use the throw-away kind? I know it’s not for their faces (in theory), but what’s the difference? Maybe the ladies are on to something?
Uhh, yeeeeahh! Disposables are much, much cheaper than the replacement blades for any razor. Even in pivoting Gillette-branded form they come out to less than $1 apiece. We bought those, and seriously can’t tell the difference. After all these years…
Of course, MrLittlePants and I are deeply offended by waste in general. But that revulsion to throw-away products is what drives the razor scheme. Refills seem smarter, more efficient, and just better than disposables… so of course they charge more for them.
I blame the cynical marketing bastards in the shaving business for the rubbery plastic handles now showing up in my trash, but I’ll try to make amends anyway. Hail Mother Earth full of dirt, Hail Mother Earth…
Backtalk
he he… most girls get ripped off just like you guys. i spent the past year using the “intuition” which was horribly designed and almost impossible to use (counter-intuitive, if you will). but i did like the idea of not paying for shaving cream and razor blades and having it all-in-one. but i recently switched back to the gillette venus. much better and not uber-expensive. and a trick for saving $$ on shaving cream (and often a better shave) conditioner. you can get a huge bottle of the cheap stuff (suave) for less than $2!!! and it’ll last ages!!
It’s funny you mention the “intuition.” My impression is that it was the first time shaving companies managed to pull one over on the ladies. But I’m no women’s shaving historian.
There’s “this funny article”:http://www.slate.com/id/2085175/ about Jewel selling her song of the same name for their commercial (and the song is about not selling out!).
About the cream: I guess we’re better off than you cause we don’t go through it that quickly, having a lot less surface area to cover.
It’s all the same though, any money spent just shaving hairs off your body kinda sucks.
Get a double edge safety razor. Blades run from $0.50 down to $0.17. Shave is very close (closer than the multi blade). I use shaving soap and a shaving brush. It saves lots of money and works better than the canned shave cream… a no brainer!
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