Shaving: the bane of our baby-butt smooth existence. We all have to do it (except the French and most Mediterranean countries of course) but if you tot up the associated costs every month, shaving becomes quite a costly necessity.
For those blade shaving aficionados or those that enjoy the masculine ritual each day, refill cartridges for your Gillette razor aren’t cheap, and what’s more is that once you buy the latest Mach® 427 (or whatever it is they’re up to these days), after the ‘complimentary’ cartridge supplied is finished, they’ve got you by the short and curlies – that you ironically are trying to get rid of.
A bold statement though that you can shave 400% off your shaving bill, I know. But take a look at the following calculation; and work on the basis that after the initial purchase of the safety razor that 4 months down the line you will start to see the savings. But these then become a lifetime saving.
Ok, so the math of saving a small fortune on shaving:
1. The Cartridge Razor Route
Unit cost: R80-120 (a run of the mill Gillette contour or Mach)
Refill cartridges: R40 (per 5 pack)
Outlay total: R120
Now assuming you’re shaving 5 times per week, (i.e. 20 shaves per month) and getting 2 shaves per cartridge (as I find after the 2nd you start getting razor bumps and in-growns etc); the following would apply.
5 pack of cartridges @ R40 = R8 per cartridge
2 shaves p/cartridge = R4 p/shave
5 shaves p/week @ R4 = R20 p/week or R80 p/month
(R960 per annum)
Tip: You could squeeze a bit more out of each razor blade with a handy gadget like the Razorpit , which is designed to remove all the gunk and build-up on your razor blades.
2. The Safety Razor Route
Unit cost: R312 (chrome or nickel plated safety razor with a lifetime guarantee, there’s also straight razors to consider too if you’re feeling flush and want only the best)
Razor pack : R10 (per 5 pack)
Outlay total: R322
5 pack of razors @ R10 = R2 per razor
2 shaves p/razor = R1 p/shave
5 shaves p/week @ R1 = R5 p/week or R20 p/month
(R240 per annum)
Now you might say, “well what’s a saving of R60 per month in the greater scheme of things?” True, it doesn’t sound like a sizeable chunk of change, but presumably you’re going to be shaving until you decide to snuff it one day; which if you then add it up over and average 60 years, a R43,000 overall saving (excluding inflation) ain’t nothing to sneeze at. (and this is also excluding the utter coolness factor of using a safety razor to shave)
The Lion brand of safety razors is available from most good Pick n Pays, Spars and other convenience stores, so there’s no worries of not being able to find blades when you need them.
Have a look at the Edwin Jagger range of premium men’s razors.
3 Comments
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how can i find the best razor for my skin type? is there any guidelines, chart? seems for me every razor i use is gonna hurt me, not comfortable at all.
Or you can get the Lion brand safety razor plus 3 blades from your local supermarket for R18. So total outlay is R28.