How can you save money on razor blades?
Customers regularly ask us: 'Those 3- or 5-blade cartridge razor blades from Gillette or Wilkinson cost an insane amount of money. Can't it be cheaper?' It also often happens that customers call us and say: 'Dear sir, I'm completely fed up! I'm paying for those overpriced razor blades in the supermarket. You're being 'screwed' (apologies for the word) in front of you!' It must indeed be said: 'Those razor blades cost a lot of money.' For a pack of 4 blades from Gillette Mach3 or Fusion you pay on average more than € 4.00 each. The Boldking blades also cost €3.00 each. If you choose a Boldking subscription, they are slightly cheaper, namely € 2.50/1. The double edge razor blades for the safety razor cost an average of € 0.35 each.
But how much will you save on an annual basis or during your beard and shaving life? We let our gray brain cells work and calculated it for you.
How many times can you shave with one blade?
In the calculation below we naturally use some average values and assumptions. The number of shaves per razor is an important assumption. From our own experience we know that you can use a double edge blade an average of 5 times. Again, it's an average. The cheap DE blades from the Turkish Derby are much less sharp after 1 or 2 uses. With the more expensive blades from Personna or Feather you can easily shave 7 times. How often you can use a blade also depends on the type of beard. A razor blade has little trouble with a thin and fluffy flax beard. On the other hand, the same blade may become dull after a few shaves if it has to cleave crackling beard stubble in half.
How often can you shave with a Mach3 or Fusion razor from Gillette? We did some research. The Gillette website states that you can easily use a blade for up to a month. This is of course a worthless and meaningless statement to the question: 'How often can you shave with their blades?' What we hear a lot from our customers is that you can use a Gillette or Wilkinson blade about 7 times. You can read on various forums and blogs that you can shave 7 to 10 times with the cartridge blade. For our calculation we assume 9 shaves.
The number of shaves per week also varies per person. Most men shave during the week and not always on the weekend. If you have light beard growth, you do not need to shave every day. For our calculation we assume 3 shaves per week.
Cost savings safety razor vs cartridge razor
Regarding the purchase price of a double edge blade, we use the average prices in our webshop: € 0.35 per blade. The recommended retail prices of a cartridge with 8 pieces of Gillette Mach3 and 8 pieces of Fusion PoGlide blades are € 24.99 and € 39.99 respectively. The average purchase price per blade is €4.06. At the drugstore you often see great offers for Gillette or Wilkinson blades. We use the regular retail prices for our calculations. Well, you have to be able to start from something.
Below are the principles for our calculation of costs and savings:
- Age: 18 to 75 years
- Number of years a man shaves: 57 years
- Average number of shaves per week: 3
- Average number of shaves per cartridge razor: 9
- Average number of shaves per double edge razor: 5
- Recommended retail price cartridge razor blade Gillette Mach3 and Fusion Proglide: € 3.12 and € 5.00 each
- Average retail price for double edge razor blades: €0.35 each
| Costs and savings | Double Edge razor blade | Gillette Mach3 razor blade |
Gillette Fusion Proglide razor |
Boldking razor blade subscription €2.50/1 |
|
Costs per year |
€10.92 | €54.08 | €86.67 | €43.33 |
| Total costs over your shaving life | €622.00 | €3,083.00 | €4,940.00 | €2,470.00 |
| Savings on DE blade compared to cartridge blades on an annual basis | - | €43.16 | €75.75 | €32.41 |
| Total savings DE blade compared to cartridge blades over your shaving life | - | €2,461.00 | €4,318.00 | €1,847.00 |
