cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5774540
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ICanStopTheRain on 2025-05-07 03:51:37+00:00.
Original Title: TIL that in 1975, after Gillette introduced a two-blade cartridge razor, Saturday Night Live aired a fake commercial for a three-blade razor. Gillette introduced one in 1998. In 2004, a satirical article in The Onion introduced a fictional five-blade razor. A real five-blade razor came out in 2006.
I’ll never stop being angry about the enshitification of razors. I tried so many different brands of cartridge razor and they were all terrible. When I tried safety razors, even with improper technique and not having found the right blades yet, I still got a better shave than with any of the cartridge razors. It’s not even close. I bought a nice safety razor and 200 blades which could last me decades for less than one Gilette Fusion with six replacement heads. I tried the fancy creams and boar’s hair brush, but honestly I’m fine with just water.
When I tell this to people in real life they almost always excitedly start in on “Have you heard of Dollar Shave Club?!” as if they aren’t suggesting I spend much more money on an inferior shave. One blade is about $0.05. Even if DSC did offer $1 options they would still be 20x more expensive.
This is the wild power of branding with good marketing. Gillette figured out how to hack an entire generation’s brain into believing they need to spend $40 bucks for a small pack of razor blades that will be dull within weeks.
Amazing. Let the sheep be sheep and keep your eyes open to more cases of this.
I bought a titanium Henson safety razor for like $100 (they have cheaper aluminium options) and like 5 years of blades for $5. I get a great shave every time and very rarely draw blood these days :) Well worth it, especially compared to a couple months worth of cartridge razors for $30+ from the local supermarket. It’s probably the best cost cutting move I’ve made in years.
Edit: Just looked at Henson again, out of curiosity. The titanium razors are over $600 now, but the aircraft grade aluminium are still affordable. It looks like my shaving “investment” has performed better than my stock/share portfolio LOL.
i switched to electric, which was more convenient, and less irritation.
When I switched, I got the whole setup you describe. Even special soap from etsy. It was too much of a ritual.
Between simple blades and an electric, I’m good and it’s pretty fast as long as I keep up with it.
I did do dollar shave for a little bit and it was okay. But this is an easier version of set it and forget it. Like you said, it’s pretty cheap.
I hate shaving but I like my feathers. I only shave like once a week and it’s still easy peasy
I decided to go with idiot-proof gillette silver blues instead of a more sharp blade like feather because I wanted to shave lazily without worrying about my technique.
I’ve actually never had an issue with the sharpness. Maybe my razor has a tame angle(?) In any case, more about the single edge than the particular blade I imagine.
FYI blades go dull after a few years even without use just due to entropy.
I’m so damn relieved I have good facial hair genes and can get by with just a trimmer