Safety razor - Wikipedia
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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.

  • tobis@lemm.eeEnglish
    231·
    15 hours ago

    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.

    • drhodl@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      14 hours ago

      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.

    • reptar@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      12 hours ago

      I hate shaving but I like my feathers. I only shave like once a week and it’s still easy peasy

      • tobis@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        11 hours ago

        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.

        • reptar@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          11 hours ago

          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.

    • VerseAndVermin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      15 hours ago

      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.