About 15 years ago, I gave up my favorite razor – the Gillette Mach III – because the cost for refill cartridges was over $3 each! At the time, I was beginning my hardcore frugal strategy to spend less so that I could put all of my money toward paying down a lifetime of accumulated debt. Spending $30 for 10 razor blade refills each month did not fit that budget.
I bought an old school Merkur Safety Razor along with a sample pack of 100 double edge blades for about $50. Those blades lasted me for 10 years.
Eventually, when I ran out of blades, I ordered another 100 refill blades for $15. I’ve been using these, with the same Merkur safety razor, for the last 5 years.
My current blades are, ironically, Gillette branded blades mades in Russia. They’re OK, but become dull fairly quickly. After 3-4 shaves they lose their edge and effectiveness – which annoys me because I think a blade “should” last longer.
So recently I went into some shaving forums to see if I could sharpen the blades. I learned from knife sharpening aficionados that it is possible, but impractical for reasons to obscure to go into here.
The most helpful forum commenter said, “I pay between 10 and 15 cents per blade. For me, it’s not worth the time and effort to sharpen a dull blade vs. throwing it out and replacing it with a new blade.”
That made me do my own math. I spend 15 cents per blade too. My current blades work well for 2-3 weeks. If I use a new blade every 2 weeks, my cost is $3.90 per year.
Problem solved.
I can afford $3.90 per year – even if I still think blades “should” last longer. Even better, at $3.90 per year, this is something not worth even thinking about ever again.
And that is priceless.