Gillette and Schick are Ripping You Off. Never Pay for another Razor Again.
November 13, 2007 By Matthew Paulson
Most of us start shaving at a very young age, often as young as 16. When we notice our faces getting a little bit scraggly for the first time, our parents show us how to lather up with shaving cream and get rid of our excess body hair with disposable razor. Hair keeps growing, so we keep shaving. Whenever Gillette or Schick announce their latest greatest and razor with more blades than ever before, we go out and buy the new over-priced shaver once our current blades get dull only to find out it doesn’t offer a much better shave than the previous generation. It turns out that Gillette and Schick have been ripping us off and the first few packs of razor blades that we purchased could have lasted our entire life!
It turns out that razor blades do not get dull because we use them to shave! So why do razor blades get dull? It’s actually because of the moisture in the shaving cream and the water that we make use of that makes them dull. We shave with a razor, rinse it off, put it back in its case, and go on with life. Each time we use it more water collects on the razor blade, causing oxidation and thus a microscopic form of rusting which causes the blade to become dull.
It only makes sense that if we make a point to dry off our razor blades after making use of them that they will last much longer. Simply dry off your razor blade with a towel after making use of it or better yet a blow-dryer to be sure to remove all moisture. Your razor blades will go from being dull after just a few days to staying sharp for several months.
In my personal experience, I’ve found that I can usually get a razor blade to last for our five months ago while remaining reasonably usable. Consumer advocate Clark Howard once discussed how he blots his 17 cent razor blades with a towel to try them and that a single blade has lasted him for almost a year!
Don’t let Gillette and Schick keep ripping you off. By drying your razor blades after each use with a towel or a razor you can easily reduce the amount of money you pay in razor blades to $5.00 a year!
Posted in saving money
- Update on thatMLMbeat: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly A couple of weeks ago, well, more like 6 weeks ago, I attempted to do the last post on thatMLMbeat.com before launching our new platform. Being optimistic with the programming that had to be done,...
- Wedding Finances, Stuff You Can Buy, Impending Depression: The Carnivals It's a little short and sweet today. In fact, I am working on a new schedule for The Smarter Wallet. Since I have gotten involved in a few more online projects, I may have to...
- The Perfect Pushup Reviewed [caption id="attachment_358" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="Perfect Pushup"][/caption]Although pushups are incredibly beneficial, the fact remains that thousands of people do them wrong every single day. This leads to many injuries and it may not be possible to...
- Do you have any friends facing foreclosure? Even though it's hard to go more than a few days without hearing about the housing slump and foreclosures, it's a bit of a distant concept if no one you know has faced it. Well,...
- The Seven Cs of Parenting Success: Part One As promised in Parenting and The Art of Change: Step Three, here are essential "Cs" of Parenting Success. Extraordinary philosopher Tom V. Morris shared his parenting wisdom on The Mommy-Muse Is In: Empowering Your Journey...
content rss
November 13th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
[...] Gillette and Schick are Ripping You Off. Never Pay for another Razor Again. » American Consumer New… [...]
November 21st, 2007 at 12:02 pm
[...] [Via: American Consumer News] [...]
February 1st, 2008 at 6:17 am
[...] kind of a neat tip. Mathew over at American Consumer News explains how to make the razors you shave with last much longer than normal. Just dry them off when you’re finished using [...]
March 15th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
why not just put them where no air can get to them like in a bottle of aclohol??
March 30th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
How long does a double edge blade last? How good of a shave will a blade give?
As with a “cut-throat” razor it depends on the sharpness of the blade and the durability/hardness of the steel.
Has anyone looked at the edge of various maker’s double edge blades under a 10 power magnifying glass, or, better yet, a microscope, to see if they can see a difference in the blade edges?
I looked at a Schick, and a Merkur, under a 10X glass. The Merkur, even at only 10X, has a rough edge. The Schick has a much smoother edge.
I checked this out after using one of each blade. The Schick gave me 25 good shaves before it started pulling,
The Merkur blade gave me a worse (it pulled more) shave on the first shave than the Schick did after 25 shaves.
I used to get 60 good shaves out of the Gillette Blue Blade. Now I am doing good to get 30 out of stainless steel, platinum, etc.
Seems the blade makers are just not putting as good of an edge on their blades just so they will get duller faster.
I have not tried the Feather Blades yet, but have ordered some, as they have a reputation for sharpness.
A person should be able to tell just how long, comparatively, a blade will last just by looking at its edge under a microscope.
The whole thing seems to be a “sting” operation though, as sharp blades could go out for weeks and then start sending out less sharp ones.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
…Gilette Mach III blade used to last up to 2 months, but not anymore — the blades are significantly duller than before, even brand new.
Something has changed in the manufacturing process… for the worse.
I thought I just got a bad lot or two, but after 5 months it’s obvious that quality was intentionally reduced. Maybe it’s got something to do with the sharp price rise for steel and other metals ?
At two dollars a blade, Gillette was always pricey– but they lasted quite a while. Not any more. I’m looking for a better razor brand.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:40 am
Please explain to me how Gillette and Schick are “ripping us off”. They manufacture a product, offer it for sale to the public, and if we, as intelligent consumers feel that is a fair enough deal, we can choose to purchase the product. If we decide that their product is “overpriced”, we can choose not to buy it. Sounds like good capitalism to me. Is it that you feel we are too dumb to make such a decision? Do you not believe in free enterprise. I think your tip on how to lengthen the lifespan of a disposable razor is great, but accusing a company that fairly markets a product of ripping off the consumer is silly.