this post was submitted on 07 May 2025
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Today I Learned

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cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5774540

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

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.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 days ago (7 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days 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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

i switched to electric, which was more convenient, and less irritation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days 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.

[–] funkless_eck 0 points 1 day ago

FYI blades go dull after a few years even without use just due to entropy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

I'm so damn relieved I have good facial hair genes and can get by with just a trimmer