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Shave Responsibly
Fourteen years ago, I purchased a stainless steel safety razor, and I consider it one of the best investments I’ve ever made. Granted, I am somewhat of a minimalist so my investments are few, but purchasing a reusable razor that allowed me to replace only the blades has saved me a lot of money and kept me from throwing away hundreds of disposable razors while simply recycling the blades.
The safety razor I use was invented in 1901, at the turn of the last century, by a man named King Gillette. Perhaps you’ve heard of his company.
Well, Gillette pioneered the replaceable and disposable blade, since up to that point, sharpening the blades was an arduous task and the metal was too expensive to be disposed of. A hundred years later, the Gillette company has invested millions of dollars into a marvel of engineering featuring precision-placed blades, with tips thinner than visible light that are spot-welded more than automobiles for a product designed to be disposed of after fifteen uses. The industry has come a long way.
The Gillette Company did not release the first dual blade razor until 1972, less than fifty years ago. Bic was already selling disposable plastic pens and disposable plastic lighters, and they started offering disposable plastic razors in 1975. Last year, more than 1.2 billion dollars’ worth of disposable razors were sold in the U.S. alone.
