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Comment by sna1l | Hacker News Reader

I use a double edged safety razor and have around a thousand blades, which cost about $0.02 per blade. I've always thought that disposable razor blades were an outrageous racket. Also DE safety razors make for a much smoother shave!

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They are a racket, but my 3-blade cartridge razor still gets more use than my safety razor. The main reason is that it's still more convenient - with a safety razor you can get a great shave, but you have to take your time at it. With the cartridge razor I can just stumble out of my bed and groggily whack the hair off my face without needing to employ any executive brain function. I don't even bother to put my contacts in first because I don't really even need to be able to see what I'm doing.

The price of cartridge razors also comes way down after you realize that, as long as you keep the blades dry so that they don't corrode, you can make 'em last forever. I think my record is something like 4 months on a single cartridge.

I cut myself equally much with both but maybe on cartridge blades it is because I try to eke out on more shave of it before tossing it.

They are outrageous. Women's blades can be even more so: However, I wouldn't consider shaving my legs with such a contraption. I don't know how I'd keep the proper angle on my legs, knees, ankles, and bikini line. Taking longer to shave means I could easily run out of hot water in the winter (small water heater). I'll just stick to buying men's razor blades (cheaper than the women's version, at least) and keep my convenience.

I gave that out a try myself. While they certainly are cheaper than disposable or cartridge blades, I found that for the amount of time that went into a good shave I could get an even better one with disposable or cartridge blades.

I read all of the DE blade shaving guides, but it really didn't work well for me.

All in all, they're definitely cheaper... But I don't know about better.

I found the same thing. It was cheaper (although you can spend a lot of money on the handle) but not any better and certainly not as convenient.

It also helps that they are very easy to keep clean during their useful lifetime.

I think it's very possible that the very reason it's not popular is there's minimal incentive for a firm to market that option; the margins just aren't there.

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