By Colin J. Campbell

Getting a good shave these days is no longer an inexpensive proposition.

A package of razor blades can run $35 for six blades. That’s a significant amount, if you shave an average of 30 days a month and change the blade every month it works out to about 17 cents a shave. You could switch to an electric razor or order a Harry razor off the Internet, which uses a blade that costs $2. That might be a trendy idea, but my experience is that if you want a really good close shave, other than going to a barber if you can find one the will give you a shave, the best solution is still a Gillette razor.

Better to find a way to make the blade last longer rather than spending too much time looking for an alternative. I began my research quite by chance, at a dinner party some years ago a fellow told me that Gillette blades can be honed. You can buy a device to do that, it’s a piece of leather glued to a block or you can just strop the blade on your upper arm. My Scottish nature suggested that using my arm was worth a try and much to my surprise it works. That alone extends the life of a Gillette razor blade to about three months.

Later I watched a video that explained that what dulls the blade is poor maintenance; a razor put away wet and soapy tends to dull quickly. The video host suggested to wash the blade thoroughly after shaving, shake the excess water off and dry it before putting it away. Surprise, this worked too, now I get about six months use out of a single blade. That means that instead of 17 cents a shave I get a shave for about three cents. I doubt that even a Harry razor can get to that unit cost.

I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us males who shave every day, it is just a continuation of that rule our parents taught us at an early age, that if you treat your tools with respect and keep them sharp they will serve you for lifetime.

Perhaps having to pay $35 for a pack of razor blades wasn’t so bad after all. Not having to use an electric razor or growth a beard is priceless.

– Colin J. Campbell, CFP, CLU, CH.F.C. is the managing partner of Guidance Planning Strategies Ltd. Colin is a regular contributor on a host of subjects, you can follow him on Facebook and find more of his articles on his website www.gpsbc.ca .   [email protected]

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