Seeking a cleaner, greener shave

For quite a few years now, I've had trouble finding a razor I was entirely satisfied with. I've tried cartridge razors from all kinds of brands, including Gillette, Schick, Harry's, the Dollar Shave Club, and the store brands at the drugstore, some designed for men and some for women. And every single one of them had at least one, and usually several, of the following problems:

1. They didn't give me as close and long-lasting a shave as I wanted. With most of them, I could get my legs tolerably smooth with a little work, but the roots were still visible, and the smoothness never lasted. By the end of the day, they'd feel like 60-grit sandpaper.
2. The cartridges were expensive. Even the so-called Dollar Shave Club actually charges $8 for a 4-pack (so $2 each) of its 4-blade refill heads, the cheapest type it still offers. And you can't comparison shop for refill blade cartridges the way you can for other products, stocking up whenever you find a good deal, because cartridges for different razor brands — and in most cases, even different models from the same brand — aren't interchangeable. You have to buy the specific cartridges that go with whatever razor you have, and pay whatever the store is asking for them.
3. They were wasteful. Not as much as disposable razors, of course, but the cartridges still ended up in the trash because there was no way to recycle them. To reduce this problem, I got pretty good over the years at making the cartridges last a long time. By drying them off between shaves, lubricating them, even stropping them occasionally, I could go for weeks or even months on a single cartridge. But that didn't help me that much in the long run, because...
4. They broke. Occasionally, the razor would get dropped in the shower — sometimes during use, sometimes while I was cleaning or whatever. And while most razor handles would survive this once or twice, sooner or later they would break, rendering both the razor itself and all the remaining cartridges for it unusable. (The much-lauded Harry's razor actually broke this way after only its second use. The company offered me a free replacement, but I was so unimpressed with the quality — as well as the shave I got from it — that I didn't consider it worth the effort.)

Over the years, I've toyed with the idea of going back to an old-fashioned safety razor, the kind I first learned to shave with. I always used to get a pretty good shave from one, at least as close as anything I've ever achieved with two, three, four, or five blades. The individual blades are both smaller and cheaper than a multi-blade cartridge, and they don't produce any plastic waste. And, better still, they're all the same: any blade you buy will fit any safety razor, regardless of brand. And best of all, the handle itself is made of nearly indestructible metal, so dropping it won't damage it significantly (though it could damage you if the exposed blade lands on your toe).

Safety razors aren't perfect, of course. They pose a bigger risk of nicks and cuts (the main reason I stopped using one in the first place). Also, they're much harder to find in stores, where cartridge razors have pretty much taken over. Because of these problems, I always ended up replacing a broken cartridge razor with a new cartridge razor that looked like the best available value, hoping that it would be the one that finally lived up to my expectations.

The last one I bought this way was a no-name brand from Costco that came with a dozen refills. I made it through eleven of them before the handle broke, and I decided that was it — I was going to take the plunge on a safety razor. The local drugstore didn't have any (I know it used to, but when I went back this week they had all disappeared), but I was able to pick up one up for $17.50 at Target — a Van der Hagen complete with five blades and a limited lifetime warranty. That looked like a pretty clear solution to problem #4 on my list, and I hoped it would solve problems #1 through #3 as well.

That hasn't quite proved to be the case — at least, not yet. I shaved with it for the first time this morning, and not only did it not leave my skin silky smooth, it didn't even provide as close a shave as I used to get with my crappy Costco cartridge razor. Still, I knew it's possible to achieve this kind of smoothness with a single blade, because I've done it in the past. So I figure perhaps I simply need to make some changes to my shaving technique.

I consulted a couple of guides online to find out how to shave legs with a safety razor, and they seemed to agree on a few points. First, wet the skin and lather it well (something I always do anyway). Second, hold the blade at an angle, which various sources put at anywhere from 30 to 45 degrees. And third, use short, light strokes with very little pressure. I'm hoping that once I get the hang of this, I'll be able to get a shave from my single blade that's at least equal, if not superior, to what I got from the cartridge.

The fourth tip most sources give is to change the blade frequently, saying it's only good for three to six shaves, seven at most. But I'm hoping to stretch that out a bit longer, since a 50-cent blade that lasts only a week is more costly and wasteful than a $2 cartridge that lasts a couple of months. The tricks for making safety razor blades last longer seem to be pretty much the same as for cartridge razors: Clean and dry after each use, keep it oiled, and strop it as needed to restore the edge. (You can use an old pair of jeans for this purpose rather than a specially designed strop.) Many sources also recommend against keeping the razor in the bathroom, since the moist air can cause rust, but that's a problem for me since I like to have it ready to hand when I step into the shower. So I'm thinking I might eventually try storing it in a small jar of oil, which I could keep upright in the shower caddy. That would also eliminate the need for oiling as a separate step.

And when those blades finally do wear out, I'm looking to recycle them rather than simply toss them in sharps disposal. There are apparently a few ways to do this now. Gillette and Terracycle have joined forces on a razor recycling program that accepts both razors and blades of all types and brands; you can either mail the blades in at your own cost or drop them off at a designated collection site. A company called Albatross also accepts blades by mail. Leaf Shave sells a metal blade collection tin for four bucks that you can mail back to them (again, at your own cost) or drop off at local recycling center; I've found one in Edison, only a few miles away, that shouldn't be too inconvenient to visit once or twice a year.

Cheaper still, you can make your own razor blade bank from a steel container that the recyclers can take blades and all. And I just happen to have a whole bunch of tins from Newman's Own ginger mints (which I'm hooked on) that I held onto because they were so cool-looking I hated to throw them out. So those should work nicely for the purpose.

I'm hoping that my new safety razor and accessories — blades, oil, denim "strop," and blade bank — will finally be the ecofrugal shaving solution I've been hoping for. But if I just can't figure out how to get a decent shave from this razor, I'm not giving up hope. There are now razors such as the Leaf that combine the multiple blades and pivoting head of a cartridge razor with standard single-edge razor blades, so I might be able to have my close shave and less waste too. They're rather pricey, but what the heck, I'd only have to buy it once.