I’ve recently switched from a Gillette Mach 3 to a safety razor with old-school straight razor blades. Here’s how much money I reckon it saves me.

£16 for 8 razor blades?!

I was in Boots looking to replace my Mach 3 blades. It’s an older razor but I’d had it for a decade and now that I’m bearded I basically use it for neck shaving and shaping, so I didn’t see why I’d upgrade to a mega-electric job.

There I was: staring at the security-tagged boxes in front of me. I’d last bought blades in bulk and made them last as long as I could, but it was time.

£16. £2 a blade. I reckon a blade lasts about 2 weeks on my stubble, if you really force it to.

That’s £52 a year on just basic razor blades.

But a pack of 10 straight razor blades is £4.

You don’t need an A level is maths to work out that at 40p per razor blade the incentive is there.

A blade handle, some generic Wilkinson Sword thing, cost me £18 and came with a pack of 10 blades.

I figured that if I could make it work I’d break even on the first purchase.

Safety razor shaving is actually really easy

I remember trying cutthroat razors back in the day and failing miserably to master it. Think “The Joker” before Heath Ledger made him cool and that’s pretty much how it went down.

So yeah, I was a bit nervous about starting this experiment.

Turns out though that it’s really not difficult. If you can shave with a normal razor, you can work it out.

A blade seems to last me about 2 weeks

I reckon most men would get through a blade a week, but I’m only shaving half a face.

Even so, at a fifth of the price, it would have to be blunt within three days for this to not be worthwhile for me.

I find that I use both sides of the razor, then flip it over in the container and use the reverse sizes of the blade. It extends the life a bit and keeps it sharp.

The shave is actually better!

I get a lot less razor burn now and ingrown hairs aren’t common anymore.

Someone else has suggested that paying more for saving soap and a brush rather than using gel is also a big help for your skin and a net saving in cash, but I still have gel to use so I’m finishing that up first.

A safety razor usually gets the same hair you were going to shave, but there’s no rubber or additional blades rubbing away at your skin I guess. Whatever the reason, I just know that I get the same results with less irritation.

In the first year, a safety razor costs me £30 for razor and blades alone

Compare that to £52 in Gillette and you’ll realise this pays off after 7 months.

By the end of year 2 I’ll be £62 up

Savings in the first year are one thing, but reducing the shaving blades bill from £52 to £12 from year 2 onwards is a game changer.

Ladies can do this too

It wasn’t entirely my idea.

Lady SierraWhiskyMike and a few female friends had mentioned switching to safety razors before. It had always been in the context of reducing plastic waste, so I hadn’t really thought about it.

Anyway, turns out that this works really well for legs, too. Ladies, non-binaries and bodybuilders should consider the safety razor here.