Like a drug dealer giving out free samples, Gillette has been getting men hooked on Fusion razors by handing out free Fusion razors. You go along and you think, mm, this is a pretty good shave, and eventually you need to buy replacement cartridges, and it turns out they cost $40! Reader Jim got sick of spending $250 a year on cartridges for a shave that wasn’t stellar so he decided to kick it like a grandpa and switch to old-school double-edged safety razors. Jim says the blades on these just cost pennies a piece and the shave is cleaner and closer. Here’s how he made the switch:

Jim writes:

I found a nice Gillette double edge safety razor from the 60’s on E-Bay for $25, a nice badger hair shaving brush from Amazon for $12, and a refillable bowl Taylor of Old Bond Street shaving soap in an nice wooden bowl for about $25.00 from qedusa.com. Since there is a learning curve here, I bought a styptic pencil for about $3 to clot minor nicks…

Now, it takes a little getting used to the new razor (there are plenty of web sites and videos to learn how to use it) but the shave is far closer and my skin is clearer than ever and better yet, saving $160 a year!

If you want to get started with the art of wet shaving, badgerandblade is a great forum to check out. And here are some helpful instructions on how to wield the blade.

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