Grist's Umbra Fisk Tackles the Shaving Dilemma
by Michael Graham Richard, Gatineau, Canada on 06.10.05
The inimitable Umbra Fisk recently answered a letter about shaving from a Grist reader to whom growing a beard isn't an option. She examines the different choices: disposable plastic razors get a definitive "no" with 2 billion of them ending up in U.S. landfills each year, electric razors don't quite cut it (pun intended) because of their electricity use ("Not much, to be sure, maybe 15 watts -- but if we're going to talk about the impact of shaving, we might as well split hairs.") and, I would add, the energy used in making them and their unnecessary complexity. Razors with disposable blades (you keep the handle, throw away the blade) are a bit better - less trash - but Umbra ends up favoring the zero trash option: The venerable, and virile, straight razor! Be careful and learn how to use it first, though. We are not liable for anything!
::Ask Umbra: Stubble Trouble, ::A Cutthroat Business: How to Use a Straight Razor
Think about it this way though: If you use a straight razor you have to buy the shaving cream which comes in packaging and is produced somehow (toxic chemicals? definitely electricity) as opposed to an electric razor, which doesn't require a constant supply of lather (at least for me it doesn't, I do have thick facial hair) and doesn't really require much else after purchase besides a small amount of electricity once a month. In the long run I would imagine an electric razor would consume less resources, but then again I am just imagining...
I suppose it depends how you do it.
"Also, the straight-razor purist uses only hard soap -- one more opportunity for waste reduction (viz., those aerosol cans of cream)."
A former lover who shaved with a straight razor swore by it.
He said that once you got used to it, you'd never go back to the disposables.
And yes, he used soap and a brush.
I used a straight razor for long enough to realize that shaving is not necessary! Sure you think you have to shave in order to look good for work; whatever! I have grown out my hair and beard for three years now and I have never felt better.
Some of us are cursed with really crappy looking, uneven beards, though :D
Well, I have been using a Braun (German brand) 370 battery-driven razor with two rechargable NiMH-AA batteries, and it is really all I need. I am a sloppy shaver, oK, having a goatee of sorts most of the time and not a strong growth to boot, but once I get my solar setup working, it couldn't be much greener. I googled with 'braun 370 razor' and one of the first links is this: http://www.thebestthings.com/personalcare/shaver370.htm, just to give you an idea what it looks like.
I was trying shave with a ridiculous 3 bladed floppy free-sample marketing inititive the other day and it started me thinking about disposable blades. Not only do they fill up the landfill, they are excessively expensive. "The first one is free but..." The companies have you hooked on their propritory systems.
The straight razor is good for life. Blades dull? Sharpen it! Repeat. End of story. Absolutely devine! I think I'll give it a try.
As for 'shaving cream': You can collect the useless slivers of old bath soaps in a mug and use a brush for great shaving lather.
You're kidding, right? An electric razor uses 15 watts for, what? Three minutes a day? And that's the sort of consumption you're worried about?
I'm all for conservation, but that's just OCD crazy.