Fusion blades: 1.00 a week

**Nancy Boy** · 03-09-2009, 01:56 PM

I was wondering if any of you have seen the current Fusion commercial here in the States that claims the upkeep of a Gillette Fusion razor (blades) is about a dollar a week.

Isn't this false advertising at it's worse?

**blade08** · 03-09-2009, 02:02 PM

A blade is a blade, wether it is a DE blade or a blade in a cartridge. After about 5 to 8 shaves, it will get dull and you are gonna have to replace it. So, if you use your Fusion daily, it will cost you at least 1 cartridge per week, now you do the math. This is one big lie.

**RazorEdge** · 03-09-2009, 02:02 PM

Well you know, because Fusion blades are manufactured to specifications above industry averages, they are guaranteed to last 5 weeks!

What a load of @$#&

**SepticTank** · 03-09-2009, 02:09 PM

and so they will if you shave once a week

**Gafer** · 03-09-2009, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by blade08

A blade is a blade, wether it is a DE blade or a blade in a cartridge. After about 5 to 8 shaves, it will get dull and you are gonna have to replace it. So, if you use your Fusion daily, it will cost you at least 1 cartridge per week, now you do the math. This is one big lie.

This was batted around in another thread - can't find it right now but it truly is a load of crap. A Fusion at a dollar a week? No way. DE blades at a dollar a week? You bet, and Feather's at that!

**SavantStrike** · 03-09-2009, 02:20 PM

Or if you're okay with massive irritation. I've heard people say their fusion blades last a month... of course they might as well shave with the rusty tail pipe off some random car in a parking lot somewhere...

I want to see Gillette's math on this dollar a week thing, but it's such a load that they don't show it on their website...

**Wishoot** · 03-09-2009, 02:23 PM

I think that's $1 PER BLADE in the cartridge per week.

**DunEdinRanger** · 03-09-2009, 02:32 PM

$1/week = $52 dollars a year.

Let's assume 5 shaves/week which is 260 shaves a year. Let's further assume you don't shave during a two week vacation to bring it 250 days (10 working days in that period)

At $3.00/blade that is about 17 blades a year. = 14.7 shaves/blade
At $2.50/blade that is about 21 blades a year. = 11.9 shaves/blade
At $3.50/blade that is about 15 blades a year. = 16.7 shaves/blade
At $4.00/blade that is about 13 blades a year. = 19.2 shaves/blade

I can stretch out a single DE to 12 shaves, so I can imagine you could get almost 20 shaves out of a fusion blade, but I wonder how comfortable those last few shaves are going to be?

**Suzuki** · 03-09-2009, 02:35 PM

How's that jibe with Big G's commercials stating that you should replace your cartridges after the indicator strip fades from blue to white - which happens in less than a week...

Sounds like sucking and blowing to me.

Looks like Gillette over-engineered themselves and with the economy, folks are either going to switch to other razors or stretch their Fusion cartridges.

For the record, I've used the Fusion and, while I don't like it, the cartridges did last a long time.

**Suzuki** · 03-09-2009, 02:37 PM

Originally Posted by DunEdinRanger

I can stretch out a single DE to 12 shaves, so I can imagine you could get almost 20 shaves out of a fusion blade, but I wonder how comfortable those last few shaves are going to be?

Egads - I've never had a blade that was good much past 4 or maybe 5 if I stretched it out.

I generally chuck my DE blades after 3 shaves.

**allawd** · 03-09-2009, 03:10 PM

Actually the ad states "as little as a $1 per week" therefore not false advertising. Just like sales with "up to" a certain discount. Marketing=lies.

**Ignatius** · 03-09-2009, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by blade08

A blade is a blade, wether it is a DE blade or a blade in a cartridge. After about 5 to 8 shaves, it will get dull and you are gonna have to replace it. So, if you use your Fusion daily, it will cost you at least 1 cartridge per week, now you do the math. This is one big lie.

I guess you should be able to get a decent shave in fewer passes with a multiblade, so they should last a little longer than a DE. But 4-5 weeks, come on...

**SavantStrike** · 03-09-2009, 03:35 PM

I really want to see the Dorco Pace 6 hit the US. Within 2 years of that, Gillette would have a 7... wait 8... blade razor. Maybe people will start to look past the marketing departments then?

**FiXXXer** · 03-09-2009, 03:55 PM

Fusion cartridges cost about 3 dollars right? If so, they'd have to last 3 weeks, and if you only do 1 pass with them instead of 3-4, that could theoretically happen. I'm not saying it would be pleasant, but it's possible.

**nav** · 03-09-2009, 04:08 PM

When I first saw the advert, I thought they were having some sort of special rebate offer or something...there were no details on the rebate and I thought "that is the biggest lie ever!". Dad uses fusion and his blades last about 10 shaves, which is about $4/week. My Astra SP blades are running at about 50c/week

**castlecraver** · 03-09-2009, 05:53 PM

IMHO, these are the sorts of business practices that only serve to alienate the educated consumer and cheat the more unscrutinizing ones. Rather than actually give people a good value for their money, they resort to tossing out very questionable statistics in effort to get people to believe they're getting a good value.

**itsallshots** · 03-09-2009, 05:57 PM

definately not, I can really push a fusion to about 12 shaves and by the time im at 8 i regret shaving. I got a pack of 8 and said it would last 6 months, which cost me £14 roughly, the blades were finished by 3 months with quite a bit of sore shaving because I really had to last the blades :(

**Dubbya** · 03-09-2009, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by DunEdinRanger

$1/week = $52 dollars a year.

Let's assume 5 shaves/week which is 260 shaves a year. Let's further assume you don't shave during a two week vacation to bring it 250 days (10 working days in that period)

At $3.00/blade that is about 17 blades a year. = 14.7 shaves/blade
At $2.50/blade that is about 21 blades a year. = 11.9 shaves/blade
At $3.50/blade that is about 15 blades a year. = 16.7 shaves/blade
At $4.00/blade that is about 13 blades a year. = 19.2 shaves/blade

I can stretch out a single DE to 12 shaves, so I can imagine you could get almost 20 shaves out of a fusion blade, but I wonder how comfortable those last few shaves are going to be?

I once stretched a Mach3 cart for about three weeks of shaving once daily and twice on Fridays. I can attest, the last week was horrific. I just refused to buy $10/3 blades. That's actually the week that pushed me over the edge into real blade shaving.

**itsallshots** · 03-09-2009, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by dubbya

i once stretched a mach3 cart for about three weeks of shaving once daily and twice on fridays. I can attest, the last week was horrific. I just refused to buy $10/3 blades. That's actually the week that pushed me over the edge into real blade shaving.

+1

**mmack66** · 03-09-2009, 06:01 PM

Proctor & Gamble is desperate. The economy is in the toilet and the Mach3 is still selling strong. They have this ridiculous razor that cost a lot of money to develop and is languishing. Folks are using cartridges far longer than intended and to top it all off there is a growing movement that has folks shaving with razors that Gillette hasn't made in 30-100 years.