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- #61
It depends. I dont think I would be satisfied with a mach 3 cartridge all the time. Its not the best cartridge razor I have tried. Its more close to 22 cents a shave with the gillette labs cartridge razor and thats about the territory of feather blades or rex platinum blades if thats the only blades I used. Its still cheaper to do one and done with say astra or even gillette perma sharps. Also while I had no irritation issues with the gillette labs razor before hand I dont think the shave lasted as long as a DE shave. It felt like I had to shave every day instead of every other day. And I seem to enjoy DE shaves better because it doesnt feel like there are as many blades in contact with my face. That being said the benefit of the gillette labs cartridge is consistency. There are way more variables with razor/blade combinations that may vary the amount of irritation I can get. It can be as little as no irritation with a henson and a blade that agrees with my face or it can be even more varying with a razor thats less forgiving and a blade thats less agreeable to my face. 3-7 shaves per blade is great if your face agrees with it but there are also lots of one and done people on here. Its not one is better than the other its more like it works for some people and doesnt work for other people to continue using a blade. There is no right or wrong. I get if you're trying to min max your finances like that or trying to get more people on board but not everyone minds paying a few more cents for grooming or hygiene. Pay whatever you are comfortable with. I am totally satisfied with paying more for blades than some people. If that means my shaves are more comfortable thats awesome. Its still economical especially if you have kids they can use your razors too down the line. I dont think this hobby is only for people who wanna be cheap all the time. Obviously wet shaving is not cheaper for alot of people. Unless your the guy who only has a can of barbasol and an old Gillette adjustable then go wild I guess lol with wet shaving not every single blade/razor combination is going to be a 10/10 whether you are new and are still learning or if you are a veteran and trying something new. As long as you recycle your blades who cares? Cartridges are more wasteful they use more plastic than DEPart of it may be how multi-blade cartridges work to pull out our beard hairs a bit allowing the cut with less intense blade contact with the skin. The part that is atypical from the OP are the ingrowns from DE and not from cartridges. Typically the other way around as the carts cut hair to a level below the skin surface encouraging curly hair to grow into the skin. That said everyone's face is different so one should do what works best.
Once we go to "one & done" on DE blades the economics look a lot closer to that of cartridge systems. Many DE blade brands are not as inexpensive as they were a few years ago. With the exception of my recent King C. Gillette (KCG) 100 pack purchase all my Derby, Astra and Dorco blades were purchased 3-5 years ago for between $4 -$10 per 100. Now these brands are more typically in the $8-$12 range per 100.
On-sale bulk packs from a retailer like Costco frequently offer Mach 3 and Fusion cartridges for under $2 and $3 each respectively. Assuming 15 shaves each that comes to around 13 and 20 cents per shave respectively that is definitely in the range of some DE blades today. My KCG 100 pack cost around $12 (on sale, regular $15), popular Nacets seem to run at $20+/- per 100 and 100 Feather blades are typically $30-$40 so for many blades "one & done" eliminates much of the economic advantage of DE shaving. On top of that buying a DE razor can cost significantly more that the cartridge shaving system handles.
Of course, with the more typical 3-7 shave per blade averages of most here, the economics can still favor DE shaving until our hobby related RAD or SAD takes over.
