Razor Information

If you'd like to dispense with cartridge razors entirely, consult our report on men's electric shavers. ConsumerSearch also has a report devoted exclusively to women's shavers, which covers both electric and manual models.

In an excellent article in the Chicago Tribune, published in November of 2007, writer Gregory Karp discusses methods for prolonging the life of cartridge blades. As you can guess, executives at Schick and Gillette aren't keen to discuss the issue. "How can consumers make razor blades last longer? There are many proposed methods. But Gillette and Schick declined to allow interviews with executives or blade-research personnel to discuss them," Karp writes.

The reason this is important, of course, is that there's a big price difference between replacing your cartridge every four or five shaves -- more than once a week -- or once every couple of weeks or even months. Both Schick and Gillette make vastly more money on cartridge sales than they do on sales of the razors, which go for roughly $10 a pop.

Karp does mention one independent test commissioned by a disgruntled shaver, which found that drying your razor with a fan after shaving can more than double its shelf life. There's also anecdotal evidence from numerous bloggers to the same effect: If you dry your razor immediately after shaving, you can extend the life of those pricey cartridges. We don't know if there's anything to this or not, but it's worth experimenting at home to find out.

Best Research

HowStuffWorks.com offers an informative article called "How Shaving Works" that includes a history of the multiple-blade shaving cartridge.

Nick Burns' article in The New York Times called "Shaving with Five Blades when Maybe Two Will Do" gives a good overview of the Gillette-Schick battle.

Razor manufacturers:

Gillette

Schick

Bic