I ventured into the back alleys of the souk in Bizerte today. I bought a very cheap all metal jack knife of unknown origin for 1.000TND (that’s about 73 cents) so I could ask to take pictures of some products without feeling like I was imposing. The above picture shows a cardboard box that holds a dozen other cardboard boxes that each contain a safety razor and a small mirror.
I approve of the packaging, but I wasn’t very impressed with the product. First off, they have a plastic handle. Secondly, there is no handle twisting mechanism to open the blade housing. It just kind of snaps together. For me, part of the safety in my razor is being able to open it with my hands far away from the blade. If anybody double dog dares me, I will pick one up and do a proper product review.
I was charmed into buying off-brand razor blades last year. I recently finished using them and felt kinda stupid the first time I used my newly purchased Gillette Silver Blue blades. They were much more effective and much less murderous.
I was also charmed into getting a very cheap shaving brush last year. The pig bristles came unglued from the handle after just a few uses. I have been using my bare hands to lather up my face for some time now and it seems to be sufficient. I just read that actual badger hair is used to make some shaving brushes in China. My source indicates that paying less than $10 for a brush virtually guarantees that you won’t get badger. I worry about the level of animal cruelty in hunting and trapping badgers. I worry about the welfare of pigs as well, but since they are being farmed for meat anyway, using their bristles doesn’t seem abhorrent to me. Does anyone want to start a cruelty free shaving brush business? Certain breeds of horse have hairs that work for this purpose.
May 18th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I double dog dare you to pick one up and review it.
Be safe!!
May 18th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Darn, I knew it was a mistake to put that in.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
I’ll start a cruelty-free, plastic-free shaving brush company with you! Then let’s make toilet brushes that are made of bamboo and some natural bristle, as well. Anything we can replace the plastic with that keep animals alive and happy.
May 18th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
I got one of those in a souk outside Jerusalem about ten years ago and paid about USD 0.90 for it. Shaved terribly.
Here in the U.S., you can get a used Gillette on eBay for a few dollars, which seems a better deal if it’s an option. The Body Shop has artificial bristle brushes which are — of course — plastic. But the handle is whatever-that-mark-is (for sustainable timber) wood, so that makes up for it, I suppose.
Again, it matters where you are to buy these things but they are available.
May 19th, 2009 at 2:27 am
[...] Higgins (Plasticless.com) had a post today about safety razors — but if you see the one he notes, avoid it; I got one and it’s [...]
May 19th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Great post! We have been working with our Safety Razor manufacturers for the past year to eliminate/reduce plastics and waste from the stream, and we are finally making headway.
When we first starting importing Safety Razors from China (Chrome plated Copper Alloy), the boxes were a heavy injected plastic with mirror, packed inside a 90# stock box, then cardboard case packing, and then cardboard shipping box…when I think back, it was pretty egregious!
We have eaten through two distributors until finally finding one that understood ‘green’, and we have gotten our RetroRazor Safety Razors down to minimal packaging – a recycled cardboard display box for our retail outlets, and for Amazon, an unbleached cotton bag. There is still the plastic razor cleaning brush, but Horse hair was not an option
When shipped to us, it is just the outer shipping case rather than 2 superfluous layers of subpackaging.
Similarly, we have sourced replacement blades that are plastic free: the Dorco 10 packs and Personna 5 packs are sans plastic. The Derby’s have a plastic case and shrinkwrapped, but are such an amazing blade, I have to include them in our Razor Starter Kits! Mea Culpa.
In any case, the amount of waste generated by disposable cartridge razors and the current shaving paradigm is so significant, that even the Derby’s with 100 blades weighing in at 9oz is incredible!
Check out http://retrorazor.com/tag/ecology/ for more info on shaving Green!
Chadd
Founder and Chief Lathering Officer
RetroRazor.com
September 6th, 2009 at 5:09 am
Thanks for sharing this article. Wet-shaving means less waste. Just think about all the non-recycleable plastic that goes into multi-blade cartridges and handles, and the aerosol cans that release harmful by-products into the environment. Switching to old-style shaving props won’t gain you entry into Green Peace by itself, but it is a good start.
Badger shaving brushes are really great to use. The texture of the horses’ hairs are very coarse. I do not think they are good for the face especially to those men who have sensitive skin.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Peter, I think my brush is pig hair. I had one shave early on where I experienced an irritation but it has mostly been adequate. I would not get a badger brush because of animal welfare concerns with trapping in China.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
OK, this is quite an interesting post. I haven’t used a shaving brush for years, but do remember my father using one. Generally I just use shaving cream or foam that comes in a pressurized can, and haven’t used traditional shaving soap and a brush to work up a lather for ever and a day!