6 reasons why women should also use a safety razor

Safety razors are certainly not just for men.

If you identify as a woman, we know that since childhood, the only razors you've seen on supermarket shelves are disposable ones. Whether it's a completely disposable version or a plastic handle with disposable cartridges, it's estimated that 2 billion plastic razors end up in landfills every year in the United States alone. You can calculate for yourself how much you've already thrown away: if you change your razor every 1 or 2 weeks, multiplied by 52 weeks a year, multiplied by the number of years since you started shaving... it's way too much.

Okay, but then, what options are available to you?

• You can wax your hair (this doesn't work for everyone... and still generates waste if you don't use the sugar method).
• You can choose not to shave or wax (after all, hairless women are a construct of our society, aren't they?)
• Or if you prefer shaving, you can swap your disposable razors for a safety razor.

Invented in the 1850s (patented in 1880), it is called a metal razor because only a small area of ​​the blade is exposed, allowing for an effective shave without the risk of injury. Before the advent of plastic, our grandparents (both men and women) used these metal razors.

Safety razors offer many advantages.

1. They are much cheaper in the long run. The initial purchase may be more expensive, but if you take good care of it, you'll only need one razor for the rest of your life. Replacement blades can be found at a very low price (€0.20-€0.50 each). This is the opposite of razors sold in supermarkets, where the handles are sold cheaply but huge profits are made on refilling the blades.
2. They offer a closer shave. There's only one blade, but it's effective in a single pass. Razors with interchangeable heads may have four or five blades, but they are often less sharp in comparison, and you tend to press harder to get a decent result, which can irritate the skin.
3. This is the best way to avoid irritation and ingrown hairs because it is gentler on both the skin and the hair.
4. It's more elegant than a blue or fluorescent pink plastic razor. It's a beautiful object that you take care of.
5. Those "moisturizing" strips you find on disposable razors are often loaded with chemicals. Choosing a safety razor means choosing the non-toxic option. Hooray for going natural!
6. And last but not least, it's a great zero-waste alternative. Only the blade is replaceable, and that's either recyclable or generates very minimal waste.

These are plenty of reasons to ditch your disposable razors and switch to safety razors, right?

One tip: if you sometimes travel by plane, don't wait until you've finished your disposable razors to switch to reusable ones. Double-edged blades can only be transported in checked baggage. If you're traveling with carry-on luggage only, it's useful to have a conventional razor as a backup.

Photo by Bogdan Glisik