Sustainable shaving: a review
When I stopped shopping, I got really interested in lots of other sustainability issues too. Since then I have tried to adopt more sustainable habits in many different areas of my life, including the bathroom. I have already made the switch to sustainable menstrual products, which has saved a lot of disposable products from ending up in landfill. Now I am changing my shaving habits too.
No, I’m not giving up shaving. More power to you if that’s your choice but, if it isn’t, you can still make more sustainable choices.
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans throw away 2 billion disposable plastic razors every year! That’s an awful lot of waste! Cartridge razors may be marginally better, since you throw away just the top part of the razor and hold onto the handle (pun intended). However, they typically include more blades and more plastic than disposable razors. So not great either.
But we can recycle that plastic right? Wrong. Most razors are so small and lightweight that it makes no economic sense to recycle them, especially when you factor in the additional cost of separating the metal blades from the plastic handle. Even more worryingly, it has recently become clear that many countries do not actually recycle the plastic that has been carefully sorted by their citizens. Instead, they ship it overseas where it often ends up being burned or buried using substandard methods, polluting our air, land and waterways.
I couldn’t do much about the disposable razors and cartridges that I had already bought (I have no idea why I had so many) but I promised myself that when I had used them all up, and when my year of non-consumption was over, I would buy myself a metal safety razor with individual replaceable metal blades (which could easily be recycled) and quit the disposable plastic in yet another area of my life.
Typically, safety razors have static heads, which don’t flex around your curves like many cartridge razors do, so I was quite worried about the potential for cutting myself when transitioning from a cartridge razor. I am potentially scarred (mentally and physically) from my first ever leg-shaving experience in which I thought the idea was to press as hard as possible!!! I think I probably shaved off part of my shin bone that day!
But, I needn’t have worried. After a bit of research I found a solution that seemed to offer the best of both worlds. The leaf razor is a razor made of metal with replaceable metal blades but that has a flexible head!
I’ve been using the leaf for a few weeks now so I thought it would be a good time to share my experience with it (good and bad).
Spoiler alert: the experience was overwhelmingly good and I encourage you all to make the change to a safety razor as soon as possible and stop filling our oceans with plastic.
The good
Beauty - The leaf razor is absolutely beautiful to look at. It comes in a choice of finishes and is a bit like a tiny work of art in the bathroom. It makes me happy just to look at it!
Clever design - The leaf razor flexes just like the cartridge razors you are used to. That means there was no learning curve for me and no repeat of my bone-skinning first shaving experience. I use it exactly like I used my old cartridge razor and I haven’t cut myself once so far!
Easy blade replacement - The head of the leaf razor is super easy to open and there are clear instructions on the pack of razor blades about how to snap the blades in half without cutting yourself. Simple!
Feel - The razor has a good weight, and is well balanced so it’s easy to manoeuvre and to apply the right amount of pressure when shaving. Lines carved into the handle make it easy to grip.
The bad
Cost - The leaf razor isn’t cheap. Mine cost 75 euros, which is considerably more than a disposable razor. But… this should be a razor that you have for your entire life so think of it as an investment. And those razor cartridges are not especially cheap either, especially compared to the super small cost of replacing the blades on the leaf.
Accessibility - It was a little bit tricky to get hold of my leaf razor. Leaf ships them from the US, which would have been expensive in terms of shipping and import taxes. But the nice people at Leaf directed me to the even nicer people at Scheer en Schium in the Netherlands, which was more convenient for me. Their service was excellent and they send a plastic-free package!
Unnecessary plastic - Leaf offer an add-on product (which is usually optional but accidentally got shipped with my order) called The Twig. It is supposed to help trim areas of hair that require straight edges (maybe sideburns, I guess). Unfortunately, it’s totally made of plastic. It’s not a disposable product so that’s something but, given that leaf are trying to appeal to people who want to consume less plastic, I thought this was a shame.
The ugly
Discolouration - This is my only real complaint about the leaf and it is really my own fault but I’ll share it in case it helps you avoid the same problem. My beautiful rose gold coloured razor got dark stripes on it caused (I think) by it reacting with the zinc plated shower caddy I kept it in. Leaf do sell a stand for the razor, which would have helped me avoid this entirely but I didn’t want to consume unnecessary stuff so, I didn’t buy it. Needless to say, I would recommend you buy this accessory too.
