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Being on a meagre income in the past year or so (i.e. having become a doley), the huge rip-off prices of what the marketing men like to call "shaving systems" has been very noticeable. Even Aldi's version seems a bit steep these days.
The reason Gillette and all the others moved towards making these cartridge systems with two, then three (and now up to six!) blades was that these were proprietary systems that they can charge stupid amounts of money for, whereas the old double-edged blades went out of patent decades ago.
I found that these cartridges would clog up and become useless within a couple of shaves anyway. I tried using the old-style blades a couple of weeks ago and found the shave was far superior, the blades last longer and they're far cheaper.
Each of the "shaving systems" is incompatible with anyone else's and copyrighted so you can only buy from the manufacturer at inflated prices. It's the same trick that printer manufacturers use - sell the printer really cheap (possibly as a loss leader), then sell them expensive cartridges. Meanwhile, anyone can make the generic double-edged blades and you can get hundreds for a fiver on eBay - and of course you can buy a razor that takes these blades on eBay too.
There's a good article on the history of "shaving systems" here: How-To and Why -
One thing to check when buying blades off eBay is look for ones that are platinum and chromium coated, they are much better quality.
I thought this tip might be useful for the blokes on the forum - and of course for the ladies who prefer shaving to waxing etc of body hair.
The reason Gillette and all the others moved towards making these cartridge systems with two, then three (and now up to six!) blades was that these were proprietary systems that they can charge stupid amounts of money for, whereas the old double-edged blades went out of patent decades ago.
I found that these cartridges would clog up and become useless within a couple of shaves anyway. I tried using the old-style blades a couple of weeks ago and found the shave was far superior, the blades last longer and they're far cheaper.
Each of the "shaving systems" is incompatible with anyone else's and copyrighted so you can only buy from the manufacturer at inflated prices. It's the same trick that printer manufacturers use - sell the printer really cheap (possibly as a loss leader), then sell them expensive cartridges. Meanwhile, anyone can make the generic double-edged blades and you can get hundreds for a fiver on eBay - and of course you can buy a razor that takes these blades on eBay too.
There's a good article on the history of "shaving systems" here: How-To and Why -
One thing to check when buying blades off eBay is look for ones that are platinum and chromium coated, they are much better quality.
I thought this tip might be useful for the blokes on the forum - and of course for the ladies who prefer shaving to waxing etc of body hair.
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