8 weeks of clean living

Way back when I was first thinking about starting a blog (called On Efficiency, with some similar themes but a less environmental bent) I wanted to tackle the subject of optimal (male facial) shaving. At the time, I was convinced the answer would be a straight razor, given that one never throws away blades, but now I realize the calculation is a bit more complex.

My grandfather gave me an electric razor for Christmas noting that he felt it was a good fit with my environmental goals. At first this seems unintuitive—shouldn’t something that uses electricity be worse for the environment than something you power yourself? After thinking about it for a while, however, I think one can make a pretty strong argument for an electric razor. Here’s how I see it breaking down.

Electricity: The electric razor obviously has a disadvantage here, but the amount of power it draws is quite small. Charging the razor after taking it out of the box only drew 4 watts from the outlet. After completely charging, the total power draw didn’t even show up on my Kill-A-Watt’s meter (it still read 0.00 kWh). The razor may have come partially charged though, so I’ll update if the subsequent charge produces different results. My grandfather says he gets about a month’s regular use out of a charge.

Water: Here both straight and safety razors have a substantial disadvantage—they require quite a bit of water (normally hot) to get the job done. Besides just the use of water (which in San Diego we’re always trying to conserve), heating and pumping the water probably takes more energy in one shaving session than the electric razor takes for a month’s worth of charge.

Shaving Cream: Electric razors don’t use shaving cream, a product that takes materials and energy to produce and ship.

Waste: Electric razor blades are supposed to be replaced every year (though my grandfather says he’s never replaced his, but I’ve also heard he had a cavity filled without anesthetic…). This replacement rate is much less than safety razors, but the item replaced is slightly larger. Straight razors just need to be sharpened and maintained. Both straight and safety razors create waste through discarded shaving cream canisters, a problem electric razors avoid. The real stinger for electric razors though is the replacement of the whole unit. Obviously there’s quite a bit to electric razors, including a toxic battery, which is a knock for them in this category (though highly dependent on how often you replace them). Due to the battery they should probably be disposed of as household hazardous waste and not just thrown in the trash.

Cost: This isn’t an environmental factor, but one to consider. Up front a high quality straight razor and a nice electric razor can both be around $100, with the electric razor having greater recurring costs for occasional blade replacement (vs just buying shaving cream for a straight razor). Safety razors are normally very inexpensive or free up front, but as we all know, the blades can be pretty expensive. Lifetime I’d guess the straight razor has the advantage.

I looked in to getting a straight razor during my first eight weeks and ran in to lots of horror stories about people cutting strips off of their faces due to nicked or bent razors. That and the high cost for a quality kit dissuaded me from taking the plunge. I still haven’t fully adjusted to the electric razor, but I think when you take into account water, shaving cream, shaving cream canisters and blades, electric razors actually make more environmental sense than safety razors.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Energy, Opinion, Water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.