I’ve been getting myself psyched up for this year’s Plastic Free July Challenge, and thought it was time to post an update regarding my switch to a metal safety razor. In a post last October I outlined why disposable razors are bad for the environment, why safety razors are a good alternative, and some of the limitations of safety razors. In this post I want to add just a few thoughts on my shaving cream alternative, the razor from Albatross Designs, and razor blade recycling.

Shaving Oil

In my last post I wrote that instead of using “traditional” shaving cream that comes in a very wasteful can, I was making my own shaving oil out of jojoba oil and essential oils.

Unfortunately, I still haven’t figured out how to make my DIY a plastic free alternative, so at the moment it’s just an alternative, not a true zero waste alternative. Albatross Designs sells a plastic free Shaving Soap, so maybe I’ll give that a try.

I recently learned, however, that rosemary and lavender, the two essential oils I was using in my shaving oil because they smelled so nice, are actually backed up by science as stimulating hair growth! Which is exactly what I DON’T want for the hair that I’m shaving off.

These three websites have a lot of information about essential oils that stimulate hair growth, backed up by scientific research:

• DIY Essential Oil Blend for Hair Growth by whole new mom
• 9 Nourishing Essential Oils for Hair Health & Strength by Wellness Mama
• The 7 Best Essential Oils for Hair by Dr. Axe

Or if you want to cut to the chase, here are the articles they reference:

• Rosemary oil vs minoxidil 2% for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia: a randomized comparative trial. – After 6 months, both rosemary oil and minoxidil 2% showed a significant change in the microphotographic assessment of volunteers’ hair.
• Hair Growth-Promoting Effects of Lavender Oil in C57BL/6 Mice. “Results indicated that LO [lavender oil] has a marked hair growth-promoting effect, as observed morphologically and histologically.”
• Randomized Trial of Aromatherapy: Successful Treatment for Alopecia Areata “Treatment with these essential oils [thyme, rosemary, lavender, and cedarwood] was significantly more effective than treatment with the carrier oil alone (P=.008 for the primary outcome measure).”

Obviously I have stopped adding those essential oils to my shaving oil, and I haven’t picked out any others to replace them with. Since October I also switched from using jojoba oil to a liquid at room temperature coconut oil, but I can’t say I’ve really noticed any difference.

Albatross Designs Razor

In my last post, I had ordered a razor from Albatross Designs but it had not yet arrived for me to test.

I really like the company, but I have to admit, I prefer the razor I bought originally, for two reasons.

1. Style. I bought the Butterfly style razor from AD, not realizing what it meant. Their website now explains what the difference is between the two styles, and it may have when I ordered the razor and I just didn’t read it. I was slightly disappointed to find out that it did not, in fact, have a butterfly engraved on it. It actually opens differently than my other razor, and I find it a little more tedious. Good news is, though, that they do sell a standard 3 Piece style razor as well, so the error here is that I just didn’t know what I was ordering.
2. Weight. The razor from AD is a lot lighter than the other razor I bought, and I happen to prefer how my other razor was balanced and weighted a little better. I think feeling the lighter razor in my hand, I reverted to some disposable razor shaving techniques, like shaving too quickly, and I got a little bit of razor burn for the first time since switching to safety razors. Bummer. However, again, this is probably more of a user error issue than a design issue.

I might like the 3 piece razor better, but since I already own one, even though Albatross’s is only $20 right now, I’m going to pass on owning 3 razors, since there’s nothing zero waste about that.

April 2019 Update

I talked my husband into trying out the Albatross Designs safety razor a little less than a year ago. It took him a little while to warm up to it, since it requires quite a different technique to use. Now he uses it every day.

Would he go back to a modern razor? He says if there were no environmental cost, probably. He admits it’s a lot easier to shave with modern razors, it’s thoughtless, swish, swish done.

But given the environmental cost he’s happy to shave a little slower.

Albatross Designs recently made a nice little video about how to shave with their razors, and how the technique is different from modern multi-blade razors. I’m impressed – they even cover legs! A little.

Personally, I wouldn’t go back to modern disposable razors even if there were no environmental cost. Maybe I just don’t mind taking a few more minutes in a hot shower to shave my legs. There’s an environmental tradeoff there too, but that’s beyond my ability to calculate.

Razor Blade Recycling

In my last post I talked about 3 companies with recycling programs, and so far, Albatross Designs is the only company that has pulled through.

I got a letter in the mail from Van Der Hagen saying they were discontinuing their blade recycling program, and the program information has been removed from their website.

ShaveFace’s disposable razor recycling program is still listed as “coming soon.”

Albatross Designs still has a take back program listed on their website, and I intend to send my used razors there just as soon as I get enough to be worth sending!

April 2019 Update

My husband is apparently savvier with recycling than I am and informed me that our local municipality offers steel recycling. (To be fair to me, we were living elsewhere when I first dove into razor blade recycling). It isn’t a curbside service sadly. We have to go directly to the dump to get the razors to the steel recycling facility. So we can just save our razors up and take them to the dump all at once. I think it is a smaller carbon footprint to dispose of them locally than to ship them elsewhere. But for people without that option, I think a razor take-back program is an excellent alternative.