The Cost of Shavers and Razors
The short version: If you shave using a razor more than once a week, then you can justify buying a $300 electric shaver and reduce your expenditure by more than half over 5 to 10 years.
I’ve been a little bit lazy when it comes to financial things. My main strategies have been misguided intuition, guesswork and ignorance. However, after reading a few useful books on accounting and earning, I have focused on more defensive financial planning.
I made some basic assumptions:
Electric razor
- Purchase cost: $300 (AUD)
- Lifespan: 7 years
- Service rate: once every 750 uses
- Cost per service: $50
Razor blades
- Cost per blade: $2 (AUD)
- Number of shaves per blade: 4
- Cost of shaving foam/gel: $4
- Number of shaves per container: 20
My motivation for doing this is an intent to increase the frequency I shave. At the moment, it would be once or twice a week. I’d like to believe that I can manage 5-6 times per week, so an assumption of shaving three times a week is good start.
I split the cost of the electric razor and the services for it into a yearly cost. As far as my accounting knowledge stretches, this depreciates the cost of the electric razor over its effective live, with no salvage life.
With three shaves a week:
- Electric: $53.29 per year
- Razor: $109.50 per year
That’s about 205% cheaper to use an electric shaver, and a reasonably expensive one at that.
In the interests of saving my brain, this was all calculated using a spreadsheet model, so changing the numbers is easy. This allows for different scenarios to be run rapidly.
Assuming six shaves a week:
- Electric: $63.71 per year
- Razor: $219.00 per year
It costs around 340% more to use a manual razor than an electric!
Playing around with the numbers a bit, I worked out that I can go from shaving on average 1.5 times a week to 4 times a week for the same outgoing expenditure by switching to an electric shaver.
Hopefully the time spent investigating this, and the time spent researching a good shaver is balanced by a time saving by using an electric shaver.
ps. thanks to the wonderful shop assistant at the shaver shop in the city for answering my questions about types of electric shavers and their useful life.
May 8th, 2006 at 10:52 am
I’ve often suspected that an electric shaver was more cost effect over a period of time but was happy living in denial and to not have to fork out $300 for one but instead argue that I _needed_ an ipod-mini. Thanks, Geoff, thanks alot.
May 8th, 2006 at 11:16 am
From my brief levels of research, the prices range from around $100 to $450 AUD. I asked the shop assistent if there was much to gain for higher price, and she mentioned that there wasn’t a signficant gain.
I picked $300 as a target to set an upper bound, and now intend to spend some more time researching brands, models, etc. There are some useful online shaver stores, so you can get cheaper than retail.
My aim is to find something that has sufficient features to allow for travel, and is of high enough quality that it will last for many years.
May 9th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
Even cheaper - just keep growing a beard
.
I’m not sure how you’d run the same sums for a beard trimmer - a pair of scissors (my alternative prior to owning a beard trimmer) don’t wear out at any measurable rate … You could perhaps, however, put a price on the decreased chance of self-injury from not using scissors.
Cheers,
Andy
May 15th, 2006 at 11:33 am
I’d tend to agree with Andy! I have only had to replace my scissors once in the last 10 years - and that was only because they were lost in a move. One injury to speak of; clipped ear. Lesson learnt was to make sure one is fully awake before trimming.
Do your calculations take into account energy and water comsumption? Which method is freindlier to our dear earth?
Geoff A
May 15th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
I’m doing well with the beard stuff, as my sister kindly gave me a beard trimmer one Christmas.
However, the reality is that I shave reasonably often and am not quite prepared to go the beard route at this point.
In terms of environmental concerns, I’d rather use a little bit of electricity than be producing waste into landfill of small razors every week or two. To me it seems better to use a highly manufactured product such as an electric razor rather than lots of disposable products.
In reality, that comes down to personal preference, as I have no figures to back up which option is better for the environment.