I saw this suggestion on reddit a few years ago, and I have never bought your usual supermarket razor again.
THE PRODUCT
The refillable razor is your basic blade cartridge that you can put in a holder with the handle. In other words, it is designed so that the user is able to replace the blade. And the whole setup is dirt cheap. 10 packets of 10 blades (100 blades, in other words), costs ₱109.25; the holder costs ₱15 (or you can get a fancy one for ₱250).
The holder with handle looks more or less like your supermarket razor. The top part however, can be opened to reveal the blade cartridge holder. Once the razor is inside you can click it back in. With the blade inside, you will notice that two blade edges are exposed. Both these sides can be used for your shave.
The blade cartridges come in packs of 10 and are packed in paper.
BUYING GUIDE
This review will only consider non-electric shavers, as a personal preference.
Gillette Rubie: These are double bladed razors and cost ₱120 for 20 pieces. Blade heads are attached to the handle, and are thus thrown out as a whole.
Gillette Vector Replacements: These are replacement heads (each head is double bladed) and they are ₱130 for 4 pieces. These come with a glide strip. The handle costs ₱239 and it comes with 4 cartridges.
Gillette Mach 3 Replacements: Again, replacement heads (each head is triple bladed), and they cost ₱480 for 4 pieces. These come with a glide strip. The handle costs ₱338 and comes with 2 cartridges.
Barber Blade: To be honest, I just don’t know how to use a barber blade on myself because it is a “sided” tool, where you the handle is on one side along the blade. Another disadvantage is that you will have to break the blade in 2 to put it in the barber blade.
You’ll notice that the extra features of more expensive razors can be more blades (some even come with 4 blades), and a glide strip.
ANG OKAY
Cost is the main reason why I chose this product. I have never bought another razor in 7 years now. At a blade per month, the 100 blade cartridge supply will last you 8 years. But to be honest, each blade actually lasts you more than a month because you are able to use both sides.
Second, these are the easiest razors to clean. I honestly don’t like double or triple blades because hair gets stuck in between. With this razor, you can just open the holder and run water through it.
Lastly, you have less waste. You aren’t throwing away a handle, or even the heads.
ANG HINDI OKAY
The biggest advantage of double blades is that theoretically you need less strokes. While this is somewhat true, in my personal experience, it’s not that big of a difference. This is because double bladed and triple bladed razors take longer to clean of hair so that you can use it again. For these single bladed razors, you can just use the other side, and it’s after that you need to wash off hair again.
The glide strip is helpful, but for most razors, the glide strips gets used up quite quickly, so you end up using shaving cream anyway.
VERDICT
■■■□ Dirt cheap and does the job
Pros’s outway the con’s for this blade-replaceable razor. You have three solid advantage: very cheap, easy to clean, and environmentally friendly. Sure you don’t have the double or triple blades, nor the glide strips, but I can personally do without these anyway.