How to Reduce Plastic in Your Shaving Routine

Traditional shaving is plastic-laden. There’s the plastic handle, plastic razor head, plastic packaging, and at least a plastic cover for your shaving cream can, if not a totally plastic tube. This post will provide you with a range of plastic-free or reduced-plastic alternatives that you can easily implement all at once or slowly over time.

The most convenient way to switch over your shaving routine is to buy a zero-waste kit from Package Free. There is the safety razor kit for $40 and a pivoting head razor kit for $82. After considering the pros (basically everything) and cons (price) for a few months, I purchased the Pivoting Razor Zero Waste Kit and I haven’t looked back! Both kits comes with an excellent shaving cream bar, replacement blades, a drawstring canvas bag, and the razor you choose.

How the Pivoting Head Razor Works

If you want to do your own research on the brand, Package Free includes The Leaf razor “The Essentials” pack in this kit.

The pivoting razor works just like the conventional drugstore ones, except you replace the blades instead of the entire razor head. When your blades are dull, you flip them around to the unused side. Once that side is also dull, you recycle the blades.

To recycle them, you collect them in an aluminum can and put them in regular recycling. Since some municipalities do not accept razor blades, another option is to collect yours and participate in Albatross’ blade take-back program.

Pivoting Razor Cost Breakdown

The zero-waste kit I purchased costs $82. On their own, the razor is $79, the shave bar is $11, and the blade refill is $3. The kit comes with 30 double-edged blades that look like the above image. You snap these blades in half to use them, so you technically receive 60 edges. You can load the razor with 1, 2, or 3 blades depending on your preferences. I use 3, so that gives me 20 replacements before I have to buy more. Don’t forget: the blades are made to be flipped around to the unused edge. Now, that’s 40 plastic disposable plastic razor head replacements eliminated from my waste stream. I have been using the same 3 blades for 3 months and will probably switch them out for a fresh set next month. If it always takes me 4 months to dull both sides of a blade set, then I’ll replace my blades 3 times a year. 20 replacements divided by 3 replacements a year means that I will need to purchase new blades ($3 for 10 blades/20 edges) after about 7 years. So, I spent $82 to secure my shaving routine until 2027.

The Safety Razor: A Lower-Cost Option

The safety razor is probably what your grandfather used to shave. It uses a single, exposed blade to remove hair and they range in price from $20 to $100+. Safety Razors provide a very close shave and they use the same double edged blades as the Leaf Razor. Since I have never used a safety razor, this thorough article on safety razors should provide you with all the information you need.

A Lower-Cost (but still plastic) Razor Option

For years, I used this Venus razor with built-in shaving cream (equal parts laziness and environmental concern). It eliminated the need for an extra disposable shaving cream bottle in my shower so it’s a better, but not perfect, alternative if you are not ready to purchase a zero-waste razor. The refill heads fit on any Venus razor, so there is no need to buy a new plastic handle if you already use that brand.

Shaving Cream

If you want to start slow, look into shaving cream alternatives. When I still used bottled hair conditioner, I put the tiniest bit on my legs/underarms to shave after the built-in shaving cream ran out on my razor head because the blades were still sharp after the moisture bars were finished. If you do this too, you will be assigning multiple uses to a single use product, thus reducing the amount of plastic clutter/waste in your shower.

You can purchase the Plastic Free Shop Shave Soap Bar on its own for $11. As someone who is 110% lazy when it comes to shaving, using this bar has been painless. It’s moisturizing and I’ve gotten 0 shaving cuts while using it.

Lush sells shaving creams in their black pots for $13-$14. Their solid conditioners are $12-$13 and I imagine you could use them as a plastic-free shaving cream alternative without any issue.

Final Thoughts

I love my Leaf razor. The replacement blades take up virtually no space in my bathroom. It provides a close shave and I don’t have to replace the blades as often as I had to when I used disposable razor heads. I don’t have to think about buying new blades until 2027!! I can’t imagine what my life will look like when I’m 29, but I know what my razor will look like!

Do you have any unanswered questions? Have you tried one of these razors? Let me know in the comments below.