We calculated what you've really spent on razor blades since you turned 18. Then we found out why. And the only way out.

If you're 40, you've probably spent around $4,400 on cartridges since your first shave. Without ever really choosing to. Here's how it happened, and the 5 options available today, ranked by what they actually cost you.

The math nobody ever showed you.

That's roughly what you've spent on blades if you've used a big-brand cartridge razor from the start.

$200 a year. On blades.

"I feel like I've wasted my entire life with disposable razors and cartridges."

Real comment, public shaving forum

This isn't an accident.

The razor business was built on one very specific idea, more than 100 years ago, to make sure you keep paying. We'll explain which one. But first, the 5 options you have today.

1

The disposable razor

✕ Avoid

Cheapest to buy. Most expensive over 10 years.

A dollar or two per razor. $50 to $100 a year once you count every replacement.

The edge dulls fast. A dull blade doesn't cut. It drags. It pulls. Hello razor burn, ingrown hairs, little nicks every morning.

The idea is simple: the first purchase doesn't hurt, and then you rebuy without thinking. Same model as the big multi-blade brands, just less sophisticated.

The only difference: at least a disposable admits it's disposable.

2

The "premium" multi-blade razor (the big brands)

✕ Avoid

The most profitable model for them. The most expensive one for you.

It's probably what's in your shower right now. And it's the one most carefully built to make sure you never switch.

Here's how it works. The handle is sold cheap. In a starter kit. As a free sample in the mail. $10. $15. Sometimes $0.

The refills are a different story. $3 to $5 each. A 12-pack of the flagship cartridge: $44.99 at Target.

Swap once a week and that's 52 cartridges a year. At $3.75 each: $195.

And there's something even more interesting about this model. Something nobody ever explained about the five blades themselves. We'll get there. First, the other options.

"5 blade cartridges are overkill."

Real comment, public shaving forum

3

The electric shaver

! So-so

High upfront cost. Average result. Forgotten recurring cost.

The pitch: no blades, no recurring cost.

The reality: a good electric shaver runs $80 to $300. Replacement heads, proprietary too, cost $30 to $60 every 12 to 18 months. Over 5 years: roughly $170 to $540.

And the result? The foil between the blade and your skin prevents direct contact. On coarse beards, exactly the guys who spend most on this option, it tugs, heats up, goes over the same spot again and again. It never quite finishes the job.

A lot of them end up in a drawer.

4

Subscription razor brands

✕ Avoid

Same model. Nicer box.

They positioned themselves as the answer to the legacy brands. Clean design. Digital marketing. Slightly lower prices.

The model underneath: identical. Cheap handle. Proprietary refills. Monthly auto-ship.

You stop paying at the register. You pay by auto-renewal instead. It feels softer. Over 12 months, it's the same thing.

5

The single-blade double-edge (DE) razor

✓ Best

The one option that breaks the model. With one historic problem, now solved.

DE blades are universal. Not proprietary. Made by dozens of brands. Sold at Walmart, on Amazon, at barbershops.

100 blades: about $10 to $15. Up to two years of shaving.

No subscription. No captive brand. No locked-in price. One blade per pass, so your skin takes one pass instead of five.

The historic problem that kept it from taking over: you had to find the 30° angle yourself. A precise angle that took weeks to learn. Most men gave up after a few cuts.

That's exactly the problem a small team in Belgium set out to solve. And their answer changes the whole value equation. We'll show you right after the point we promised about the five blades.

What nobody told you about five blades.

Back to option 2. When you shave with a five-blade cartridge, you don't make one pass over your skin. You make five.

Each blade crosses the same follicle, one after the other. Five times. In under a second.

The first blades tug the hair up. The next ones cut it, sometimes just below the skin line. That's the "closer shave" you've been sold for 30 years.

What the commercials don't show: that's five scrapes across your skin. Every morning.

In other words: the more blades, the more you pay in refills, and the more your skin takes. Both problems live in the same product. And it's the best-selling product on the market.

How CRAN. solved the one real problem with DE razors.

30° is the angle where a blade cuts cleanly without scraping your skin. On every classic DE razor, your wrist has to find it. No reference. Different every morning.

CRAN. built that 30° into the shape of the head.

Lay the flat head on your skin. Tilt until the blade first touches. You're there. No technique to master. No weeks of practice.

5 options. The real cost over 5 years.

Before we tell you what CRAN. costs, here's the full picture. Everything the big brands would rather not put side by side.

← Swipe to see the full table →

What you'll never pay again.

CRAN. takes any standard DE blade. The same ones sold at Walmart, on Amazon, at barbershops. No captive brand. No subscription.

A 100-pack: about $15. One blade lasts 5 to 7 shaves. Change it every week and 100 blades last you about two years.

Over 10 years:

Difference: about $1,800.

What you get for $79.

The questions we get most.

Two men have shaved since they were 18.

In ten years, the gap between them will be about $1,800.

You've got 90 days to decide which one you are.

GET OUT OF THE MODEL: $79 →