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If you're 40, you've probably spent around £2,900 on blades since your first shave. Without ever really choosing to. Here's how it happened, and the 5 solutions available today, ranked by what they truly cost you.
Take your age. Subtract 18. Multiply by £130.
That's roughly what you've spent on razor blades if you've been using one of the big shaving multinationals' razors from the start.
£130 a year. On blades.
"Forty years of buying and spending a fortune just to shave."Real quote, customer questionnaire
This is not an accident.
The shaving industry was built on one very precise principle, invented more than 120 years ago, to make sure you keep paying. We'll explain which one. But first, the 5 options that exist today.
✕ Cheapest to buy. Most expensive over 10 years
£3 a razor. £30 to £50 a year once you count every replacement.
The blade goes blunt by the third pass, by design. And a blunt blade doesn't cut, it drags. It tears. The result: irritation, ingrown hairs, small cuts every morning.
The idea is simple: the first purchase is painless. And after that you keep buying without thinking about it. It's the same model as the big multi-blade brands, just less sophisticated.
The only difference: with a disposable, at least you know it's disposable.
✕ The most profitable model for them. The most expensive for you
This is probably the solution you're using right now. And it's the one most carefully designed to make sure you never switch.
Here's how the model works. The razor is sold to you at a reduced price, sometimes given away, sometimes on promotion, sometimes in a starter kit. Sometimes £12. Sometimes nothing at all.
The refills, on the other hand, cost between £1.41 and £2.62 each. A pack of eight: between £11 and £21. Margins on proprietary blades run above 80%.
A blade lasts 3 to 5 shaves on average. If you shave 4 times a week, you go through one a week. That's around 50 refills a year. At £1.41 each: £70. At £2.10: £105. At £2.62: £131.
The reality: up to £130 of blades a year, depending on how often you shave and which model you're on.
But there's something even more interesting in this model, something nobody has ever explained to you about the 5 blades themselves. We'll come to it. First, the other solutions.
"Ruining myself on blades at £21 for eight."Real quote, customer questionnaire
"If two blades, then 3, then 4, then 5 is always better, then maybe one is all you need."Real quote, customer questionnaire
! High outlay. Mediocre result. A running cost everyone forgets
The sales pitch: no blades, no recurring cost.
The reality: high-end electric shavers cost between £80 and £200. The replacement heads, proprietary as well, cost between £30 and £60 every 12 to 18 months. Over 5 years: between £230 and £500 depending on the model.
And the result? The protective foil between the blade and the skin prevents any direct contact. On coarse beards, exactly the profile that invests the most in this solution, the shaver drags, it heats up, it goes over the same patch again and again without ever quite finishing the job. Your face still looks grey.
"I put it away in a drawer." That's the phrase we hear most often.
✕ Same model. Different packaging
These brands positioned themselves as "the answer" to the big established names. Clean design. Digital marketing. Slightly lower prices.
The model behind it: identical. Reduced-price razor. Proprietary refills. Monthly subscription.
You're no longer paying in cartridges, you're paying by direct debit. It's gentler when it leaves your account. Over 12 months it's the same thing.
"They took us for mugs with all those adverts."Real quote, customer questionnaire
✓ The solution that steps outside the model. With one historic problem, now solved
DE blades (Double Edge) are universal. Not proprietary. Made by dozens of different manufacturers. Sold in supermarkets, on eBay, at every barber's.
100 blades: between £8 and £15. That's 2 years of shaving.
No subscription. No captive brand. No imposed price. A classic DE razor: between £30 and £80. Once. And one blade per pass, which means one assault on the skin barrier instead of five.
The historic problem that stopped this solution taking hold: you had to find the 30 degree angle yourself. A precise angle that took 2 to 4 weeks to learn. Most men gave up.
That is exactly the problem a British team set out to solve. And the answer completely changes the relationship between how well a razor works and what it costs. We'll show you, right after the point we promised you about the 5 blades.
Back to solution number 2. When you use a 5-blade razor, you're not making 1 pass over your skin. You're making 5.
Each blade crosses the same follicle, one after the other. 5 times. In less than a second.
The first blade pulls the hair upwards. The ones behind it cut it below the level of the skin, the famous "even closer shave" they've been selling you in adverts for 30 years.
What the adverts don't show: that mechanism attacks your skin barrier 5 times in a row. Pore by pore. Every single morning.
Put another way: the more blades there are, the more the refills cost you. And the more your skin takes. Both problems sit inside the same product. And it's the best-selling product on the market.
The 30 degree angle is the angle at which a blade cuts cleanly without attacking the skin. No more, no less. On every classic DE razor, it's your wrist that handles it. With no reference point, and differently every morning.
Carlton built that 30 degrees directly into the geometry of the head.
You lay the head flat against the skin. You tilt it slightly until it makes first contact. The blade is automatically at 30 degrees. No technique. No learning. No weeks of adjustment. It's as quick to pick up as a disposable.
And three further mechanisms:
It doesn't flex. It doesn't vibrate. The razor glides, it doesn't catch and it doesn't drag.
The blade stands proud by no more than the width of a human hair. Enough to cut the hair. Not enough to cut the skin.
It guides the razor onto the skin by gravity. You don't have to press. Pressure irritates. No pressure, no irritation.
One blade. A guided angle. Zero dependence on a brand.
Before we tell you what the Carlton costs, here's the full table, with everything the big brands carefully avoid putting side by side.
| Criterion | Disposable razor | Premium multi-blade | Electric shaver | Premium subscription |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of the razor | £3 | £12 to £15 | £80 to £200 | £10 to £20 |
| Cost of blades / year | £30 to £50 | up to £130 | £30 to £60 (heads) | £60 to £120 (sub) |
| Total over 5 years | ~£200 | ~£665 | ~£230 to £500 | ~£310 to £620 |
| Proprietary blades | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Result on sensitive skin | ✕ | ✕✕ | ! | ✕✕ |
| Can change brand | Yes | No | No | No |
The missing solution.
| Criterion | Disposable razor | Premium multi-blade | Electric shaver | Premium subscription | ★ Carlton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost of the razor | £3 | £12 to £15 | £80 to £200 | £10 to £20 | £59.90 (once) |
| Cost of blades / year | £30 to £50 | up to £130 | £30 to £60 | £60 to £120 | £5 / year |
| Total over 5 years | ~£200 | ~£665 | ~£230 to £500 | ~£310 to £620 | £85 |
| Proprietary blades | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Result on sensitive skin | ✕ | ✕✕ | ! | ✕✕ | ✓✓ |
| Can change brand | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Guarantee | None | None | 2 years | None | Lifetime |
| Learning curve | None | None | None | None | 0 (guided angle) |
£59.90. Once. £5 a year in blades. £85 over 5 years, against £665 for the big shaving multinationals.
It isn't the Carlton that's expensive. It's what you're paying right now.
"After years of ruining myself on cartridges for some mega laser supersonic nuclear contraption... shaving had become a chore, a real one. These days I get a certain pleasure out of shaving. A bit like being at the barber's."
"I've got a very coarse beard and sensitive skin. I used to shave once a week to avoid the irritation. Since the Carlton, no redness at all. And I'll never buy a £21 refill pack again."
"I'd been questioning the price of blades for a long time, they cost an absolute fortune. The Carlton gave me the answer and the way out. I've found real pleasure in shaving again, with fewer cuts."
"A solution that lasts. No more buying overpriced blades every month. And as a bonus: no irritation at all since the very first shave."
"I don't need to go and fetch refills any more. 100 blades for £10 ordered at the start of the year. That's it. Sorted for two years. I don't know how I put up with the other model for so long."
The Carlton takes any universal DE blade. The same ones sold in supermarkets, on eBay, at the barber's. No captive brand. No subscription.
A pack of 100 blades in Swedish stainless steel: £10. 5 to 7 shaves per blade. 100 blades is around 2 years. That's £5 a year. With a lifetime guarantee on the razor.
The difference against the big shaving multinationals over 10 years:
Difference: over £1,190. Over 10 years.
"I've found real pleasure in shaving again, with fewer cuts."Rob C., Carlton customer
"A solution that lasts. No more buying overpriced blades every month."Tom B., Carlton customer
Aluminium and Zamak alloy. Micro-brushed matte finish. Built-in 30 degree angle. Rigid blade. 33 g head.
Lifetime guarantee on the razor. Not "2 years manufacturer". For life.
100 days, satisfied or refunded. 100 days to try it. Full refund. No questions asked.
Free UK delivery on every order.
100 days satisfied or refunded · Lifetime guarantee · Secure payment
It's the first question everyone asks. The 30 degree angle is built into the head, so you don't have to find it. The blade stands proud by no more than the width of a human hair. The head is heavier, so you don't have to press.
Most customers report zero cuts from the very first shave. The rare cuts in the first few days come from an old habit: pressing down, the way you did with a multi-blade. That reflex disappears within two or three shaves.
No. That's the problem Carlton solved. The 30 degree angle is built in mechanically. There's nothing for you to judge. As quick to pick up as a disposable razor.
"I've got a very coarse beard and sensitive skin." That's the most common profile among our customers. It's also the one that sees the clearest results. Coarse beard plus reactive skin is exactly what the Carlton was designed for.
On trycarlton.com, a pack of 100 blades for £10. But the Carlton also takes any standard DE blade: supermarket, eBay, barber's. No dependence on our brand. You choose where you buy.
Lifetime guarantee. We replace it, no conditions. That's what an object built to last means, rather than one built to be replaced.
100 days. Full refund. No complicated process.
The Carlton is guaranteed for life. It's made of aluminium and Zamak, not plastic. It's designed never to be replaced. The purchase price is £59.90, once. The blades then cost £5 a year.
The real question: how much did you pay in blades last year?
Closer. A single blade correctly positioned at 30 degrees cuts the hair cleanly on the first pass. Comparable closeness, without the redness, without the irritation, without the recurring cost.
The first one carried on. He bought the refills. He renewed the subscription. He bought the balm. Every year. He never really thought about the total. By 45, he had spent around £3,500 on blades. He's still going.
The second one did the sum one day. He understood that the model had never been designed with him in mind. He understood that a single blade, correctly positioned, was enough. He ordered one. He paid £59.90. And since then, he spends £5 a year on blades.
In ten years, the gap between those two men will be over £1,190.
You have 100 days to choose which one you are.
100 days satisfied or refunded · Lifetime guarantee