Day 347 of our Green Year: Shaving Green

As most of you will figure out from pictures of me on this blog, I have a beard. However, while I have a beard, there is the need to shave my neck and parts of the face to ensure the beard doesn't start to look too shaggy.

Disposable shavers are out of the question because Layla and I stopped buying disposables months ago. Each year in the United States, 2,000,000,000 disposable razors are purchased, and that means 2,000,000,000 razors end up in the landfills each year.

We figure that using an electrical razor is better than the alternatives because it lasts for years, you don't have to replace it and it only uses a small amount of electricity. However, what if you don't have an electrical razor? What can you do? Here are some quick tips to help you.

You can try and extend the life of your disposable razors, if that is what you buy, by limiting how much you rinse it. You can use the razor until its blunt or rusts. The rusting happens quickly and that makes it go dull. To slow down the rusting, only rinse your razor minimally and flick off excess water when you are done with it. Then, put it in a container of olive oil. You can greatly increase the life of the disposable razor by doing this.

As for shaving cream, well it contains many chemicals that you may not want touching your skin. Courtesy of Green Living Tips, here is some of the ingredients found in shaving cream:


Palmitic Acid
Stearic Acid
Triethanolamine,
Butane
Isobutane
Laureth-23
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Propane
Parfum
Sodium benzoate
Hydroxythylcellulose
Lauryl alcohol
Stearyl alcohol
Irish moss
Dimethicone PEG/PPG-20/23 benzoate
DMDM Hydantoin
Coceth-7
PPG-1-PEG-9 Lauryl Glycol ether
PEG-40 Hydrogenated castor oil
BHT
Iodopropynyl butylcarbamate

Naturally, you may not want that on your skin. Not to mention that goes down the drain and then out into our natural environment. Not all gets removed in water purification processes.

Instead, look for some natural shaving creams, or even look at making your own natural soaps for shaving by doing a search on Google!