Power and Shaving

You could always grow beard :) It works for me. No mess, no bother, no expense (except for the occassional trim)

From an energy perspective, shaving with a blade is a bad idea because of the energy required to heat the water necessary for a good shave. If you shave right after you shower and don't use any additional hot water you can minimize the impact, but I think that it's better to use an electric shaver. Their energy consumption is minimal. The worst approach of all is to shave while showering. This prolongs your shower by about 2 minutes, during which 3 to 5 gallons of hot water will go down the drain that wouldn't need to have been heated if you shaved using an electric shaver. From a resource use/landfill perspective, compare the size of a replacement head for an electric shaver (which you need one of per year) to enough disposable blades to last a year. The electric shaver wins this comparison too.

Best Regards,
Bruce Karney

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Mountain View, CA 94041 USA

Thanks Bruce,

To the lady who suggested growing a beard... if more women felt as you do it might be more feasible. Could this become a cbsm exercise perhaps to market the idea of men returning to the unshaven state for the sake of our environment? My wife, for one, might be a challenge however. Not such a silly idea because much stems from the 'clean shaven image' our western and some other cultures espouse as responsible, upright, trustworthy, healthy and 'clean', for a start. How many industries are based on these characteristics being associated with no beard? What kind of impact do they have generally? Not often all that positive, I surmise. Personally, I capture the cold to hot water before shaving and then usually shower straight after with the water temp already boosted. A bucket catches most of that and the loo gets its supply as needed thereafter.

Kind regards,
Paul

I thought about that one long and hard a while back, and decided they were both wasteful, I use scissors, which after a while you get really quick and really close at!! :-)

I can imagine a scenario where the electric shavers save more energy than the disposables. If women used electric shavers instead of shaving their legs in the shower, their showers could be 20 mins shorter. One problem: electric shaver manufacturers are selling women's versions that can be used in the shower!

- Gwen Boulder, CO

Robert, my partner solarises his electric shaver with a small solar panel: 6V 100 - 140 ma. It takes 6 hours of charging at 100MA 6V to give him 6 to 8 - 10 minute electric shaves in the shower.

Jennifer

I remember a sequence from the Coen Brother's film Miller's Crossing, where one of the characters tells another that you should really shave using cold water, because that makes the metal of the blade contract and so sharpen, though he also recommends preparing the face with a hot towel. Actually, I just found what purports to be the script online:

So you towel down first with a hot towel, as hot as you can stand. Put the razor in cold water, not hot, because metal does what in cold?

- I don't know,Johnny.

- That's why I'm telling you! It contracts. That way you get a first-class shave every time.

One more parameter to add to the power/shaving discussion is the shaving medium: Use of a brush and shaving mug uses only a little hot water to whip up the lather and rinse the brush after use. My assumption is that a little use of hot water is more 'green' than the use of shaving cream dispensed by a propellant from an aerosol container.

Michael Bergman
WA Department of Ecology

Well spotted Michael. And regarding bald heads and less water, has anyone tried the 6 weeks No Shampoo program? I am finding it going well after 4 weeks and use the same amount of water as my usual shower. Or swimming could be effective, in season that is.

Kind regards,
Paul