I shave my head. A lot. Every second or third day usually.
Because when you have a head as anatomically good looking as mine, you shouldn’t hide it under a hairy distraction. No?

But personal grooming narcissism has a cost. Recently Kelly and I have been taking inventory of all our plastic waste generation in an attempt to change over to less polluting alternatives. One thing that I soon flagged was my consumption of large quantities of disposable razor cartridges.

Not only are the cartridges themselves made mostly out of plastic, but they come in a plastic dispenser that in turn is wrapped in that awful (impenetrable) plastic packaging.

So I am about to switch out to an ‘old fashioned’ safety razor.
You know, those metal razors with stainless steel disposable blades. Like the one your grandfather used to use. Or perhaps your dad, if he is cool.

Now, if I am to believe the advertising hype, not having 3 or 4 blades set precisely within a set of protective microfins and lubricated by a hydrating gel reservoir that includes aloe and vitamin E, a flip trimmer and patented FlexBall technology is going to deliver a vastly inferior shave. I’m not entirely sure how I will even be able to show my head in public without risk of experiencing scalp shaming.

But you know what? I’m going to cop the risk of a rough, un-hydrated, flex-less, and embarrassingly inferior shave in order to make one singular albeit infinitesimal, incremental change to the world’s production of used plastic razor landfill.

Seriously, no one is going to even notice. Except me, you….and perhaps the earth.

As soon as my current supply is used up, I am going to make the switch. And the reason I am telling you all this is that by putting it down in writing, I am making a more tangible commitment.

So if you see me walking around without fresh little nicks and cuts on my scalp, maybe even some bits of tissue paper stuck here and there to stem the blood-flow…. well I expect you to publicly call me out.

I will get back to you in a few weeks and let you know how the whole: using a safety razor thing goes.