When I think of the things I most hate to spend money on, a few quick examples come to mind: airline baggage fees, gourmet pet food (can’t my dog settle for Alpo?) and just about anything connected to the commercial miasma known as the holiday season.

But you know what really burns a hole in my wallet and tests my patience at the same time? Buying replacement blades for my Gillette PG, -0.10% razor.

Mind you, I love my Gillette Fusion ProGlide razor, a five-bladed marvel that all but ensures I get a relatively close shave each morning with a minimum of fuss. (And dare I admit it? It works so well I usually don’t bother with shaving cream.) But I don’t love the $5 price for a replacement blade, since it equates to a yearly expense of more than $200 — an amount equal to a good dinner at a decent restaurant, even perhaps with a bottle of wine. And trust me: I’d much rather be dining in style than shaving.

Apparently I’m not alone in being put off by the cost of razor blades: On Wednesday, consumer goods company Unilever UN, -2.42% bought Dollar Shave Club — a subscription service for inexpensive men’s razors with more than 3 million members — for roughly $1 billion .

But is Dollar Shave Club’s quality up to snuff? And what are some other ways to cut shaving costs (without cutting up your face).

Try the competition

While it’s true that Gillette (part of consumer products giant Procter & Gamble PG, -0.10% ) dominates the blade biz — it controls 66% of the nearly $13 billion industry, according to one report — it’s facing growing competition. Think Dollar Shave Club, Harry’s and other blade subscription services that charge as little as around $1.50 per cartridge (provided you sign up for regular shipments). And that’s not mentioning store-brand blades such as CVS CVS, +1.98% , whose five-blade product (called, well, 5 Blade) runs a little more than $2 per cartridge (no subscription required). But can these brands deliver as good a shave? I admit I have yet to be convinced (and I’ve tried both Dollar Shave Club and CVS products), but the brands definitely have their fans. And in a fairly comprehensive survey, the grooming-oriented Sharpologist website sang the praises of just about every Gillette competitor: “The bottom line here is we think the shave quality of all these alternatives will get very close to that of the ProGlide — close enough that you probably won’t have a problem trading shave for cartridge price.” By the way, the Sharpologist survey also included Gillette’s main competitor — Schick, which controls 13% of the market. (But Schick’s blades aren’t that cheap, running $3-plus per cartridge.)

Preserve your blades

Regardless of whether you stay loyal to Gillette or go with the competition, there’s one method to save on blades no matter what — namely, to extend their lifetime. And there is no shortage of ways to do this. Some suggest the “blue jean” approach — yes, you can use your jeans as a sharpener much like an old-school barber uses a strop (basically, a strip of leather). Some suggest simply drying out your razor after every use — indeed, consumer advocate Clark Howard says he was able to extend the life of a blade up to a year by towel drying it. And there are products being pitched to this market of what might be dubbed “blade preservationists,” too: BladeButter oil is one such example. (The company behind it claims it can help users save $175 a year on cartridges.) BladeBuddy is another.

Go retro

Forget cartridges, say grooming traditionalists. The real way to get a close shave is with an old-fashioned safety razor — your father’s razor, in other words. (Think an actual full-size blade secured into place.) And guess what? It’s also a far cheaper shave. Once you look past the initial investment — say, up to $100 for a quality razor and up to $125 for a good brush to apply the lather (and costs can go much lower for each) — your outlay can be as little as 10 cents per blade. Little wonder that one cost analysis found that the savings with a safety razor could equate to $500-plus over an 11-year time span. And it’s not surprising that, by some accounts, sales of safety razors are starting to grow: Consider that The Art of Shaving, a retail chain (part of Procter & Gamble as well) that’s geared for those safety razor-loving traditionalists, has expanded more than threefold to 140 locations since 2009.

Of course, if you want to be really daring in that Sweeney Todd-esque way you can go with a straight-edge razor — meaning an unguarded blade that can theoretically last a lifetime (provided you keep it sharp with a strop). The good news? This is the cheapest way to shave in the long run, since you’re not buying replacement blades. (And your initial investment can be as little as around $150 for a quality straight edge.) The bad news? This isn’t for the faint of heart — or for the lazy. To quote veteran barber Yulia Kim of New York’s Julien Farel Men salon: “I don’t think it is worth it to master a single blade at home as this takes time and patience, which most men don’t have in the morning.”

Go hairless

Yes, hairless. Meaning ditching the whole shaving routine altogether and opting for laser hair-removal treatments for your face. It’s an option that some men have been considering of late, with skin care centers that offer the treatment reporting as many as a dozen customers a week. And while the treatment is not low-cost — New York dermatological surgeon Dr. Ariel Ostad charges $3,000 to $4,000, which includes several visits — it can save you money in the long run. (And perhaps more important: It can save you time — and time is money, after all.) But as Dr. Ostad warns, it’s not for everybody, since the treatment is suited for those with darker hair. Plus, Dr. Ostad notes you will still need to shave occasionally — “Once a week at the most,” he adds — since the treatment doesn't typically remove 100% of facial hair. And, of course, you have to accept the fact that the treatment is permanent — meaning there’s no changing your mind and opting to become a bearded hipster down the road.

Stick with Gillette

Still not ready to give up your ProGlide or other Gillette-branded razor? I know I’m not quite there yet. And apparently, I’m not alone. “Over 800 million men around the world trust us to take care of their shave,” says Gillette spokesman Kurt Iverson. Well, Gillette can’t offer you its blades for pennies on the dollar, but it can suggest at least one way to save: create your own blade subscription — a Dollar Shave Club for Gillette, if you will — by buying your ProGlides (or other Gillette blades) in larger quantities on a recurring basis through such shopping sites as Amazon.com AMZN, -1.78% and Drugstore.com. (In fact, Gillette has put together a list of such subscription options on its website.) The savings can be respectable, bringing the cost for my beloved ProGlides down to around $3.40 per cartridge if I order eight at a time. Perhaps it won’t save me enough to enjoy a blowout dinner by year’s end. But, hey, I can always forego the bottle of wine.

(This story was originally published in 2014.)