The Business with Replacement Parts for Personal Care Products
As a consumer society we are quickly getting used to products that make our lives easier and personal care products are not an exclusion from that rule, so things like electric toothbrush or a shaver are more than welcome. Products like these do come with some nice promises of making things easier and better for you, features that try to justify their high prices. Who would not want to get an electric toothbrush that saves you the manual brushing and you are ready with perfectly clean teeth in just 2 minutes with minimum effort, or an electric shaver that shaves you in no time wherever you might be.
Then the company comes and tells you that their new product is not only better, but you will not have to replace it as often as you would have to with a normal toothbrush or a manual razor that you might be using for shaving. They kind of forget to tell you that you would still have to replace some parts from time to time and these of course do cost quite a bit... of course nobody is willing to sell you a product that would last forever and would not break or need replacement parts. This will be just bad for business.
So that great electric toothbrush that you got and that cleans your teeth perfectly for just 2 minutes is still going to need a head replacement in pretty much every three months, just as you would need to do with a cheap regular toothbrush. An original head for your electric toothbrush then turns out to cost as much as a high-end normal toothbrush, so not much saving in terms of price, especially when you count the price of the body of the toothbrush that you have paid initially. But hey, you got some nice features available to you and ease of use, did you expect that all of these would come cheap, no, they will not.
Sure there are also non-original compatible replacement parts available as well and they do come cheaper than the original, but are they any better or even offer the same quality and endurance as the original ones? It is risky business, literally, as some might be even better than the original replacement parts, but others might be really crappy... so you should be careful with these as well.
What about electric shavers, these are built to last longer right? In fact they are, but you still need to use replacement parts after a while in order to be able to get the same good results when shaving as you were getting initially. Normally you need to replace the shaving heads once every 2 years as they do wear off with time and start to require more passes over your beard for the same results. In two years time you might even consider getting a new model electric shaver however instead of just replacing the shaving heads. You may be surprised to know that the shaving heads of an electric shaver are pretty much one of the most expensive components and even non-original replacement parts do not come much cheaper than the original ones, especially if you want to have good quality and longer lasting clean shaving.
Unlike with electric toothbrushes where you essentially have to worry about the head wearing off in time as well as the battery depleting over many cycles (that would normally require some years) and both of them being replaceable in most products, with electric shavers things may not be the same. For example some shavers do come with built-in trimmers and the blades of these may also wear off in time and you might be surprised to find that most if not all manufacturers actually do not offer replacement parts for these. They do however have you covered as they just want to sell you a separate product for your hair trimming needs... the business needs to keep growing.
(image source)
The business with replacement parts for personal care products is really big and is growing, just like the business with replacement parts for just about any other products and because of the large volume there are also the non-original parts as well being offered as an alternative. Sometimes the non-original parts may be manufactured in the same place that also produces the original parts for Philips or another brand, but the non-original ones being exactly the same although non-branded products may be available for less while you are getting essentially the same thing. Often however there is the chance that you are buying cheaper non-original parts that do come with worse quality and provide not so good results like the original replacement parts designed for the specific product. While the cost saving may be just fine in some areas and for some products, it is probably not something that you would want to have for products that are responsible for your health or personal care, so be extra careful with these.
You can always look for better price of original replacement parts that are available as bigger bundles or when there is a promotion and even get them ahead of time, before you actually need them if they are a good deal. Sooner or later you would still need them as the original head will wear off and will need replacement anyway, it is just a matter of time. Don't make compromises with things like your teeth or face hygiene, even if the proper care does not come cheap... or at least just go for the traditional "cheaper" manual toothbrush and razor for shaving.
If you have a question or want to add something, then please leave a comment below.
Did you like what you have just read? Check my other posts on steemit @cryptos
If you like what I'm doing for Steem and on Steemit you can support me as a Witness