An Open Letter to the Barbering & Grooming Industry
To the barbers, shop owners, educators, manufacturers, associations, and industry leaders who move professional grooming forward:
Our industry has always taken pride in its standards. We care about sanitation. We invest in our tools. We protect our clients, take pride in our craft, and work to maintain the trust that makes the barber-client relationship special.
But there is a question we must begin asking ourselves: What happens to the blades after they leave our stations?
Used razor blades are part of our daily work. We know how to handle them safely at the point of use. Yet the broader conversation about what happens next and how we can improve that process, deserves greater attention.
This is not about pointing fingers. Barbers should not be expected to solve a complex recovery and recycling challenge on their own. Nor should individual shop owners be left to navigate a fragmented system without practical guidance, reliable partners, or affordable options.
It is about recognizing an opportunity to lead. We should not wait for someone else to set the standard. EdgeCycle was founded on a simple belief: the professional grooming industry can take a more active role in how its waste is managed.
We are building a system that connects participating businesses with appropriate recovery and processing partners, establishes clear participation standards, documents meaningful progress, and creates opportunities to recover valuable materials.
We believe responsible razor recovery should become an achievable part of our professional practice, not an unnecessary burden placed on individual barbers.
We also believe the cost of building this infrastructure should be shared wherever possible by municipalities, sponsors, manufacturers, and industry partners, rather than falling entirely on the small businesses that keep our industry alive.
Let’s Build Something Better.
Our mission extends beyond collecting used blades. We want to help establish a culture of accountability in which the industry can measure its progress, demonstrate its commitment to responsible material recovery, and explore ways to return recovered metals to productive use.
Our long-term goal is a more sustainable circular ecosystem—one in which today’s waste can become tomorrow’s resources. That future will require collaboration, qualified partners, practical standards, investment, and transparent reporting. It will not happen overnight. But we have begun building towards it today.
This Is Your Invitation to Lead.
●To the barber who wants to leave the shop better than they found it.
●To the manufacturer looking for a meaningful way to support the professionals who use its products.
●To the association that wants to advance industry standards.
●To the municipality seeking practical waste-diversion solutions.
●To the sponsor willing to invest in a measurable, industry-wide initiative.
EdgeCycle invites you to help shape the next standard for professional grooming.
We are not asking the industry to be perfect. We are asking it to recognize an opportunity and work together toward a better solution. We have established standards for how we work. Now, let’s work toward a standard for what we leave behind. Let’s recover responsibly. Let’s close the loop. Let’s prove that our industry has the ability to lead responsibly.
Respectfully,
The EdgeCycle Team