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Journal jawtheshark's Journal: Sometimes upgrades are downgrades 12

Journal by jawtheshark

This has nothing to do with computers, nothing at all.

One of the signs of civilisation seems to be shaving. I always hated it, it's annoying and wastes time. When I was in my teens, and started to "need" shaving, my dad bought me an electric shaver. It was a cool electric one usable under the shower. Yet, I never liked the feel of an electric shaver.

When I was at University, I got a "welcome pack" containing a two-blade manual shaver with some cream. I tried it and liked it much better than the electric one. The electric one ended up in a drawer and when I needed to shave it was manual... Now, one of the downsides of the manual-two blade shaver is that I have a very thick beard. So thick that my hair sticks between the blades and makes it ineffective, and getting it out is very hard. I have lived with this for over 10 years.

Yet, I rememberer my grandpa shaving. I don't know my age, but he had a shiny safety razor. One blade, the kind I call "suicide-blades" because that's what people use in movies to cut their veins open. I always wanted one, but I haven't seen one in active commerce anywhere.

Steps in the Internet... I find an US online shop that sells those kind of safety razors. Manufactured in Solingen, Germany. So I email these people in Solingen and get a German online shop where I can get such a safety razor. They email me back that they don't sell directly online, but I can order at their trusted reseller. I order there (and don't mind it's not https...but mention it in the comment field). Today, I got the razor.... Wow...

It's pretty and shiny and it gives me a clean shave. No more cuts than with the regular two-blade thing and I was done in no time. On top of that I got 10 blades free with my purchase. I've got 71 blades now (60 ordered, 10 free, 1 as a sample with the razor). I guess that'll last me a lifetime ;-)

Blades? You only need one... but a good one!

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Sometimes upgrades are downgrades More

Sometimes upgrades are downgrades

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  • I've been trolling the drug stores lately looking for one of those. I can buy blades anywhere, but can't find a handle. I'm not quite ready to go online for that yet.

    • Yes, the blades are findable everywhere. I don't get it either. The suicide crowd must be quite profitable ;-)

      I wouldn't remember what US shop it was where I originally found the thing. Shouldn't be too hard to google up.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by gmhowell ( 26755 ) *
        I found a bunch of shops in the US. Cheapest handle I saw was about US$25. Maybe at the end of the month.

        The real killer is soap and brushes. I used them for a while, but the cheapie brush I had fell apart, and I wasn't totally satisfied with the soap. Also, the mug I used was Angie's, so, bad memories.
  • Similar history than yours, except I went from 2 to 3 blades and only stopped at 4.

    I bought a cheap black plastic Wilkinson shaver at Cactus which takes suicide blades to try that out and stayed with that as well. Next upgrade I did was a shaving brush and shaving soap instead of those premade foams and gels. Works better, although it takes a week to get used to and half a minute to make one's foam in the morning.

    A blade lasts a week for me, so the 70 blades you got are probably not really a lifetime supply

    • That's funny. I've been using the brush ever since I stepped over to brush & soap when I went manual. Mainly because it feels better and the ecological reason of throwing away yet another empty tube when it's empty seemed not really smart.

      I agree also on the ecological aspects of the plastic in the 2/3/4/5 blades and it is indeed another reason why I looked for a single-blade system. I did look at cactus for what you said, but I must have overlooked it. I'll look again, but the metal one feels n

      • One thing I want to ask (since I just started this): do you throw them in the trash or in the blue bags "PMC" bags? Instinctively, I'd throw them in there. After all, metal cans also have sharp edges...

        Mine go to trash, because contents of the blue bags is sorted manually - don't want those people to get hurt. Trash gets crushed and then sorted automatically, and taking metal out for recycling is piece of cake.

        • Yes, that is why I was asking. I'm one of those guys that make sure everything has been cleaned before getting into the PMC bag. Exactly because I know that parts of it are manually sorted. Strangely enough, I thought they would sort out the metal by passing a magnet over it before sorting manually. You know, that would make.. ehm, sense.... ;-)

          Now, I'm going to have a bad concience every time I throw in a sharp-edged can into it. *sigh*

      • When renovating our last house we pulled off the baseboards in the bedroom and used blades started falling out of the wall space. According to an older man I know when he was a child he remembers there being a slot in the wall to put old blades into, apparently at our old house that wall slot went into the wall between the bathroom and bedroom and they just piled up in there.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Com2Kid ( 142006 )

        A typical 2 blade Wilkinson would start to feel dull after a mere 5 shaves, but I usually extended it way beyond that (with resulting extra cuts) because they are frankly expensive.

        I was with you up until this line here.

        Your razor CUT you? ick.

        Call me a member of a spoiled generation (I am), but I have never been cut by my razor blade.

        It just.... doesn't happen. I have heard of styptic pencils, never had to use one though!

        Gillet rox0rs. They also get away with bloody murder for the blades. :( $16usd for

        • I've always cut me... I must obviously be doing something wrong, but I don't know what. Okay, an electric razor never cut me, but that wasn't exactly the topic of the journal ;-)

          • Re: (Score:1)

            by Com2Kid ( 142006 )
            I use a Mach 3 [gillettem3power.com], always have. Gillette mails them out to all males in America on their 18th birthday. (They may be mailing out their newer model razor now) I already had one though! :)

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by gmhowell ( 26755 ) *
      My father learned to shave on a straight edge (the swing open thing you mentioned), and these days, he's always going to the newest and latest 5 blade razor or whatever. I went to a barber and got a straight edge shave one time. VERY nice. I couldn't do it to myself, but if you have the chance, I recommend it highly.

      As far as blade disposal, we used to have these neat things in the US. If you open your medicine cabinet, there was a little slot in the back for blade disposal. You just tossed used blades into

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