Stop the razor blade insanity.
I can't shave with an electric razor. I don't know what the deal is, but I've tried. Braun and Norelco, expensive models. My face just don't play that way. So I am doomed to choose either a disposable or non-disposable hand-operated razor system.
Like gas price gouging, the razor companies decide to add a blade every few years. I have to admit that somehow I thought two blades were better than one. I completely resisted the move to three, searching high and low to find two-blade razors until they became obsolete and I had to buy three-bladed ones.
Like the gas price at my local Citgo, which was $2.57 before Katrina and has now settled back to $2.99, things just aren't going to be that cheap ever again. The price increases for the new razor types are phenomenal. I think a box of four Mach 3 razor blades is something like $8.00.
Gillette has announced a five-bladed razor, predicted over a year ago in a parody in The Onion, entitled "Fuck Everything We're Doing Five Blades." Razor escalation has also been covered by Mad Magazine and Saturday Night Live.
Maybe two was better than one. But how much better than four is five? Or six? Will it be worth the price increase?
(Thanks to BoingBoing for these links.)
12 comments:
I tried to buy a refill for my Gillette Mach 3 (number of blades, not the speed that I drag it across my shredded face) and I was told that blades are only sold "over the counter". WTF??
At least men's razors have not reached the insanity of women's. My wife just bought a razor that comes with a small battery and the blades vibrate as she shaves her legs.
I have enough trouble holding a razor steady at 6am. If it's already moving, there's a catastrophe in the making.
You can still get 2-bladers in the disposable range. I use Gilette. BTW Mach 3 is my birthday :)
Maybe you could just grow a beard.
I too cannot do the electric razor. I don't know how men do it. Of course I also shave in the shower with just water. So, I may have conditioned those wiskers to be hearty.
I can't use an electric one either. I do the Mach 3 thing as well. I get the replacement blades at BJ's (like a CostCo/Sam's Club for those who don't know) and you have to fill out a merchandise slip and turn it in to the same place you buy cigarette products. Whatever. Anyway, I get like 5 refills (4 razors in each) for less than $30 if I recall. Not too terrible.
There's a Mach 3 that vibrates as well, Mkae. Although I think that women prefer that feature more than men.
LWC is not a fan of the beard, Major. Me neither, really. I could grow a mean goatee if I wanted to, I guess.
I don't like the disposables because they weigh so little, I have trouble handling them, which equals shaving cuts. Ow. In my wildest dreams, there is a heavy weighted handle that a disposable razor fits into, making it like a regular razor for heft. Perhaps I shall make one by hand.
I'm a manual shave guy myself, let me know when you whittle a cherry handled razor, I may want one.
Incredibly, I saw a Gillette Sensor razor for sale today at Wally World, along with refill blades. For those of you who don't recall, the Sensor was the last two bladed razor Gillette made. It's back now, and maybe they're testing the waters to see what consumers really want. Now I'm completely confused about the whole situation.
Blade boy myself. There is no substitute, and frankly, its faster.
An Aussie TV comedy troupe covered the blade-insanity back in the early 90s. They had this briliant graphic of the 25 blades passing over a hari follicle with a voice-over "The first blade does nothing.. the second blade distracts the hair... " etc. Hilarious stuff.
Mkae: Their is a mens razor with vibrating blades. Look for the stupid green-glow commercials... god... the razor commercials haven't changed strategy in thirty years either...
"Behold! The five-assed monkey!"
I must be the sole person who uses an electrickery razor then. I can't be trusted at 6am with any sharp object.
Over here on the West Coast, the Sensor (excuse me, Sensor XL!) never left. Been using it for years and years, usually by buying blades at Costco (no covert CIA-style counter-purchase, either, just straight out on the shelves, something like 30 refills at a time).
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