Comments on: Razor Wars

By: girldetective

girldetective — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 21:05:37 +0000

Some collected data: I shaved one side with the Bic plain 2-blade Silky Touch and the other with the Venus refill, which I broke down and bought. I had one cut and one burn on the Bic side, but it was a closer shave than the Venus.

By: girldetective

girldetective — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 21:12:56 +0000

I wonder if battery-operated razors do better in the men’s market than in the women’s, and if so, if it’s because women shave more often in running water? I know they make them waterproof, but batteries plus water makes me nervous, and reminds me of the opening of a Six Feet Under episode.

By: Outer Life

Outer Life — Mon, 18 Apr 2005 15:22:19 +0000

Sensor lived up to the hype, an amazing razor that significantly lightened my perma-shadow. I recall once reading an interview with a snooty old London barber who still did the old shave-and-a-haircut and the interviewer doing a double-take (yes, you could tell in the interview) when the barber revealed that instead of using an old-fashioned stropped straight blade, as the interviewer had assumed, he used a Gillette Sensor razor on his customers.

This weekend I gave the new battery-powered vibrating razor a try and, like each of the post-Sensor versions, it is better, but only by a bit, an iteration instead of a revolution.

It’s a nice piece of demand-creating cross-marketing, though, for Gillette owns Duracell.

By: sthompson

sthompson — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 14:37:35 +0000

I personally think that there is going to be a paradyne shift in shaving during this next decade. Companies are coming out with Cryo-ed (tempered) blades that last longer and new technologies that extend the life of the blades and provide a better shave. These technologies still use the Gillette and Schick high quality blades but a single blade can last 3-4 months.

I shave my head and blow through the blades (1 blade per week) and I bought a product call Razormax that claims to extend blade life. I found through experience that it does and this has saved me some serious money on blades. I was very sceptical but had a friend that swears by it and got me to try it. Do a search on Razormax or try http://www.razormax.com and you should be able to find a site that sells it. - Steve Thompson

By: Erik

Erik — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 16:55:05 +0000

It’s totally Scylla and Charibdys when it comes to shaving, and this is one of the areas where I believe the genders get to enjoy a good mutual complaint-fest. I have a moderately rough beard, plus sensitive (even pathologic, I guess, thanks to occasional psoriasis flares) skin. I’d sooner stay scruffy for a day, even a day at work, than attempt a shave with a disposable — yet shelling out for the Mach3 refills is a special sort of irritation in itself.

My attitude toward this issue is similar to my attitude toward mobile phones, computers, and video games: I adopt whatever technology is a generation or two old, and enjoy it as though it were new. I wait for the next new thing to become the old new thing, and thus the manufacturer’s target market become my beta-testers. This approach has saved me from countless software viruses and buyer’s-remorse-induced headaches.

For a guy’s-guy take on the subject of shaving, see below. Dack from dack.com is convinced, like a boozing, golf-obsessed Goldilocks, that three blades is just right. Scroll down to March 17, for Dack.com’s review of the Mach3 Turbo for guys. Stay for the link to the Onion story (ostensibly an interview with a Gillette executive) entitled “F**k Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades.”

http://www.dack.com/archive/2005q1.html

By: Ruthie

Ruthie — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 10:47:10 +0000

As Thurston has a jar filled with old razors, both due to upgrading and due to being often unprepared on business trips, I think of this razor thing often. The Venus’ only benefit to me is the flash-bang with which one can shave without injury; I find it’s shave not nearly so effective as the good old Daisy disposable. One has to pay attention with a disposable, but the shave is close and lasting.

By: Becca

Becca — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 04:30:38 +0000

This is a timely post for me, because my trusty ol’ razor broke recently and I was left with $292.27 cents worth of refills with no place to go. They don’t make the razor anymore. I briefly considered an electric razor before buying the cheapest model of plastic to tide me over. Is there some reason women can’t use electric? It’s not really marketed to us, although I do remember a “Lady Schick” or some such thing years ago…