Saturday, January 26, 2008

On Shaving and Yeti, but Not on Shaving Yeti



So, if anyone out there is wet shaving with an old-fashioned safety razor (where you actually use razor blades for shaving instead of cutting cocaine or elective surgery), you should really experiment with the angle that you're keeping your blade at. Set the top of your razor (mine is curved, yours probably is as well) at a 90 degree angle to your face and slowly, every so slowly lower it. Basically, you want the handle at like a 30 degree angle, just keep it up there, because the lower the handle gets- the more acute the angle between your face and the blade- you're going to get less of a clean shave, and more cuts, burn, etc. I could probably do a whole rant here about using an old-fashioned safety razor vs. some 5-bladed Gilette crap...so I will. I personally think the whole multi-bladed razor craze is bullshit; they say that, by having more blades, you can shave in fewer strokes. But each stroke that you use with a multibladed head drags 3-5 razor blades over your skin. In comparison, using a single blade, I can get as clean of a shave with one stroke. Using an old fashioned safety razor means that I don't have to press (the metal body of the razor is heavy enough on its own). Finally, a pack of razor blades costs me $3. Of course, the savings are offset on the ridiculous shaving affectations I'm now addicted to- badger hair brush, pre-shave lotion, shaving bowl, cream jar (thankfully all gifts)- but I'm now slightly addicted to shaving.
In other news- if you're reading this on facebook, and some of the past posts have little leads to things that don't seem to be there- like a "watch this:" with nothing below it, that's because facebook doesn't import YouTube videos, so go to the original blogspot posts if you want to see the ridiculous crap that I like.
Speaking of stuff I like: the Abominable Charles Christopher is pretty much the best comic with a yeti I've ever read, and I am a man who knows his yeti. Nobody Scores is pretty fun as well.

2 comments:

Mary said...

Best yeti rhyme ever is from the Unicorns' "Abominable Snowman": "Are you an upright bear? / Are you even there? / Do you exist?"

Anonymous said...

How long does a double edge blade last? How good of a shave will a blade give?
As with a "cut-throat" razor it depends on the sharpness of the blade and the durability/hardness of the steel.
Has anyone looked at the edge of various maker’s double edge blades under a 10 power magnifying glass, or, better yet, a microscope, to see if they can see a difference in the blade edges?
I looked at a Schick, and a Merkur, under a 10X glass. The Merkur, even at only 10X, has a rough edge. The Schick has a much smoother edge.
I checked this out after using one of each blade. The Schick gave me 25 good shaves before it started pulling,
The Merkur blade gave me a worse (it pulled more) shave on the first shave than the Schick did after 25 shaves.
I used to get 60 good shaves out of the Gillette Blue Blade. Now I am doing good to get 30 out of stainless steel, platinum, etc.
Seems the blade makers are just not putting as good of an edge on their blades just so they will get duller faster.
I have not tried the Feather Blades yet, but have ordered some, as they have a reputation for sharpness.
A person should be able to tell just how long, comparatively, a blade will last just by looking at its edge under a microscope.
The whole thing seems to be a "sting" operation though, as sharp blades could go out for weeks and then start sending out less sharp ones.
Also: How do we know, when ordering blades, that we are not getting counterfeit blades, which seem to be getting more common?