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Tuesday, March 19, 2019

"The Best a Man Can Get"


I'm done buying disposable shaving products, thanks to a recent offensive commercial from a well-known razor blade manufacturer.



Below, most of the items that you'll need in order to stop buying expensive disposable razor blades.  (Click to enlarge)

Inside the box is a spare straight razor with a replaceable blade.  That one has a holder for 1/2 a standard razor blade.  I'm not using it, but I might if I don't have time to sharpen the other one.


The yellow handled razor is my main knife.  I keep it sharp with a stone and strop it every other shave.  Both of the razors are vintage items.  They also make brand new straight razors, but I happen to like old stuff.

The white stick is a styptic pencil.  It constricts blood vessels to minimize bleeding.  Nicking yourself with a straight razor is a bigger deal than it is with a safety razor.  For this reason you need an anti-hemmorrhagic on hand.

I'm actually enjoying shaving these days.  Yes, it takes more time, and it takes a level of mindfulness and skill that safety razors do not.  You need to be a lot more careful handling a straight razor than you do a disposable, especially when approaching your face.

The best part for me is that I won't have to spend money on shaving supplies again.  And I won't have to spend it at a company that doesn't seem to think very much of me as a man or as a human being.

3 comments:

Marc said...

Wow, a straight blade. Not for me. I'd lose half of my face if I tried using a blade of any kind. Have too much scaring from acne, from younger years. Have to use an electric and really don't mind. The other problem with using a blade is basically cuts. With no depth perception, it's a bit difficult (really impossible) to tell where it is in the confines of space in relation to my face. I'm glad it works for you. They've been around for a very long time.

Mark said...

Yeah I get that. It's pretty easy to cut yourself with these even with good focus and reasonably smooth skin. I've tried electrics a few times in the past, and they just never did it for me. I'm pretty happy with the straight razor for now. We will see how it goes. It takes a bit more time, but for now it seems worth the extra time and effort.

Eric Stricklind said...

Straight razors are way cool. Before my Dad past away, he gave me my Great Grand Father's & my Grand Father's straight razors. It was very cool to handle a tool that your grand parents used. I lost them in the wild fire in 2015, I was able to recover the blades but like the rest of my knife collection that went thru the fire they are just scrape now. Too bad.