my battle against gillette

14/04/2013

For years I’ve had a grudge against gillette, I resent:

  • paying  extraordinary princely sums for disposable razor blades!
  • the reinvention of the razor every year or so with additional blades (front and back), plus the necessity for batteries!
  • a really cool strip of aloe vera, that is washed / rubbed away before the end of the first shave

I have tried several different options over the years to try and remove myself from the demographic group of being one that buys gillette razor blades, with different levels of success:

  • cheap usually single, sometime double bladed, disposable razors – usually need 2 of these to work through stubble, and don’t shave clean, can irritate
  • expensive electric triple headed Philips razor – started losing charge after few months use in shower… just for facial use 🙂
  • other 3 bladed overpriced disposable blades – not as close a shave and irritate skin just as much as gillette

and now you see how this cycle repeats, until…

I purchased and learned how to correctly use a double edged safety razor

Double edged saftey razor - Merkur HD 34C

After a bit of reading around the interwebs, and searching through what was on offer online, I found a Kiwi store via Amazon. For not much more than the price of an 8 pack of gillette 4 fusions, or whatever the hell they’re called, I was delivered a shiny, weighty Merkur short handled, double edged, razor blade, plus a sample of blades to try out.

The result of my first try was like shaving by 1,000 paper cuts 🙂

Blood flowed from small knicks and cuts across my face, like I’d run through a rose bush… but my god was it a close shave and cool experience.

The unwrapping and assembly or the razor excited me. I read through the history of the invention, noting that gillette were an original pioneer… also how gillette created the false rumour that less strokes, therefore more blades, made for a cleaner irritant free shave!

This de-boxing seemed similar to the experience of unpacking my Nexus 7. The care that had been made to present the 3 pieces of cast metal struck me as a juxtaposition from having to wield scissors or a kitchen knife, to relinquish a  glowing orange gillete product from the hard plastic container… btw is there a best practise to opening one of these?

Feather Razor Blades

The blades arrive in a cool small plastic container, a little smaller than a match box. The blades slide out, wrapped individually in waxed non sticky paper.

I have now learned to shave correctly; finding the hair grain was never my issue, but after using a terrible razor for years, I had grown used to applying quite a lot of pressure to make a dent into my stubble.

The knack however with a safety razor is to let the weight of the head, carry the blade down your face, rinse and repeat.

I now get a closer shave than ever, and my skin is heaps better… or as good as it can be sat under air-con, for all of my working day. Oh and you can get 50, five zero, blades from between 10 – 15 bucks, depending on brand 🙂

Relinquish yourself from the gillette demographic group, and shave stylish and cheaply with a safety razor.