On Shaving

Up to about two months ago, I was happy in my routine: I would shave with my Norelco 5 times a week, and touch up with a Gillette Mach 5 twice a week to get the longer hairs. I don't have a particularly THICK beard, and this allowed me to get'er done in just a few minutes a day. Occasionally I'd get a nick from the Mach5, and usually the Norelco left me a little red-faced without the closest of shaves, but it worked.

Then one day I saw an article describing www.harrys.com - a new venture from the entrepreneurs who founded Warby Parker - hipster eyewear for only $99, plus a pair donated for every pair bought. If I hadn't just moved to progressive lenses, I'd be rocking about 5 styles of Warbys. Anyway, the story was about how they thought the Gillette thing was a total rip-off, that $4-5 a blade was completely unreasonable (and you know what, it is), and they wanted to offer something similar or better for a better price.

So I ordered up their starter kit: Aluminum handle, 4 blades, and a tube of really nice shave cream for $25. And I used it, and I liked it a lot. I posted on Facebook about how much I liked it, and I went ahead and ordered some replacement blades - and to buy 16 blades and two more tubes of cream, it was $30, which is well less than half what that costs for Gillettes, plus I love the cream, did I mention that? Makes my face feel nice.

My razor to Norelco ratio upped to half/half. These blades were getting close, and no nicks, and my face feels good.... win win. And that's when it happened.

A chorus of voices taunted me - the REAL good shave out there is the dual-edge Safety Razor- get a beaver brush, a tub of soap, a handle, and feather blades, and rock this old school - a step up from the straight razor to be sure... and once you get your kit together, blades are like a DIME apiece and last just as long. It's way more manly and economical.

Allright. I had already done one move - it couldn't hurt to try another. I went to Amazon and found the gear I needed. The investment wasn't THAT much - about $75 total, with enough blades to get me through to 2018 I'm sure. Plus, the gear looks so good, and feels so... manly. I was very excited to try this out.

Of course, this led to quite a few boxes being delivered for my folly. The initial Harrys Box. The refill boxes. The brush box. The Safety razor box. The Blades box. The razor/brush stand box. Bella noticed the amount of shaving stuff and made some comments: A few days later, an Amazon box arrived (with a BOOK in it) - she opened the door, picked up the box, and said "More SHAVING stuff for Dad!" and tossed it inside with disdain. Ah, my princess.

My first day, I learned how to use a styptic pencil. I had massive cuts on my neck and chin. I spent an extra 20 min in the bathroom moisturizing and hoping that my family would not laugh at me (or scream) when I emerged. Day two was a little better, but I re-opened a few of the previous nicks. Day three a little better than that, but my nerves left large areas under-shaved, including my adam's apple, which I'm SURE I would simply lop off in one flick of the wrist.

Now don't get me wrong, I liked the experience - working up the lather, the feel of the heavy metal shaver, the danger of unwrapping the loose blade and carefully placing onto the handle - it felt good, like home made bread instead of store bought. It was a good experience, but one that would take a lot more practice.

I went on a trip last week and brought both my Norelco and a Harrys kit, and wound up using only the Harrys. It's now to the point that I'm 4 shaves Harrys, 3 shaves Safety Razor, zero shaves Norelco in a week. If I need to put on a tie (meaning flipping up the shirt collar on my neck), it's no question it's a Harrys morning - there's just too much nick-risk with the Safety Razor.

I'm at a point where I'm wondering whether continuing with the Safety is a good idea, when I can get a good shave at a good value from the Harrys. I feel like if I got sucked into a time vortex, my Safety Razor skills would come in handy in the 1930s. I also do enjoy the ritual. But shaving with the Safety is sort of like petting a ferret: It's quite possible to do, a lot of times, you're going to get bit, and it's not nearly as relaxing as petting a more domesticated animal, like say a rabbit or dog. If I could get to the point where the Safety was more like petting a CAT, one that might capriciously swat at you occasionally, but is generally a pretty safe bet...

I'm giving myself permission to evaluate this whole experiment, and I may revert to my old pattern, or a 100% Harrys mode. As Pamela told me: One of the guys advocating for the Safety Razor HAS A FULL BEARD. I looked at current facebook pictures of the other guy who was. Yep. Beard.

These guys are shaving vicariously through me. I need to make my shaving decision based on: Do I like this? Do I look good when I'm done? At this point, I may be moving back to Harry's. But give me a week. I sort of made this INVESTMENT in the Safety and wouldn't want to walk away entirely... If I can make these BOTH work, I won't need to buy any shaving stuff for a couple of years based on the number of blades and how much cream I have on hand.