Shaving blog 2: Electric Boogaloo

 I wrote a blog on 25 Jan 2021 about my changing consumer behavior with regard to shave products. Yes, I know. That was pretty random, even for this blog. I switched brands of cartridge razor (That's what razors like Harry's, Gillette Fusion and the Dollar Shave Club razors are called), shave cream and after shave. Other than the razor itself, I went back to using the same kind of shave products that my grandfathers used. They all work remarkably well. Pics below.

 

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And now, I've upgraded the quality of my shave even further by embracing yet another of my grandfather's preferred products: a safety razor.

'But Publius, didn't you say in the last blog that you were happy with the Harry's razor that you bought to replace your Gillette Fusion?'

Yes, I did. That was before I decided to start researching other methods besides electric & razors with cartridge blades. And that Harry's razor will still be used in various capacities. If I need to travel by plane for some reason (as unlikely as that is these days), I'll be taking the Harry's & my electric razor. Both of those combined can give me a baby-butt smooth shave. However, it takes more work and causes a lot of redness and irritation on the skin of my neck.

This new safety razor that I just tried gave me a completely different experience. I didn't bother to use the Lectric Shave and my electric razor first, like I do with the cartridge razor. I just wet my face with a towel, lathered up with Barbasol and put this new blade to work. There was virtually no learning curve. I just had to remember to angle the razor a little more than usual so the blade would catch the whiskers. Not only did this safety razor give me that baby-butt smooth shave that every man craves, it did so with comfort and ease. I could barely feel the razor working its magic on the 24-48 hours' worth of stubble on my visage. When I was done, there was also ZERO redness and irritation. So, yes, we have yet another winner.

The safety razor that I purchased. 
I am not putting the 'we have a winner'
graphic on this stock photo.

The razor that I bought cost me $28.88 from Amazon. I picked up a 100 count box of blades that got great reviews for $11.77. The brand is owned by a company in India and the blades were made in Turkey with Swedish Steel and German machinery for extreme precision. Globalization at work. At least this particular product didn't come from Communist China. :P

For this first shave, I used the sample blade that came with the razor. The box of blades that I bought are a different brand and may work better or worse. I'm not concerned either way. At that price, I would only be out about 12 cents per blade. I don't mind experimenting until I find what's right for me. I've even identified another brand that I might try in the future. That 100 count box would be a little more expensive at $14.95, but it gets rave reviews. (Other retailers besides Amazon might have better prices.) That brand was also the company that introduced safety razors to the USA over a century ago. However, it seems they're making the blades in Germany now. Damned Globalization!!! At least they are still being made somewhere in the (semi) Free World...

The box of blades that I bought...

The safety razor works soooooo much better than any cartridge razor with a lot more speed and comfort and at a much lower price per blade. I really should have done this years ago. And I could have done this a long time ago too. I went looking through my bathroom cabinet and discovered some old shaving supplies that actually did belong to one of my grandfathers: 2 old safety razors with the butterfly door design (both of which are functional, but need some cleaning and mild restoration work) and a cup & brush for traditional shave soap. I'm not sure if the brush is still usable. However, I did clean out the cup and now put the Barbasol cream that I use during a shave in there. And that cup has the Old Spice logo on it too. I really have turned into my grandfather here... And I'm only 39 years old... Lolz.

Either way, the days of me paying exorbitant prices for inferior cartridge razors are OVER.

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Okay... I have worn out the first blade now. It worked quite well. The Parker blades also work quite well, with very little difference in performance. I'm still getting a baby-butt smooth shave every time with little or no skin irritation. Where once shaving was just another grooming chore like brushing teeth, now it's actually enjoyable. At least something these days is turning out right. School has become a drag. My old desktop died and I bought a new one this weekend. (The old one will be repaired and repurposed as one of several different things I am considering right now.) Then there's also everything you see in the news as of late, which is beyond being 'mentally exhausting' at this point. Oh, well. The world maybe running as fast as Usain Bolt down the road to Perdition, but at least I can get a good quality shave.

- Lord Publius

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions...

Sometimes, Life forces you to make tough decisions. However, that can be ameliorated with some judicious use of logical deduction... And just some of my own preferences in life. I will use a few memes to demonstrate.

1.) Decisions related to Consumer Behavior in various industries...

Not the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make...

Believe it or not, I don't have any difficulty in deciding between these choices.

With the rifles, I'll choose the AR-15. Being ex-military, I'm already quite familiar with it's military cousin, the M-16 Series. So, I know exactly what I'm getting into with that weapon system. Also, if at all possible, I don't want to use Communist made shit in ANY kind of product, especially my rifles. That 'Made in China' quality is not acceptable with ANY product, least of all the tool that I use to protect my Liberty. Also, this is a bit of a Hobson's choice because I don't want either of these two for my rifle. I want an M-1 Garand instead. If that 'greatest implement of battle ever devised' was good enough to enable my grandfather's generation to smash the Axis powers to rubble, then it's good enough for me too.

PICTURED: A rifle built for a MAN.

With the hand guns, I'm going with the All-American classic that is the 1911. It is the best handgun that anyone has ever invented. That Glock is made of plastic, uses inferior metric rounds and doesn't have a hammer. I don't like that at all. My weapons should be made of metal with wood furniture for the parts that a shooter will handle. Also, for the shooters that keep trying to defend Glock to more old-school, traditional shooters like me...

Just because something is old does NOT mean
that you should throw it away.

Also, about those metric rounds that Glock seems to insist on using...

Metric can be useful, but I don't like it in my weapons and ammunition.

And for those anti-gun shitbags that are only free because of people like me making that happen...

Yep...

As for the pickup trucks... I'm a Chevy man. However, I don't mind a Ford, if it's a good product. Some Fords in recent years have had some rather horrifying design flaws. For example, the 5.4 liter 3-valve Triton V8 used in the 2004-2008 model F-Series trucks. They had these weird spark plugs that broke easily and required some strange tools to remove them when/if they broke inside the engine block. The aftermarket already solved that problem, but it's weird that Ford did that at all. Also, that Triton motor was VERY easy to clog up with sludge if you didn't change the oil on a regular basis. When/if that happens, the only remedy to the problem is to either rebuild or replace the engine. Both options will cost you the same and it will NOT be cheap.

Please don't interpret this to mean that I believe Chevy to be perfect. Nothing made by the hands of man will ever be 100% perfect. However, of all the trucks I've driven (and there have been a LOT of them), GM's product is the all-around best. And yes, I have driven a few Japanese trucks from Toyota and rode in at least 2 Nissan trucks. I was NOT impressed with them. I'm also not interested in depending on foreigners for my transportation and my ability to use my right to travel. (Especially if it's a country that we nuked twice just to get them to surrender and end a world war...)

Also, for the purposes of full disclosure, I am not driving a truck right now. The truck I once had was rear-ended/wrecked back in 2018 and replaced with a gently used Chevrolet Impala. It was the best vehicle that I could afford at the time. I tend to prefer cars anyway. Trucks are for working men. I haven't had a blue-collar job in a long time.

America, Fuck Yeah! :P

As for the soda... I could go either way, but I like Coke better. Pepsi is just kinda boring by comparison. However, both of them are inferior to my all-time favorite soda: Barq's Root Beer in the glass bottle. And yes, being in the glass bottle does make it taste better. I don't know how, but it does.

Champipple was a running joke on the classic sitcom Sanford & Son.

2.) Decision for what to wish for from a Genie, I guess?

I'm going with the groceries on this one. That would save me up to $200 a month or more, depending on if I have to buy expensive stuff for holiday meals. No, I'm not eating too much. Grocery prices are just insanely high.

The free gas wouldn't mean much since I'm hardly driving anywhere during this pandemic bullshit. My dog died back in 2016. (RIP Dixie.) And as for the chick with the big ass... Well, I don't know anything about her as a person. Do I really want to be shacking up with her? 

Speaking of making love to beautiful women, that leads us to our next meme presenting a philosophical quandary...

3.) Which of these fantasy women would you date?

As far as tough choices go, these are at least really easy on the eyes...

Some guys would never be able to make this choice. Some would also be a smart ass and try to say ALL of them. However, I doubt any of these women would be the sharing type.

As for me, well, it's just an intellectual exercise/mental masturbation session. I'm not likely to ever meet any of these women, let alone seduce them into loving me. Also, I tend to prefer brunettes and redheads. That being said, we're just going to assume for the sake of this shitpost blog that I did have a serious interest in these ladies and a chance at wooing them. Which would I choose?

First, let's identify these women. A is the movie star Scarlett Johansson. B is a supermodel/actress named Charlotte McKinney. C is another (now retired) supermodel named Kate Upton. D is another Hollywood actress named Kaley Cuoco. All of the links in the last few sentences are to IMDB profiles that should be safe for work. I will be referring to these ladies by their letter designation's in the photo because it's quicker and easier.

D is not up for consideration because she's married. She also admits to being a feminist so, that would remove her from consideration even if she was single. 3rd Wave Feminism is VERY unattractive. Why? Because the 3rd wave is essentially just a form of misandry and thus, morally wrong.

C is also married and recently had a baby with her husband. Therefore, she is also not up for consideration. She's about as 'off the market' as a woman can get. Her husband is a VERY lucky man.

A is twice divorced, now married for a third time and has a child from that second marriage. So, she's also not up for consideration due to being off the proverbial market. Even if she were single, I doubt I would want to marry her. Being twice divorced is a bit of a red flag. I'm also not interested in raising other people's children. Generally speaking, it doesn't seem to work out well and I have strongly advised men NOT to do that in a past blog post. 

So, that means B wins by default. That being said, she probably still would have won, even if all three of the others were single. The only 'flaw' that I know of with that particular woman is that she suffers from dyslexia. This caused her to drop out of high school at 17, meaning that she has some glaring deficiencies in her education. However, I would be more than happy to help correct that issue. Spreading knowledge is one of the things that I do best. 

- Lord Publius