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Gadget WEEKENDS

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Deozaan:
I couldn't help but notice this:

ewemoa:
Picked up a GOAL ZERO Nomad 7 before I went OS, (I have V1 - previous version of the linked one), for charging the phone while I read ebooks.
-4wd (July 29, 2014, 04:11 PM)
--- End quote ---

Looks nifty!  Please let us know how well it works as you use it more.

4wd:
I couldn't help but notice this:
 (see attachment in previous post)
-Deozaan (July 29, 2014, 05:40 PM)
--- End quote ---

Evidence of its hand-crafted nature.

It might be true, maybe it only half sh!ts itself when it dies  ;)

Renegade:
This is a low-tech adoption... Nothing so grandiose as some others here.

I am one of the poor SOBs with an extremely heavy beard. Electric razors simply burn my face - they're unbearable.

I also decided that I'm sick of paying insane amounts for the razors I was using, which were very nice, but expensive at almost $5 each (disposable cartridges). I'd get 2~3 good shaves out of one, and I could push 5, but it wouldn't be all that great. If I wanted to look good, I had to use a new blade. (Gillette "fusion" or whatever they're called. The ones where you get sick to your stomach, light headed, and just about puke when you see the price.)

That actually wasn't my primary reason though.

My primary reason/motivation - Political and pig-headedMy primary reason for switching was to try and take money that I was spending all the time and shift it away from a large company and spend my money more effectively with small companies.

My purpose there is entirely political. By spending less on blades, I can deprive the state of a tiny bit of tax revenue there. etc. etc. etc. Many reasons and motivations. I'll skip all of that as it's ranty and I'm lazy.

tl;dr - Putting my money (as much as possible) where my mouth is. (Skipping the snarky comments there as well.)


So I started looking around and decided to go with a safety razor after reading a lot and watching some videos about them.

This is the gear I bought:



I ended up with a Merkur Futur 701 (761? whatever...) adjustable razor (against all advice people gave). It's nice as I can adjust it and am not locked into buying multiple razors then. It's also more expensive than others, but I figured the flexibility would be worth it.

Here's a review of that razor:

http://www.shaving101.com/index.php/product-reviews/safety-razors/261-merkur-futur-adjustable-safety-razor.html

I also picked up some Personna, Feather, Shark, and Merkur razor blades. (The order is my preference - I don't like the Merkur blades.)

Once my canned shaving gel ran out, I ordered some real shaving cream - Taylor of Old Bond Street - Jermyn Street Collection shaving cream for sensitive skin, and a stick of "Arko Shave Stick Soap" just for the heck of it (not tried it yet).

I also needed a shaving brush, so I picked up a "Frank Shaving Silvertip Badger Shaving Brush Black" - excellent price point at $44. (They can go over $300.)

Well... HOLY MOTHER OF THE UNIVERSE!!! Real shaving cream is NOTHING like that canned crap! It's crazy! Insane! I'd never used it before... WOW! Just. Wow.

With the F&S shaving brush, it's like spreading foamy, liquid heaven on your face. In fact, "foamy" is probably wrong - it's silky... wonderful, marvellous, it's spreading... err... I'll skip the graphic metaphors... You get the idea. (Yes - it's awesome like sex!)

The white stick (in the photo above) is a stypstik pen (alum) for when you cut yourself. I never actually need it, but it's good to have in the house for multiple reasons. The stuff has been around for thousands of years (literally).

The blades make a big difference though. I'll be trying out more in the future, but for now, I like the Personna best with the Feather blades coming in a close second. I forget about the Shark blades - been a while since I used one. I'm not all that keen on the Merkur blades.

Shaving is a real PITA, but I find that I'm enjoying shaving a lot more with this setup. The razor's weight and feel are really nice. It glides over my face nicely with no pressure, and using a real shaving cream makes it infinitely nicer.

A good friend of mine can use a cheap $0.10 disposable blade for a month before he needs a new blade... sheesh... (And he's got a relatively "heavy" beard for a Korean.) Must be nice. (Yes - you can buy cheap $0.10 razors individually in Korea... No wonder why. I tried them once. Once. I bled horribly.)

The shaving cream I use only takes a very, very tiny amount. So far I have not managed to get "just enough" on. I keep using a bit too much. I'm guessing this is going to last a long time. Given how much nicer this stuff is, I am a bit baffled about why anyone would every use canned shaving cream. Seriously. It's the difference between a rusty bike that you pulled out of the river and galactic star cruiser equipped with Lambos and a teleporter.

I REALLY wish that someone had have told me about this a LOT sooner.

If you're in Australia, I ordered through here:

http://www.shaverhut.com.au/

They seem to have about the best prices for most things.

If you think you might like to look into a safety razor or non-canned shaving cream or something, check out these fellows:

https://www.youtube.com/user/geofatboy

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChiCityTimelapse

They put out some decent videos and reviews.

tomos:
Hah, you got in ahead of me Ren -
I wanted to post yesterday about my latest aquisition but the connection went:
it's a similar adjustable safety razor from Gillette. They were made from 1959 up to '86. Not sure how old my one is - I got to say I was amazed by the shave - clean, easy, very smooth; I'd have to try hard to cut myself with the thing (I used use an older similar style no/unknown-brand non-adjustable razor, if you didnt 100% focus while shaving, you'd take a chunk out of yourself...)

(Took a nice pic of it but it's on main machine, will post tomorrow or sometime.)

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