Shave with the same blade for 22 months?

This story appeared at lifehacker and caught my eye not so much because it claims to extend the life of a razor cartridge for years or because it says to use no other prop but your arm, but more because what it basically proposes is to strop the blades, and that sounds somewhat reasonable.

Leather Strops at the Fendrihan Shaving Shop

Shave, Wax and Sanitize

The manscaping trend is far from new. It's a preoccupation for some, while others dismiss it. Obsessing about it can even reach criminal proportions.

Though there's been a lot of hype in the media about how a huge percentage of the population is tirelessly removing every last bit of body hair, it turns out some of the studies that support this data were funded by grooming companies with a direct interest in inflating the figures.

The San Francisco Sentinel discusses what's true and what's not and sheds some light on this hairy business. Some of the points that caught my attention:

• A man should not be ashamed to order the standard selection of treatments at the waxing front desk: “back, crack and sack.”
• Teenagers as young as 14 or 15 feel that pubic hair is disgusting and unhygienic.
• A recent study concluded: “Unshaven women have fewer sex prospects.”
• Although some studies claimed that 88 percent of women and 67 percent of men depilated their genital areas, in reality just a little more than 20 percent of young people do.
• Because this practice uncovers those former private parts, it is easier to feel self-conscious about them. A plastic surgeon states “people are increasingly asking me about surgery.”
• Having hair in the crotch and in the armpits keeps one’s skin from chaffing.

Over-shaven? Aftershaves at the Fendrihan Shaving Shop

Shaving With a 21" Sword

Now that's a sharp shave!

Blade Hoarding To Fight New Multi-Bladers

Gillette Fusion Macro by gtorelly

I'm one of those men who just had it with cartridge razors and decided to quit one good day. Not quit shaving, mind you; but quit playing the game. I was tired of buying ever-more-expensive refills because my cheaper and older ones had been discontinued. Tired of adding yet another blade, aloe strip, pivoting head, vibrator, odometer or whatever else some engineer or big-shot marketer came up with to double or triple the price of my shave.

But that's just one way to opt out. Jeff Hagan, the hero of our story here, decided to hoard Mach3 disposable cartridges. He bought 100 of them and started using some of that oil that claims to expand their lifespan. In Mr. Hagan's words:

I'm basically investing in blade futures. That's my hedge against getting forced to upgrade.

Nick Meyers, another man swimming against the current, was confronted by the futility of it all one day while trying to get a drug-store employee to unlock a display case to buy some Schick Quattro blades. This was the blade that broke the razor's back, and he has moved on to a double-edge razor and a shaving brush. As he puts it:

It's easier to buy uranium. They're so expensive, they have to keep them locked up, and that's when I realized what a gimmick all of it is.

Now, what's your coping mechanism? How much money is too much money for a cartridge? How many blades are too many? How far will you go for that morning shave?

RazorPit Razor Blade Sharpener at Fendrihan.com

An Empty Can Full of Opportunity

It's been so long since the last time I shaved with canned gel or foam that I had almost forgotten the sad scenario of running out of foam when you least expect it. Matt Sullivan from Esquire takes it with a grain of salt and gives us his picks for cheap shaving soaps and brushes, sure not to leave you high and dry.

Find more Shaving Soaps & Shaving Brushes at Fendrihan.com