August 19, 2009
Shaving Points #1
For men (mostly white guys, I guess) shaving is one of those mundane activities that is overloaded with baggage of various sorts. A few of us are able to push this particular grooming ritual to the side through the ability to grow a beard of sufficient quality that it “works” for us on some level, like Barry Stone or Gandalf. Some of us depart from clean shavenness through force of will or via some sort of cultural loophole even though it looks terrible, like Francis Ford Coppola or Wolf Blitzer. The rest of us shave our faces. I will not address goatees, van Dykes, or other facial hair configurations more elaborate than your basic sideburns or state trooper moustache which differ negligibly from full-on clean shavenness.
Although King Gillette’s safety razor with disposable blades became quite popular for a few years preceding WWI, some accounts attribute daily shaving for most men to the rise of chemical warfare. Men with beards in WWI couldn’t get a good seal when using a gasmask, so the army issued safety razors. The boys came home with clean faces to a very positive reception and the razor marketing people took it from there.
Current technology is ridiculous. Until recently, I was using a relatively popular razor with replaceable cartridges that have four blades for shaving my face accompanied by a moisturizer strip and 15 microfins that not only aid in helping the edges of the blades slide harmlessly over my face, but also serve to indicate when I should replace the cartridge. The cartridges cost about $5 each. Included in this price is an additional blade on the reverse side that is useful for getting the whiskers that grow right under my nose. I’m supposed to be able to neaten up my sideburns with this blade, but it is only passable in this capacity. Do you see what I mean? The hardware alone is distastefully complicated.
comments
Leave a Reply
I have on many occasions considered moving to the straight razor.
Men have the burden of shaving. Women hemorrhage blood one week a month for 40 years.
I hate shaving.
Yes, too complicated and too expensive for what it is. I have never been able to shave with a regular razor without dealing with a great deal of irritation (whether I shave with the grain or against). I have used a Panasonic wet/dry electric for many years now in conjunction with alternating between Neutrogena skin clearing shave cream and Every Man Jack shave cream. This system seems to work pretty well for me and I usually shave every other day. One advantage to the electric is that the vibration of the blades actually rounds the end of the hair so that the stubble does not feel as sharp as a regular blade (which creates a very clean and sharp cut). Just my two cents…
How To Get That Perfect Shave
(via @jasonsantamaria on Twitter)
I’ve been thinking a lot over the last few days about switching to real wetshaving like that. I do, though, have a beard, so maybe this is more of a moo* point for me than it is for others.
________
*As Joey would say.**
**Am I the only one here who loves Friends? I bet I am. Hmph.
What Cindy said! As far as I know, face-shaving has never invoked recurring breakdowns of both the mental and physical variety.
This being said, razors these days are ridiculous. Which is why I wax.
I was never taught to shave. I was handed a crappy electric razor and went for it. Now I use something similar to what Aaron describes and shave as infrequently as possible. Because I have been gifted with facial hair that grows in patches I can usually only get away with a few days of not shaving before I look…well horrible.
Wet shaving sounds much more enjoyable but still like it would be a pain in the ass.
And–women have to shave lots of other things too. Well I guess they don’t have to. But men don’t really have to either. I wouldn’t shave at all except that after about a month I start to look biblical.
As an avid cyclist I felt the need to shavey legs once. I tried it for a few weeks and in addition to making my chicken legs look silly(er) it was a miserable chore that ended in cuts more often than not. I can’t imagine shaving any other ‘things’ as some do.
Not so long ago, on HNN, I saw a person talk about using a single-edge disposable razor, FOR A YEAR. The trick? He dried it with the towel every morning after use. I tried it with my self-same described-by-Aaron fancy blade. I used it for two months without a nick. When it nicked, I replaced it.
On a similar note, I’m working on a beard. Its working name? The Faun-do. If it works out well, I’ll post a pic.
I hope I didn’t draw any connection between dudes shaving their faces and menstruation. If I did, I didn’t mean to.
Danny used Nads on his legs the early part of one summer a few years ago. The first time he used the product, he screamed like a little girl. But after, his legs were silky smooth. (Danny’s legs are as naturally hairy as a Faun’s.) He wanted smooth legs. I like his hairy legs. But if he wanted to try it. Who was I to prevent him?
I think shaved armpits are ridiculous.
I prefer wet shaving (is that really a term?) to electric razors, but it’s really best if you can hang a mirror in the shower and shave there.
I’ve been shaving for almost 20 years, even though I’m not that old, and I only wet shave. On top of that, I wet shave in the shower. It’s really fast, cuts down on time spent getting ready in the morning and is better for your skin.
Wet shaves are really close and I like those, even if I do have a goatee.I have been thinking about buying a straight razor and shaving that way.
I use Gilette’s latest razor, but I tend to use my blades for months. A simple wipe on a towel is supposed to sharpen them partly. I think I change blades every four month or so, maybe longer. I don’t really get taken into that whole $5 a cartridge thing.
Actually, I prefer a slightly dull blade. Otherwise, you just end up cutting yourself.
I grew mine sometime before Mae was born in reaction to something my wife said. I don’t remember what she said, but I remember sitting up and proclaiming “That’s it, I am growing a beard!” I have shaved it once since then and was greeted by audible gasps from my students who had never seen my naked weak chin before.I grew it back as soon as I could. I sometimes miss the accouterments that accompany shaving, but not that much. I do, however, still shave my shoulders with hair clippers.
I am a big advocate of the post-shower shave. Also, I can also count the amount of times I have used used razor with shaving cream on my two hands. Oh, and I hate electric razors.
I switched to a traditional double-edged blade safety razor about six months ago and have never looked back.
You can get a hundred (!) good quality blades on eBay for under $20, and the shaves are great, better than the cartridges I used to use.
Some shave geek sites can get you started:
http://shaveblog.com/
http://badgerandblade.com/
http://mantic59.blogspot.com/
and lots more.
I too hate shaving – like Michael my growth is messy and patchy at best. I think if my growth was even and thick I’d have a beard from time to time.
When I was crazy a few years back I had a moustache which I waxed like a mad man or is that like an Englishman?? It curled up at the ends in a Daliesque way. I still have a tube of the damn wax – must photograph it. One day I realised I had been looking a twat for years and so shaved it off. It – of course the photographer in me kicked in causing me to record the occasion is stages!
I use an electric shaver and never shave at weekends.
Phil, did you twirl your waxed moustache and cultivate a caddish manner?
Sheila, I cultivated my Terry Thomas persona!
I did wear a flat cap at the time and a lot of tweed – I cannot believe I am revealing this in public and before any of you people ask, NO you cannot see the damn photos.
i cant believe that after so many comments, no one thought to question the glaringly pointless race mention within the first three seconds of reading.
it makes no sense. am i really the only person who caught that?
I guess being a glaringly pointless race mention it didn’t need mentioning. Or am I missing something?
I apologize if the bit about white guys seemed pointless or otherwise distasteful. I just didn’t want to presume that my observations on shaving had any relevance beyond that very narrow scope. Pretty much everyone I’ve ever had one of those i-sure-do-hate-shaving conversations with has been a white guy. Almost all the guys in the commercial for shaving products are white guys… although for awhile there I was seeing Tony Parker and Thierry Henry slinging that Gillette.
Aaron, I for one didn’t even register it. I think there can be a tendency to read all manner of shit into so much, especially when it touches on race, colour or faith. I was more interested in what you had to say rather than the way in which you phrased it.
I always knew Aaron hated menstruating women and people of color, and now I have my proof.
This group is growing weak. I expected at least one comment about my having PMS. Sheesh.
Frankly I thought there might be even a brief exchange of divergent views on the armpit topic. I think people are getting touchy around here.
Cindy, I was scared!
Lucy, I hate body hair – I’d have it all removed on the understanding it never returned – the endless preening drives me nuts. I sometimes have to shave under my arms three times a day!
I’ve shaved my armpits since high school.
Also, my vagina hurts.
Wait a minute. We talked about this before. Christ. At least, I have heard about Phil and Aaron’s armpit shaving desires before. Clusterflock is getting senile. It’s all the healthcare bullshit and people calling jews nazis. Have you SEEN the shit that’s been going down?
Damn, I’m repeating myself! Thank god you young ‘uns are out there to keep an eye on us senile old farts.
Lucy, if I ever mention my lack of under arm hair again you can have power of attorney over me and lock me away.
Lock you away and take your razors away from you.
Lucy, every woman I know (or at least all the women I know and have seen their armpits) shave their armpits. For me, shaved armpits (on women) are normal but I guess when I think about it, I don’t really see the point.
It’s a cultural blind spot. Armpit sexuality seems to freak a lot of people out. They can get quite virulent about it. Puritan.
Lucy, I guess you call that saving me from myself, eh?
(1) Phil shaves his armpits so I don’t have to.
(2) Michael — for real? I may have experimented with shaving my armpits when I was a teenager, but I’m sure I had given it up for good by the time I was eighteen. The idea of scraping some of my tender parts and still sometimes feeling like a bumpy, prickly cactus — oh, no, no, no!
I’m slow at posting…but Phil and Aaron make me want to ask why the double standard? Why do we expect women (I could be wrong but I think this is an American thing) to shave their armpits but not men? I assume it has something to do with popular clothing fashion sleeveless shirts are far more popular on women then men (he says without one shred of evidence) and armpit hair isn’t pretty (for the record neither are armpits).
You’re right: armpit hair is definitely not pretty. It’s sexy.
Sheila, as I said, all the women who have exposed their armpits to me. Our neighbor growing up (Peggy red not Peggy blue) had hair in her pits, but I don’t know her anymore.
So I don’t have to shave my armpits is what I mean. Not Phil’s. Not so I don’t have to shave Phil’s.
Claro.
You could call it shaving you from yourself, Phil, but that would be factually inaccurate.
I’d say armpits, in general, are neither pretty nor sexy, hairy or otherwise. Maybe that’s just me.
Oh Sheila, come on, you know how it is. There is a huge revulsion in the US to armpit hair in women. It’s a cultural assimilation.
I tend to think it is a kind of neutering.
Lucy, factually inaccurate never bothered me, well not at least where a good story is concerned.
As for under arm hair on women. Well, I don’t really have an opinion. All the women I have ever known have shaved under their arms (never at my request) I have to confess I see a lot of underarm hair in Crete and it’s not unattractive.
Sheila, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to shave anyone’s armpits.
Lucy, what, in your mind, is the difference between armpit shaving and leg shaving? Or do you think there is a difference?
They are related but different. For me, it’s all about sexiness. I don’t find leg hair sexy but actually I don’t find lack of leg hair sexy either, per se. Lack of armpit hair to me makes a woman tame. There’s a kind of neutering at the root of it that is basically largely unexamined. This is completely not political for me. It is about sheer sexual energy.
My armpits and some of my nether regions have received the laser treatment. Which means that the hair I grow there resembles the darkening peach fuzz on the upper lip of a pre-pubescent boy.
I chose to do this for the same reason folks were whining about shaving up above. It didn’t even occur to me that I might be neutering some part of my sexuality. I was mostly concerned with removing the very unsexy consequences of shaving.
It’s not political for me either, Lucy. I haven’t shaved my armpits since those few attempts when I was a teenager. And I expect you’re right about the American cultural reaction generally — “Ewww, gross!” — but when it gets all individual and intimate, I’ve not, to my knowledge, encountered any repugnance.
For a stretch of years in my twenties I did not shave my legs. I resumed the practice on the recognition that my legs are one of my better features but they are very very pale, and I prefer the way they look without hair. Still, I really wish I could get someone else to shave my legs for me.
Kelsey, I’m with you about the unsexy consequences of shaving, at least of shaving tender parts — maybe because my skin is on the sensitive side.
If I wanted my armpits free of hair, I would do as you’ve done. Frequent shaving of that part of me would, in my case, result in an off-putting condition that no one could love, least of all me.
Yes. Leg shaving I think is more about sexiness. Not just the visual or sensual appeal, but I think there’s something else…perhaps it is almost a sense of freedom….
I’ve never really thought about armpit shaving in the sense of neutering but I think I can see what you mean. It feels more like at some point men started telling their wives they should shave the hair from under their arms and wear sleeveless dresses and have dinner on the table by 6…With legs it’s almost the opposite it’s almost like that sense that women went out, hiked up their skirts and said “I own sex too, it’s not yours.”
Or maybe I’m reading into body hair a little too much.
Just an intuition, Michael, but what you are saying makes a kind of sense to me.
I know I’m mixing my references all up here, but shaving legs makes me think of the 1920s and flappers and short skirts and silk stockings. Shaving under my arms seems all prim and hygienic and tidy.
[...] (as we were) of armpits . . [...]
Speaking from a drawing viewpoint, I find armpits rather interesting. Lots of curves and surfaces on different planes. I so rarely see a woman with unshaven exposed legs that I don’t think I can comment on it with any sort of currency. But I have realized I may be a kind of unconscious hairist: when I see a man with lightly haired or barely haired legs, I sort of think there’s something a little wrong.
Still, I really wish I could get someone else to shave my legs for me.
Sheilababy, Kelsey knows someone who might be willing to do this for you, if you let him shave you elsewhere as well.
I actually think a shaved armpit is sexier than unshaved, because of the smooth curve it presents. But the main reason I shave my armpits is because the only place I sweat is under my arms, and I don’t like the feel or smell of sweaty hair.
“Cooper Renner: Unconscious Hairist, or, Call Me Esau.”
Cooper, the Chicago artist of the Hawkins/Armpit Rubber painting (Karl Wirsum), together with a few others who became known as the Chicago Imagists, first came to attention by way of a group show titled The Hairy Who, a name that stuck with the exhibitors for a time.
When I was about 6, my family spent about a month traveling around Europe. I think we were in Germany and we were watching a group of women. We noticed that they were wearing pantyhose, then we noticed that you could see the hair on their legs matted down underneath the pantyhose. Made a lasting impression to say the least…
Dave, you paint a pretty picture. I will now go and try to eat!
An unshaven leg conveys an impression at odds with that conveyed by sheer legwear. For the record, I have never combined the two.
And I abhor pantyhose. Stockings only. One per leg. But that is another topic.
I hear ya Phil. I was 6 and that image is burned into my memory. Sheila, totally agree with what you are saying.
Cindy: “sweaty hair.” I actually quite like the sliding feel (if that’s the word) of my armpit when wet, rather from sweat or from water (showering, swimming). It may not look pretty, but I’m not looking at it. There’s a kind of smooth glide that feels quite nice.
Coop–you need a long Slip ‘N Slide made out of hair. Just hose that baby down out in the front yard and moan with joy all the way across.
Oh man, that is a disturbing image!
Why does this make me think of Cousin It from the Adams Family: http://www.fortunecity.com/bennyhills/pun/190/cousinitttheaddamsfamily.htm
Go with the old school Safety Razor. I’ve been going at it for a year now, and just bought another pack of 100 blades. A hundred blades for $20 dammit. I have both the RetroRazor and a Merkur HD – both serve their purpose, with the former giving a close enough shave but pretty gentle, and the latter giving a baby butt shave, but I occasionally get nicks if I rush….