The Wet Shave
So, just recently, Reddit found it rather hilarious that the Onion's joking shot at Gillette (Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades) turned out not to be quite as silly as once planned - in fact, the Gillette Fusion has 6 blades, 2 aloe strips, and a BATTERY.
In fact, most of us- at least, those of us who shave- are starting to feel like the commercial razor industry is starting to get a little bit excessive and silly for it's own pants. It has to be pretty wasteful to toss away 6 blades, 2 aloe strips and a *battery* after a week of shaving.
I have to admit- I tried the Fusion. Just before I left for Waterloo, my uncle hooked me up with a Fusion Razor and 9 'heads'. It's a pretty clean shave, and thanks to the ridiculous number of blades and my fairly lax shaving schedule, I managed to drag 8 razor-heads out for my entire 4-month stay in Waterloo.
Nevertheless, I'm still curious about a more traditional, less-wasteful solution that's (hopefully) a bit more economical than buying a tonne of cartridges- especially as I'm finding the need for a good shave more and more prevalent. A straight razor shave is not for me, though- it takes skill, and an incredibly sharp blade plus a sleepy morning is a recipe for a trip to the hospital.
So, I found this article on MSNBC (honestly, when have I ever linked to them?) called "How to Get That Perfect Shave" - an article detailing the old-fashioned 'wet shave'. Amusingly enough, a lot of the concepts covered in the article were similar to lessons I'd learned from my dad, then forgotten, then learned again when I checked the internet to try to figure out what the hell I was doing.
Chances are, I'm not going to go whole-hog and try the old-fashioned double-edged safety razor with a brush and expensive shaving cream- but I'm at least open to the concept, and if I see some of that stuff for a decent price in my wanderings, I'll pick them up and give them a try.