NERD (New Electric Razor Day)

[CharlieO]

I suspect that the time is coming soon for me to drag out my Braun 5567U shaver that I bought new in the 1980s, and that has been used just a few times per year since 1990. I have been using a 5 blade razor for many years, but I can imagine that as I get older my hand won't be so steady any more, and the nicks will become more frequent. The Braun gives a pretty good shave, and I don't see a need to buy anything newer. Amazingly, replacement parts for it are readily available. I can imagine it lasting another 20 years.

Vintage Braun shaver

 

[unixfish]

I have a wire brush growing out of my face. I have to be careful not to brush my cheek against the cars when I am rotating tires, or I will leave scratches. OK, I am kidding - sort of - almost.

A blade will work OK for me, but a good razor only lasts 2 or 3 shaves before it is dull and needs to be replaces. My face is very irritated after using a blade if I have more than a days growth as well. I use a Braun series 8 electric, which is good enough, and sometimes touch up with a blade if I need to be "more presentable".

When I gave up wheat, the coarseness of my beard reduced. Figure that one out. I used to get "beard stumps" - small, rootless clumps of a hair that were the size of 10 whiskers pushed together. I had to pull those with tweezers. No wheat, no more stumps.

The foil shaver in the shower with liquid shaving gel (Nivia) works best, but it is a bit of a waste of water. I end up turning the shower off when shaving to save resources.

 

[leewongfei]

Electrics foils give me more razor burn than a straight blade does. They also cut your facial hair jagged making it harder for the hair to come out of the skin which leads to ingrown hairs. The Gillette Fusion cuts the hair to short for me also making it painful when the hair would try poking out of my skin again. I am required to shave for work, and while I wear a goatee, everything else has to be clean. After years of hating shaving, a buddy of mine gave me a safety razor. My skin loves it, and I havent had any major issues with ingrown hairs since. The razor below is a Razorock Game Changer .68.

 

[ChicknPickn]

One thing that some of the older - - excuse me, I mean more experienced - - men may have noticed is that shaving nick-free with a blade is harder when skin is not as taut as it used to be. Let's not be squeamish here: blades don't roll over wrinkles as well as they do young, tight skin. Especially around the throat. This is why I've resorted to the "hybrid" approach of using both electric shavers and a fresh Feather or Personna blade in a grand old Merkur handle. Finishing up with a blade does give one a sense of accomplishment. But there are many days on which the electric is good enough.

 

[Ron R]

Glad it's wrking for you, but in my world, the electric razor is strictly a travel item for the convenience of it. I've never encountered one that gave me as clean a shave as a safety razor.

 

[Blrfl]

Good to know. I've been looking around at new shavers for the last year or so and Panasonic has been at the top of the list.

I've been using Norelcos for decades and have always liked the shave. The current one is still in great shape and does a good job as long as the cutters and screens get replaced once a year. Unfortunately, Norelco discontinued the HQ8 set it uses and the SH50/52 set that replaced it is worse than the year-old cutters it replaced.

Fortunately, I hung onto my last set of HQ8s and bought a set of Vollco shaver sharpening heads for $22. They're installed into the shaver in place of the screens, running the shaver for 5-10 seconds does the deed and then the screens get put back in. Subjectively, the sharpened cutters do at least as good a job as a new set. Vollco says most cutters can be sharpened 50 times and that their sharpeners are good for 20, so I should be good for awhile.

 

[Skully]

In the very first installment of "SNL" in 1975 (I thought it came later), they mocked the multi-blade razor in a fake commercial for the Triple-Trac. I couldn't find a copy of the clip, but I did find a transcript (below):

Triple-Trac


Announcer…..Andrew Duncan
Caveman…..Al Franken


[ FADE IN on a caveman on his knees by a river ]

Announcer (V/O): In the dawn of civilization, long before the Bronze Age, man first began his search for the close shave.

[ The caveman takes a club and hits himself in the face. DISSOLVE to the announcer speaking to the camera against a black background ]

Announcer: Since then, man has been ardently striding to design the perfect shaving instrument.

[ Shots of various razors are shown ]

Announcer (V/O): From the straight razor, to the safety razor, to the injector system, amd finally the highly acclaimed twinblade cartridge.

[ The announcer picks up a twinblade and shows it to the camera ]

Announcer: Almost perfect, yet not quite the superlative groom. Introducing the Triple-Trac.

[ DISSOLVE to a close-up of the three-bladed Triple-Trac razor ]

Announcer (V/O): Not just two blades in one system, but three stainless, platinum teflex-coated blades melded together to form one incredible shaving cartridge, easily fitted into your old twinblade holder. Triple-Trac’s triple-threat cartridge, with more close shaves than ever before. Here’s how it works.

[ DISSOLVE to a cartoon showing a how the Triple-Trac shaves a whisker ]

Announcer (V/O): The first blade grabs at the whisker, tugging it away from your face to protect it from the second blade.

[ The cartoon shows how the Triple-Trac yanks painfully at the whisker ]

Announcer (V/O): Blade number two catches and digs into the stubble before it has the chance to snap back and injure you, pulling it farther out so that it is now ready for shearing.

[ The cartoon shows an even more painful whisker-yanking ]

Announcer (V/O): Triple-Trac’s third blade, a finely-honed bonded platinum instrument, cuts cleanly through the whisker at its base, leaving your face as smoothas a billiard ball.

[ Finally, the cartoon shows the Triple-Trac completely shaving the whisker ] [ DISSOLVE back to the announcer against the black background, holding up a Triple-Trac ]

Announcer: The Triple-Trac. Because you’ll believe anything.


Years later, MadTV took it much further.

 

[blowtorch]

In the very first installment of "SNL" in 1975 (I thought it came later), they mocked the multi-blade razor in a fake commercial for the Triple-Trac. I couldn't find a copy of the clip, but I did find a transcript (below):

Triple-Trac


Announcer…..Andrew Duncan
Caveman…..Al Franken


[ FADE IN on a caveman on his knees by a river ]

Announcer (V/O): In the dawn of civilization, long before the Bronze Age, man first began his search for the close shave.

[ The caveman takes a club and hits himself in the face. DISSOLVE to the announcer speaking to the camera against a black background ]

Announcer: Since then, man has been ardently striding to design the perfect shaving instrument.

[ Shots of various razors are shown ]

Announcer (V/O): From the straight razor, to the safety razor, to the injector system, amd finally the highly acclaimed twinblade cartridge.

[ The announcer picks up a twinblade and shows it to the camera ]

Announcer: Almost perfect, yet not quite the superlative groom. Introducing the Triple-Trac.

[ DISSOLVE to a close-up of the three-bladed Triple-Trac razor ]

Announcer (V/O): Not just two blades in one system, but three stainless, platinum teflex-coated blades melded together to form one incredible shaving cartridge, easily fitted into your old twinblade holder. Triple-Trac’s triple-threat cartridge, with more close shaves than ever before. Here’s how it works.

[ DISSOLVE to a cartoon showing a how the Triple-Trac shaves a whisker ]

Announcer (V/O): The first blade grabs at the whisker, tugging it away from your face to protect it from the second blade.

[ The cartoon shows how the Triple-Trac yanks painfully at the whisker ]

Announcer (V/O): Blade number two catches and digs into the stubble before it has the chance to snap back and injure you, pulling it farther out so that it is now ready for shearing.

[ The cartoon shows an even more painful whisker-yanking ]

Announcer (V/O): Triple-Trac’s third blade, a finely-honed bonded platinum instrument, cuts cleanly through the whisker at its base, leaving your face as smoothas a billiard ball.

[ Finally, the cartoon shows the Triple-Trac completely shaving the whisker ] [ DISSOLVE back to the announcer against the black background, holding up a Triple-Trac ]

Announcer: The Triple-Trac. Because you’ll believe anything.


Years later, MadTV took it much further.

Yeah, kinda amazing how Big Razor was able to scrub the web of that

 

[Flat6Driver]

In the very first installment of "SNL" in 1975 (I thought it came later), they mocked the multi-blade razor in a fake commercial for the Triple-Trac. I couldn't find a copy of the clip, but I did find a transcript (below):

[/MEDIA]

I'm pretty certain there's one the mentions a "phantom blade" that actually does nothing. It wasn't in the Mad TV clip so maybe your SNL memory is correct about a newer edition of the same gag.

 

[Flat6Driver]

They did a platinum Mach 14 in 2000 @Skully. Seems to be a common gag for my 5 minutes of searching.

PLATINUM MACH 14
Gillette’s Platinum Mach 14 razor is more advanced than the Triple-Trac



— I’m reminded of SNL’s Triple-Trac commercial from the very first episode, which treated the now-marketable idea of three-bladed razors as silly.
— After about a minute-and-a-half into this commercial, I finally got my first laugh, from the bit about a phantom blade that’s only there to provide stabilization.
— The ending shot of Will with his face all cut up is kinda funny, but overall, I wasn’t crazy about this commercial as a whole.

 

[blowtorch]

Gillette Fusion Power 5

I'm a little confused about the power "vibrate" function of this.
What is the supposed benefit?

 

[Skully]

I'm a little confused about the power "vibrate" function of this.
What is the supposed benefit?

My razor base has the vibrate function. I think I used it once. I blamed it (I think justly) for giving me a pimple, and I never used it again.

 

[uriah1]

I’m a Mach 3 guy but if an electric could do under lip I would think about it.

 

[staxman]

I'm a little confused about the power "vibrate" function of this.
What is the supposed benefit?

As far as a closer shave, one can get just as close of a shave without the vibrate—to me it just feels more comfortable while shaving. Another cool trait of the Fusion razor versus other razors is you can flip the handle over and shave throughly under your nose with the additional blade on the back of the blade. Your razor looks quality and may well be the best for your needs. For me, being a head shaver, electric razors never seem to shave as close as my 5 blade razor. I can see using the electric if nicks are a problem for you.

 

[getbent]

As far as a closer shave, one can get just as close of a shave without the vibrate—to me it just feels more comfortable while shaving. Another cool trait of the Fusion razor versus other razors is you can flip the handle over and shave throughly under your nose with the additional blade on the back of the blade. Your razor looks quality and may well be the best for your needs. For me, being a head shaver, electric razors never seem to shave as close as my 5 blade razor. I can see using the electric if nicks are a problem for you.

agree. I prefer it.

 

[imwjl]

I appreciate the reminder to get shaving cream. It probably pains @blowtorch that I think we might live less than 2 mi from each other but really, it's complementary. We seem at once retro and mod in opposite ways.

My eyes will be open for the clean shaven viking hiking to the grocery store.

 

[blowtorch]

I appreciate the reminder to get shaving cream.

I'll bet you're not talking about this

it's the only stuff I've ever bought.

I generally don't even bother though
which may explain those recent nicks

 

[ClashCityTele]

I had a wet shave this afternoon. First in over a week.
I had to wait a while for the blood to congeal.
Didn't want to frighten anyone when I went out.

 

[Mjark]

I stopped shaving every day quite a while ago but my beard is so white now it takes an extra day or two to look really scruffy.

If I shave twice a week it’s a big deal.

 

[imwjl]

I'll bet you're not talking about this
View attachment 1079224



it's the only stuff I've ever bought.

I generally don't even bother though
which may explain those recent nicks

I gravitate towards inexpensive 3-packs more than brand but wow on that one - the "thick and rich". Should I ask my wife if she wants that?