Facial hair is a funny thing. Not funny “ha-ha”, but funny in that it serves no real purpose for most men, yet continues to grow with an ever-quickening pace. Since the dawn of civilization, many men have sought to keep these sharp hairs from our face, lest the fairer sex refuse to kiss us or worse. But, try as we might, there isn’t one sure-fire way to keep intruding hairs from sprouting endlessly in places we’d rather not have them.
That said, there are some options available.
Since the age of 17, I’ve been using the very same razor. A Gillette Sensor, with the Sensor Excel blades. In the last few years while living in Canada, I had thought that it might be time to purchase a new razor, as replacement blades were incredibly hard to come by. However, after moving to Japan, I was rewarded with a multitude of resellers who offer the exact replacements that I need. The Sensor Excel has been the blade of choice for years as it’s easy to use, smooth, and rarely cuts my skin. Sure, there have been new models released over the last dozen years, but none have appealed to me.
The Devil You Know
Like most men, my facial hair started out growing at an excruciatingly slow speed. This was great, as I never wanted to have a beard or mustache like so many of my relatives. For the first five years, I would have to shave just once a week. Each Sunday, the razor would go over my face and remove the 2 mm of hair growth, leaving the skin as smooth as a child’s for the next three days. Eventually this changed which meant shaving on Monday and Thursday morning, and then quickly progressed to become a thrice-weekly event. Suffice to say, this necessitated the need for buying replacement razor blades every 6 weeks.
I was none too impressed, but was relatively happy with the results of the simple two-blade razor blade.
The Devil You Don’t
Last month, after visiting the Mazda dealership {link}, Reiko and I stopped by the Eiden near the Kakamigahara Jusco, where we went in to look at air cleaners for our apartment. While there, we decided to cash in some of the points we’ve collected to buy an electric shaver, which would replace my aging Gillette. I’ve looked at electric razors for years, but never dropped the cash on them as the simpler blade-system worked well enough. Not wanting to get one of the obscenely expensive models, we decided on a simple two-head Philips which could be used in the shower.
I’m glad we did.
While it took a few shaves to learn the ins and outs of how to use the tool, this little shaver does a pretty nice job in a very short amount of time. I haven’t used anything like shaving cream in over ten years, instead using the hot water in the shower as a simple lubricant and means of preparing the skin, but the electric shaver works well enough after putting just a minimal amount of water on the face. To that end, I’ve discovered the best time to shave with the electric blade is right after washing my face before bed on the weekends, and just after my shower when going to work. The amount of time saved on each shave is around 60 seconds and, best of all, I can do it while outside of the shower.
But there is one small problem: I’m now shaving every day.
With the traditional razor, I would only need to shave every second day. The hairs would be gone for most of the first day, and only a tiny stubble would be seen at the start of the second. With the electric razor, I can shave at 8 in the morning before going to work, and then have a 1 mm stubble again the very next morning. So, not only do I need to shave more often with the two-head system, but the hair seems to be growing at twice the rate!
The Lesser of Two Evils
As it stands, I have very few intentions of doing away with either shaving system. I’ll continue to use the Gillette Sensor to remove hair where appropriate, and the Philips razor will be used on my face before going to work or whenever it’s necessary. But it does make me wonder why the electric system has caused such a change in the growth rate of my facial hair. Is it because the electric blades don’t cut as deep as the traditional razor? Is it because the vibrating electric razor stimulates the follicles in some strange way? Is it just coincidence that my hair is growing faster now that I’m not using a simple razor?
I really don’t know.
What kind of razor do you use to shave? Have you ever switched between the two and noticed a change in how often you need to remove the hair?
Personally, I’ve used both but I’m not sure which I would prefer. I’ve noticed that it does seem like you need to shave more often when you use an electric and I think it probably just does not get as close or “cut as deep” as a blade. If you really think it’s growing faster, switch back to your old razer for a day or two and see if you notice a difference.
I’ve used both but find the electric razor just more convenient. I don’t even have to concentrate when I use it! Saying that, I rarely leave the house these days so I only shave about twice a week, and my wife isn’t too pleased about the mess of hair on my face the rest of the time.
In your case, once you get the car, you should do as the Japanese do and shave while you drive to work!
haha nice post…kinda on my wavelength! it reminded me of visiting my g/f in Tokyo last year and we visited Akihabra so I could ‘browse’ the electronics.
after about two hours of multi-storey, swirling floors of beeping, flashing and endless lists of specs’ My brain had literally stopped working – pure sensory overload but some part of my ape brain wouldnt let me leave unless I had made it all worth it by buying something.
In the end it was a toss up between an electric razor or an old fashioned one for my wrists!
Well, every man’s beard is not quite the same, I guess.
I originally used a traditional razor, similar to the one you list first, but an older model, basically just a regular detachable-double-blade safety razor, the same kind my dad has used for as long as I remember. However, I quickly found that was an undesirable option for me, because the cost of the blades was eating my budget alive. I discovered that if I made the mistake of shaving one whole side of my face first, and then the other whole side, my shave was lopsided and didn’t match, because the second side didn’t get nearly as good a shave as the first. This is a problem my dad never had; he used the same blade for days and days and days. I definitely can’t do that. Apparently my hair is muder on blades. (I suspect it’s primarily because it’s thick. The hair on top of my head is very thick also, which is annoying in the summer time because it’s hot.) Whenever I ran out of blades and had to re-use ones that I’d already used a previous day, it was pretty obvious. Like, obvious from across the room, no fooling. I haven’t been able to outright skip days since high school. If I shave at eight in the morning, I have noticeable five-o’clock shadow by noon, and by the next day it’s just plain scruffy, and uneven, some of the hairs significantly longer than others, the longest ones up to maybe three eighths of an inch, which makes for an entirely unprofessional look. If your beard grows more slowly, so that you can shave in the morning and still be clean-shaven in the afternoon, count your blessings. If I’m going in to work at 12:30, I don’t shave until noon, so it’ll be fresh.
Anyway, as a college student (which will put a crimp on your budget like nobody’s business) I re-used blades and didn’t worry too much about the fact that I wasn’t terribly clean-shaven most days. I generally broke out a new blade on Sundays, but for going to class I didn’t sweat it too much. If a particular hair got missed two or three times in a row, I’d just trim it with scissors. I also switched from the traditional razor first to the disposable razors (because they were cheaper than blades for the other)
Then one fateful day somebody (probably my parents) gave me an electric razor, which immediately revolutionized the way I looked at shaving, and I have never looked back, though I have replaced my original electric razor with a newer model, two or three years ago now.
I’ve never used one of the electric razors with the circular blade arrays, so I can’t comment on them, but the kind I have (“linear” I think they’re called; the specific model I have now is a Panasonic ES8017) are great. You can shave numerous times on a single charge, and it doesn’t take any longer than with a traditional razor, and it works out a lot cheaper in the long run, because you hardly ever have to replace the blades, even though you shave every day. The blades do cost a fair penny when you do have to replace them. But they last for *years*.
Honestly, if it weren’t for electric razors, I think I’d *have* to grow a beard, out of pure fiscal self-preservation. (Either that or get a straight razor and sharpen it daily, but I’m not sure I’d trust myself to shave with one of those, being as I’m not very coordinated and could easily injure myself.)
OBTW, I’ve never shaved in the shower, because there’s never been a mirror in there any place I’ve lived, so I can’t see where there’s still hair or not. YMMV.