When Rip awoke from his 20-year sleep, he had a beard a foot long, and had missed out on some big political events. I’ve been paying attention to politics for the past 30 years or more, but events in the world of shaving have mostly passed me by. I was aware that it was no longer possible, as it once was, to get a shave and a haircut for two bits, but I was surprised to discover that you can no longer get a shave at all, at least, not at a barbershop – perhaps a long-delayed reaction to The Man from Ironbark.
Instead, having had my hair trimmed and my beard clipped down to Number 0 (as shown here), I was left to rely on my own devices to remove the stubble. Of course, I had no such devices, but I thought that the relevant technology would be fairly much as I remembered it. On the contrary, shaving now appears to require five blades and a power supply. Actually, I did read about this in one of Maria’s posts a while back, but of course skipped over it as being of no relevance to me.
I’m slightly bemused by it, but I’m the ideal target market for this kind of thing, since the only memories of shaving that have survived three decades are the painful ones. So, I’m now on the bleeding edge of technology, literally, but hopefully not bleeding as much as I would be if I stuck with the old gear.
On a more serious note, my appeal for the Leukemia Foundation raised over $A6000, more than any of the charitable appeals I’ve run in the past. Sincere thanks to CTers who contributed (I’ve tried to email people where I had an address, but inevitably missed some).
{ 18 comments }
Andrew 03.19.07 at 5:46 am
You both look pretty good without beards…
dave heasman 03.19.07 at 11:42 am
“I was surprised to discover that you can no longer get a shave at all, at least, not at a barbershop ”
When I realised that lying about my age on a CV was contradicted by my Wizard Whitebeard (do you have “Where’s Wally?” down there?) appearance, I got the barber to shave my beard off. About 8 years ago in a Cypriot barber shop. Only cost a fiver for the shave, too.
jim 03.19.07 at 12:26 pm
My barber, Mr. Kim, still shaves those of his customers who ask. He gives a pretty good chair massage after my haircut/beard trim, too. Perhaps Australia needs to let in more Southeast Asians.
SG 03.19.07 at 3:13 pm
Ah John, if you lived as i do in Japan, where all men take their appearance seriously, you could get a haircut and a shave for a mere $17. This includes having your eyebrows balanced up, all the hairs on your neck shaved and any errant hairs sticking out of your nose or ears done too. Every barber does it and it’s an essential part of the visit. It is of course considerably more costly if you want a stylish haircut, but the shave is always good!
James McGovern 03.19.07 at 4:21 pm
If a man’s name is “Mr. Kim”, then he is almost certainly Korean, and Korea is in Northeast Asia, not Southeast.
SamChevre 03.19.07 at 4:47 pm
And here in ultimate red-country VA, I can get a shave at the barber shop if I were to so desire–although I haven’t done it yet.
MikeJ 03.19.07 at 5:07 pm
samchevre beat me to it, but yes, in suburban DC, you can get a shave at the barbar. With a straight razor, the way god intended.
nick s 03.19.07 at 7:17 pm
In fact, John, ‘multi-blade and a battery’ oneupmanship has encouraged a revival of interest in the safety razor and the double-edge blade, to the point of rather scary obsession by some with the water-absorption qualities of their $100 badger brush.
My unreconstructed local barber shop also offers cutthroat razor shaves, though I’ve yet to take up the offer, perhaps on account of being considered a Blood Risk by the American Red Cross.
Jon H 03.19.07 at 10:48 pm
You look a bit like Eric Clapton.
Ronald Brak 03.20.07 at 12:00 am
I’d suggest using women’s disposable razors to shave your face with. Women have the good sense not to buy blunt painful razors, so even the cheapest ones generally do a good job. I’m almost convinced that the cheap disposable razors for men on sale in Australia are purposely made badly to force you to buy the expensive high end models. I used to buy good quality, cheap, disposable razors from the hundred yen shop in Japan, so I know that it is possible to make them.
And sg, I had give up going to the barber in Japan and learn to cut my hair myself. It’s because the barber would lather me up, put a razor against my throat and then ask questions like, “So, do you like Japanese women?” I never knew how to answer in a way that was guaranteed not to cause offense. If I said yes, would he cry, “You stay away from our women!” and if I said no would he say, “What’s the matter? Aren’t they good enough for you!” I found the whole experience just too nerve racking.
vivian 03.20.07 at 1:16 am
John, may I just say that you look really, really good without a beard? Now you look way too young to have a son who can shave too. Claptonesque, possibly, but your eyes seem a lot less haunted. Well done!
SG 03.20.07 at 2:44 am
Ronald, I haven`t been able to tell if my barber uses a cutthroat razor or not since I have shaving cream on my eyes, but fortunately he was one of Japan`s horde of “cool men”, so we mostly talked about bars and music. The question your barber asked you is particularly nasty in the light of the Charisma Man phenomenon and I always feel a sinister judgement could be about to be made when someone addresses it to me… definitely don`t want that judgement being made by Sweeney Todd!
Redshift 03.20.07 at 6:17 am
I remember when three blades was a joke on Saturday Night Live…
martin Wisse 03.20.07 at 9:57 am
You can’t get a shave at a barber shop? What the?
You certainly can here in .nl, though my last visit is a year or so ago so it may have changed since.
Meanwhile you do look good without a beard, though surprisingly less Aussie looking.
Angelos 03.20.07 at 1:52 pm
I’ve stuck with the Sensor two-blade. Great shave, and the blades last 5 or 6 uses.
These crazy 3, 4, and 5-blade contraptions are just too unwieldy. The last thing I would want is one of them vibrating, too.
Michael Mouse 03.20.07 at 2:40 pm
IME, razors follow the law of Star Trek films: even is generally better than odd, and 1 stands out as the worst and 2 as the best. It just gets a bit silly after that.
Ronald Brak 03.21.07 at 5:16 am
March, you get five or six uses out of the Sensor two-blade?!? I use Bic Twin Lady for my face and I use each one for about a month.
bad Jim 03.21.07 at 7:35 am
But does your barber shave herself?
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