Thread: It must be true. I read it on the Internet.

Everyone's an authority on everything nowadays since they can publish their "thoughts" on the internet. Fresh off the presses today for your reading pleasure is this article by Robert Cribb, another guy who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to razors and shaving. I'm tempted to shoot him an e-mail and educate him. ( rcribb@thestar.ca )

By Robert Cribb Reporter

The straight razor, that timeless icon of quality men’s grooming, is officially a relic.

The latest generations of drugstore razors, born from millions of dollars in research and development, put grandpa’s old single blade to ignominious shame.

“I can’t compete with this,” says straight razor guru Rick Ricci as he holds up the new Schick HYDRO, a scruff chopper developed over a seven-year period by engineers in Germany and the United States.

Ricci owns Toronto’s Truefitt and Hill, a lavish men’s barbershop in Scotia Plaza, where Bay Streeters recline in old school barber chairs for the retro charm of an old school shave.

“We’re world renowned barbers and, I’m telling you, the single blade can’t do as well as this.”

Ah, these are heady days for shaving technology.

Simultaneous with the Schick launch, Gillette unveiled its latest high-priced offering – the ProGlide.

Billed as a “dramatically better” version of the popular Fusion razor (which is advertised on television every 15 seconds), the ProGlide is the product of 30,000 customer trials involving “precise measurement instrumentation used in the aerospace, semiconductor and medical imaging categories,” says a release.

The thrust: Thinner, finer blades reduce tug-and-pull and unlock the secret to irritation-free closeness.

Keep in mind, they said the same thing when they released the Fusion a few years ago.

Shaving technology standards are a swiftly moving target these days.

After hundreds of years of being largely ignored, the daily male horror of ripping wirelike facial hair from skin seems to have suddenly seized the singular attention of the world’s biggest grooming tool makers.

This is linked, no doubt, to impressive growth in the overall male grooming market over the last decade.

The modern man is motivated unlike ever before in modern history to step up his grooming game. That appears to include dropping big bucks on extortionately priced blades and other exotic skin care sundries.

The most obvious reasons for this are, of course, primal.

A recent Schick-funded poll, echoing the findings of less biased studies, found most Canadian women are more likely to get jiggy with clean-shaven men than those who aren’t.

The findings “show a clear link between material, emotional and romantic satisfaction and the frequency of men’s shaves,” says a release.

An anecdotal survey of a half dozen Toronto women backs this up.

Darcie Vany, author of Toronto dating blog fitdarcie.com, recently mused on the grooming habits of men by concluding, “Just because men are genetically able to grow hair on their face doesn’t mean that they should . . . You need to shave every day. We can tell when you don’t, and you look like a bum.”

Ouch.

Probed further, the 31-year-old says there is widespread agreement in female ranks that male facial scruff triggers silent dismissal.

“It’s a deal breaker,” he says. “We’ve all been with someone who doesn’t properly groom, non-shaving is usually symptomatic of worse bad habits.”

Enough said.

Break out the $20 blades lads.

Whatever it takes.

Robert Cribb welcomes your male-oriented thoughts and queries at rcribb@thestar.ca.

I considered sending him my "male-oriented thoughts and queries" but being a Gentleman I will not give him any ideas to another "news story". End .

Break out the tar and feathers boys!



Seriously though, what is this guy on about? I've used electric razors, Mach 3's, Quattro's, Fusions and disposable Bics and, with zero exceptions, they all sucked. Absolutely atrocious. Terrible. Awful. Lousy shaves, pulling, irritation and ingrown hairs were all mine for being daft enough to use these nefarious devices.

I only used 'em because I didnt know any better!

Since I swapped to straight razors (and to a lesser extent, DE's), I have no ingrowns, no irritation and the shave is smooth, close and comfortable.

They do say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I dont care if its got two, three, five or seventeen blades, if it vibrates (why?) or if its got a light in it (why oh why?), its not going to shave me better than my straights. And I know this because I've used them both.



I'll get off my soapbox now..!

Reads like a spoof to me. Sadly, I'm probably wrong there.

Like I said on that other site ONE "world famous" barber's opinion should be given all the weight it deserves eh?

I'm tempted to think that Mr. Cribb doesn't know his heel from his point where shaving is concerned. Too, he seems ready to believe (and espouse) things too quickly , and - if this other article is to be believed: Verdict: best shave is low-tech, leisurely - thestar.com - his sources are not as hard core as he would have us believe. I'm not saying that a disposable razor cannot give a good shave, but, this so-called straight razor guru, Rick Ricci, quoted by Mr. Cribb can't be all that much of a guru if he folds to this new, so-called wonder razor... and that in less than a year from his own self-promotional article on how his emporium is so fine because he offers straight razor shaves. Bottom line: I'm taking this article with a grain of salt. No, wait, make that a block of the white stuff.

Wait, had to add this bit of extra to this reply. Follow this link to some promotional material for Mr. Ricci's emporium: Truefitt & Hill: True to Their Name And then go down and look at the last picture on the page. It shows a man being shaved with a so-called straight razor. When I zoom in on that image and look closely I cannot help but think that this is one of those replaceable blade units like a Shavette. If that is what they are using to give so-called 'straight razor' shaves, then, yes, I can see where a disposable might compete. Yuck! Not only that, but seem to notice a distinct lack of shaving cream on the face of that fellow who is having his beard trimmed. Ouch!!

Originally Posted by Arrowhead

Reads like a spoof to me. Sadly, I'm probably wrong there.

Yes, it does read like a spoof. And yes, sadly you're wrong about that.

Cribb: After many close shaves, the straight razor has been outdone - thestar.com

I think it's really just shilling for the new $20.00 a blade razor.

Hey every one don't you see this is good for us? Everyone that believes this BS will sell there REAL razors at antique shops and we will have a gold rush of new razors to buy. Allot of us have been saying the picking is getting slim.

Well heres to hoping anyway

Maybe time to take a trip to Toronto and see if Mr. Ricci wants to sell his straights cheap

I think the part about women' opinions rings true. And why do so many straight razor shavers have some sort of facial hair?