Shave #27: When you can't pay for quality

Another shave, another nearly-faultless performance by Mssrs. Quattro and Barbasol.  I still find the Barbasol less smooth than modern gels, but I'll use it until I run out.

I've discussed paying for quality several times in this blog, but so far, I haven't talked about when you can't pay for quality.  What I mean is, because of the dynamics of the marketplace, sometimes you can only choose cheap.

Let me give you an example.  The bench I put my TV on cost about $50 at IKEA (no IKEA hate, please; I'll probably address them sooner or later).  It assembled easily, looks pretty good and has help up admirably under the assault of my children for about seven years.  And I didn't want it.

When I went shopping for a bench, I wanted simple looks with solid construction.  IKEA and Target offered attractive options made of particle board for well under $75.  I wanted solid wood since I've found that particle board varies widely in quality.  My only options for similar units made of solid wood came from places like Crate & Barrel and the laughably-named Design Within Reach for $750.

Simply put, I couldn't find anything between an order of magnitude.  When it came down to it, my only option was cheap, since I wasn't going to shell out $750 for a table to hold my TV.

I've found other product categories that seem to have a high and low, but no middle.  Men's dress shoes, for instance, have $99 specials and $350 (and up.  Way up.) models, with few options in between.  Briefcases as well seem to have a gulf between canvas, nylon and cheap leather models and the real deal.

I suspect this dynamic has evolved because manufacturers can always find a high-margin luxury market and/or a high-volume economy market but they can't always find a mid-level market.  And, to be fair, the particle board bench has held up as well as I would have expected solid wood to hold up.  Nevertheless, you'd think someone would seize on this opportunity already.

Maybe I'll start a line of $25 razors and see who bites.

Shave #26: Food and Tools

Another Monday shave, another flawless performance by the Schick Quattro disposable.  I'm also getting used to the less-smooth shave afforded by an old can of Barbasol.

Throughout this experiment, I've challenged myself to think about what else I could go cheap on.  As in, when something I own wears out, or when I need something I don't have, what can I buy the Schick  Quattro version of and what should I shell out good money for?

I've learned by considerable trial-and-error that food, as a rule, has a distinct you-get-what-you-pay-for quality to it.  In particular, the less processing a food has, the more quality costs.

For instance, steak.  When I cooked for myself alone, I used to treat myself to a broiled steak on Sundays.  At first, I bought cheap bottom round from A&P and I generally liked the result.  Then, after I had made a little more money, I tried better cuts of meat.  Meat connoisseurs already know what happened; I couldn't go back to the cheaper cuts.

Same thing happened with coffee.  While I consider myself capable of drinking anything hot and black, I probably rank somewhere midway up the coffee snob scale.  With the exception of my beloved Zabar's, I can't find inexpensive coffee that's anywhere near good enough for me.  Of course, I live near Zabar's, so it's not an issue.

Food quickly descends into a chaos of warring attitudes.  Some would consider the cuts of meat I like to be middlebrow at best.  Others would turn their noses up at anything but organic meats.  And, of course, many would disagree with meat entirely.  However, I've found a pretty comfortable balance with price and quality with food.

I can't say the same for tools, unfortunately.

I use basic hand tools--screwdrivers, hammers, pliers and the like--frequently enough.  In a home with two very destructive kids, something needs reassembling, new batteries or some other minor repair at least once per week.  So I have the toolbox down all the time.

That said, I can't get too excited about really high-quality tools.  My basic toolset generally features American-made tools that cost more than the basic Chinese-made tools.  However, I have a second tool kit filled almost exclusively with Chinese tools.  My electric screwdriver has a Japanese name and a Made in China stamp on it.  My ratchets all come from China as well.

And you know what?  They work as well as they need to work.  These more specialized tools don't come out too often and I haven't had an issue yet.

Maybe I'll prove out "buy cheap, buy twice" yet.  However, when I do, I probably won't remember when I bought them in the first place.

Shave #24: Back to the 20th Century

In my ongoing quest to see how cheap I can make the shaving experience, I tried something new today.  Or, rather, something old:

Yes, Barbasol.  OK, so I used the version in the can.  I even used the Soothing Aloe version with the green barber pole stripe.  Call it a concession to modernity.

Actually, call it a concession to availability.  Last year, my son's teacher assigned him a spelling exercise where he had to write out words in shaving cream sprayed on a plate.  It didn't make any sense then, either.

However, rather than sacrifice my usual Edge Gel or Gillette Fusion Shave Gel, (whatever Costco has when I need to re-stock), I bought a cheap can of shaving cream.  Before that, I hadn't used Barbasol since college, when I selected the brand based on a rational analysis of whatever was cheapest.

To my surprise, it worked pretty well.  My cheapo Quattro felt less smooth when I dragged it across my face, but the shave ended up just as close.  Of course, the proof may require a few more shaves to see if any irritation creeps up.

Can you possibly stand the suspense?

Shave #23: Mr. Coffee

As the sufficiency of the Schick Quattro continues to manifest itself, I have thought about other things that I could replace with cheaper alternatives.  However, as John Lennon, or perhaps someone else, said: "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

Hence my new cheap alternative: a Black & Decker 12-cup coffee maker.  Previously, I had owned and enjoyed a much fancier Krups coffee maker of the same capacity.  However, the Krups did not like its storage spot underneath the kitchen counter (a necessity given our small apartment kitchen).  OK, I dropped it several times, chipping away at the plastic exterior and eventually shattering the carafe.

I had spent about $50 on the Krups and didn't want to spend a lot of money on a replacement (long story short, we're moving in a few months and if we have adequate counter space in the new apartment, I had planned to treat myself to a big-boy coffee maker).  Thus, I opted to spend $30 on a new coffee maker.

The results?  Pretty good.

Of course, I use good coffee, since I have learned from extensive testing that cheap coffee sucks.  That said, good coffee doesn't cost that much more.  Zabar's sells several roasts at $7.98 per pound (yes, I see the links for $9.98 per pound; it costs less in the store).  After tinkering with the ratio of grounds to water, I found that the cheap coffee maker worked as well as the more expensive one.

Naturally, time will tell.  Durability or longevity often mark true quality.  So maybe the coffee maker will fall apart in a few weeks.  Until then, however, I'll keep looking for the discount rack alternatives.

Shave #21: I'm kind of in awe

Honestly, I never expected my cheap razor experiment to last this long.  I thought the Schick Quattro disposable would have given out by now.  However, twenty-one shaves in, I'm still getting a clean, reasonably smooth shave.

I hate to sound like a commercial.  Moreover, I suspect that Schick would rather I experience the need to buy more razors.  However, I have to admit a kind of awe at how well this thing works.

Gotta think of some torture tests, because this is getting boring.

Shave #17: This is a MANLY Razor

Now that I've put a whole month into the Cheap Razor Project, I feel pretty good about the results (another smooth Monday morning shave today), good enough to question my manhood.

One of my favorite sites, Lifehacker, posted a video from Art of Manliness about how a real man shaves, with a safety razor, as his grandfather did.

This emphasis reminds me of only one thing, a John Belushi Saturday Night Live sketch rather obsessed with manliness in a very different way.  Of course, I can't find it on Hulu, so read the transcript here.

I don't cast aspersions on any man's or any woman's vision of masculinity.  That said, what kind of man needs to spend $57.99 (the cheapest pricing for the items mentioned in the article) to shave when a $2 disposable and any mass-market foam or gel seems to serve so admirably?

Joe Jackson makes a good point

Perhaps I'm missing out on something great.  And perhaps I shouldn't knock it until I've tried it.  I just can't imagine having more shaving stuff in the bathroom than my wife has for her hair.  Of course, that's more a statement of how small our bathroom is than my perceptions of masculinity.

My own two grandfathers, so happens, had radically different approaches to shaving.

My maternal grandfather, Ray, liked to treat himself.  Recently, my dad gave me one of his old razors, which had some sort of bone or horn handle and took Trac II blades.  He certainly would have availed himself of Gillette's or Schick's finest had he lived until today.

According to my father, my paternal grandfather, Sam, immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine at the age of 12 and maintained an immigrant's sensibility all his life.  He would collect the little bits of soap left over in the shower and mix them up in a shaving mug.  While that seems like a nod towards ye olde double-edge, I like to think he'd smile at my attempt to wring every penny out of a $2 razor.

Of course, there's an old Irish proverb I learned from the back of a sugar packet once, "a man's got to do his own growing, no matter how tall his grandfather was."

Shave #16: Adventures in facial hair

I tried styling my facial hair exactly twice.  In the early 90s, I tried on the goatee (yes, I know it's not really a goatee, but that's what most people called it then) associated with Grunge Culture.  I really struggled keeping it even.  It migrated left and right across my face like a slow-motion tennis match.  Eventually, my girlfriend at the time told me to shave it off, and I did.

Years later, I went another route.  This time, my inspiration came from this guy:

Maybe it was Goose Gossage.  I don't remember.

I can't find the pictures, but I really did rock the Fu Manchu.  I selected the style because I thought people took me too seriously.  By that time, I started trimming the remnants of my hair pretty closely to my scalp and wearing mostly khakis and button-downs to work.  As a result, I think people assumed I had no personality whatsoever and seem startled when I tried to tell a joke.  Perhaps I just told bad jokes, dunno.

I did notice, however, that when I wore the Fu Manchu, my jokes got funnier.  People thought I looked a little wild and dangerous.  Actually, people either freaked out entirely or they were amused and found it easier to talk to me.  It opened up a whole new world of conversation and social access to me.

Then my girlfriend at the time told me to shave it off, and I did.

At least I married that one.

UPDATED!

I knew it was in here somewhere