Every year for the past 9 years I have let my
facial hair grow out during
exam time. Call it a
sacred ritual or simply
lethargy, whatever it is, I like doing it. Once exams are over, and the beard starts to
itch, I get fed up with my
furry face and
shave. My
weapon of choice has consistantly been the
Mach 3 from
Gillette, that is until this past grooming fiesta.
I have been a bit short on cash as of late so I decided to
stave the Mach 3 purchase and opt for the cheaper
Excel 2 blade 10 pack. Before Mach 3 hit the market I was an Excel man and it suited me just fine, but I admit the absolute bliss of three blades hitting my ultrasensitive skin was a sensation I was not going to let up on. So that was it for the Excel 2. Now the Excel 2 had always done a good job and since it is much more inexpensive, I felt that I was okay in dipping back to a less comfortable shave, in return for more food money.
Naturally I thought everything would go as it had about 3 years ago, what a surprise it was then to find that the Excel 2 blades I bought were carving up my face! What the Mach 3 could do in one swipe, and what my old Excels could do in 2 or 3 passes were taking this new batch as many as 9 passes without doing a smooth job, moreso, hacking up my face.
At first I thought it was just that initial blade. After going through 2 more blades and experiencing the same results, I grabbed an older Mach 3 blade, finished my shave and went to my computer. I wrote the product number down and sent a complaint to Gillette. I also went to the store to buy another batch of blades, one pack Mach 3 and the other Excel 2. It was plausible that the pack I purchased was a nasty set and that was it.
It wasn't.
I let my face grow out again to test my hypothesis and found that again the Excel 2s were nasty. Utter crap. I
emailed Gillette again and inquired as to what the problem was, or why the lack of quality. My reply was a set of
vouchers for free Gillette products. I was enraged, I sent another letter only to get a reply stating that there was no decrease in quality and if I was unsatisfied, I could mail for some more free vouchers.
My theory is this:
In order to push their new ultra-line of blades (the Mach 3) Gillette has purposely decreased the quality of their other lines of blades, almost forcing consumers to go to the more expensive product to get even just a decent shave.Enraged, I went out and bought a straight-edge. I had no clue how to use one, and was afraid to death to go near my face with it in fear of accidently slashing my
jugular. I asked my
grandpa how to use one since that is all he has ever used. To say the least I am absolutely enthralled! I have never had a closer shave, and all I need to do is take special care of the blade and sharpen it now and again.
I will never go back to a modern shaver/blade system nor will I ever purchase another Gillette product. I may have simply been the victim of a really unlucky stint of badbladebuying, but I am more prone to believing that the
Conspiracy rages on.