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17 july 2001
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schick schtick UPDATE, AS OF 6 DECEMBER 2001. Did you find this site while looking for info on Epil Stop? Look no further! I've been meaning to update everyone on one of this year's reviews, the one about those three-bladed razors. A couple of times a week, I check my site statistics. As the months roll on and I write more divergent stuff, which later finds its way to Google, people find me with all kinds of crazy searches. I'll give you some of the highlights in a minute. Every single week since I wrote that review, I get dozens of hits from people looking for "reviews of three blade razors", and for every other hair-removal keyword mentioned in that review--including "hair removal". And, including "Epil-Stop". Considering the traffic Epil-Stop generates to the site (notice how I'm not linking to Igia, kids), I thought I'd better give people some information on it. The short story is DO NOT USE EPIL-STOP! This is one of those rare instances where I'm going to forego my own testing, and take the word of those who did try it out, as well as their attorneys and the other hundreds of people suing the Epil-Stop people. Finding some dirt on this garbage was not difficult. I did two different searches, both fairly inocuous. First, I searched Google for +"epil stop" +consumer +report. Then, I looked for +"epil stop" +review. Both of these searches gave the web an opportunity to give me pros and cons. After reading what popped up, I then narrowed my search. It went something like this: +"epil stop" +"food and drug administration" +enforcement +lawsuit +"chemical burn" +scam +"holy sh*t, m*@%erf*&@er that hurts" After sifting through all the information I found--and believe me, there was a lot--I think I found The Epil Stop SO Not a Fan Club (URateIt.com is a site dedicated to reviewing infomercial stuff.) It provides links and further information about the recall (for which we are very thankful) of Epil Stop, and gobs of user reviews. What's weird, though, is that I know I've seen Epil Stop and Spray advertised on tv just last month. They offer a free bathrobe, too--presumably to soak up the blood. I dunno. Anyway, I hope that helps. If you want my opinion, I say go for the three-bladed razors. I switched to the Venus, by the way. It's blue and sticks to my shower wall. Yay.
We Americans may be a bunch of resource-hogging, cruel-and-unusual-punishment-advocating, overeating barbarians; but darn if we want to walk around all hairy. I mean, it's one thing to act like a knuckle dragger. It's another thing entirely to look like one. This would explain late-night television. After David Letterman and Conan have bid their evening adieus, after Nash Bridges entertains the three remaining members of the Don Johnson fan club...we bring you (ahem) infomercials. You know, those half-hour "brought to you by Guthy-Renker" shows that feature any or all of the following:
Being as it's summertime here in the Northern Hemisphere, we are currently being inundated with hair-removal products. All of these fuzz-relief doodads seem to be big hits in California and Florida, so naturally they tape the feature there. Either that, or people in places like Wisconsin and Idaho simply have better things to do than destroy their hair at the root. I have to say, however, that the Epil-Stop guy--the one whose back hasn't seen sunlight since puberty--impressive. Very impressive. Sir Sasquatch, you've met your match. While I won't burden you with the details of my personal hair-removal routine, I can assure you that it's not too exciting. I shave my legs like most everyone else. It's quick, cheap, and nonflammable. It works for me. I do, however, insist on using those double-bladed razors, as the single blades tear my skin to shreds. While I may not completely understand the physics of shaveology, I'm quite clear on OW OW OW OW OW! So when Friend X casually mentioned what a smooth shave he got with one of these new triple-bladed Mach 3 things he got free in the mail, I was intrigued. Actually, I was cynical, then intrigued. What's the third blade do, clean out the sink? Watch the kids? Feed the cat? Do tell. No. While it may not give him a much closer shave (let's face it, a closer shave would be "plucking"), it does greatly soothe his skin. And so...off to the store I went. Now, I've sworn by a real simple solution for years: the green grippy razor with snap-in cartridges. It uses less plastic and is reasonably priced. Good enough for me. Having not been razor shopping in quite some time (I've had my apparatus for a couple of years now and have lots of replacement cartridges), I was overwhelmed at Eckerd's shave shelf. Wow. We sure are a hairy bunch. We are also not very thrifty. Fourteen bucks for like EIGHT of these name-brand triple-bladed cartridges? No way! Upon closer examination, I finally found a more inexpensive solution--four Schick X-Treme triple-blade disposables for four bucks, and there was a coupon to boot. Woo-hoo! I went home, and immediately jumped into the shower. People, this is how Captain Janeway shaves her legs. High-tech, nick-free, space-age comfort. Beam me up, Schicky! I don't know what it is about that third blade, but these things are GREAT! I don't know that you get a much closer shave, but it's so much less irritating, especially around my knees where it gets all gnarly. Plus, they're flexible, both on the boing and pivot. These little doodads surprised even me. Thumbs up on the third blade. I was ready to give Wilma a little trim once I dried off, but remembered that she's okay with hairy legs. That, and she wouldn't come out from under the bed. There are a lot of these from which to choose, and I'd say they're all about the same right now. My advice is to get the cheapest ones you can, as long as they're kind of boingy at the head. They don't exactly make shaving fun , but for the moment, at least it's sort of interesting.
Schick X-treme III |
