The Art of Zen Living

About two weeks ago, I received a package from Amazon.com containing the following:

• 1 “Merkur Long Handled Safety Razor-#180- Made in Germany” $29.49
• 1 “Merkur Double Edge Razor Blades- Pack of 10 Blades- Made in Germany” $5.29
• 1 “Col. Conk World’s Famous Super Bar Shaving Soap - 3.75 oz., Almond” $5.50

Subtotal of Items: $40.28
Shipping & Handling: $8.00
Total for this Order: $48.28

It’s worth noting that I already had the (I assume) boar’s hair brush pictured.  It ran me about $4 or $5 at Walmart a while back, and works just fine.  If you have to buy one, everything I’ve read suggests that buying a badger hair brush is the way to go.

So other than being able to take really cool old-timey looking black and white pictures at the sink in my bathroom, why would I decide to buy a piece of technology that, while revolutionary in it’s time, is clearly outdated now?  I mean, the thing does have TWO blades, but you can’t USE them both on your face at the same time!  Clearly that makes it inferior to the Bladezilla shaver I’d been using, with it’s 64 blades designed to cut the fur on my face so far below the skin I’m practically shaving my skull, right?

For those of you thinking that the possibility exists that this is a trick question, I’ll save you the suspense - it is.  I’m going to share with you how I came to this decision, my impressions, and point you to a few excellent resources for learning how to shave with one of these old-fangled contraptions!

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