Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money • Hacker News Board

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#211

Post by metadat » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #105

tempest_ wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha you can totally cut yourself with a safety razor (unless you mean the Mach 3 and not what this article is calling a double edged razor which has historically been called a "Safety razor" )

You can cut yourself with a multi-blade razor too. The point is, little of the blade is actually exposed, so it won't be a serious injury. A straight edged razor, by contrast, is just a knife, that you actually can kill yourself with by slicing deep enough into your neck to take out a major artery. You can't do that with a safety/multi-edge razor.

With a "safety razor" you can really cut yourself. Surely it's my fault, but I don't want another visit to the E.R. I went back to Mach3, $30 per year is worth it to me compared to risking expensive emergency room visits.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#212

Post by Spivak » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

ginko wrote: post #192

gruez wrote: post #158

>Other examples of products that seem to exhibit a similar trend, where purported convenience leads to higher prices >Cooking equipment: essentially indestructible Cast Iron skillets transition into teflon pans. The newer pans perform worse, and must be replaced on a shockingly regular basis. They also seem to be poisonous. They have their uses. I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you…

>I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you can, but it requires an absurd amount of oil). That's because many cast iron pans you can get these days have unpolished bottoms unlike antique ones. If you get a polished one (or polish it yourself - there's plenty of youtube videos on that) it'll be incredible non-stick. You can also just get a carbon steel pan which doesn't need polishing.

Carbon steel pans are dope, I wish more people knew about them.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#213

Post by wife_is_md » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:02 PM UTC

Shaving technology peaked with the Mach 3. I can't even think of the last time I needed to buy razors b/c the Mach 3's last so damn long. It's probably been a decade

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#214

Post by zeroonetwothree » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:03 PM UTC

shiftpgdn wrote: post #111

GingerMidas wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen that video, the takeaway was the difference in price is so miniscule you might as well use what you're comfortable with.

His video about dish washer pods explain they also work significantly worse since your dishwasher was designed with a pre-rinse area to use soap twice during a cleaning cycle. A pod will not be able to be used twice and leaves dishes dirtier.

I’m skeptical this is universally true since my dishwasher actually suggests to use pods.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#215

Post by epistasis » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:04 PM UTC

oblak wrote: post #175

maxerickson wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The plastic waste thing is kind of silly. People commenting here mostly live near well managed landfills and aren't worrying about burning 10 pounds of oil driving to work. Like fine, feel free to use less plastic, but it really isn't a big portion of most people's resource consumption.

Quoted post unavailable.

It's far far creepier to be overly concerned about plastic waste than about the gasoline cars on the road. Plastic waste has almost zero impact, zero, compared to the gasoline, brake dust, and tire microplastics coming off of cars.

Where do all the microplastics in bodies of water come from? It's not plastic waste in landfills, it's tires on the road, which wear down and wash into bodies of water. Every single time your drive.

Recently it was found that an essential chemical in tires for hardening them breaks down into neurotoxins that are killing massive amounts of salmon in the pacific northwest. Where is the public outcry? Nowhere!!

So that is what incredibly creepy: people pretend to care about the environment to the point they make massive judgements over plastic waste, but they refuse to even consider the amount of driving that's forced onto nearly every person in the US, and we don't even consider ways to reduce that environmental impact, or allow people to even choose to live with less impact. Instead we ban the types of city planning that would allow people to go about their daily lives without the climate destroying, COPD causing, microplastic creating form of travel: cars.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#216

Post by moron4hire » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:04 PM UTC

caymanjim wrote: post #205

gruez wrote: post #158

>Other examples of products that seem to exhibit a similar trend, where purported convenience leads to higher prices >Cooking equipment: essentially indestructible Cast Iron skillets transition into teflon pans. The newer pans perform worse, and must be replaced on a shockingly regular basis. They also seem to be poisonous. They have their uses. I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you…

> I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you can, but it requires an absurd amount of oil). You need to learn how to season and care for cast iron. It doesn't take an absurd amount of oil, and the egg should slide out with ease.

Step 1: take an angle grinder to the pan and grind the pebbly surface to a smooth finish.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#217

Post by caymanjim » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:05 PM UTC

ginko wrote: post #192

gruez wrote: post #158

>Other examples of products that seem to exhibit a similar trend, where purported convenience leads to higher prices >Cooking equipment: essentially indestructible Cast Iron skillets transition into teflon pans. The newer pans perform worse, and must be replaced on a shockingly regular basis. They also seem to be poisonous. They have their uses. I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you…

>I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you can, but it requires an absurd amount of oil). That's because many cast iron pans you can get these days have unpolished bottoms unlike antique ones. If you get a polished one (or polish it yourself - there's plenty of youtube videos on that) it'll be incredible non-stick. You can also just get a carbon steel pan which doesn't need polishing.

Modern mass-market cast iron is garbage. Lodge's marketing department has managed to convince people that their garbage pans are actually better, and that the texture holds on to seasoning, but it's all nonsense. It's vastly cheaper for them to produce pans by skipping the polishing step. You can still get good polished cast iron, but the pans cost hundreds of dollars. Next time an old relative dies, go raid their kitchen for the good stuff.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#218

Post by samstave » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:05 PM UTC

I am 47 and I have never used any shaving cream more than maybe a handful f times in my life.

I shave in the shower, and I use Aveeno Body wash for shaving. For years, I simply used conditioner in the shower - basically rub it all over my hair and face, then shave my face. I have never used a mirror to shave either. I just use my hand on my face to know exactly what has been shaved.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#219

Post by moron4hire » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:05 PM UTC

subhro wrote: post #167

gruez wrote: post #158

>Other examples of products that seem to exhibit a similar trend, where purported convenience leads to higher prices >Cooking equipment: essentially indestructible Cast Iron skillets transition into teflon pans. The newer pans perform worse, and must be replaced on a shockingly regular basis. They also seem to be poisonous. They have their uses. I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you…

> I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you can, but it requires an absurd amount of oil) Which means you need to do a better job at seasoning. Cast iron is used almost exclusively at my place and I use less than 1/2 TSp oil for eggs. Granted my newest skillets are made is 1930s.

A $50 angle grinder and a little time will turn $20 lodge cast iron pans into the kind of quality cast iron pans that I've seen people spend hundreds of dollars on to buy antiques.

Re: Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

#220

Post by olingern » Sat, May 07, 2022, 3:06 PM UTC

pard68 wrote: post #201

nrclark wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you can, but it requires an absurd amount of oil). FWIW it's pretty easy to fry eggs in a cast iron. You do have to oil the pan, but I wouldn't call it absurd. Just a dollop of oil in the pan. And the end result has a crispy, yummy texture that's hard to achieve with Teflon. It just takes a little practice and an open mind.

Not only is it possible with a reasonable amount of oil in any cast iron pan, but with a very thin cast iron pan one can do it without oil even. Eggs start sticking with high heat and the thinner the metal the lower the heat needed to cook.

Any reasonably well cured cast iron barely needs any oil