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Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money

johnwhiles.com

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

#681

Post by dorfsmay »

yvdriess wrote: post #663
dorfsmay wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often do you use which stone? Like 1200 before every shave? 800 once a week? Etc...? Do you ever need to go back to a coarser one? Do you ever re-flatten your stones, or buy new ones? How often?

For a daily use straight razor, about once a season or twice a year. Remember that you keep a razor sharp by using the pasted strop and having a good maintenance routine. After a while the cutting edge becomes more convex, which is where the stone is needed to straighten out. A coticule is flattened on every use, because you rub a smaller stone on it to create the milky suspension that will do the actual abrading. I'…

That has not been my experience with stripes. Things got way better once I did a quick pass On an "Arkansas" stone before each use, but I still need to use something coarser once a month or so.

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

#682

Post by colechristensen »

betwixthewires wrote: post #580

My dad bought me one of these bulky 12 speed razors, 5 years ago. I've used 1 cartridge from it about 6 months ago. I hadn't shaved my face since before they came out. I use a clipper to keep it trimmed. Why use any disposable product whatsoever. His point on single use plastics is spot on. I know a lot of people that love to lecture me about my moralistic views, the types of people who believe in overpopulation and…

I eat the carbon equivalent of about a half pound of plastic a day, the result of which either ends up in the atmosphere or in the ground. Whatever packaging I do use (and I don’t go out of my way to avoid it) is a rounding error compared to what goes through me for basic life.

Most of the resources used are in the supply chain anyway.

The most environmentally friendly thing I’ve done in my life is delay replacing my totaled car.

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

#683

Post by autoexec »

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…

> To my knowledge they're only poisonous during manufacturing (ie. the precursor chemicals) and when they get too hot.

This really bugs me. We have a product, designed to be used over heat, which leaks literal poison into your food when it gets "too hot"... WTF is that? What does "too hot" mean and how can you expect anyone to know which of their burner settings (which often have no guidance at all as to temperature beyond gradients between "low", "medium", and "high") will be hot enough to leak poison into the food they feed themselves and their families. Non-stick coating seem like the kind of thing which should be banned at this point until it's proven to be safe under typical conditions. None of the chemicals which have replaced teflon have been proved safe. They just haven't been shown to be dangerous yet, which isn't saying much considering the decades it took to prove the dangers of teflon and the efforts the manufacturers went to hide those dangers from the public they poisoned.

> smart TVs are cheaper than dumb TVs because they're subsidized by ad revenue.

I've never seen that proved anywhere. Costs have gone down over the years, and the amount of ads and data collection have increased but I haven't seen any evidence at all that there's a 1:1 connection between the two. Companies seem to be perfectly happy to charge you the most they can get away with while still collecting your data and pushing ads in your face. By limiting the availability of dumb TVs you don't even get to vote with your wallet on this one. Currently I'm recommending people replace their TVs with computer monitors, but "smart" computer monitors are the new thing and will push out the dumb models too.

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

#684

Post by jimmaswell »

mgraczyk wrote: post #680

I appreciate the writing style, but this article is shockingly naive to me. Convenient consumer products tend to sell better than less convenient ones, even if the product is worse. That's the entire story. People have finite time, so when they receive more income they will tend to spend it to reduce the time they spend doing things that they don't care about. I for one hate spending time doing all the things that th…

Cast iron becomes very low maintenance after the seasoning is started. I don't even usually wash mine. Everything slides right off at the end. Just let it heat up before using it, use a moderately high heat but not too high, and it's a nonstick pan without the carcinogens.

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

#685

Post by diogenescynic »

moron4hire wrote: post #536
diogenescynic wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't bother with all that. I'd recommend finding an antique cast iron pan (local thrift store, flea markets, Etsy, or eBay) and restoring it (there are services for this or you can do it yourself fairly easy) and using that. The antique pans are just way better. Or you can try carbon steel which is more forgiving than cast iron. Blanc Creatives makes a great carbon steel pan/skillet.

I was not able to find an antique pan for less than the price of a modern pan and angle grinder. So I recouped my tool investment on the first pan alone.

Did you try eBay, flea markets, or thrift stores? eBay has them for as low as $15: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m...

Flea markets often have them for even cheaper. Thrift stores have them but you might pay $50--which is still cheaper than a decent angle grinder.

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

#686

Post by avgcorrection »

colechristensen wrote: post #682
betwixthewires wrote: post #580

My dad bought me one of these bulky 12 speed razors, 5 years ago. I've used 1 cartridge from it about 6 months ago. I hadn't shaved my face since before they came out. I use a clipper to keep it trimmed. Why use any disposable product whatsoever. His point on single use plastics is spot on. I know a lot of people that love to lecture me about my moralistic views, the types of people who believe in overpopulation and…

I eat the carbon equivalent of about a half pound of plastic a day, the result of which either ends up in the atmosphere or in the ground. Whatever packaging I do use (and I don’t go out of my way to avoid it) is a rounding error compared to what goes through me for basic life. Most of the resources used are in the supply chain anyway. The most environmentally friendly thing I’ve done in my life is delay replacing my…

Carbon from animals? That carbon was already part of the carbon cycle (name?), unlike carbon from petroleum sources. Am I misunderstanding you?

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

#687

Post by Bud »

betwixthewires wrote: post #580

My dad bought me one of these bulky 12 speed razors, 5 years ago. I've used 1 cartridge from it about 6 months ago. I hadn't shaved my face since before they came out. I use a clipper to keep it trimmed. Why use any disposable product whatsoever. His point on single use plastics is spot on. I know a lot of people that love to lecture me about my moralistic views, the types of people who believe in overpopulation and…

I started using Braun electric razors about 34 years ago. This turns out to have been a good choice. They are lasting around 16 years each, on average. I recently had to get a new one; only the 3rd one I have had to buy in all that time.

No packaging used up for all kinds of shaving soap or cream or other products, no packaging or plastic or metal used up to buy thousands of blades, etc.

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

#688

Post by SECProto »

gumby wrote: post #257
SECProto wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> French press + grinder is straightforward and has little maintenance And even that comparison is unfair, as with that you're getting fresh ground coffee which is much better. Pod coffees are preground minimum months before you're brewing with them.

Don’t they pack them in a nitrogen atmosphere so they don’t oxidize during storage?

Oxidation is only one component of flavour degradation - that said, its the dominant one. So while the pods would be much better than a months-opened canister of folgers, certainly (as sealed canisters are also generally nitrogen or CO2 flushed), there are other aging processes that come into play. Pods also just don't have the best beans - and if you're grinding your beans fresh, you're probably also buying fresh beans, of better quality, from a smaller roaster.

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

#689

Post by layer8 »

asdff wrote: post #499

IMO min maxing everything is sometimes not great either. I just don't shave every day, maybe every few days but no longer since it gets too long, and it seems like the blades last for a very long time (over a month at least). I can't remember when I bought the $30 pack of a bunch of cartriges but its been sitting in my bathroom seemingly forever. Then there is the actual using of the thing. Go ahead and shave with on…

Exactly this. The Wilkinson Sword Hydro 5 blades I use last so long that I only spend around $8 per year for the blades, and I don’t need to be particularly awake when shaving. The plastic waste is rather negligible compared to all the other plastic crap that e.g. food comes in.

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

#690

Post by mgraczyk »

jimmaswell wrote: post #684
mgraczyk wrote: post #680

I appreciate the writing style, but this article is shockingly naive to me. Convenient consumer products tend to sell better than less convenient ones, even if the product is worse. That's the entire story. People have finite time, so when they receive more income they will tend to spend it to reduce the time they spend doing things that they don't care about. I for one hate spending time doing all the things that th…

Cast iron becomes very low maintenance after the seasoning is started. I don't even usually wash mine. Everything slides right off at the end. Just let it heat up before using it, use a moderately high heat but not too high, and it's a nonstick pan without the carcinogens.

> Just let it heat up before using it

No lol that's the whole point

> without the carcinogens.

I'll take that trade, I'm not going to spend my 30s sitting around waiting for pans to heat up because there's some very small probability a pan will harm me.

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