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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

#821

Post by Krasnol »

pmoriarty wrote: post #633
juve1996 wrote: post #597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about "closer shave." Electric razors never get close enough for me. Complete areas of my face they do nothing to and it just causes irritation on my skin. Frustrating, takes way too long vs my DE razor. > (expense, waste, time/effort, mess, cuts/removing skin, ingrown hairs). Eh, shaving isn't that hard. I know we've gotten lazy but holy crap. A DE shave never results in any of that for me. Shower, lather,…

Here's a video of a guy shaving with a double-edged safety razor in 5 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdyU9qItBMA It could be done faster too, because he does a lot of stuff that is unnecessary.

You need to have the skin for it.

I have a DE razor and am using it for the weekend or other special occasions only because the fast way is too fast for my skin and beard (beard is like steel...). I need it properly prepared and that takes more time than I want to spend in the morning on normal days. I use an electric one than.

And I mean, why not? I quite enjoy to take some time if I don't have to wake up early for it. I listen to my audiobook and do it properly.

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

#822

Post by avgcorrection »

betwixthewires wrote: post #802
avgcorrection wrote: post #790

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is of course true that we have some choices. But we have less power than the companies that shelf and produce all of that stuff. Each company has their own marketing department. Public Relations is the science of manipulating desire, developed for over one-hundred years now. And they just have to focus on selling their coffee machines or whatever. Take just one commodity as an example. A soda. They sometimes put j…

What items do I have to buy? This is a serious question. I'm going online right now, telling people how I live, maybe 10 see it and say "he's right, I have to live by what I claim to believe" and make an effort to change what they do. Maybe 10000 do, maybe none. But I did this because I wanted to. I don't care what companies do, if they don't have what I want they don't get my money. It's really that simple. We talk…

I feel like you are all over the place. Or maybe just two places. Those two things:

1. We can “save the planet” (whatever that means to us) by forcing companies to change: ultimately it is we who have to change because the change flows from us

2. None of this matters: it’s just about personal integrity

Because these two can be combined: if everyone just had sufficient integrity/character then we could “save the planet”. We wouldn’t be trying to do that, as individuals, but that would be the emergent result.

What I’ve been complaining about all along is just the apparent idea that we can help the environment by voting with our wallets. But if this is all about (2) then I don’t give a shit at all: I don’t care about the personal finance aspect, the frugality aspect, or the “living your values” aspect; I simply think the idea that we as consumers have more power than companies is wrong. And specifically when it comes to “saving the planet”.

But if “saving the planet” is not a concern then we are just talking past each other.

And all of that crap about “excuses” is just you projecting your living-your-values mission onto others; I don’t care, for even one second, about that stuff. At least the way you present it.

It is, by the way, funny how you think that “companies” want us to think that we are powerless. Well sure, maybe they do. But they have indeed invested money in the idea of the all-powerful consumer. The now famous “carbon footprint” was an invention by British Petroleum: the idea that we should, as individuals—always as individuals—just turn off the bathroom light and maybe not drive on Sundays. The “carbon footprint” is of course the fault of individuals, not of entities like BP. British Petroleum and you would at least agree on that much.

Maybe the perfect consumer (as far as companies are concerned) does feel powerless. But she also has to feel a sort of paradoxical guilt for using about ten planets worth of resources (if extrapolated to the human race).

And yet another trick is to reduce people to consumers (as in only that). Hence your fallacious conclusion that my line of reasoning is that people should feel powerless. But that ignores the fact that people are also citizens, and they have more potential power as citizens (political animals) compared to your don’t-tread-on-me code of conduct.

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

#823

Post by tomatocracy »

karmakaze wrote: post #668
pmoriarty wrote: post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the real trick is to get the eos brand sensitive shaving cream with shea butter and colloidal oatmeal." I simply apply ordinary soap to my face with my hands when I shave with my double-edged razor. It works just fine.

It's funny that I used to buy 'sensitive' shaving gel, and one day I thought what makes me think I have more than average sensitive skin? I then found out that soap works well enough.

"Ordinary" soap does work but I find it tends to dry out more quickly than I can shave my whole face hence at home I use shaving soap with a brush. But when I travel I'll happily use the hotel's free hand soap at tbe destination to save the hassle of bringing more things through the airport.

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

#824

Post by betwixthewires »

MrBlueIncognito wrote: post #813
betwixthewires wrote: post #796

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright, but what's wrong with the claims?

That they didn’t cite a reliable source. One can’t be expected to just “trust it.”

I didn't ask anyone to trust anything, I only asked what's wrong with the claims. I don't trust it either, but I'm curious.

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

#825

Post by dghlsakjg »

betwixthewires wrote: post #785
ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #756

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I live in France where class warfare is still a thing, and living in a block with people of the other ethnicity is unthinkable (they raped my goddaughter, but that’s only one example of storied - they kill gays at the train station too, so I take my car). Jesus, do you live in _Banlieue 13_ or something? "They" ("the other ethnicity", as you put it) did nothing to your goddaughter. A criminal, on the other hand, did…

Faulting people for stereotyping and generalizing is not going to do any good. It is human nature, and the nature of all animals, to do this. You get bit by a hyena, you avoid hyenas. You cut yourself with a knife, you become careful with all knives. You may very well be correct, but lecturing someone usually only hardens their resolve. This lesson is something people have to learn for themselves.

People should be called on their bullshit. And saying that an entire race is to be held responsible for a rape is bullshit.

If it were a "white" person that had raped his god-daughter would he be clamoring to live in a different community. Without knowing this person, I can confidently say no based on the stereotypical racism in his outlook.

Racial categories are a societal invention. They are completely made up and arbitrary which is why we should be especially intolerant of racists. Not only is it a cruel viewpoint, it's a stupid one.

A knife is a knife is a knife. But the definition of what race someone belongs to is entirely up for debate depending on where in the world they are.

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

#826

Post by eastbound »

ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #756
eastbound wrote: post #729

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The collective has entire power over what you do. Global climate change was never solved by individual decisions, because when you live a different lifestyle than your workmates, you basically give up both the jobrace and the friends. As for myself, I absolutely blame society for having a house. I live in France where class warfare is still a thing, and living in a block with people of the other ethnicity is unthinka…

>I live in France where class warfare is still a thing, and living in a block with people of the other ethnicity is unthinkable (they raped my goddaughter, but that’s only one example of storied - they kill gays at the train station too, so I take my car). Jesus, do you live in _Banlieue 13_ or something? "They" ("the other ethnicity", as you put it) did nothing to your goddaughter. A criminal, on the other hand, did…

> Jesus, do you live in _Banlieue 13_ or something?

I live in the center of Lyon. The problem has grown bigger than you imagine.

> Quite frankly, your comment exposes your racism.

The one who did my goddaughter at the age of 7, I invited him home because I wasn’t racist. I couldn’t imagine they systematically raped the white girls when given the opportunity. I also couldn’t imagine police knew it and left him free despite 7 previous condemnations. He was a nice guy, met at salsa lessons, invited several people for my birthday.

Police left him free. Police left him free because the judges free them. They wouldn’t free a white guy. It’s outrageous. Police left him free!!!

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

#827

Post by eastbound »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #825
betwixthewires wrote: post #785

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Faulting people for stereotyping and generalizing is not going to do any good. It is human nature, and the nature of all animals, to do this. You get bit by a hyena, you avoid hyenas. You cut yourself with a knife, you become careful with all knives. You may very well be correct, but lecturing someone usually only hardens their resolve. This lesson is something people have to learn for themselves.

People should be called on their bullshit. And saying that an entire race is to be held responsible for a rape is bullshit. If it were a "white" person that had raped his god-daughter would he be clamoring to live in a different community. Without knowing this person, I can confidently say no based on the stereotypical racism in his outlook. Racial categories are a societal invention. They are completely made up and…

If a white person raped my goddaughter, he would be in jail, period.

The guy wasn’t in jail. Think why.

> People should be called on their bullshit.

I’m calling you on your bullshit, but only because you present it that way: You are denying that there is a widespread rivalry between two ethnicities in France, and there are real victims. Real victims on one side (including rape, murder) and mostly paper victims on the other, and you are helping this situation to happen, mostly by putting pressure on the police to not jail the culprits. It’s like foxes in a hen enclosure, where you would blame the hens for speaking up.

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

#829

Post by stouset »

jokethrowaway wrote: post #750
evilduck wrote: post #591

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cast iron does have a couple rules that are exceptions in the modern kitchen. You can’t leave them soaking in the sink or run them through the dishwasher without creating a bunch of maintenance work to remove the rust you just created but this is usually less work, just different. Instead of soaking in the sink I tend to just boil a cup of water in the pan and it loosens up anything stuck. You also shouldn’t cook hig…

It's not a waste of time. Sometimes the pan will get sticky. Coating it with oil and putting it in the oven at high temperature will make it as good as new. It's just not as common as people think when they hear about it.

The pan getting sticky is with overwhelming probability because people have a weird belief that you shouldn’t wash with soap or use the scrubby side of the sponge. This causes a buildup of half-polymerized oils which are sticky and/or rough. The reason reseasoning “works” is simply because you’re finishing the polymerization process. But it’s completely unnecessary.

The real solution isn’t to reseason. It’s to just wash the damn thing. Soap, water, and whatever scrub brush does the job. Nothing you do short of steel wool is going to make a dent in the seasoning.

Not washing with soap is one of those widespread myths that actively makes your cast iron perform worse. I struggled with this problem constantly until I stopped babying my cast iron and I’ve never had a problem since.

What totally changed my perspective was trying to get the black stuff off an aluminum sheet pan. It’s a slightly different bond than the seasoning on a cast iron pan but functionally they’re both the same thing. Getting that off a sheet pan required meticulously scrubbing with steel wool and a lot of elbow grease. It clicked for me that if it’s that hard to get it off a sheet pan, it’s not coming off my cast iron because I used a little Dawn.

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

#830

Post by grumple »

mcronce wrote: post #795
oblio wrote: post #755

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world where I want my shaving to be brainless.

Having used both, one is no more "brainless" than the other. It's the same shaving process. The only difference is cost.

With a safety razor I get way more cuts, bumps, and the occasional slice of my thumb... and I'm still tossing the blade. With multi-blade cartidges, I shave faster and with less pain for only marginally more waste (and much greater cost, though trivial).
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