Apr 13
Time to catch up
I’ve really been away from this for far too long. Other aspects of this thing called Life have piled atop me and I’m just getting around to catching up with everything.
Around 3-4 weeks back, the decision was made to pull all three of our vBulletin forums together, on one host’s server. The move was made, at least part-way, but the intended result of running all three forums from one reseller account never materialized. As a result, approximately 10 days ago, we pulled up the tent stakes and moved all of the forum domains to a Virtual Private Server, or VPS, hosted by KnownHost. I was a little nervous about the move, but the support team at KnownHost has banished all my fears about operating a VPS. And the members of all three forums are now enjoying page loads that are faster than anything we’ve ever witnessed before.
Reflecting on the decision to move to a VPS, I’ve realized there are times when it is necessary to spend a bit more money. In this case, spending a bit more each month has ended up being a good value, because our forum members are enjoying the benefits.
But it is not always necessary to spend more money to obtain quality. So it is always important to research purchases, before blindly spending the money.
This evening’s shave is an excellent example. I am sitting here and enjoying an absolutely BBS shave and none of the components used in this shave cost as much as some gents will spend on a single brush.
Tonight was a Treet. No, I didn’t spell it wrong, I used a Treet blade in a late ’40’s Gillette Super Speed. My pal Giovanni, at Barbieria Italiana, sells Treet Classic blades for as little as 13 cents each. Yes, that’s what I said - a pack of 100 blades sells for just $13.00.
The Ylang-Ylang shaving soap was made by my favorite soap-maker, Mama Bear and sells for just $8.99. A luxurious lather was mixed up with my Omega 33175 brush, another item available from Barbieria Italiana for only $39.00.
After an excellent shave, I splashed on a bit of Pinaud Clubman, which is one of my favorite aftershaves. And the overall result is one of the smoothest shaves ever.
I will be the first to admit that I am not sure how well a brush like a Simpson’s Chubby #2 works, but when I can get outstanding results with the above-mentioned materials, why would I want to spend $235.00 on a brush? My favorite razor is a Merkur 23C that cost me all of $28.00. That razor and a Derby blade can give me about as good a shave as I can get with any other combination and without the need to invest a lot of money.
To the gents that can afford the higher-end razors and brushes, I offer you my congratulations. And I hope you can get results comparable to what I am getting with a fraction of the outlay. To those that can afford the various components used in ‘method shaving’, all I can say is my tub of Mama Bear shaving soap gives me outstanding results.
For any of you that are not yet bit by the wet-shaving bug (what are you waiting on?!?), don’t be fooled by people talking about how they’ve spend hundreds of dollars on razors, soaps, creams, brushes and aftershave. You can get excellent results without spending so much money.
May 19th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I really like Mama Bear soaps as well. Sometime try a soap from Honeybee Spa. They’re even more economical and have a great range of fragrances. I particularly like her shave sticks.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I have a Simpsons Chubby 2 Best, and it’s far from my favorite brush. Truthfully, I think any of the Rooney Size 1 brushes (Style 1, 2, or 3) Super Silvertip is much better and, at $76, much less expensive. And the G. B. Kent BK4 at around $70 is a great brush for soap or shaving cream.