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Del.icio.usA few weeks ago, I received a Schick Intuition shaver in the mail. Oooh, a freebie! Let me confess that I wouldn’t actually buy a Schick product under normal circumstances, as they are a company which tests its products on animals. But I figured that it would be wasteful not to make good use of a free shaver, and so off to the shower I went.
The basic idea behind this shaver is its ease of use: there is no need to add soap or shaving cream separately to one’s leg – the soap is built in. There is a ring of soap surrounding the blade cartridge, which is nested in a massive plastic/rubber casing. As you glide the shaver over your legs or pits, the soap is applied, and then the shaver goes over the soap. Et voilá! Hairless bod made simple for the exceedingly lazy.
The first few goes were fine. Pleasant, even. Hey, I’m as lazy as the next woman. Losing the extra step of soaping up my legs before attacking them with a razor wasn’t unappealing. But things started going south when the soap ring started detaching from the apparatus. Each time I went to use it, I had to reattach the soap parts that had disengaged (after wetting the whole mess under the spray to make it pliable). After about a week and a half, the soap ring was fully detached, and I was back to soaping up my parts in a separate step again, though the blade remained sharpish for another week or so, which is better than most razors. I also had to make a point of storing it upside down after receiving the nasty shock of a stream of cold water pouring out of the casing’s interior (it seems water easily pours right into the well of the handle).
When I’m feeling really rushed, I’ll often just quickly drag a razor over my legs with no soap at all, which doesn’t result in a smooth, even shave, but does the basic trick in less than half the time. This wasn’t possible with the Intuition (after it was permanently de-soaped), which lacks the comfort strips most razors have that ease the path of the blade. Another minus was the fact that the razor didn’t have much maneuverability “downtown,” if you know what I mean. The basic bikini line that many of us trim back in the warmer months was manageable, but not nearly as easy to shave as the underarms and legs. And anything further back, for those of us who are more Playboy-style inclined, was just not happening without a bloodbath. No thanks.
The Verdict: Very little bang for the buck (about $8 at drugstore.com). Best to go with something less plastic-centric and more streamlined, and buck up and apply your own soap.
by Stephanie
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How do you know they test on animals? Is there a good place to find that info so I can avoid those companies as well?
How do you happen upon all this free stuff to try out?
I go to Caring Consumer, which is the consumer arm of PETA. Yes, I know PETA’s kind of crazy, and I’m not a vegetarian, but since I personally find it wrong to harm animals in pursuit of personal care products, I’m willing to take the info they so kindly provide. The lists of who does and doesn’t test can be found here: http://www.caringconsumer.com/resources_companies.asp
You can even get a little pamphlet to carry in your purse in case you don’t want to memorize all those companies!
As for getting freebies, the best way to get them is to look online at Freebie sites. One of the ones I read often is Mir’s http://wantnot.net. She has freebies and bargains, and she’s pretty! You can find tons of freebies on http://www.tipblog.com, but be warned, some of them aren’t anything you’d actually want. But the sheer volume is pretty amazing.
Hope this helps!
Eight bucks for a razor? Yowza!!!
I was actually entertaining getting an electric one for general leg shaving and investing in a good razor with replaceable blades for my bikini line etc. I\’m just so tired of blades that get dull after 1 or 2 uses and of course, the disposable aspect is not environmentally friendly, either.
You can doenload a PDF or Word doc with a list of companies that don’t animal test from Caring Consumer.
Here’s a link:
http://www.caringconsumer.com/resources_companies.asp
I’ve been using the Intuition for a few months and have never had that problem thankfully. I only use it for shaving one section of my body–my, um, bikini area. One of my male friends actually recommended it for shaving that area b/c it’s really hard to cut yourself with it and that is the LAST place I want a nick. It works very well for that area, if you shave there. You actually can buy refills for it so it doesn’t cost $8 for every blade but its still pretty expensive.
I have been using the *same* Gillette blue plastic disposable razor for at least 3 *years* now. It continues to give me a close shave that lasts two days (I shower every other day), has never cut me at all, anywhere (bikini line, underarms, legs). I absolutely love it. I generally am anti-disposable everything, but if it’s going to last 3 years plus, then I’m all for it.
I\’d be concerned about the rust. Hope you\’re up to date on your tetanus shot. I\’ve heard lockjaw is terribly unpleasant.
Well, yes, I am up to date on tetanus, but I’ve never had a razor blade rust on me. Maybe it has to do with the dry high-desert climate I live in? Or that I keep the razor on top of the shower door so that except for the few minutes I am using it, it never gets wet?
Wow! Here they rust in about a week. It’s really humid, though.