I am stunned by all the shaving culture diatribe. I am 47 years old and have been actively shaving for more than 3 decades. That beautiful beard of mine is something that I maintain for about 5 months per year. From a clean shave to 3 weeks of not shaving it is fully in, but for length. Point is, I grow a thick beard, fast. Now, 7 months out of the year I shave that thick, fast growing beard, along with my entire head and neck - clean. Until a few years ago I did this every day and wore a suit as a practicing attorney (I'm now blessed with my days filled with homeschooling my kids, working heavy machinery to make pasture for a developing farm, and generally staying out of public). In ALL of these years I barely ever thought about how "enjoyable" my private-"me"-shave time was, or how special and pampering my equipment was. Fact is, I'm a fair-skinned white guy with thick facial hair and moderately sensitive skin. I used the regular progression of Gillette razors and marveled at how many blades were being added to my cartridges (I'm waiting for the "Razor Washcloth" where you wipe your entire face, etc. with a cloth covered in 1,000 razors that spin, wiggle, gyrate and sing Elvis songs for your most enjoyable 3 minutes per morning rush). One day I heard about man-shaming, corporate-s'plaining from Gillette and assessed my shaving costs. Here's my set up: razor + Lever 2000 that I wash my entire ... me ... with. That's it. Lever is pennies per week, Gillette ...??? Why was I so heavily invested in this company, were there good alternatives I mused? Hence my introduction to all this panty-wasted shave-culture gibberish (stick with me to hear support for this conclusion). I nearly got completely freaked out by considering a new razor. I imagined chunks of my tender flesh on the shower floor due to unknown shaving follies, calls to the fire department to please put out this unbearable burning, and aliens just saying "ahhh, screw it, let's stop wasting time and 86 these puny life-forms; this guy's shaving mishaps have completely caused us to loose faith of any redemption for the bugs!" Seriously, the discussion was nearly crippling. Don't get me wrong, I lived for years in Chicago area group homes, etc. with some black guys who really had to take care with their products or they'd get some bad ingrowns, etc. But these were the outliers, NOT the norm out of all the guys I've known in nearly half a century! Finally, I overcame internet-info-overload and picked this razor (Solimo 5 blade). It arrived and I found myself comparing it closely to the Gillette - STILL due to the online discussions. I'd say the docking mechanism on the Gillette seems stronger (although I don't normally engage in Fencing with my razor, no matter the make), and the back of the Gillett cartridge doesn't have the additional horizontal support that the Solimo does (which then catches some additional debris - but, I just don't take out my unsightly razor and show it off to guests anyway so ... meh). Shaving ... IT SHAVES! Like ... a RAZOR!!! I got a few tiny pinpoint knicks by my lip the first time or 2 because it's not identical to the Gillete I was used to, but by use 4 or so, I don't notice any big difference to shaving with my Gillette. And I've been shaving my head, neck, and face with this thing (meaning the same, 1st cartridge) for over 5 weeks now. Also, I hang the thing in my shower. I don't rub it on fancy pads. I don't blow it out, fluff it, polish it, sing to it, or coddle it in anyway. I grab this servile hunk of plastic, thrust it under the water and start unceremoniously scrubbing my many areas of skin with it in generally rough and crude fashion until I am slick and smooth as the day I was born and then rinse off, towel off and start putting out all the proverbial fires that my 4 young kids have started up while I dared take 5 minutes in the shower. Seriously, my process is: wash the body; rub Lever 2000 soap suds on head, neck and face; grab razor hanging on shower wall and stick under water; drag that thing unjudiciously this way and that way with and accross the hair grain on my head; finish head with reapeated little scrubbing actions (like rubbing adhesive off a table with your finger tip) against the hair grain to get the skin really smooth; repeat all of this with the face; judicious and sensible force and motion on my neck - come on now, I'm not a beast. And that's it. And after more than 5 weeks of this I was still getting ... o.k. results with my very first Solimo cartridge. BUT, being so cheap I ended up switching out to a new one today because there's no reason not to. The new blades didn't nick me once - so, I've adjusted my technique. I noticed the greater efficiency with the new blade, but my gosh, seriously this has got to be number 47,953 in importance out of the top 45,000 important things in my life. So, now that I've finished my journey down this rabbit hole, my conclusion is the Solimo is fine (as are most other shaving products, likely) and the shave-culture is a panty-waisted thing. Just one beast's opinion. Update 3/3/21: It's been a couple of years now and I'm still using the same system. This is nuts, but I believe I've only changed the head 5 or 6 times (tops) in that time. I did add one additional "trick" to what I do. I keep a spent toothbrush in the shower and give the razor head a little back and forth scrub before I shave and once during the shave (usually when I'm finished with my head and move to my neck, then face). Otherwise, every single thing I said above remains my experience. My wife even converted on those sweet, smooth, soft legs of hers and I'm fine with Solimo's results there too (and, let's be honest, if I'm not going into the office, or before a judge, the smoothness of her legs is FAR more important to me than that of my noggin', neck, or mug). Thumbs up and recommendations for Solimo 2 years after switching from "Girllete".
