Beswitched
October 19, 2006
Since becoming a Beauty Editor, I have received numerous products in the mail to test, love and hate. Yesterday, however, was the first time I received a product to review that was geared toward men.
Allow me to introduce the Schick Quattro:
It has a whopping four blades (yes – four blades – almost the same number of fingers you have on one hand, unless you're missing a finger, in which case this razor has as many blades on it as fingers you have on one hand).
It comes in three styles: chrome, midnight, and power. The first two styles are just a marketing gimmick. The third has a vibrating head (whoa, nelly) that is basically an exposed, quickly-moving blade - no! four blades! - near your delicate, precious face.
The power version somewhat reminds me of Edward Scissorhands, what with the sporadic vibrating blades and consequential macabre images of blood and guts spewed across the bathroom mirror. Okay, maybe not guts, but definitely blood. And maybe a few chunks of flesh.
I opened the box that contained the razor on Tuesday night and thrust it toward my husband, Roger. I sort of demanded, "Sweetie: You need to use this. It's for the good of humanity." Perhaps there was a little more dialogue involved, but I never took an oath as a Beauty Editor to actually remember the conversations I have with my guinea pigs subjects research assistants.
The next morning, Roger dutifully shaved with the chrome Schick Quattro I had given him. And this is where my commitment to research disintegrates: I had already forgotten that I gave the razor to him. Which meant that instead of standing next to him and observing each stroke of the blade, I was lazing around in bed, watching the weather channel and trying to figure out what to wear to work.
And then the following morning after that? I forgot again. Still, both days Roger was eager to share his thoughts with me about the four-bladed razor:
Day One:
"I don't like it. The head of the razor is too big. It's like shaving with a butter dish."
Day Two:
"This razor sucks. It's too large to follow the contours of my face. I feel like I'm dragging something the size of a dinner plate across my skin."
And then he threw it away.
I was a bit surprised by his response to the Schick Quattro, because logically it seems like the more blades, the closer the shave. Plus, it is a well known fact among Texans that everything is bigger and better in Texas, so bigger razors and more blades should fit in just fine 'round here.
In response to Schick's four-blade Quattro, Gillette has announced their new five-blade Fusion razor. If this trend continues, projections show that men will be using a razor with fourteen blades by the year 2100. Which is fine, I suppose, if the guys don't mind dragging an object the size of a turkey platter across their face.
Comments
Tee hee! I'm first! So exciting!
I like multiple blades on my razors. But then, I don't use them on my face.
Posted by: Lia | October 19, 2006 10:55 AM
Ha! I love that Roger compares the razor to dinnerware.
Posted by: guinness girl | October 19, 2006 10:58 AM
I love men's razors. Not for facial use but for leg use. So I suppose that on a leg, which has far larger surface area, it might not be so bad.
Posted by: Heather B. | October 19, 2006 11:10 AM
Will there ever be a razor with so many blades that all it will take is one stroke and you will be shaved? Just wondering.
Posted by: ben | October 19, 2006 11:11 AM
I love mutliple blades on razors, but, like Lia, I use them on my lets. Must be different on a face.
Posted by: Ang | October 19, 2006 03:24 PM
I'm wondering why you didn't use it on your legs. The only real difference between men's and women's razors are the packaging.
Posted by: Heather | October 19, 2006 04:36 PM
Ha, I use men's razors for that reason alone, better product, more blades, closer cut, 14 blades in the future - sounds good to me, just think how much time you will cut down on (ahahahah, pun intended)
Posted by: Katie | October 19, 2006 04:37 PM
Heather:
I cannot shave my legs with a regular razor, lest I break out in red, itchy hives all over my legs, otherwise known as razor burn, because my legs? Hate razors.
I use an electric version, which totally has a protective cover because my skin? Can't handle the vibrating blades.
Posted by: jes | October 19, 2006 04:46 PM
Holy poop! 4 blades?! Jesus. Give that to me and close the bathroom door and you'd walk back in to find me in skin ribbons on the floor. Good GOD.
Posted by: Jurgen Nation | October 19, 2006 06:04 PM
A razor the size of a dinner plate. HEE.
I roll my eyes every time something like this comes out, because *really*. How much more can they milk out of consumers by "improving" things like razors and toothbrushes and shampoo? We may have hit the point of diminishing marginal returns here, at least in terms of the number of blades per razor head. Lordy.
Posted by: Lawyerish | October 19, 2006 06:05 PM
We were just talking about this last night. It is ridiculous. I thought about how stupid my Grandad would find the entire thing. To hear him talk, he shaved with broken glass and WAS GRATEFUL FOR IT!!
Posted by: Marmite Breath | October 19, 2006 10:44 PM
Y'all are SUCH a great match.
And I can totally hear you saying "Sweetie. You need to use this. It's for the good of humanity."
Classic.
Posted by: AmStaff Mom | October 20, 2006 08:13 AM
I don't think my husband has ever heard of a butter dish.
Posted by: -R- | October 20, 2006 09:40 AM
Once in a while I go to an old school barber that is in his 80's. He uses a straight razor at the end of the cut for the finishing touches. The extra clean shave combined with the hair tonic he puts on my balding head makes me look like Beaver Cleaver for about a day.
After each visit I always think 'thank god the geezer didn't have a seizure and lop my ear off with that razor', yet I keep going back. Until the Schick Quattro can provide that level of danger I see no reason to use it. Maybe if Schick sold it with a deranged monkey I might be tempted.
Ohh yeah, I'm extreme.
Posted by: Joe | October 20, 2006 09:56 AM
I'm guessing that by 2100 the razor will be a stationary object, too heavy to lift, but on which men rub their lathered, whiskered faces.
But goddamn, it'll be a close shave.
Posted by: mike | October 20, 2006 11:52 AM
Size of a butter dish. *Snort*
Posted by: Suebob | October 20, 2006 12:37 PM
Dude!! The graph CLEARLY shows that the increase in razors is now following a hyperbolic curve and therefore is increasing at a MUCH faster rate than the previous power law curve would have predicted. Duh. Men don't have to wait till 2100. They'll have 14 blades by 2012!!!
I'm such a nerd.
Posted by: Courtney | October 20, 2006 07:57 PM
Four blades? Wow ...
Here's my favorite comment: "I don't think my husband has ever heard of a butter dish."
HA! :)
Posted by: my life is brilliant | October 22, 2006 06:50 PM
california refinance
Posted by: california refinance | November 3, 2006 09:04 AM