TheShaveDen

February 3rd will be The Shave Den's 13th anniversary!

Let's give some great gear away to help celebrate!

Here's your chance to help support TSD, and feed your ADs!

It's simple:
1. Go to the TSD Donation page here.
2. Change the amount to $5 for each ticket you'd like to purchase.
*Please include your username.
3. Then pay!

Simple as that. $5.00 to enter this raffle!

"May I enter more than once?" Of course! Just send $5.00 per entry! So if you want to buy 2 raffle "tickets", then change the quantity to $10 and pay! Want 3 raffle "tickets"? Change the quantity to $15 and pay! And so on...

This is open to our international members too!
Due to shipping restrictions some prizes may not ship internationally.

The deadline for entries is midnight EST Saturday, February 15th, 2020.

Prizes
Winners choose which prize they want, in the order their number is drawn. Yes, this may take several days. Patience is appreciated.

Prize must be claimed within 24 hours. If you don't claim your prize within 24 hours, you will still receive a prize. You'll just lose your place in picking your prize.

Winners will need to private message the prize donor their full shipping info, including name.

Claimed Prizes
1. $50 Amazon Gift Card

2. Mystery Box of Shaving Creams *US Only*
3. Schick Injector and Blades

4. Gillette Blue Star Double Edge Razor - R3

5. Micromatic Single Edge and Gillette TTO Double Edge

6. Jayaruh Shaving Brush
7. Merkur Progress Adjustable Double Edge Razor

8. Two Gillette Gold Tech Double Edge Razors
9. $25 ShaveNation.com Gift Card

10. Blade Sampler Pack
11. Gillette Slim
12. Gillette Red Tip

13. Gillette Black Handle SuperSpeed
14. Schick Krona

15. Omega Boar

16. Old Spice Mug

17. Gillette Superspeed C1 and Slim L2

18. 3 TSD Aftershave Splash

19. Black Pure Badger Brush

I sometimes get questions from people who are shopping for razors through random Google searches and land on one of my reviews. Then they ask me if one razor is better than another.

That’s not the most outlandish thing in the world right?
Hmmm....

Except it’s often a nightmare question to answer.

Sometimes I haven’t even tried the razors I’m asked about.

I can’t even imagine what it would be like if I were one of the top popular reviewers and found myself constantly inundated with such requests at every waking hour.

1) THERE ARE TOO MANY RAZORS (AND BLADES)

The ironic part is that, as a shaving consumer myself who doesn’t take review units, I understand.

I totally understand the frustration of the people asking me these questions. Even browing a regular online shaving shop, you’re presented with about a hundred different razors, many of which have nigh-identical combinations of features at nigh-identical price points. (Especially the stainless steel razors)

But here’s the thing: I don’t know which one you should get any better than you do.

2) SUBJECTIVITY

Sure, I’ve tried a lot of razors.

But that’s because I’m weird and I’m obsessed with little details. I like to see all the minuscule differences that separate these various razors, and then write about them on the internet. Often, the history of a razor design is more interesting to me than the razor itself.

But none of that makes me an expert for what you should do with your money or time. Beyond what I write in the review, I often don’t have much more to say about a particular razor.

I have a weird brain. Thanks to a lifetime of shaving, and too many years of school that taught me to be overcritical of every aspect of the things I love, I can’t help but form a whole series of opinions about every razor (or any other shaving product) I try.

That’s what I like about razors. I like to check out new and old models and see what they’ve done in the desperate bid to differentiate their product from everything else on the market (both then and now). That’s what makes it fun for me. And my reviews are just a way for me to get that information out of my head and into the world, so that those thoughts matter in some way.

The thing is, what you personally like or need in a razor is probably very different than what I like or need.
And that’s great and part of the joy of being a person! But just because I think something is better, it might often be for reasons that don’t even appeal to you.

Every single aspect of razor “quality” is subjective.

A zamak (zinc) razor can shave just as well as a high-end stainless razor. I don't expect ot to last a lifetime, sure, but that doesn't mean I couldn't buy a lifetime supply at half the cost of a titanium Wolfman razor.

Visually, a 50 inch HD tv will show almost the same picture as a 4K tv. 99 out of a hundred people wouldn't notice the difference. If fact, an HD plasma tv would probably look better than an led 4K tv. It isn't until you get to about 100 inches that the differences become clear. I speak from experience here. Mostly. I own a 4k and an HD tv, and the blu ray and 4K players for each. Both upscale stuff pretty well. Even DVD's look good on either system. The color palette and the blacks are what make 4K stand out more to me than the pixels per inch. Alas, I don't own a 100 inch tv, so that at least, is not from my own personal experience. ...but I've looked at them in the stores.

The differences between razors that all take the same blade are much less than those televisions I was just writing about.

3) HAVE SOME CONFIDENCE!

Reviews don’t exist to validate purchasing decisions. They exist to help you expand your perspective so you can make those decisions, or simply learn more about the thing being discussed. They exist to challenge your brain’s sense of the status quo, so you are better informed.

It seems like, as time goes on, fan communities on forums tend to gather around reviews solely for the purpose of validation.

The shaving community is no different. Every time a new razor review comes out, other owners gather around and judge it for its worthiness and whether it matches their own opinions.

I would be okay with that if people didn’t so intrinsically tie this evaluation into their own self worth and the worth of their decisions. This mostly isn't a issue here, but I've seen it on other forums.

It literally doesn’t matter if I don’t like a razor you like, or if I love a razor you hate.

This is among the most insignificant things that matter in the entire world.

I’m 99 percent certain that no one who shows up solely to ask on the forum which thing is better ever comes back again, because I’ve done my job as their free servant and I’m now useless again.

...Okay, that might be true of most forums....