real men shave with this...

earlier this year, i've been converted to wet shaving using a double edge safety razor like this merkur 23c above. and i should have done this sooner!

for the past almost twenty years, been using the disposable razor cartridge types like gillette mach3 etc. now these fellas aren't very sharp. you need to force down the razor to get a clean shave. also, the disposable razor cartridge is very expensive. rm30+ buys a pack of 5, so that's rm5+ for a disposable plastic contraption with 2 extremely thin and tiny blunt blades. damn...

i don't have much luck with electric shavers. couldn't get a clean shave. sometimes it "pulls" the skin resulting in bruises, like i got whack by my wife.

hmm... hairy experience while trying to get rid of hair?

as always, history could tell us a lot. what have our forefathers been using before all these modern junk?

a double edge safety razor like the one above! purist will go for straight razors but these aren't easy to use (i know, i speak from experience. ouch!).

but where to buy one? i searched high and low, asked around, checked here and there, poked my nose around but to no avail. actually i did manage to get some cheap china made ones but these are so flimsy i'd pass...

so i bought this razor from ebay after exhausing all avenues here. [but there's good news later]

it cost me rm150++. well, this includes stupid freight from US of A. but this stainless steel contraption should last forever. hey, it's made of 3 pieces and it doesn't look like anything could go wrong! unless you are daft and use it to hammer nails...

to complete the whole experience, i fabricated this little teak wood stand for my razor as well as shaving brush.

curiously, it's easy to get shaving cream. you could get it from the bigger tesco outlets as well as local mydin malls.

so how's wet shaving with the double edge safety razor?

it's awesome! the razor blades are very cheap (how about rm4 for 5? some go for rm15 for 100!) and some makes are very very sharp. i like the gillette wilkinson sword best.

it's different from using those plastic disposable rubbish. you got to relearn your technique. just lightly glide it over your skin at an angle. what angle? you'll get the hang of it real quick! and it's soooooo easy to clean!

aren't  you worry of cuts? nicks?  i know you must be thinking of this. actually i find it to be very safe, as long as you hold it at an angle.

in fact, i like wet shaving so much i'm actively promoting it! however, most friends are scared of cuts. sissy! see, all those metro sexual shit is getting to you!

so this will be my mantra for now. real men shave with proper razors! not those plastic disposable nonsense!

and to further promote wet shaving, i've asked dovo (maker of above merkur razor) for distributorship of merkur razors in malaysia. in fact, i've placed an order...

how about straight razors?

not for me! for now!

this takes skill. i tried and suffered some cuts. but i'm sure i'll graduate to straight razor one day...

for now, safety razor will do. again, REAL MEN USE PROPER RAZOR!

roomba red battery woes

we have been using a roomba red for a few years now. back then, there was only the red and a scheduler. nowadays the red could be considered a dinosaur.

this little fella makes your life a lot more convenient. sure, cleaning the floor doesn't take much time but one could easily be short of time especially on busy days. this little fella, has all the time in the world. so why not use his time rather than your time to clean up the place?

especially now that we have tonto, having roomba clean up all the hair this fella sheds is really awesome. we appreciate having a roomba more than ever!

and the roomba red is pretty tough. been running fine for at least 5 years now, except for... its batteries. its batteries suck! big time! have replaced them twice and a replacement battery cost rm350 here. YES! RM350! SCREW ME!!!

despite paying so much for the replacement battery, it's not very comforting to know that the warranty for the replacement battery is only 1 month (and they only tell you AFTER you paid for it). what? is that a harbinger of impending doom?

true enough, few months later, the replacement battery gave up as well.

well, i had enough! i searched around and found that there are folks who reconstruct the batteries themselves. this i got to try!

the worst part was prying open the battery cover. damn, it uses some special triangle screws. damn, the cover is glued.

fortunately you could get this special screw driver from jalan pasar. a bit more work later (and some scratches on the battery), managed to remove the cover. i already know what's inside. it's just 12 C size batteries in series.

now C batteries aren't common here. a pair cost rm50. we need 6 pairs, so this isn't cost effective. worse still, the batts are spot welded, 12 in series. damn.

then i got an idea! why not just replace the C batts with something that's more common here?

and that's what i did! bought AA size holders which house 4 in a pack. so some panasonic hermatite batts too. 3 holders is needed for 12 batts. secured them back, soldered the connections and...

our roomba is working again! and the 12 AA batts only cost rm150. best part is, you could replace them any time you want as these are cheap and common.

easy!