MetaChat - Are we Canadians not to be trusted with razors?

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30 July 2010

Are we Canadians not to be trusted with razors? I was just doing some online shopping for a safety razor and blades, and ran into a problem when trying to checkout. Amazon wouldn't ship the products to my address. Has anyone else run into this? →[More:]

I did some googling to try to figure out what was up, and all I found were some posts on message boards saying individuals had had problems mailing razors. But razors weren't in Amazon's list of products they can't ship internationally. And what the hell... I don't see the rationale for this. It's not like I can't go to a store and order all the razors I want without a background check or whatever.

In the end I ordered a razor and blades from a Canadian site, "Fendrihan: For the man of distinction". Except in this case it's for the swan of distinction. Didn't get the model I wanted (got this one rather than this one), but oh well.

post by: Orange Swan at: 22:23 | 9 comments

By the way, this is my first experience with what is apparently a universe unto itself: that of high end shaving products. I was rather awed by the selection and quality and price range. Seems like an area that could become a fetish or obsession.

posted by Orange Swan 30 July | 22:26

I've only ordered within the UK, so had no problems. I know you can't take the blades within an aircraft cabin, but don't see why you can't ship them.

My shaving review. It can definitely become a geeky obsession...

posted by TheophileEscargot 31 July | 03:05

Everyone knows that the few Canadians capable of growing a beard become lumberjacks and never shave anyway.

I used a straight razor throughout most of my teenage years. I looked like I fell into a blender for the first weeks, but then I got used to it. I also had a cheapo twin blade that I bought in a dollar store or something. It could be disassembled and came in a little metal box with a mirror in it. Tried for a few weeks, but ended up going back to the razor. Eventually I got into college and the shave-once-a-week-with-disposable-razor look. I have tried a total of three electric shavers, including a $200 one. All three got retired - I have thin, delicate skin, and thick manly man facial hair. Electric shavers just tug and scrape and destroy my skin ("Lectric Shave" doesn't help). Currently I got back to shaving once a week (oh, the joys of working with software!), with one of those gillette fusion extra plus with a fuckload of blades. But this is the second time I see a straight razor mentioned this week, so I'll take that as a sign and try to go back.

posted by qvantamon 31 July | 03:26

the dollar store one was double edge, not twin blade.

posted by qvantamon 31 July | 03:39

On a serious note, it might not be really because they're razors, but because they're all sold by third party sellers (none of the ones I looked at were sold by Amazon themselves). Some third parties won't ship internationally due to all the bureaucracy involved.

posted by qvantamon 31 July | 03:57

That seems like a much more reasonable and likely explanation, qvantamon.

posted by Orange Swan 31 July | 09:55

Do you have any idea what Red Green could do with a razor and some duct tape?

posted by arse_hat 31 July | 23:44

I really ought to do a FPP for MeFi on crafty things to do with razors and razor blades.

posted by Orange Swan 05 August | 09:01

I really ought to do a FPP for MeFi on crafty things to do with razors and razor blades.

And land yourself on the "no fly" list.

posted by danf 05 August | 09:37

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