More Wet Shaving
In case the Andy Crouch article I mentioned a couple entries ago wasn’t enough to persuade you to switch to wet shaving, here is a whole page of articles and photos by J. Mark Bertrand on that subject. Essense of Lime shaving cream? That phrase by itself makes me want to drop my Gillette shaving gel and my Mach 3 razor.
From what I’ve read so far about wet shaving, it appears that past generations knew how to get a good shave (hence the line from the commercial: “Shaves as close as a blade”). One stream of development abandoned that approach in order to “improve” a shave by speeding things up (e.g., electric razors) or adding unnecessary but allegedly better elements (e.g., multiple blade razors). Another stream of development, almost completely hidden from public view, maintained the older approach but worked on making little improvements.
I wonder how often something like that happens. Are there other areas where a technological mindset took over, offering constant new “improvements,” whereas the old way was actually better?
I can think of one. Book publishing, for one. Hardback books with sewn signatures are better than cheap paperbacks or most of the hardbacks sold today. (It took me a long time to find a one-volume Lord of the Rings with sewn signatures so that I can have it and read and reread it for a long time.)
Any others?