good bye, old friend

In seventh grade I, like most thirteen-year-old girls, agonized over every aspect of my appearance. And nothing was more important that clean-shaven legs.

Anyone who knows me now knows that clean-shaven legs are fairly low on my list of priorities. It's not that I'm opposed to it on any principal, I frankly just don't care that much.

It was in the spirit of not caring that much that I bought the Schick Personal Touch shaver some nine years ago. I don't remember exactly when I bought it, but I remember quite clearly that my friends made fun of me. I can't remember exactly what they said, but I remember knowing that this amber-colored stem of plastic was distinctly uncool.




I also can't remember exactly what possessed me to pass up the Gillette Venus, which I'm pretty sure my friends both bought, but I seem to remember being drawn to the stability and lack of flair in the Schick Personal Touch. I knew nothing of planned obsolescence at the time, but perhaps I understood that the cute models would soon be outdated, forcing their owners to invest in another $12 shaver with $19 blades.

It was my tendency to neglect shaving that caused me not to notice a quiet shift in the shaving needs aisle. Apparently sometime between now and the last time I bought blades (which was probably at least four years ago) the Schick Personal Touch has left the market.

So it was with great sadness and even greater frustration that I stood in the shaving aisle at not one, but two, stores tonight searching for my new razor. How do you pick a new one when you never thought you'd have to. My shaver took me all through college, it traveled to England and then to California by bike. It's been on at least a dozen small trips for fun and business. It's often been neglected, but it has always worked. I've had it longer than I've known the husband.

Standing in the shaving aisle, reviewing my options, now fully aware of planned obsolescence, I can't help but be bitter. I eventually picked a new one, but know that I will not get nine years out of it before it too is quietly pulled for the market and I am forced to buy another.