Category Archives: Product Reviews
I use stuff. You use stuff. We all use stuff. Here are some reviews about the “stuff” I’ve used.
Tony’s Take on: The Humble Twin from the Dollar Shave Club
Tony’s CowboyStar Rating on
The Humble Twin from the Dollar Shave Club:
[updated Nov 30, 2020] Welcome to the latest installment in an ongoing review series I call “Tony’s Take on…” where I review all kinds of “stuff” because all of us use “stuff” and we either like the “stuff” or we hate the “stuff” and we love to talk about the “stuff” we love or hate…
Today I’m yackin’ ’bout Dollar Shave Club. For those folks who want the “stars” and nutin’ but da “stars” well, here they are!
4.5 CowboyStars!
Tah-DAH!
Why I like this product
First and foremost — IT IS FRIGGIN’ LOW COST!!!!!!
Notice that I did not say “cheap” — I said “low cost.” It is cheap in price, not in quality. It is a good value for the money you spend.
Because of my financial situation, I use the cheapest of the three razors that they have: “The Humble Twin”
- The handle costs $4
- The replacement blades (five blades) cost $4
- Shipping and handling is $0
- 5% discount for 2-3 items in your “box”
- 10% discount for 4-5 items in your “box”
- 15% discount for 6+ items in your “box”
I order blades every 3 months and I get two of the replacement blade packs for a total of 10 blades so my cost every three months is only $8.23 which includes tax.
No matter how you cut it, that is an AMAZING PRICE! — Way cheaper than going to the drug store or grocery store and buying blades.
And waaaaaaay easier to purchase, since most drug stores now lock up the blades because razor blades are such a high theft item.
Second — the blades work well…
Don’t get me wrong, at $4 for five blades you’re not going to feel like you’re shaving with the Rolls Royce of razors, but it works just fine.
The blade gets the job done — and does the job very well.
I have no complaints at all. It is what it is: a basic two blade razor with a small lubricating strip. Simple, straight forward design that does the job well at an affordable price.
Third — the handle…
- It fits comfortably in my hand.
- The ridges give me a firm grip.
- Changing the blades is easy and quick.
- I like that it is blue. Silly I know, but…I happen to like blue! 🙂
A bit about how I shave
I have a beard and mustache
As you can see in the photo over to the right, my beard does not go all the way up and join with my sideburns; there is a gap.
I can grow a full beard. But I like the style of beard shown in the photo. So that hair on the sides near my ears has got to be shaved.
Underneath my beard, on my neck, my facial hair grows to below the collar line you see in this photo. When I get lazy and let it grow out for a week, it really bugs me when it rubs against the collars of my shirts…so that hair has got to be shaved on a regular basis.
And the razor I use, The Humble Twin from Dollar Shave Club does the job. No problems. No nicks. I get a close smooth shave.
And that is saying something folks because on one side of my neck, below the beard line in the photo but above the collar line in the photo, there is this weird circular growth pattern in my beard. I shave off all of that because no matter how much I trim, there ain’t gonna be no way to make it look pretty. It has to go! The Humble Twin blade handles the changing direction of the hair follicles with no problem.
Note, In the past, I have used a 3 blade razor and a 4 blade razor getting them at the drug store. When my financial situation took a turn for the worse I looked around for options. First I went to a drug store brand of dual blade disposable razor which was the cheapest “over the counter” blade I could find. I didn’t like it because it was cheaply made and didn’t give me a good shave. It grabbed my hairs and pulled and the blades got clogged up almost immediately. Basically that cheap blade from the drug store sucked big time.
Then I found the Dollar Shave Club Humble Twin and I am happy with it. It doesn’t shave quite as close as the over the counter 3 and four blade designs, but it is head and shoulders above the cheap disposable brands that I was using to cut costs.
What I find is…
…IF I use a gel shaving cream (I use Edge Gel for Sensitive Skin)
…and IF I shave over the same spot on my face twice with the Humble Twin razor…
…THEN I get just as close a shave with The Humble Twin as I get using the hugely more expensive 3 and 4 blades I used to use from the drugstore back in the day when I had a full time job and was pulling down 40K a year.
How long does 5 blades last?
Well that depends on how much you shave. Which is why I gave you all that info above about how I shave.
Because I have a beard, I only have to shave PART of my face when I shave. And I can skip shaving for quite a while before it begins to look shaggy.
Normally, I tend to shave about once a week when I have no dance lessons or teaching gigs.
IF I am teaching several lessons during the week, or for any other reason running errands and not just staying at home, then I shave about every 3 days. I
IF I am VERY busy and doing something every day, then I shave every other day.
So, for me 10 blades lasts me about 3 months.
I was on the 1 month plan for the first three months, to build up a supply, then I switched to the “every 3 months” option. I’ve never run out and often postpone shipments because I have enough blades on hand.
Yes, You can postpone a shipment or change the delivery schedule…
Often I don’t need any more blades — I have plenty on hand.
So, when Dollar Shave Club sends me their “reminder” email that they are about to ship me some blades, I click on the link in the email, and go and “postpone” the shipment to either a month from now or two months from now depending on when I think I’ll need the next batch of replacement blades.
Quick and Easy!
They have lots of other stuff…
The Dollar Shave Club has lots of other products you can buy. Gels, and creams and lotions and they also have two other models of blades. I have not tried any of those other products. When I do or IF I do, then I’ll do a separate review of those specific products.
Dollar Shave Club has a heart
Here is a story I saw on my Facebook Feed the other day. Dollar Shave Club gave a big box of their products to soldiers for free. [click the image to make it bigger if you can’t read the text]
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Dollar Shave Club has a sense of humor
If you haven’t seen Dollar Shave Club‘s web ad / video, then you are in for a treat. It is funny.
Note: If you’re at work, you might want to keep the sound turned down. And depending on how you feel about bleeped out swear words and little ears you might want to make sure the kids are in the other room. Enjoy!
Feel free to share your own stories or tips and tricks about razor blades by using the comment form down below:
See ya on the dance floor!
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Full disclosure:
- These are my opinions…
- Other than being a customer / consumer, I am not affiliated with any of these companies in any way.
(Though if you happen to be with one of these companies and you want me to be your spokesperson, well, uhmm, give me a shout via my contact form and we’ll talk. – yeh, like THAT’s gonna ever happen!). - I have actually bought and used and/or researched the products I review – read the individual review for all the details on any particular item.
- If you decide to join Dollar Shave Club, I get a $5 coupon that I can apply to future orders from Dollar Shave Club.
- If you click on the link to the Edge Gel for Sensitive Skin and actually buy it then I get a small commission of a few pennies from Amazon for the referral.
- For the record, a few pennies from Amazon and/or $5 from Dollar Shave Club isn’t enough to make me give a good review to a bad product. Don’t get me wrong… I can be bought, but girlfriend, I can’t be bought cheap! So there! 🙂 (And if I ever *am* bought by a company, I’ll let ya know up front! LOL)
[This review was updated on Nov 30, 2020]
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Tony’s Take on: SweetLeaf Stevia
Tony’s CowboyStar Rating on SweetLeaf Stevia:
Welcome to the latest installment in an ongoing review series I call “Tony’s Take on…” where I review all kinds of “stuff” because we all of us use “stuff” and we either like the “stuff” or we hate the “stuff” and we love to talk about “stuff…”
Today I’m yackin’ ’bout SweetLeaf Stevia. For those folks who want the “stars” and nutin’ but da “stars” well, here they are!
4.5 CowboyStars!
Tah-DAH!
Introducing, my good friend, “Stevia” — da Plant!
Since Wikipedia says it VERY well, I’m just gonna let them talk for a bit:
Stevia is a sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana.
The active compounds of stevia are steviol glycosides, which have up to 150 times the sweetness of sugar, are heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable.
[Stevia has] …a negligible effect on blood glucose, which makes stevia attractive to people on carbohydrate-controlled diets.
Stevia’s taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations.
I love Wikipedia! 🙂
Tony’s Translation:
Stevia is a dieter’s and diabetic’s best friend
- Basically Stevia is used in place of sugar.
- It is a LOT sweeter to the tongue so a teeny-tiny bit goes a looooooonnnng way.
- It is the ground up leaves of a plant – 100% all natural.
- It is ZERO CALORIE! Did-cha-get-that? !!!! ZERO! as in zip, nadda, NUTHIN!
- You can cook with it.
- You can put it in your coffee (which is my main way of using it).
- And for those who are diabetic…. [drumroll please] It has a ZERO Glycemic response!
Some info about who uses this stuff and where it came from:
- The stevia plant is from South America and has been used as a sweetener for over 1,500 years!
- Japan is crazy about the stuff! It has been commercially available there since the 1970’s. Japan currently consumes more stevia than any other country, with stevia accounting for 40% of the Japanese sweetener market.
- It is approved for use as a food additive in both the USA and in the European Union.
I figure that if people in South America have been using this stuff for 1500 years AND if Japan, a major industrialized nation and one of the most safety aware nations on the planet, has had no issues with this stuff for decades, and they use TONS of the stuff, then hey, I can use it it in my morning coffee with no worries!
Woot! Uh-huh! Doin’ a happy dance!
Why I like SweetLeaf Stevia
I have tried several different brands of stevia. SweetLeaf Stevia is my favorite. And the Packets are my favorite variety.
I used to use a brand called NuStevia, made by NuNaturals, (which is a good brand).
But to get it, I had to go to one of those specialty “Healthfood / Vitamin Stores” that smell funny when you walk into them and they have all these New Age kinda flyers about cleansing your body and yoga under the moon and… well you get the idea.
Just to be clear: neither the smell nor the New Age bits bothered me…
Nope. The PRICE bothered me! NuStevia was $10 a box! And the fact that I had to make a special trip to this store to get ONE item. Sheeeesh!
Then I ran across SweetLeaf Stevia and I’ve never used anything since. Here is why I like SweetLeaf Stevia. Read the rest of this entry
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Tony’s Take on: Slim Fast vs High Protein Slim Fast
Problem: Which Meal Replacement Shake Should I Use?
Ok, fair warning, this ain’tcha ordinary review…
I wouldn’t be, uhmmm, well, uhmmm, “moi” if I did a plain ordinary review!
And why should I anyway? “Ordinary” is just so.. “Plain!”
One should always strive to be FAB-u-LUS even when reviewing meal replacement shakes.
So……… Welcome to Tony’s Brain – doing a review — Brace yourself, it’s a very strange place!
Regular readers, keep reading and enjoy the silliness that you’ve come to expect from me.
You folks who found me via a Google search and are expecting a “normal review” well dearest visitors, you have a choice…
You can do what my regular readers are doing, which is grabbing their morning coffee or a snack to tide them over for a bit while they sit back and have a few laughs reading my post…
OR
You can jump down to the Read the rest of this entry
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Tony’s Take on: Singer 96-Inch Extra Long Tape Measure
Keeping it Simple – Sometimes Simple IS Best
Task:
Pretty much every exercise and fitness guru on the planet says that keeping track of your progress is a good idea. You can track many things like weight or body fat, but one of the easiest, the simplest, and the best, is to just measure the inches on your body:
- Chest
- Waist
- Hips
You add up these three numbers and that gives you your “Total Inches.” As you get healthier and fitter those “inches” will probably shrink. So when you see ads saying “I lost a bee-jillion inches using XYZ Miracle Diet Product,” the grand total of those three measuring points in the “inches” they are talking about.
Using a tape measure and piece of paper is a good way to keep track of your progress AND it is a very LOW COST way to do so.
Problem:
I wanted to measure my body. So I grab the Read the rest of this entry
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Tony’s Take on: “The Stuff we use…” (a new review series)
Series Introduction
Since this is the first time I’ve done this, I guess an introduction is in order. When I do a review of a product it will be part review, part tips & tricks, and a dash of my usual, well, uhmmm… drama.
Ok, there. I admitted it. I tend to do “drama” even “drama” isn’t really necessary. But on the other hand. Life without “drama” would be SO boring… 😉 And I’m good for a couple laughs when I’m being dramatic… 😉
Nonetheless, my intent is to keep the drama to a minimum and keep these reviews fairly short and to the point, or at the very least, relevant to the topic at hand. Enjoy!
Full disclosure:
- These are my opinions…
- Other than being a customer / consumer, I am not affiliated with any of these companies in any way.
(Though if you happen to be with one of these companies and you want me to be your spokes person, well, uhmm, give me a shout via my contact form and we’ll talk. – yeh, like THAT’s gonna ever happen!). - I have actually bought and used and/or researched the products I review – read the individual review for all the details on any particular item.
- I am a member of the affiliate program on Amazon. So, if you click on a link, in one of my reviews, and you actually buy the item from Amazon, well, I get paid a teeny tiny commission — a few pennies (from 1-6% depending on the product, averaging about 4%) But that’s what we’re talking about folks. Pennies. So a few measly cents really isn’t enough to make me give a good review to a bad product. Don’t get me wrong… I can be bought, but girlfriend, I can’t be bought cheap! — I have a MUCH higher price tag than a few pennies maybe earned via a referral. So there! 🙂 (And if I ever *am* bought by a company, I’ll let ya know up front! LOL) And you don’t have to buy it from Amazon. That’s just an option. Use it if you like. Ignore it if you like. Your choice.
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 