Review (5/5): Pleasantly Surprised and Pleased
Okay, I have back hair. Not real thick or matted, but very visible. Black and straight and fairly long, in patches shaped like upside-down Ls across each shoulder and down my outer back.
I've never heard a woman say, "Wow, back hair is hot," so a few years ago I started to do something about it.
Initially I tried duct-taping a razor to a kitchen spatula in order to extend my reach. It was still very difficult to get reach all areas of my back and get GOOD contact and get the hair off. Eventually I would get a good shave, but it would usually take me well over an hour of stretching and straining, and by the time I was done my bathroom looked like it had been the site of a hairy, bloody war.
I first saw an ad for the Mangroomer (also available from Amazon) and tried that, but was disappointed. I thought it would be less brutal on my back than sliding a razor around there, but it didn't cut very close at all. Maybe it would work fine for some people; maybe those with fine light-colored back hair. It gets plenty of positive reviews on Amazon. But it didn't work well for me.
The Razorba worked much better for me. I used it with a Gillette Atra Plus razor blade (two blades plus a lubricating strip, and a pivoting head), aligning the razor as shown on the Razorba website. I got a good shave in MUCH less time than my old spatula, razor and duct tape contraption -- maybe about 15 minutes. It might take you a little longer to get the hang of it -- the fact that I'd had previous "practice" using a much more difficult tool surely helped me. Bottom line, it was a much easier and faster task than I'd expected.
Tips:
- I first wetted myself down in the shower, and applied shaving gel. The gel helps a LOT. Hint: If you can't reach all parts of your back to apply the gel, apply it to the wall of your shower and rub your back against it to get it on.
- For the first pass, I shaved in the shower with the shower off, mostly going over my back by feel. I ran the tub water, and rinsed the razor off frequently.
- Rather than trying to move the razor in one direction only -- stroke, lift, replace, stroke, lift, replace -- I recommend just moving the razor blade up and down without lifting it from your skin. Kinda back and forth, as if you were using it to RUB the hair off. That maintains good contact with your skin the whole time. This is the technique that worked best for ME, anyway. If you keep lifting the blade from the skin and repositioning it, it's harder to keep the angle right.
- After the first pass, I rinsed off in the shower, then took a look in my batroom mirror. I still had big patches about the size of my hand, below each shoulder blade, that had to be reshaved. I applied more shaving gel as described before, and used the "rub up and down" technique described above to get the rest of that hair off while checking myself in the mirror. It was also easier to shave my shoulders with the aid of a bathroom mirror.
- If you are having difficulty getting the hair off with your strokes, you MIGHT try this: Take the razor blade out of the razor, turn it around so that it faces the other way, and put it back in the razor that way. Now you're saving action will be a "pushing" rather than a pulling action. That might help you get the hair, by cutting in a different direction with regard to the direction of your hair growth.
- Be careful and don't push so hard that the razor digs into your skin. This wasn't a real problem for me, as I believe the design of a modern razor blade makes this unlikely. What requires more care: Be careful not to move the razor blade SIDEWAYS across your skin in a slicing motion; you'll cut yourself that way. Do that a lot, and you'll look like you just had sex with Catwoman or something. I got careless and did give myself two raw scrapes that way, the first time. (They were more like scratches than deep cuts.) With more practice, it should be easier to avoid this.
Two main "passes" as I've just described, plus some minor spot clean up in the mirror, were enough to get all the back hair off with a smooth shave. Again, I was pleased to find that the Razorba did a good job rather quickly and was pretty easy to use -- much easier than any other self-shaving technique I'd tried.
How often do you need to reshave? This will vary for you, based on the coarseness of your hair, how fast it grows, how "smooth" you want to keep yourself. I think once a month or two should suffice for me.