372
submitted 9 months ago by kzhe@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

I saw this post and wanted to ask the opposite. What are some items that really aren't worth paying the expensive version for? Preferably more extreme or unexpected examples.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 22 points 9 months ago

Soap. My mom and sisters always complement my hair and skin, asking what products I use. I just use 2$ Yardley bar soap for skin and hair. I also like them because they smell nicer than other cheap brands that just have a generic detergent smell.

Razors. For all shaving I use a safety razor. The initial investment is somewhat expensive but after that each blade is mere cents. Also much less wasteful. Make sure to store your used blades in an old medicine bottle to dispose of them safely (and for the garbage man's safety). Also find these to be way nicer on skin, 5 blade or whatever cartridge razors don't make a closer shave and remove and irritate skin much more.

Kitchen knives. Most cheap knives (and a lot of expensive ones) suck because of bad design. Most knives today are way too thick and chunky, to make them look more robust etc. what you need is a thin blade and a sharp, long lasting edge. Victorianox fibrox ($35) is excellent for the money and for most people you don't need any more performance. You can also use kiwi knives (10$). They are super cheap, perform well, but dull fast, a good cheap option if you know how to sharpen and hone. If you want more performance than the fibrox you can get a Japanese tojiro basic. These aren't very fancy but have excellent performance, being made of laminated vg-10 steel and having a much longer lasting edge. These are around 50$

If you cook and chop a lot and want a knife to take pride and pinnacle of performance then you'll want a hand forged Japanese knife. DO NOT fall for Japanese knife scams and do lots of research on YouTube. These will be around 200$ to 500$ (more expensive knives are for prettier, or famous blades). They are very thin, highly polished (it'll glide through food) and made of extremely sharp, extremely hard, hand forged laminated steel.

[-] Underwaterbob@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago

Razors

Definitely! I used to chase the largest number of blades. Mach 3, then Fusion. And then noticed that it was getting a bit insane paying $30 for a pack of four replacement heads. About ten years ago, I noticed a resurgence in double edged safety razor popularity. Bought a $50 Edwin Jaggar handle (which they replaced with a sturdier version for free when I broke it!), and have been picking up my Dorco blades $10 for 100 since. The shave is just as good, if not better, and getting straight lines is actually much easier. I feel like if more people knew, Gillette would just go out of business.

[-] weeeeum@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Yeah it's the early version of enshittification. When the current product is too cheap and effective , make a newer "advanced" one with all of their "technology" and "precision".

I've seen this in knives and tools. For much of woodworking all you need is a bench, saw, hammer and chisels, however today, people are convinced you need a hardware store's worth of power tools to even think about building basic furniture.

Or in cooking, everyone tries to convince you to buy their stupid expensive set of fake Japanese knives with some thermo plastic resin handle and their special unbreakable stainless super steel.

Many modern knives are actually worse than their contemporaries because now they are designed for marketing. Big heavy oversized bolsters and super thick blades to market them as invincible, tough knives that can chop through a cinder block or some goofy shit. In reality you just need a thin knife and a small bolster, of which older chef knives had, because they were built for actual use.

I ALWAYS compare new products vs old, because oftentimes the new version only exists because it's more profitable.

load more comments (6 replies)
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
372 points (99.2% liked)

Asklemmy

43652 readers
1553 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS