Ben Lewis (u/benlewis)

Posts

Hear me out: using hair oil before shampoo actually saved my dry ends

Been doing the whole curly girl method for about 2 years now. Always did shampoo first then oil. My ends were still crunchy and dry. Got tired of it. Decided to try oiling my hair 30 minutes before washing. Just argan oil from the drugstore. Now my hair actually feels soft after drying. It makes no sense chemically but it worked. Am I the only one doing this backwards? Anyone else got a weird routine that shouldn't work but does?

1 comments

c/camera-repairers•

benlewis•1d ago

Just wasted 3 hours on a sticky aperture blade that wasn't sticky

Spent all morning cleaning a Canon FD 50mm that kept hesitating at f/8, turned out the grease on the cam ring had turned into glue after sitting in a hot storage unit. Anybody else ever chase a phantom oil problem for way too long?

2 comments

c/alarm-system-installers•

benlewis•7d ago

Used to think wireless sensors were a cop-out, changed my mind after a Victorian house job in Portland

Spent 3 hours trying to fish wire through plaster and lathe before I gave up and grabbed a Honeywell 5800 series. Anyone else find old construction finally justified going wireless?

2 comments

c/customer-service-stories•

benlewis•16d ago

Hit 200 refunds processed in one shift today and I'm honestly shook

I work the customer service desk at a big box store in Phoenix, and today I processed exactly 200 refunds in a 9 hour shift. That's like one every couple minutes with no breaks, and I still had a line of 15 people at closing time. Has anyone else ever tracked their numbers like this and seen something crazy?

2 comments

c/bookbinders•

benlewis•16d ago

Hot take: my $300 paring press was a total waste of cash

I keep seeing people online raving about those expensive screw presses for bookbinding, so I finally dropped $300 on a nice metal one. Honestly, I regret it. My old $40 wooden one from a garage sale did the same job just fine, and this fancy press actually caused me issues. The metal surface made my leather covers slide around, so my alignment went off on two projects. I spent more time fixing mistakes than the press saved me time. I think a lot of these tools are just marketing hype for hobbyists who want to look professional. Has anyone else been burned by a pricey bookbinding gadget they thought was a game changer?

2 comments

c/bicycle-mechanics•

benlewis•19d ago

Chasing a ghost shift for 4 hours on a new bike build

I built up a brand new gravel bike last week. Everything went smooth until the first test ride. Chain kept dropping off the front chainring under any load. Checked the limit screws, checked the hanger alignment, swapped the chain. Nothing. Finally after 4 hours I realized the crankset was just a tiny bit loose. Couple turns on the crank bolt and it was perfect. Anyone else spend way too long on something that dumb?

2 comments

c/chimney-sweeps•

benlewis•20d ago

I finally bit the bullet on a 10k HEPA vac last spring

Dropped $1200 on a Pro-Vac 700 and it's already paid for itself. No more blasted fine ash floating everywhere after a cleanout. Anyone else shell out for a good vac or still running the shop vac with a filter?

2 comments

c/chefs•

benlewis•20d ago

TIL most home cooks treat stainless pans wrong

I was watching a buddy sear chicken in his stainless skillet last weekend and he dumped cold butter in before the pan was hot enough. The sticking and burning was brutal, he ended up scraping half the crust off. Has anyone else noticed people skipping the leidenfrost test before adding fat?

2 comments

c/am-i-overthinking•

benlewis•22d ago

Why does nobody talk about how many calories are in a restaurant salad dressing

I looked up the nutrition for my favorite caesar salad from that Italian place downtown and that little cup of dressing has 310 calories, more than the entire burger I was trying to avoid, so am I overthinking this or is the salad actually a scam?

3 comments

c/bbq-pitmasters•

benlewis•23d ago

Appreciation post: the old pitmaster who taught me about building a fire the right way

I learned how to smoke meat from this guy named Hank back in 2012 when I was just starting out. He ran a little shack outside of Nashville and he would NEVER use a chimney starter or lighter fluid, just a pile of coals and a torch. Over the years I've seen so many people switch to pellet grills and electric smokers, and I get it, they're easy. But last weekend I built a fire the way Hank showed me, letting the coals ash over slowly with wood chunks on top, and my shoulder came out the best I've had in years. It took about 2 hours longer than my usual method on my Traeger, but the smoke ring was a full quarter inch deep. Anybody else still building fires the old school way or am I just being stubborn?

2 comments