kinda disturbing testimonial

Do you ever find yourself in the 24-hour grocery/drug store/megalamart, late at night, aimlessly wandering the aisles, absorbing all of the pop detritus of our society?
I do.
I have a serious weakness for the 24-hour CVS and Walgreens.
They have everything you can imagine.
 Really, everything; except for the one thing i was looking for, of course. I needed a new phone for my land line as the 2-phone/one-rings-in-but-one-calls-out/wait-the-wall-cord-is-damaged-so-i-have-to-hold-it-in situation was not working for me anymore, but alas there were none to be found that weren't cordless (i don't like cordless phones. Why? beats me; i just don't) so instead i found myself just browsing up and down the aisles, letting my eyes dance over the colors and shapes while i hatched a phone plan.
Turning the corner of an endcap i was stopped by this
What is that?!?
Let's remember that i don't have television, so anything marked As Seen on TV has indeed never been seen by me on TV. I read the packaging, snickered and walked away.
Then, 2 aisles later, i walked back.
You see, i live in an old house.
I have slow drains.
 At least once a year, sometimes twice, i do the liquid drain chemical gakiness to keep them flowing. That stuff can't be good for my ancient pipes. It can't be good for the environment. It can't be good for me to even be in the same room with it.
What if the TurboSnake works?
What if it can keep my drains running without chemicals?
 Isn't that worth a try?
Isn't that worth $10?
Yes it is.
I bought the TurboSnake.
Technically, i bought 2, since there are 2 sizes in the pack. Okay. There they are. Heavy-duty wrapped wire with velcro on the end. Really? What was i thinking? You thread the velcro end down the drain until you meet resistance, then you do this twirly motion and then you pull it out.
 Okay.
I tried the smaller sink one and hooked some stray hair and stuff, but was mostly unimpressed.
On to the larger tub size. I tried a few times that ended in frustration. No mater which way i tried, i couldn't get the dang thing to thread. My tub is ancient and fully enclosed so there is no way to know which direction the plumbing runs. But you know how failure just stiffens my resolve. On trial #6 i finally found the correction direction (straight back, then down, then back again - weird) and threaded the TurboSnake down about a foot and a half, did the magic twirling and started to pull it back out. There was a bit of resistance and i could see some hair on the velcro end as it reached the drain, but as i pulled the snake out, more stuff kept coming with it. And more stuff. And more stuff. It was alarming, to say the least.
  Jumping Jehoshaphat!
Look at that nastiness.
Remember, my drain wasn't even clogged, just running a little slow. Since then, it has been draining like a champ.
I am simultaneously pleased with my purchase and disgusted by its use.