A straight razor, aka: Ginsu'icus Fuck Your Shit Up'icus. Real men shave with straight razors. Real men also wrestle bears, live in log cabins, drink alcohol from the still you could probably clean car parts with, and so on. I don't consider myself to be THAT manly. Oh, who are we kidding ... REAL men don't shave at all. So if the thought of shaving has even crossed your mind, then you're a little sissy girl. We're all just a bunch of sissy girls ... who weild sharp objects at our throats every morning. Odd how men have formed a ritual of weilding a sharp object to their throat every morning before tying a noose (tie) around their neck. The vague suicidal symbolism is amazing.
A safety razor, aka: Ginsu'icus Been Neuter'ist. Usually you rotate the top to open the flaps and then drop a double-edged razor into it. Rotate the top the other way to close the flaps, and it bends the blade while it's at it to curve it, making it angled towards the safety guard. You can be a little more liberal in how you weidl this instrument then you can with a straight razor, since this has a safety guard and such. Still, you can get some nasty razor burn if you try scraping it across your face like you do with disposables. With a safety razor, you have to use a little more gentle touch ... and fucking sharp blades. If you have to use a lot of pressure, then you're not using very good blades.The reason I decided to try it, was because I'm sick and tired of how expensive and how fast disposable, cartridge & electric razors wear out. Electric razors are expensive as hell for a decent one, and they shave good for about a month, then crap out. You either have a burned out shaver, or you have to pop $25 on new blades for it. Big pain. Cartridge razors require an initial investment in the shaver, usually $15+ for a decent one, then they price-gouge you on cartridges for $5-10 ... cartridges that barely last a week. Disposables are the same way ... ~$5-10 for decent ones that will last you a week or two.
I usually popped for decent, 3-bladed disposables, and 1 would last me about 1/2 a week (3-4 shaves) which would include shaving my chest as well as my face. (Yes, I'm a bit metro sexual in that I shave my chest. I don't get the really manly chest fur that some guys get. I just get long, fine, delicate, patchy chest hair that looks dumb. I'm not a very hairy guy to begin with, so it just looks better if I shave it all off. Takes all of a minute or two in the shower.) I don't mind the better disposables, but after that first shave with one, you don't quite get as close of a shave the next few times. They just dull out too fast. I got some cheaper ones from a bargain store, and they rusted after the first shave. Yeah, at least the more expensive ones were made with stainless steel or something. Cheaper blades left wet in the shower that rust ... don't exactly want that carving your face and giving you tetanus.
So, I got annoyed with it all, and I've been debating getting a safety razor anyways, since after the initial investment in the shaver, the blades are very inexpensive and it pays for itself in savings in the long run.
Of course, FINDING a safety razor locally is the problem. The only places I found to buy one was expensive knife / shaving shops. And the ones they were selling were $100+ varieties separately, or in $200+ kits that came with a stand, brush, etc. Uh, no. You see, much like the scooter I bought, I wanted to try it out inexpensively first. That way if I didn't like it, I wouldn't be pissed I popped $100+ just to learn that lesson.
Well, after trolling around on the internet reading everyone's wonderful opinion about straight razors, I ended up on www.classicshaving.com, which was one of the main sites folks pointed noobs to. Looking around, I found a $25 starter straight razor ... the Feather razor I believe. It's basically a plastic handle with plastic razor guards, stainless steel razor holder, etc, etc. It came with 2 blades. ClassicShaving.com seems to have something against shipping regular mail, so I had to pop another $5 on 1st class postal shipping. All in all, $30 to try this out wasn't too bad.
I get it in a couple of days, so I decide to try it out immediately. I had shaved with one of the cheap-o rustee disposables earlier that day, and I was already growing some 5 o'clock shadow (which for me is unusual, since a close shave usually lasts me all day ... again, I'm not that hairy of a guy.)
I crack it out, and install one of the blades. The blades, by the way, are freakin thin! It came with feather blades, which are thin by design, but I didn't realize how thin they'd be. If they were any thinner, you could see through them.
Safety razor aficionados will go on about how a "proper" shave involves letting your face heat up in the shower, then shaving after the shower, using a badger brush to lather up some fine English suds in a tub, etc, etc.
My first shave involved wetting down my face, then a little hand soap and a little hand lotion mixed together in my wet palm and applied liberally. Not exactly a "by the book" shave, but it came out quite well.
The safety razor takes a little getting used to. Once you start shaving with it, you realize it's not as intimidating to use as you might think. In fact, I'd say it's just like using a cartridge or disposable razor, it's just the safety razor does a better job of it. You do have to take the advice about easing up on your shaving pressure. I pressed a little too hard when first using it on sections of tight skin (like the lower neck), and got a bit of razor burn. But, once you get used to using a light, delicate touch, and realize it takes a while for these blades to dull out, you really start liking it. I've shaved about 5 times (face and chest) with the same blade, and it's still just as sharp. Plus, the metal used in the shaver and blades is fairly rust-resistant. So, I can wet-shave in the shower then leave it to dry without worrying. The blades would probably hold up a little longer if I left the shaver head soaking in a cup of rubbing alcohol, but so far I've been lazy and just let it sit out and dry. So far it's holding up just fine.
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SIDE NOTES
About the blades ... your shaver is only as good as the blades you use with it. Mine originally came with 2 Feather blades. Feather blades are made by a Japanese company that also makes surgical instruments. In other words, these folks know how to making some sharp fucking blades. I got about 4-5 good shaves with the blades before they started rusting. They're high quality stainless steel, but they do still rust. I tried sticking the shaver in a cup of 91% rubbing alcohol, since other folks online say that's a good way to prevent rust. But, I still noticed rusting none-the-less. I decided to ditch the rubbing alcohol, and just give the razor a good shake-off in the shower when done with it. The metal on the shaver itself is rust-proof (some kind of nickel alloy or something ... not sure), but the blades are steel and rust.
After I ran out of the 2 Feather blades, I noticed the local pharmacy carried dual-edged blades. So, I bought a 10 pack for $3 or so. These things fucking sucked, though. I got maybe 1 decent shave out of each blade, and even that was debateable. It didn't get very close. I had to scrape a bit more than I had to with the Feather blades, and ended up with razor burn several times. I noticed they started rusting right after the first shave, so I was going through 1 shave with each blade. About 3 blades through the pack, I hopped online to find some place to order more Feather blades. I skipped ClassicShaving.com, since they keep tacking on a minimum $5 shipping charge to everything. I ended up on Amazon.com with a dealer selling 100 blades for ~$30 or so. That's not bad. That's about $0.30 per blade. After I got the Feathers in the mail (the guy just shipped me 10 packets with 10 blades each ... 100 blades, I've been using them ever since.
The Feather blades are individually sealed in wax paper to keep them fresh. The generic blades I got from the pharmacy were not. The Feather blades are just lighter and sharper, and I get a good 3-4 shaves with each. I could probably do another 1-2 shaves after, but it's just nice to change the blade early on to keep the blade sharp. A dull shave is never an enjoyable experience, and it's a hassle to change the blade once you're already in the shower, wet and shaving. So, with 100 blades, at 3-4 shave each (basically 3-4 days of shaving, that's about a year's worth of blades right there...for just $30. I'd usually spend at least $5 on disposables per month, if not $10 from having to get a second pack. $5 x 12 = $60, so just using the safety razor is already cutting the shaving costs in half.
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Wet-shaving in the shower with the thing requires a little different tactics when using baking soda, though. With the disposable, I'd baking soda for the first and the second passes (first with the grain to get thick stubble and dead skin off, second against the grain to get remaining fine stubble). With the safety razor, I still baking soda my first run. The baking soda acts as a lubricant (since it slicks up when wet), and the safety razor does a good, quick job of the initial pass. The baking soda still does a good job of degreasing and exfoliating the face, so going with the grain keeps that stuff from getting into pores and clogging them.
However, on the second pass, I've switched to either using shampoo (if I'm shampoo'ing that day ... really only do it once or twice a week, since I use baking soda as a shampoo the rest of the time). Or, on days I'm not shampoo'ing, I'll use hand/body lotion as a lubricant. This works out pretty good, since it soothes and moisturizes the skin while working against the grain. However, you have to use a thin layer, otherwise it gathers up with stubble and can clog up some pores. For the most part, it's worked quite well.
Takes a little getting used to, and my shaving time in the shower has increased, but so far I'm fairly pleased. I'd much rather pop a little money on some small replacement blades then a lot of money on disposables, cartridges or electric razors still.
Highly recommended.
