A Better Way To Shave
If all you have used to shave with is a multi blade from Gillette or Schick etc, then you are doing your face a disservice. As a long sufferer of razor burn, ingrown hair, and acne from using the Gillette Mach 3 system for years. I was talking to a friend at a BBQ and he was singing the praises of his safety razor, so I thought I’d give it a go too. With my research of not really knowing what to look for in either the handle or the blades I settled on going to well established brands.
Handle Choice
For the handle I settled on a German brand, Merkur. Merker make a number of handles but I liked the look of the Progress model. This is available in two options, regular handle and long handle. Not being able to directly compare them, I felt the extra length and weight of the long handle would be more suitable for my large hands. The extra weight also helps with cutting. I settled on the Merkur Progress Long Handle Adjustable Safety Razor. This model also has an adjustable head to vary the aggressiveness of the cut. More on this later.
Blade Choice
Now to decide on the blades, and there is just as much choice with blades and handles. At least with the handles I could rule out certain features. The blades, it’s a bit harder as they are all the same shape, and more or less the same material. My research lead me to a Japanese manufacturer. As a fan of Japanese chef knives I felt I couldn’t go wrong. I settled on the Feather Hi-Stainless. What won me over was the reputable brand, as well as the quality of Japanese manufacturing. Reviews were mixed on these and varied between the greatest thing on earth to the worst thing on earth. I suspect that there are a lot of knock off blades, so make sure what you buy is genuine.
Handle Review
Starting out with the razor on the least aggressive setting I got to work. I built up my lather, applied it to my face, and. Well, a safety razor is very different to using a disposable multi blade razor, it wasn’t pretty. With some more practice, especially on ensuring I had the correct angle against my skin I was able to make improvements. Turns out the Feather might not be the best blade to learn on. The Feather held an edge well, but was a bit tricky with my skin. Testing out the adjustability, I stepped up from 1 through to 5. One being the least aggressive, and 5 the most aggressive. Above 3, things got precarious. I have settled on using setting 1 for ease of use. So I probably didn’t really need an adjustable handle. But you don’t know until you try.
I spoke to my friend about my shaving troubles, he shared a few sample blades with me. This included; Vidyu Supermax Super Stainless, Ming Shi Super White, Shark, Wilkinson Sword, Derby Extra, Dorco, Unlabeled.
Blade Review
I used each blade for 5 shaves to test how quickly they dulled. Yes, 5 shaves on a single blade is a lot, but I felt it would provide sufficient use to really evaluate them. Especially with using the adjustable handle. Starting with the Vidyu, this blade did an ok job, didn’t tear my face up too much, but dulled quickly. Next was the Ming Shi, this blade was better than the Vidyu and the Feather, but I still felt it wasn’t ideal. Following up was the Shark, and this was a pretty good blade compared to everything I had used before. But keeping on with the remaining three blades.
The Derby Extra was next, and this too was a great blade, on par with the Shark. This just left the Dorco and the Unlabeled one. The unlabeled blade was junk, I used it once and in the bin it went. The Dorco was an ok blade on par with the Vidyu. As a bonus I did end up trying one extra blade. The big advantage of safety razors is they are cheap and are a world standard size, so on a trip to Paris I bought Wilkson Sword blades to use. This old school brand really wowed me. It was easy to use, didn’t nick my neck, didn’t razor burn, and held an edge really well. Really saving the best for last.
December, 2020