My big stack of cartridge razor blades has just run out and I'd like to replace it with something less wastefull, and from what I hear a safety razor gives a better shave too.
From what I can see there's no big difference beyond personal preferance on ergonomics, but are there any brands to avoid? Any well regarded? Can I just get anything? Anything I might not have thought about?
I bought a pretty basic safety razor from maggard about 10 years ago and still love it. The biggest thing to learn and invest in is what blades and lather you like. I started off buying a blade sampler pack from them and settled on astra blades. i’ll change up my lather/soap sometimes. Also a nice brush is good to have.
I can talk again! Merkur 34C is my recommendation, small but heavy, nice shave. My preference for blades is Shark, they’re made in Egypt, you can buy the blades cheap & in bulk on eBay.
I use a Merkur safety razor, but most often I use a commercial shaving cream like Gillette as I don’t have the time it takes to break out my brush etc.
I look at it as I get the benefit of cheap, close shaves, without the longer process of using my brush to lather up. Maybe if I had a nice badger brush I’d feel differently.
As for the blades - Astra are a good general purpose blade I like. Feathers, as someone else mentioned, are wicked sharp, and require extra care.
Moving from cartridge expect to take some time to get the technique down. You can’t go as fast.
I’ve been using a Merkur Progress for ten years now. The adjustability of the action makes it more versatile, which makes it easier to adjust to different types of blades. I use Astra Superior blades, but also have a stack of Shark blades that I at some point liked, and some Feather blades that are insanely sharp and unforgiving.
Make sure you learn how to lather properly. A good lather makes all the difference, and it also a major factor in making it a lot more enjoyable than the canned Gillette-stuff. I use Proraso for my run-of-the-mill shaves, and have over the years bought a variety of hard soaps as well. My favorite is Marlborough from D.R. Harris.
EDIT: I had one of those starter razors from Mühle in the beginning (Rytmo?). It snapped in two at the neck after I dropped it by accident, after 6 months use. I still have the synthetic hair brush that came with it. Some people go really into brushes, but I’ve been happy with mine.
I’ve been using a stainless steel one from “mühle” for about 25 years now. I don’t know what should ever break on it tbh, just three pieces of stainless steel.
Mine is “travel size”, don’t remember why i bought this, but in hindsight i totally like that i did, saves weight and volume travelling. And i am completely used to it this way, was my first safety razor, so i had to get used to something new anyway and i’m glad that’s what i went for.
I use a leaf. Similar to regular razer but uses the same blades as safety razer. So the method and form factor didn’t change for me. It’s metal and will last me a long time.
I’ve never had any problems with different brands. I use BIC blades at the moment because you can do subscribe and save with them on Amazon, at least here in the UK. But you can sometimes get a better deal when buying in bulk.
I shaved my head with a safety razor when I first started as well as my face. I rarely cut myself on my face but it took a while to get used to holding the skin taut on my head to straighten it out before I stopped cutting myself there. But the cuts you do get tend to be very light rather than the deep gouges I got on the rare occasions my cartridge slipped off the handle. A piece of toilet paper should stop the bleeding and they should heal within a day at most.
Also, I’d recommend switching to using a shaving butter or soap rather than a foam. Makes it easier to see what you’re doing.
Sorry I’m pretending it’s a forum or something and I’m gonna watch the thread but then I realized I don’t think there’s a way to do that on here. But yeah interested to see what’s recommended, I would like to switch to “safety” or straight razor at some point.
Not what you’re asking, but have you tried sharpening your cartridge blades? I’ve been using the same store brand 3 blade cartridge for a few years now, just stropping by swiping it in reverse up my arm 10-20 times right before shaving in the shower. Shave is close, no razor burn. Considering you’re concerned about waste, zero waste in a few years seems worth mentioning.
Simple reason! Check-in bags cost $20+ per flight (most expensive I’ve seen in $50 for the smallest bag). That adds up quick when you take a few flights each year.
I didn’t throw out my razor, I gave it to a friend who has gotten many years use out it now, so it hasn’t gone to waste.
You change continents and all you bring is carry on luggage? So you just live in hotels and you never have furniture or big items like a painting, or a set of jackets that don’t fit in your carry on? So basically several times per year you gather all your belongings, put in a tiny luggage that can fit in an overhead lockers and is not charged more by the airline?
They didn’t say how long they stay at any location for. So if it’s a short trip for a few days and then fly back home, traveling with just a carry-on is very reasonable.
Nah, it’s full-time travel. Most would find it unreasonable, but we find having few possessions liberating. It’s strange, but there’s a mental load lifted when you don’t have a house of stuff to keep track of.
Yes, my wife and I have been doing it since 2016 (with a break in 2020/2021 for obvious reasons).
Usually stay in short-rental apartments rather than hotels as with two people it’s usually cheaper than a hotel or hostel, given weekly and monthly discounts that are common.
Most airlines used to have 10kg included but now for most it’s gone down to 7kg so we’ve had to get more creative. 5 shirts, 2 pants (one zip-off for swimming), 8 pairs of underwear and 5 pairs of socks, 2 sweaters. Small bag of toiletries. Winter jacket, thermals, gloves (good enough for Hokkaido in the early spring). Do washing once a week when it’s cold, twice when it’s hot. Heaviest thing is of course my laptop & brick. Changed bag to a thin canvas one to reduce weight further when the size/weight restrictions went down. Some airlines (such as Ryanair) don’t even let you use the overhead bins for free so the bag has to fit under the seat in front.
I flew with a safety razor in my carry-on within the US, and no one seemed concerned. According to TSA, they’re chill as long as there are no blades, and it’d probably be a good idea to disassemble it too (which is what I did).
Yes, I considered traveling without blades and just buying at each destination (we try to use busses and trains more than flights), but it seems wasteful; I don’t use them up that quick. Instead I buy a 12-pack of disposable razor heads (2-blade only - the 5-blade ones are terrible!) and use one per month. With care they don’t go blunt too quick.
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Welcome to the club! You’ll never swap back. There’s a lot of good info here already so I won’t repeat a bunch of stuff.
The brushes with a nice block of lotioned cream are best but can cream still works fine. I got a $30 screw top razor and can get very close. I go with the grain then reapply cream and go against. One thing to be extremely careful of is never slide it sideways ha. It’s a blade.
Likely the first time you use it you’ll lop off any imperfections in your skin. Those generally grow back flat. I shave my head with one and the first couple shaves when I switch styles are a bloodbath lol
Im sure I will get some strong contrary opinions but in my experience you can't get a closer shave with a safety razer. Maybe a straight razor but I never went that route as the safety is easier and works well enough for me. Personally I find normal shaving will do alright if im not going anywhere. I can kick it up a notch by against the grain follow up. If I really want to have it close though I follow up with a good disposable. This is fine to me as I use one per year and a pack lasts, well I have not finished the pack off yet. One thing if your new. Always make sure its tight. As long as its tight its almost impossible to cut yourself but if you do cut yourself it will because you allowed the mechanism to get to loose.
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