The first time I shaved my face was July of 1996. I already graduated high school, and was heading to Navy boot camp that month.

I needed help from my dad as to how to shave, and it took some getting used to.

Since then, I have shaved almost every day of my life, due to my obligations to the service. I've been using a Schick Quattro Titanium razor for two years now, having moved to it from a Mach 3 due to the blades lasting a little longer. I used to use Colgate Menthol shaving creme but switched to Barbasol sensitive skin because I couldn't find Colgate.

Every now and then, I'll cut myself pretty good due to a muscle jerk or inattentive shaving. It's a pain.

This month, as a random experience, I decided to do a search online for the best shaving creme. I found this article (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/) and starting reading more and more about safety razors.

Hooked.

I've purchased a Merkur Hefty Classic DE, a Vulfix Best Badger Brush, Taylor of Old Bond Street’s Lavender Shaving Creme, an Alum Block, and some Taylor Herbal Aftershave, all from http://www.classicshaving.com. I've also purchased 200 Israeli Personna Super + DE blades from Ebay. All of this should be arriving in a week.

I'm going to use my personalized coffee mug I got when I served on USS FLORIDA (SSGN 728) as my shaving mug.

I'm pretty excited about changing this up, especially after reading the difference it makes.

I've been disappointed in the results of my shaving for years, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

(btw, all of the gear cost about $170, and the DE blades will last two years)

Any other "wet shavers" out there?

8/24/2009 11:40:10 PM

Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades

Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of shaving in this country. The Gillette Mach3 was the razor to own. Then the other guy came out with a three-blade razor. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the Mach3Turbo. That's three blades and an aloe strip. For moisture. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happened—the bastards went to four blades. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling three blades and a strip. Moisture or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to five blades.

Sure, we could go to four blades next, like the competition. That seems like the logical thing to do. After all, three worked out pretty well, and four is the next number after three. So let's play it safe. Let's make a thicker aloe strip and call it the Mach3SuperTurbo. Why innovate when we can follow? Oh, I know why: Because we're a business, that's why!

You think it's crazy? It is crazy. But I don't give a shit. From now on, we're the ones who have the edge in the multi-blade game. Are they the best a man can get? Fuck, no. Gillette is the best a man can get.

What part of this don't you understand? If two blades is good, and three blades is better, obviously five blades would make us the best fucking razor that ever existed. Comprende? We didn't claw our way to the top of the razor game by clinging to the two-blade industry standard. We got here by taking chances. Well, five blades is the biggest chance of all.

Here's the report from Engineering. Someone put it in the bathroom: I want to wipe my ass with it. They don't tell me what to invent—I tell them. And I'm telling them to stick two more blades in there. I don't care how. Make the blades so thin they're invisible. Put some on the handle. I don't care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!

You're taking the "safety" part of "safety razor" too literally, grandma. Cut the strings and soar. Let's hit it. Let's roll. This is our chance to make razor history. Let's dream big. All you have to do is say that five blades can happen, and it will happen. If you aren't on board, then fuck you. And if you're on the board, then fuck you and your father. Hey, if I'm the only one who'll take risks, I'm sure as hell happy to hog all the glory when the five-blade razor becomes the shaving tool for the U.S. of "this is how we shave now" A.

People said we couldn't go to three. It'll cost a fortune to manufacture, they said. Well, we did it. Now some egghead in a lab is screaming "Five's crazy?" Well, perhaps he'd be more comfortable in the labs at Norelco, working on fucking electrics. Rotary blades, my white ass!

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we should just ride in Bic's wake and make pens. Ha! Not on your fucking life! The day I shadow a penny-ante outfit like Bic is the day I leave the razor game for good, and that won't happen until the day I die!

The market? Listen, we make the market. All we have to do is put her out there with a little jingle. It's as easy as, "Hey, shaving with anything less than five blades is like scraping your beard off with a dull hatchet." Or "You'll be so smooth, I could snort lines off of your chin." Try "Your neck is going to be so friggin' soft, someone's gonna walk up and tie a goddamn Cub Scout kerchief under it."

I know what you're thinking now: What'll people say? Mew mew mew. Oh, no, what will people say?! Grow the fuck up. When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top. Which Gillette is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, five blades, sweet Jesus in heaven.

Stop. I just had a stroke of genius. Are you ready? Open your mouth, baby birds, cause Mama's about to drop you one sweet, fat nightcrawler. Here she comes: Put another aloe strip on that fucker, too. That's right. Five blades, two strips, and make the second one lather. You heard me—the second strip lathers. It's a whole new way to think about shaving. Don't question it. Don't say a word. Just key the music, and call the chorus girls, because we're on the edge—the razor's edge—and I feel like dancing.

8/24/2009 11:42:10 PM

I can see putting a lot into a good shaving system, just not that much. Personally I use the same disposable for like 6 months (really). I like when the start to dull, I hate a fresh razor.

8/24/2009 11:45:56 PM

^I agree quite a bit

pack of 3 or 4 disposable razors will last me quite a while

8/24/2009 11:47:02 PM

This is one aspect of life that technology made worse and did not improve.

BTW, a video of of the guy who wrote the article above (Corey Greenberg) can be seen here (someone pls embed):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhDjWSJk0cQ

8/24/2009 11:47:40 PM

dawgs can grow beards all over

I'm AstralAdvent and i approved this message.

8/24/2009 11:51:46 PM

walk like a man?

8/25/2009 12:07:06 AM

wow, already graduated HS?


I started shaving in the 5th grade haha

8/25/2009 12:08:10 AM

This is all you need.

8/25/2009 12:16:59 AM

I'm hooked on the quattro with the built-in beard trimmers. Keeps it all in check in one device.

However for the straight shaving bit I want a safety razor. Bad.

8/25/2009 12:32:08 AM

I love me a mach 3, after 3 shaves, so the blade isn't like taking a ginsu to my face.

8/25/2009 12:32:27 AM

I've been using (or rather, had been using, before I decided to let my facial hair do what little it would) the Fusion for a while. I think it's the Fusion, anyway. The thing with, like, 6 or 12 or 800 blades. I can never remember which. Motherfucker lasts forever.

8/25/2009 12:35:39 AM

Quote :

"wow, already graduated HS? I started shaving in the 5th grade haha"

Yeah...it was pretty crazy...and I didn't even really need to shave then...but I had to shave every morning for boot camp...it took a while for everything to fill in, and now I have no problems...except I have to shave every day...funny how that works

but none of you are actually talking about shaving like the days of our fathers and grandfathers

you should try the switch like I am

I'll let you know how it goes

8/25/2009 2:09:35 AM

My razors last 6 months without all this fancy shit... but that's just because it takes a week for any facial hair to show up.

8/25/2009 2:16:29 AM

dude....you now...but that's a good thing

8/25/2009 4:22:20 AM

way too many words

8/25/2009 7:35:09 AM

quagmire02, ScHpEnXeL, Jeepin4x4 and a handful of others all shave with safety razors. There have been several lengthy discussions in the lounge.

8/25/2009 7:44:00 AM

sumfoo1 quit shaving.... who's the man now ?

lol
j/k

8/25/2009 7:49:24 AM

I shave every morning and use whatever disposable razors are on sale at the time and warm water... fuck shaving cream. Also the trick to keeping blades sharp is to dry them out real good after every use.

Quote :

"pack of 3 or 4 disposable razors will last me quite a while"

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 7:53 AM. Reason : ]

8/25/2009 7:52:33 AM

^^^ yepper, and i love my DE...i'm very happy with my parker 90R, but i think i'm going to pick up a merkur classic to both try it and out and use one of them as my travel razor

Quote :

"200 Israeli Personna Super + DE blades"

good luck with that (seriously)...my experience is that those blades suck, but some people are more sensitive to the quality of the blade than others (those chopped my face to pieces)...you can get the american personnas at walmart (i picked up a few packs when i saw them on sale for $1/5-pack...they're okay in an emergency, but i'll likely give them away, if anyone wants a pack)...the general consensus on badger and blade (if you haven't checked it out, you should: http://www.badgerandblade.com/) is that the american and israeli personnas are pretty much the same

my personal favorites (so far) are the derbys...i'm all about people trying different blades, so if anyone wants to do some swaps, i've got plenty of individually-wrapped 5-packs available for trade if you want to give them a shot

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 7:54 AM. Reason : carats]

8/25/2009 7:53:50 AM

I shave with a rusty pocket knife.

8/25/2009 7:56:55 AM

Quote :

"it takes a week for any facial hair to show up."

i hear that. i hate not having enough to shave with because it irritates the fuck out of my skin. i have to actually plan ahead at the start of the week if i need to shave or not on a certain day.

8/25/2009 8:21:46 AM

^ aha, ditto

8/25/2009 8:24:41 AM

Derby's have been hit or miss for me lately. I used one saturday, brand new blade and it absolutely tore my face up. It was awful.

The israeli Red Pack Personnas have been very good to me as have a brand called Astras.

I've got a pack of Feather blades (Japan) that i'm waiting to try out next.





kdawg(c), if you want this turn into an informative discussion i'd ask qntmfred about maybe moving it into the lounge.

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 8:40 AM. Reason : add]

8/25/2009 8:31:48 AM

Fuck, I hate shaving. Got another "real" job again...so having to shave daily. I'm trying to work on just shaving every other day...but my facial hair just grows too damn fast. I have to shave twice a day of I'm seeing a girl, because my 5'oclock shadow will rub her face raw (or I just keep a small beard).

I use to pray to hit puberty so I could start shaving....now I curse the day!


On that note...the battery powered/vibrating Gillete Mach 3 turbo is the shit. Tried a bunch of stuff...and that's the best.

8/25/2009 8:40:54 AM

shit, I shave once a week lol

and use a double edged merkur. i get crazy razor burn if i even try to use anything else now

8/25/2009 8:42:07 AM

I usually just put cheez whiz on my face, then cover it with fire ants. They usually take off a few layers of skin with the hair, but it works really well.

Quote :

"I'm hooked on the quattro with the built-in beard trimmers. Keeps it all in check in one device."

I got one of those for free through some random offer I found on slickdeals. The trimmer is really nice, but I haven't used the actual razor part once.

btw, I'd like to state that I'm so glad my job doesn't have too strict of a dress code. I usually shave twice a week at most unless I have a date or something. I hate shaving two days in a row, it tears my face up and it never seem to get as close a shave as I'd like. I usually wait at least three between shaves at the bare minimum.

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 10:37 AM. Reason : ]

8/25/2009 10:36:19 AM

What do you guys do with your back hair shavings?

8/25/2009 10:38:04 AM

I burn the hair off my face. That's how hardcore I am.

8/25/2009 10:38:55 AM

How many shaves to you get out of a mach 3 blade?

8/25/2009 10:40:01 AM

Since when does "shaving like a man" entail blowing almost two hundred bucks on toys and lotion and shit?

~

8/25/2009 10:40:19 AM

WHERE CAN I BUY A GODDAMN SAFETY RAZOR LOCALLY???

Seriously, I've been looking for months. Well, not looking very hard, but when I remember to.

8/25/2009 10:41:35 AM

I shave MWF if its just a normal work week

I shave every day if we have clients coming in or teleconferencing on our new HD teleconferencing gizmos

I shave if I'm seeing a girl that day

I shave if I'm flying that day...superstition maybe, but I always hope I'm seated next to some model and don't want whiskers to waste my flavor

I shave about 6 oclock on Saturday nights

I shave before church, when and if I go

I shave on the days I get a haircut



thats about it

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 10:43 AM. Reason : x]

8/25/2009 10:43:08 AM

^^^i don't know. but i got an old-school set-up for about a third of that price.

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 10:52 AM. Reason : .]

8/25/2009 10:44:06 AM

Quote :

"WHERE CAN I BUY A GODDAMN SAFETY RAZOR LOCALLY???"

good question...let me know if you find a place

i think you'd have the best luck at a knife shop, though you probably won't be able to beat the online prices

8/25/2009 11:00:58 AM

Quote :

"I shave if I'm flying that day...superstition maybe, but I always hope I'm seated next to some model and don't want whiskers to waste my flavor"

From the girls I've talked to, although it feels better to be clean shaven, it apparently looks better to be a little rugged.

8/25/2009 11:07:36 AM

Its different for different guys

Some look better with scruff, most don't

You should know that, tosser

8/25/2009 11:08:53 AM

man the fuck up

8/25/2009 11:10:58 AM

Quote :

"good question...let me know if you find a place"

the razor blade or the handles?

blades are at most grocery stores

the actual handle..no idea

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 11:11 AM. Reason : s]

8/25/2009 11:11:39 AM

Quote :

"quagmire02, ScHpEnXeL, Jeepin4x4 and a handful of others all shave with safety razors. There have been several lengthy discussions in the lounge."

I use one too.

8/25/2009 11:19:44 AM

For information on local wet shaving supplies see the link below


http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=33150

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 11:23 AM. Reason : better link]

8/25/2009 11:21:55 AM

Quote :

"On that note...the battery powered/vibrating Gillete Mach 3 turbo is the shit."

I use the battery Fusion, which is basically the same thing but with a Fusion cartridge, and I rather like it as well. I do think something about the vibrations make my whiskers stand up better, or something. I may give the brush + quality product a whirl while keeping this razor and see what results I get.

Quote :

"From the girls I've talked to, although it feels better to be clean shaven, it apparently looks better to be a little rugged."

My girl prefers me with a couple of days' worth of stubble. However I have an unfortunate tendency to be lazy in the morning and stretch that couple days into 4 or 5, at which point I just look undignifiedly scruffy.

8/25/2009 11:30:47 AM

^Girls definitely like the rugged look if you can pull it off (that is...if your beard comes in full and equally distributed about your face).

They usually hate the feel of a 5 o'clock shadow or just one or two days of non-shaven facial hair. And some girls hate the feel of any kind of beard/facial hair.

I've done numerous amounts of research on different lengths/types of facial hair on different types of girls. Majority either like the clean shave or about a 3-5 day beard depending on how fast you grow yours. 3 days works for me. That being said...I fucking hate shaving. If not necessary because of job....I do about 3/4 days...then keep it that length with a beard/mustache trimmer. Debating whether or not to just keep a permanent beard though.

8/25/2009 11:39:45 AM

No work = No shave

8/25/2009 11:58:15 AM

I generally shave MWF.

But like with Labor day coming up, I will only shave MW. Then back to MWF.

8/25/2009 12:23:02 PM

i shave every 2-4 days, depending

on average, it's every 3 days since it takes that long before i start to look scruffy...2 days is still more than acceptable, but 4 is starting to look kind of rough

the gf doesn't like facial hair, especially the rough stubble that's more like sandpaper than anything else, so that's my biggest motivation for shaving

i, too, couldn't wait to be able to shave when i was kid...now i'm thankful that i don't have to do it more often (though i DO wish it grew in more fully...i can do a full mustache and a full goatee, but they don't meet up around the sides and i couldn't do sideburns or a full beard if my life depended on it)

8/25/2009 1:14:12 PM

has anyone else read this bullshit about "method shaving": http://enchanteonline.com/pages/faqs/hydrolastfaq.pdf

holy god.. i've never seen so much misused bullshit put into one document

[Edited on August 25, 2009 at 1:22 PM. Reason : oh, and i can shave sunday and not get very scruffy until wednesday or thur.. haha]

8/25/2009 1:21:52 PM

I usually shave MWF but on the off days it's very obvious after lunch that I didn't shave. If I let it grow out my facial hair gets pretty thick and goes all the way up to within an inch of my eyes. it sucks.

I use a battery powered Fusion but even shaving every other day, plus an extra times on weekends I find it is dull after 7-8 uses. It shaves my face pretty well, but I've never been able to find a decent razor for my neck, especially around my Adam's apple. And if I am determined to get a very close shave down there I always come away with razor burn and/or multiple cuts.

I shave with shaving cream in the shower, I prefer it this way b/c my skin doesn't get too dry while I'm shaving.

Any suggestions for improvement?

8/25/2009 1:30:24 PM

^Shave in front of a mirror maybe??

Maybe its just me, but every time I try to shave in a shower, it just doesn't go as well. I miss little spots and usually get more cuts (even with a little mirror in the shower...because those things suck anyways). If it's about your skin being dry...then just make sure you wet it well before you apply shaving gel. I also use the gel for really sensitive skin (I don't think I have sensitive skin, but it seems to do better against razor burn).

I can always just pay attention better in front of a mirror at the sink.

8/25/2009 1:34:29 PM

^thanks for the suggestion, but I have a fogless mirror in the shower so I am using a mirror when I shave. If I ever have to shave in front of a sink I always get my skin wet before putting cream on but it doesn't matter, its still too dry as I'm shaving.

Maybe I just have really sensitive skin. I've tried multiple creams and gels and while some are better none are awesome. Right now I've been using some Nivea sensitive skin gel.

8/25/2009 1:38:22 PM