Wet shave
Of course, I personally haven't done anything worthy to give myself stature in the hall of champions and have decided to keep myself clean-faced, well, as best I can. Most importantly I don't want to burn through razor cartridges in my pogonotomy journey.
To do this, I have thrown away my Gillette Mach-III Turbo©, I simply cannot afford the cost of the cartridges, even at one per week, that soon adds up. When considering double-edge safety razors, I looked at the price of blades and it was a quick and easy decision to make, I could afford the £0.25/week to use a new blade every few days and give a really clean finish. One of the important things I wanted at this cost was to have a new blade each day I shaved, I can do this easily without much thought, but it's mostly "because I can" rather than "because I need to". The blades are often very usable past four days, which is when you might want to start using the remaining edge.
So, with this in mind I've switched to use a setup that should last an eternity for the same cost. Even if you're not interested in investing a lot of money, it's very simple to get started. The traditional safety razor can be purchased cheaply. Comparing the cost of the blades they work out around 1/15th the cost.
A long time ago people used double edged blades, it worked for them and it works for me.
The set consists of a shaving bowl, brush, mirror, double edged blades and butterfly razor. One of the most important factors of getting a good close wet shave is that you use plenty of water and ensure that you have a soft lather of soap on your face. I've tried oil and find that it's not as good as you think once the shave is complete as the oil tends to leave stubble stuck to sinks and removing the oil from skin can be tiresome.
One advantage of using a new blade each day, especially if you're still learning the technique is that you'll be guaranteed the same blade sharpness each time you pick the razor up. With multi-blade cartridges you're likely to have a completely different feel after a few days use.
Double edge safety razor (closed)
Double edge safety razor (open)
The razor above is sometimes sold as a "Shaving Factory" or "Ming Shui" double edge blade.
| item | premium brand item | cost | premium cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brush + soap | Hydra Shaving Foam 250ml | £0.40 + £0.60 | £3.00 |
| Safety razor | Mach 3 with 2 plades | £5.00 (extra for posh models) | £6.00 |
| Double edge blades x10 | Mach 3 x8 | £1.80 | £12.00 |
When putting these prices together I noticed there's now a battery powered safety razor available, I can't imagine the benefit.
If you're after a quick setup then you can probably use this product from Shaving Factory on Amazon to get you started: Shaving Gift Set SF289.
Once you have all the ingredients for the perfect shave you may wish to purchase a stand, perhaps this economical stand from Betterware: shaving stand. A great feature of this is the bowel that you can put a small amount of hot water in to use just for wetting the bristles of the brush before reapplying cream, the advantage here is that you're not putting stubble back onto your face. (I bought one of these myself but I don't have a use for the cartridge razor).
There is a difference between safety razors. The entry level Wilkinson Sword safety razor has a large head, whereas some of the metal butterfly razors have a smaller head which allows the razor to move into areas of the face that might be difficult otherwise.
I've never had such close shaves, I don't need aloe strips, hydrating razors or protective guards. After converting to the traditional shaving techniques I cannot think how much money I've wasted over the years on disposable cartridges. Nothing tells you more about how good the shaves are than asking the Mrs and she's thrilled!
Another great thing about wet shaving is with double edge blades is that you can chop and change your mind at any point without any real expense to your pocket. For example, 5 blades can often cost around £1, so, should you decide to try another blade manufacturer, then it's cost you only a small sum. Switching from the leading cartridge razors will cost a great deal more.
Contents |
reduced cost to the environment
Another thing that annoys me about the cartridge systems is that the blades and handles are not interchangeable. Should you decide to go from using the Power Buzz to the Steam Fission, chances are the cartridges are not going to be interchangeable. With double edge razors you can put the blades you're using to one side and pick out todays choice to give that one a go. Easy.
Once you're finished with your double edge blade, put it into a tin of some description that's kiddie safe, once full take to a recycling station. Cartridge systems, well it's possible to recycle but the costs of raw material recovery are much higher. You can also put the wax papers and card box
Most cans of shaving cream will obviously require a can with walls and nozzle thick enough to hold the compressed air that releases goop for you to apply to your face. Once the pressure inside the can equals that outside the propellant is no longer present and the can needs to be thrown away. What a waste of materials, again, very little is recovered and it probably ends up as landfill. Soaps and creams on the other hand often come with very little, but fully reusable packaging. The soaps are often sold as refill or in a reusable bowl. Creams often come in a plastic bowl. Glycerin soap is often very agreeable with most faces.
method
There are many things you can do wrong when you try and wet shave, especially if you have not read guides or been shown how to shave. Most people these days have diverted from wet shaving and use disposable or electric shavers thinking it's time saving or less expensive at the loss of economy and skill.
- shave immediately after your shower
The key really is to shave when your pores are open, the steam from a hot shower or soaking your face with a hot flannel certainly help achieve this.
- use plenty of water
It's not called wet shaving for fun. A key ingredient to the success of a shave is keeping your face wet, you can do this easily by using plenty of water in your lather and keeping your face wet. Interrupt your shaving when you move to adjacent areas of your face to wet you skin again and re-apply lather.
- exercise your stubble
When applying the lather to face, work the bristles of the brush to get as much lather in and around the base of the hair, this will help soften the hair and bring it away from the skin so that you'll cut as close to the base of the hair as possible. Once you have finished with your brush ensure that you don't store it standing on the brush handle. This will cause the hairs of the bush to retain water and potentially destroy the wood of the handle. Of course water also has the chance of getting into the glue. Get all the water you can out of the bristles by squeezing and store it in a mug or stand.
- never damage your blade
If you tap your blade against a skin or other object you may cause imperfections to the cutting edge and risk cutting your face or making it sore. As soon as you notice resistance in the cut it may be time to change that blade. By now you shouldn't be thinking about the cost of changing that blade, after all it does only cost you a few pence.
- don't be a thug
It's easy to think that you need to be aggressive with the razor. Years of using a cartridge razor which is designed for flippant use will be ingrained in your method. Now is the time to relax your arm and take it steady. Those cartridges with the rubber and aloe strips just make it easy for your press it against your face, forget about all that, relax, let the cutting edge of the razor do all the work and free your face of stubble.
- don't use one stroke
You can't shave your whole face in one stroke, use multiple short strokes to reduce the risk of a visit from Aunt Nicky. I've found the best is to shave about 2cm at a time before going back about 1cm. Using this distance seems to work for me. Be very light handed. Give yourself time and you'll find you get a very very clean shave.
- don't rush
Take your time. Nothing makes a poor shave than not allowing yourself the time to take care of your methods and practice.
- finally
Once you have finished your shaving rinse your face with cold water to close the pores of your skin. If you have naturally non-greasy skin use a moisturiser.
- look after your razor
After a while you may notice a build up of either dry cream or lime scale (if you live in a hard water area) on the razor head itself. This layer can create some drag between your face and the head of the razor itself. You may find that it's worth cleaning this off from time to time. I try and do this when I change blades as it's obviously easier then.
second pass
I've found with the first pass to always go with the grain of hair. However, with a second pass, after you've removed the majority of the hair, you can then go Against The Grain (ATG) or Cross The Grain (XTG) [90° to the direction of hair growth].
- start like your would normally
Apply a liberal amount of shaving cream, ensure it's not too thick (some water may have been lost since you first created the lather)
- use short strokes
Work against the grain of the stubble on the neck and around the jaws and go horizontally around the cheeks working from the ear towards the mouth
- finish
Finish as you would normally, use warm water to clean the face and cold water to close the pores
short algorithm for shaving
Below is a short algorithm for shaving which is a very condensed form for the above longer method
- Create your cream - work into a slightly thick mixture if you will be using multiple passes
- Work the cream onto your face, dip briefly into sink water (only one or two mm to wet the brush), work into a foam on your face
- Shave with the grain to remove the bulk of the stubble
- Rinse face to remove excess cream
- Apply cream again, dip again briefly as above
- Shave across the grain (from ear mouth)
- Rinse
- Apply cream again (as above)
- Shave against the grain (from chin to cheek)
- Rinse
pamper yourself
Once you're finished shaving and have patted your face dry with a towel it might be time to look after your face. Don't forget, you've probably removed a layer of skin cells whilst removing the stubble from your face.
To reduce some of the irritation that might have been caused from an aggressive shave, think about applying some moisturiser. Don't be afraid to include this as part of your daily routine as a tiny smear may help protect your face from daily irritation that comes from your environment.
tools
shavette
Recently I found that such as device existed that could take double edge blades in the form of a cut throat razor. This idea appealed to me, since I have a large stock of blades and I'm not terribly keen on stropping a cut throat just yet.
So, after ordering the Bluebeards Revenge "Cut-Throat" Shavette/Straight Razor I've learnt several things:
- it is possible to shave using your other hand
- a single stroke with this can get a lot closer than several strokes with a cartridge (this single blade doesn't jam!)
- shaving can be really fun
It's worth noting also that you should not rinse this in water, in general straight edge razors are made of high-carbon steel (not stainless) due to the requirement of an extremely sharp cutting edge, so they'd be probe to rust. I can't tell if this is stainless.
Same rules apply as above, just hold the razor at about 30 degrees from your face.
scimitar
Recently my wife gave me the gift of The Bluebeards Revenge Scimitar Double Edge Razor for our wedding anniversary.
The packaging
Inside the box
The double edge razor
One thing that I've noticed with this is that the curve of the blade inside the head is of much gentler angle (or smaller circumference) than the curve of the blade in the boots model, personally I find it far more comfortable than the others and the pirate logo makes it glide more comfortable on the face.
The razor is extremely easy to clean. Compared with cartridge razors, which are often plastic, the chrome finish is just a joy to clean with a simple wipe from a tissue or cloth. Providing you don't make any scratches (which would require metal-to-metal surface contact) it's simply a pleasure to use all round.
There is a very nice weight to the handle which gives its construction a very nice feel. The body of the razor is very smooth and has a gloss appearance. All in all, the razor is remarkable and I've never used anything better.
This razor cannot be faulted, it's without a doubt the best razor I've ever used.
blades
The links in the table will take you to Amazon product pages for your convenience.
| blade | aggressive | soft | closeness | consistency/uniform | packaging | cost | overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| derby | medium | medium | high | medium | plastic box, blades are wax paper wrapped | inexpensive | very smooth blades. |
| laser platinum | high | low | medium | high | plastic box, blades are wax wrapped within paper envelope | very low | good value |
| supermax | medium | high | medium | medium | card box, blades are wax wrapped | medium | good value |
| gillette 7 o'clock yellow | |||||||
| wilkinson sword classic | medium | medium | medium-high | high | plastic box, blades individually wax paper wrapped | high | good consistency |
| treet dura sharp | low | medium | high | medium | card box, blades are wrapped in wax paper and envelope | high (not found cheap bulk) | very nice |
| astra superior platinum | medium | low | high | high | blades as wrapped in wax paper and envelopes | low | nice blades, only thing letting them down is the large blob of glue holding them in the paper, which is hard to remove from razor |
| Racer | low | high | medium | medium | wax paper wrapped within paper envelopes | - | nice blade, not enough of them available online to accurately price though |
astra blades
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
treet blades
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
laser platinum blades
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
racer blades
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
supermax blades
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade wrapper (front)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
supermax blades (blue)
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
wilkinson sword classic blades
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
wilkinson sword (new) classic blades
individual blade packaging (front)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade packaging (back)
individual blade (front)
individual blade (back)
cream
Creams come in a very wide variety of smells and mixtures. Two of my favourites from Taylor of Bond Street are
There's two very good creams from Derby which I'm extremely fond of;
- lemon scent
which has a very sweet smell - normal scent
which doesn't have any particular smell. This cream is ideal if you don't fancy any invigorating smells.
Creams from Taylor of Bond Street do cost a bit extra, but they do come in a nice screw top tub which you can recycle into a blade bank or use it to store anything else you wish.
foam
Many foams contain an array of chemicals. I'm not a qualified chemist, but I'm sure if any of their components were used alone in a large quantity you'd probably be in a world of pain. For this reason I don't use foams.
When using a foam you'll miss out on the benefits that you get from using a brush. Once the foam is applied, I've had difficulties in the past getting the foam worked into the skin when brushing. The aeration agents in the foam seem to make the foam dissolve rapidly once any vigorous brushing begins.
Also, what's the point in using the exact same thing that everyone else uses? I like the variety you get from soaps and creams.
soap
Soaps are often made from Glycerine which is very good for your skin. There are lots of independent businesses out there who make all sorts of soaps from chocolate to lime (and everything else I've failed to think of).
algorithm to obtain a good lather
One of the common complaints, no matter if you're using a shavette, straight, double/single edge or cartridge razor is that making a lather takes time and effort.
For myself I find it a nice process that doesn't involve very much effort at all and in many cases is a very pleasurable experience if you're lucky enough to be using one of the nice fragrance creams.
- If you're using a cream, get a dab (roughly the size of a baked bean) on the end of your finger and smear that into a shaving bowl. If you don't have a shaving bowl then a shallow mug should suffice.
- Fill the sink with the hottest water you can get, it doesn't need to be boiling, but the hotter the better.
- Insert your shaving brush into the sink bowl of water to submerge about 5mm of the bristle. Shake the excess water off the brush. Now swirl the brush in your shaving bowl vigorously until the cream becomes a thick paste and it's consistency remains stable.
- Insert your brush into the sink again like before and return to the vigorous swirling. You should notice the paste changes and begins to foam a little.
- (Optional) you may require a little more water and swirling at this point.
- When the mixture is just right you should have a large amount of shaving foam that's warm and ready for work into your face.
The process above is one that I've used well since I was a teenager and works with shaving soaps too. I ALWAYS use a shaving bowl, I've never managed to use a soap stick alone and do justice to the soap. When using a soap the process is a bit simpler as if you have it in a bowl/mug then you'll only be adding a bit of water to the mixture until you have it to the consistency you desire.
aftershaves
There's a huge range of aftershaves on the market. Far too many to list on this page. Obviously everyone has a preference towards various smells. For myself, I've found Taylors Jermyn Street Aftershave For Sensitive Skin to be very ideal, it has an incredibly favourable aroma and is suitable for sensitive skin, which is good if you're not used to shaving on a daily basis.
current kit
For the sake of illustrating a full kit of shaving products I've taken the picture below
