Shaving - is Double Edge worth the risk?

[Protimenow]

This is a strange one - even for me.

I used to shave my face every few days - maybe as long as a week or so between shaves. I was always scruffy.

For the past few months, I've been shaving daily.

I've upped my game a little - actually using a brush and mug to lather my face. It's an interesting ritual - and not unpleasant (seeing that little bit of soap turn into a nice lather is impressive).

I've been using Harry's blades for quite a while and rarely get any nicks. Harry's usually provides an acceptable shave.

But now, this focus has changed to an even better (so they say) way to shave - with a double edge razor. It's the kind that my father used. I have one that I bought from an old man - it was his father's - a really old Gilette - probably more than a century old now.

I've seen some articles saying that I can get the best shave with a double edge razor - blades can be used once -- maybe two or three times - and can cost as little as a dime each.

I don't know how it feels to shave with this type of razor, or the risks of doing so. At even a dime a shave, it's far less than the $2.00 or so that I pay for maybe 10 or 15 shaves per blade with a Harry's blade (not that big a deal). I already have a LOT of Harry's blades.

My quandary -- even if the razors DO give a better shave (and only my wife and I usually see this shaved face) -- is getting a better shave actually WORTH the risk?

(My guess is that it isn't - but I'll wait for any suggestions)

 

[LondonAndy]

I haven't shaved for years, preferring to have a trimmed beard, so I might be wrong but isn't a double-edge razor simply one with a blade on both sides? So it has the convenience of a fresh blade being readily available, but otherwise it's still only a single blade when shaving? If so, I can't see any difference in risk.

 

[Protimenow]

Andy -- yes, a blade on both sides. I'm a bit concerned about the cutting angle, and especially concerned about the sides -- I don't know if the side edges, where the blade ends and goes into the razor, are sharp enough to snag the skin and cause cuts.

I remember that my father occasionally nicked his face and used a thing called a 'styptic pencil' to stop the bleeding. Supposedly, a double edge (a single blade on each side) gets a closer shave.

I don't really know.

 

[pellicle]

haven't shaved for years

same ... haven't bicycled to work for nearly 20 years now ;-)

I can't see any difference in risk.

this

 

[pellicle]

Supposedly, a double edge (a single blade on each side) gets a closer shave.

you've been watching too many adverts

 

[Chuck C]

is getting a better shave actually WORTH the risk?

Risk? What risk?

Oh, that risk:

 

[pekster11]

Risk? What risk?

Oh, that risk:

I watch Martin on Youtube aswell.. His shave videos are very good...usually chooses a pretty girl to do it too

 

[pellicle]

Risk? What risk?

Oh, that risk:

ok ... so since we're talking about just cleaning up the bottom of the neck I use these

not dead yet, no infections (but then I wash the skin first with soapy water ;- )

 

[ATHENS1964]

My own set up, the gillet fatboy is from 1950 or so, some straight razor at the beginning of the century.
I always wash with hot water and disinfect with alcohol,
I know I live dangerously

 

[Chuck C]

All of this razor discussion reminds me of something which happened near the end of my hospital stay following surgery.

The night shift nurse was wrapping up her shift and asked if there was anything should could get me. Having not shaved since entering the hospital, I requested a razor and she gladly returned with one within a couple of minutes.

However, before I had shaved, the day shift nurse arrived and, seeing the razor, immediately confiscated it and told me that now that I was on warfarin I must never shave, as a cut could cause me to have a life threatening bleed. . Fortunately, my wife soon smuggled me one in and I managed to shave when the nurse wasn't looking.

I personally prefer the Gillette Custom Plus 3, a three bladed razor which I get for a good value at Costco.

I also shave my head and use a different razor for that, the M5 Magnum, which works really good. I get those at Amazon for about $1.75 each in the 24 pack.

To reduce risk of infection, I now soak the heads of the razors in alcohol between uses. An interesting side benefit is that the razors stay sharp much longer with this method, as it reduces the oxidation of the blade.

 

[Chuck C]

I watch Martin on Youtube aswell.. His shave videos are very good...usually chooses a pretty girl to do it too

I've never had a professional shave before, but I do get the appeal.

He received a shave and spa treatment in this one here:

 

[Protimenow]

To me, memories of my father shaving, I'm concerned about deeper or more frequent nicks than with a 25 blade razor. Although I keep my INR around 3.0, and I know I won't bleed to death from an occasional nick, any nick would be unwelcomed. I don't know if double edge nicks would be deeper than the Harry's that I currently use.

According to some of the stuff that I've seen, double edge blades actually give a better shave than the multi-blade razors. (They're certainly better for the environment, eliminating the plastic that's used in these multi-blade things).

Cost savings with expensive cartridges ($2.00 or more for, say, 8 shaves - about 25 cents a shave) is certainly higher than, say, a nickel a shave (probably less) with a double edge blade. Still, saving $1.60 for each 8 shaves , but it may take a while for the savings of 20 cents a shave to really add up when you consider that the 8 shaves, at a nickel(or less) a shave with a double edge blade,

All of this razor discussion reminds me of something which happened near the end of my hospital stay following surgery.

The night shift nurse was wrapping up her shift and asked if there was anything should could get me. Having not shaved since entering the hospital, I requested a razor and she gladly returned with one within a couple of minutes.

However, before I had shaved, the day shift nurse arrived and, seeing the razor, immediately confiscated it and told me that now that I was on warfarin I must never shave, as a cut could cause me to have a life threatening bleed. . Fortunately, my wife soon smuggled me one in and I managed to shave when the nurse wasn't looking.

I personally prefer the Gillette Custom Plus 3, a three bladed razor which I get for a good value at Costco.

I also shave my head and use a different razor for that, the M5 Magnum, which works really good. I get those at Amazon for about $1.75 each in the 24 pack.

To reduce risk of infection, I now soak the heads of the razors in alcohol between uses. An interesting side benefit is that the razors stay sharp much longer with this method, as it reduces the oxidation of the blade.

It looked like a few posts were made before my last one.

Chuck C: you're probably right to be disinfecting your blades after (or before) use. I don't think I've ever done this. I don't recall ever infecting myself when I repeated using blades - but it's a good idea.

When I was an undergrad at UCLA, companies would give stuff to students, hoping that they'll use them and tell their friends. I remember getting the original records from Elton John and Randy Newman. I wish I had kept them (I probably did but they were lost in a move). I was also given a Schick Injector Razor - a single edge razor that made it easy to change blades (although I don't remember how you were supposed to dispose of the used blades). This suggests that Schick was trying to give an alternative to the double edge razor - still a single blade, but, perhaps, easier to change.

I doubt that the Injector razor exists today.

Gillette and competitors struck gold when they started adding blades to their cartridges. They were no longer just selling just blades - these were systems. When the double edge market had petered out - with a lot of competing double edge blades offered (and the patent for double edge had expired), these multi blade cartridges became (AFAIK) the gold mine that King Gillette predicted.

I may start soaking my blades in alcohol, then rinsing them before I use them.

I'm now whipping up my own lather and hoping to find my good Badger bristle brushes.

If I find my 50 or so Harry's blades, I may use them up before venturing into Double Edge (I may do this even sooner).

 

[pellicle]

According to some of the stuff that I've seen, double edge blades actually give a better shave than the multi-blade razors.

I used to use those thin metal blades and persisted with them for decades. Then I tried this Shick blades some time in 2000. Never went back. Shave is so much better and I no longer got small nicks or shaving rash. I've tried may brands and I like them so much better I took a packet to Finland.

I'm never going back to anything else.

Also, I get at least twice the number of uses.. For just my neck I get months from that disposable.

(They're certainly better for the environment, eliminating the plastic that's used in these multi-blade things).

So just make sure you never buy milk in a plastic bottle, no food, no packaging and then that claim can be true, but when you look at your garbage bin at the end of the week tell me with a straight face that one of this per week makes a difference.