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Sharpest cartridge razors???

I used cartridge razors before venturing into the world of DE razors and straight razors. I have a very coarse, heavy beard and very sensitive skin. When using DE razors, I find that my preference is for very sharp blades BIC Chrome Platinum, Nacet, PermaSharp Super and Dorco Prime Platinum.

I still use cartridge razors occasionally. Since my skin is sensitive, I have been using Schick Hydro5 for sensitive skin. However, when I compared that cartridge to my DE razors I found that the Schick blades were not sharp enough. I got some tugging and the shave was not as close as I can get with a DE. Perhaps the Shcick sensitive blades are less sharp.

Which of the various cartridge razors do you find have the sharpest blades, most suitable for a coarse, heavy beard?
 
FWIW I have a tough 'old man' beard. I find blade sharpness is only one part of the requirement for a close cartrdige shave. I think the Fusion5 and Fusion Proglide have the sharpest blades. However I get the closest cartridge shave with the Sensor Excel, the head design allows me to regulate the pressure of the blade on the skin, so does the Atra and the Trac 2. The Mach 3 and Fusion series of carts determine the pressure the blades will apply to the skin, and it is a very light, inadequately light, pressure for me.
 
Honestly, the personna twin pivot plus carts are some of the most absurdly sharp carts I've ever used. Made quick work of my head shaves when I used them, caused my wife to step out of the shower looking like she left a butcher shop saying "nope, never using that razor again", and you can get them on Amazon for around $12 for x100 which is DE blade prices. They use an Atra handle BTW so Atra, Atra knockoff, vector, dorco/dsc twin handle will be needed.

Generalization here but most of the time when a company markets a multi blade cart as "sensitive" it usually means the blades are slightly recessed forcing less close of a shave, many users report this promotes the tugging feeling. Not even taking into account the natural tendency of closely space multiple blades wanting to grab hairs anyway.

Slightly different suggestion: try the Gillette Guard. Not the US skinguard system but the Indian guard single blade razor. I'm not saying you'll love it and some users do report minor tugging but where it will shine for you is the fact that you could go through your entire shave without rinsing it once... It's virtually clog-proof. If your beard is as thick/dense as you say and saving time is a goal, you'll be surprised how much of your usual shave time is taken up by rinsing the blade.
 
I find the Trac II (now called the Gillette 7 O'clock PII) razor to be very sharp. You can get it on Amazon for about $6.00.

Trac II.jpg
 
I found the Mach 3 Turbo were Sharp. The Feather carts were sharp too but not the smoothest .

I am not surprised by your comments about the Feather carts. I get too good shaves from Feather DE blades. On the third shave they start to feel to rough to complete the shave. I used Feather Artist Club professional blades in a ATT SE1 razor and they work well, but they are a much thicker blade.
 
I am not surprised by your comments about the Feather carts. I get too good shaves from Feather DE blades. On the third shave they start to feel to rough to complete the shave. I used Feather Artist Club professional blades in a ATT SE1 razor and they work well, but they are a much thicker blade.
Yeah, I’m doing a shave off show down and the Mach 3 Turbo is the best I’ve used next to the Skinguard. The Skinguard is a very very close second although I have not had a full shave with it yet in fairness . In fact, they were so good I’m seriously debating selling off my DE’s and blades and just going carts.
 
Yeah, I’m doing a shave off show down and the Mach 3 Turbo is the best I’ve used next to the Skinguard a very very close second although I have not had a full shave with it yet in fairness . In fact, they were so good I’m seriously debating selling off my DE’s and blades and just going carts.

I do not plan to get rid of my DE razors;(in fact, I have a new Karve SS open comb razor that is supposed to arrive this Friday. Nor do I plan to give up straight razors. However, I do want to keep a sharp cartridge razor on hand. This morning, I used a BIC Flex 5 hybrid razor for my clean-up pass and got a super close shave. However, I think the razor might cause too much irritation if I used it for the full shave.
 
I do not plan to get rid of my DE razors;(in fact, I have a new Karve SS open comb razor that is supposed to arrive this Friday. Nor do I plan to give up straight razors. However, I do want to keep a sharp cartridge razor on hand. This morning, I used a BIC Flex 5 hybrid razor for my clean-up pass and got a super close shave. However, I think the razor might cause too much irritation if I used it for the full shave.
Have you tried the Mach 3 Turbo with the sharper blades? If you use them light like a DE , they’re a damn good shaver.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
The Schick injector Twin II blade is were the revolution into cartridge razors started and I have a Schick injector L type with a Schick twin II blade and that blade is made well and I,m on shave #21 and the Blade still gives a great shave. The Schick blades are thicker and stronger than a regular blade and should last longer if you want a cartridge feel. The Schick injector single edge blade will and should out last a DE blade and I have used both. The blades are more expensive and that is a consideration, I'm about to use some brand new Personna injector blades and they are much cheaper and I use their GEM Personna SS PTFE blades that are one of the sharpest blades on the planet IMO and will last for me between 8-12 shaves on a medium beard at about $.025 -$.03 a shave which is normal. I wish I could tell you more about the Personna injector blades but I have to test first to give a reasonable answer. The Schick single & Twin blades are excellent.
The Schick twin II blade would only be good for 1-2 days of growth IMO after that you will see plug-age possible, its just a good blade. If you like to shave every 3 + days a Schick injector single edge will do the job hands down.
These are some excellent blades.

Japanese Twin II
Twin blades (2).jpg s-l225 (2).jpg Schick blade Personna injector blades 2.png Personna SS PTFE
blade_angle-se-de.gif

Have some great shaves!
 
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Back in my travel/work days when I used Trac II and then a Mach 3 they sure seemed plenty sharp enough to me.
 
Hands down the sharpest cartridge razor is a Feather MR3 and Feather FII. The MR3 shaves less close because of the wires that restricts blade exposure but saves you from excessive amount of pressure and the following irritation. The Feather FII - shaves as close as cartridge can, because the is no wires. This cartridge has two blades instead of 3. This makes it a bit less irritating, but not much. The biggest drawback of FII for me is the durability factor. It lasts me only one 3-pass shave instead of about 3-4 shaves with MR3. But I have a very coarse whiskers.
 
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