AimlessWanderer
Remember to forget me!
I have three closed comb, and one open comb. I use the open comb occasionally, but prefer closed for regular daily shaves.
Learned something new, thanksHere we get into blade rigidity, which has been much discussed by guys like Esox (Mike). The idea is that a rigid blade (amongst other things) causes less irritation and I'd say that has been my findings with GEM razors which have rigid blades. The bunch of razors like Fatip OCs descended from and including the Gillette Old Type and some NEW versions held the blade quite rigidly and relied on blade exposure to do the cutting, rather then blade gap. I'm generalising here and others can explain it better, and have with copious photos on other threads. That would be one factor in reducing irritation with daily shaving, but there are a number of other factors in play here.
I've only tried four open-comb razors, so it isn't the biggest sample in the world, but I find my safety-bar razors to generally be smoother and more comfortable.
I'm guilty of going back (for the most part) to safety bars. I just like the face feel better with the bar than I do with open combs. Personal preference of course. The one exception is the PAA Starling. I prefer their open comb plate because the side tabs seem to be less pointy on my version, hence more comfortable.There are a few of us who prefer to use open comb DE razors. But can it acquire a quasi-religious status like "most OC razors are preferable to their SB counterparts?"
To explore this further, who has in fact gone back to SB razors, and why?
+1I have a good variety of both and routinely go back and forth. Just depends on the mood I'm in, I guess.
If you like blade-buffing, I find that the OCs are much better at dragging lather backwards over the area you just covered, so you're not repeatedly going over unlathered skin. You can do it with some SBs, but it's a bit tricky to find the right angle for the back stroke.Is there any advantage to using OC if you shave every single day?
Was it the visual effect of the teeth?I was terrified of OC razors when I started shaving with DE razors a bit over a year ago.
Was it the visual effect of the teeth?