A confession, dear friends. I have failed both you and me this morning...

[CCS]

How could you?

In all seriousness, I have a Panasonic Arc 5 that has the job that the DE can't handle (or I don't want it to handle):
trimming the hair that grows above my ears and weird rogue hairs that grow in that area.
I came from electrics so it's always sitting in my den for those jobs. And I also use a Norelco Titanium trimmer for trimming the goatee down, the keylock looking holes under my lip on the goatee and nose hair trimming.
Another thing I sometimes use for travel are Bic disposables!
They're all tools!

I know, right? My guilt has lasted all day and all night!

 

[lasta]

There is nothing wrong with cartridges!

Gillette did the science. Multiple blades at the optimal angle cuts cleaner and with less irritation. Eliminates poor technique.

If it wasn't for the Mach 3, I wouldn't have move to wet shaving. If it wasn't for the Fusion, I wouldn't have picked up DE/SRs.

Wolfman is cheaper than decades of carts!

 

[LRod]

I must be the only one that's never used Mach 3, Fusion etc.. No carts that I can remember of! And I've never had the desire. Like I said I came from electrics and my only occasional interaction with non DE has been disposable SE Bic's for travel. Electric since I started shaving (Norelco rotary, Braun, Norelco again & finally Panasonic), in that order! Then my first DE try about a decade ago that lasted about a year. And then my second try at DE's that started a little less than a year ago. But thanks to B&B, now the DE's have become my shave of choice that will last a lifetime. I never want to go back to Electric!

Unrelated but informative (I guess):
The best electric shaves ever were with the rotary Norelco's! Hands down closest electric shave and very quiet!
But they would give me too many ingrown hairs and the foil shavers didn't.
Best foil: Panasonic!
Best no irritation, no ingrown hairs, no noise, smooth feeling result: DE razors!

 

[Alex Jr]

No shame in that. I feel that sometimes going back to carts is a great way to see that the carts were not that horrible as I once thought.

The technique was simply wrong. Wrong prep, wrong lather, wrong strokes.

DE/straight/SE shaving teaches you how to shave with anything and still have acceptable results, maybe not great, but acceptable.

 

[BigJ]

Well, at least you cheated with the Mach III. Could have been a lot worse!

Yes indeed! No vibrating, no heat and no blinking lights!!

We will accept you and your confession!!

 

[Phoenixkh]

I took my Fusion Power with us on our recent trip. I just wasn't tempted to use it. I didn't take any goo with me. I was thinking, maybe I'll try the Fusion Power after 6 months to see if it's the same, better or worse than I remember.

I always got good shaves with Gillette cartridge razors. I always pushed them to their limits so even the expense wasn't too great. But I couldn't say I ever enjoyed the shave. I much prefer wet shaving with both AC and DE razors. OK... truth be told, I don't yet know how much I like DE razor shaving. I'll know more in a few months. <eg>

 

[Mr. Shavington]

There is nothing wrong with cartridges!

Gillette did the science. Multiple blades at the optimal angle cuts cleaner and with less irritation. Eliminates poor technique.

If it wasn't for the Mach 3, I wouldn't have move to wet shaving. If it wasn't for the Fusion, I wouldn't have picked up DE/SRs.

Wolfman is cheaper than decades of carts!

I’d be interested if you can find some reference to this ‘science’ that you speak of. Adverts with actors wearing white coats and spectacles doesn’t count.

 

[lasta]

I’d be interested if you can find some reference to this ‘science’ that you speak of. Adverts with actors wearing white coats and spectacles doesn’t count.

Cheers:

US Patent for Multi-blade razors Patent (Patent # 7,448,135 issued November 11, 2008) - Justia Patents Search

Multi-blade razors are provided, having blades with differing properties. In one aspect, a razor is provided that includes a safety razor blade unit comprising a guard, a cap, and first, second and third blades with parallel sharpened edges located between the guard and cap with the first blade...

patents.justia.com

 

[StewB]

Gillette also has a page on it, FWIW:

https://gillette.com/en-us/shaving-tips/shaving-science/why-do-more-razor-blades-matter

The problem for me is the propensity of this design to cause ingrown hairs. I would imagine this problem is exacerbated for those who have very curly hair.

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Cheers:

US Patent for Multi-blade razors Patent (Patent # 7,448,135 issued November 11, 2008) - Justia Patents Search

Multi-blade razors are provided, having blades with differing properties. In one aspect, a razor is provided that includes a safety razor blade unit comprising a guard, a cap, and first, second and third blades with parallel sharpened edges located between the guard and cap with the first blade...

patents.justia.com

That was an interesting read. It doesn’t reference any science that I could find, though, it’s just a design patent, but it does say some interesting things about the specifications of their cartridge razors and the blades.

 

[lasta]

That was an interesting read. It doesn’t reference any science that I could find, though, it’s just a design patent, but it does say some interesting things about the specifications of their cartridge razors and the blades.

Haha, if I had access to the "science" conducted by a private corporation, I'd probably try to make money from it

 

[CCS]

There is nothing wrong with cartridges!

Gillette did the science. Multiple blades at the optimal angle cuts cleaner and with less irritation. Eliminates poor technique.

If it wasn't for the Mach 3, I wouldn't have move to wet shaving. If it wasn't for the Fusion, I wouldn't have picked up DE/SRs.

Wolfman is cheaper than decades of carts!

Even cheaper and has 75 plus years of history is my personal Gillette favorite, the Ball End Tech. And $40-100 gets you a clean Slim-195 if you need to adjust your shave. I had to shave again last night (still used the foaming goo, a remarkable product) but worked with my Tech with it's last shave with a Bic Chrome. I'm still smooth this morning. I'm not a guy who needs to shave twice a day with a decent shave AKA BBS shave. I got nowhere near that with the Mach III. I'm a bit hung over this morning (black rum) and today would a good day for a cartridge shave with no more than a 3-blade cart.

But a Wolfman? Just no.

 

[CCS]

Less than 24 hours later, here's my conclusion. The Mach III and the earlier carts are made for guys who shave daily. They are made for goo foam (a marvel of invention) and who are half asleep when they shave. I keep reading of guys getting a week to month (!) of shaves with one cart in the modern shaving forum. Let's say two weeks - 14 shaves. That shave costs (for cart cost only) 13.36 cents per shave! Halve that number for 28 shaves. A simple handle, usually free to get you hooked, no need for a "shave den", and maybe one grocery store cologne. I maintain, dear friends, the reality of living the Mach III life with a cart at $1.87 per (Costco price) lets your wife or girlfriend have the bathroom back and you will have time to learn something productive, like quantum physics or simply hanging up your clothes.

It's too late for me but you newbies can still be saved. You won't be part of the cool guys who spend their days and evenings measuring blade gaps and arguing Greek, Russian, Japanese, America blades, modern vs. vintage DE razors, or the curse of all shaving, the cut throat!! But at least you can shave with a vintage Gillette with a Mach III or, even better, a Trac II!!

 

[Mr. Shavington]

Haha, if I had access to the "science" conducted by a private corporation, I'd probably try to make money from it

Yeah. What I’m getting at, really, is that companies release new products and then market them and make claims about their benefits. Generally these claims are not science based, but rather for marketing purposes, and we often take this with a pinch of salt. Especially in this case when the genesis of multi-blade razors was purely to increase sales of razor blades, and the product was invented in the marketing department of Wilkinson Sword.

But with something like multi-blade razors where there has been a major change in the industry and consumer behaviour, surely somebody might have actually tested whether two blades actually do shave closer than one blade (or closer than one blade with two passes). I‘m not sure how likely it is that Gillette has commissioned any real research, and if they did they certainly wouldn’t tell us if it didn’t show a positive benefit. If there aren’t publicly available studies for such a big phenomenon then normally that tends to suggest the claimed benefits do not actually exist or are not provable.

I haven’t viewed yet the link that StewB posted, but I would just be interested if there are actually any scientific double-blind control studies of the shaving performance of multi-blade razors.

 

[CCS]

Yeah. What I’m getting at, really, is that companies release new products and then market them and make claims about their benefits. Generally these claims are not science based, but rather for marketing purposes, and we often take this with a pinch of salt. Especially in this case when the genesis of multi-blade razors was purely to increase sales of razor blades, and the product was invented in the marketing department of Wilkinson Sword.

But with something like multi-blade razors where there has been a major change in the industry and consumer behaviour, surely somebody might have actually tested whether two blades actually do shave closer than one blade (or closer than one blade with two passes). I‘m not sure how likely it is that Gillette has commissioned any real research, and if they did they certainly wouldn’t tell us if it didn’t show a positive benefit. If there aren’t publicly available studies for such a big phenomenon then normally that tends to suggest the claimed benefits do not actually exist or are not provable.

I haven’t viewed yet the link that StewB posted, but I would just be interested if there are actually any scientific double-blind control studies of the shaving performance of multi-blade razors.

I think Gillette made the science quite clear in the Trac II animation of the first blade cutting a whisker and the second blade saving the day by putting in the kill shot before the whisker could go hide because, obviously, Gillette's research showed that their past 70 or years with DE razors is you could never to better than a stubble shave. The Trac II animation absolutely proved that. They had to go to multiblade carts, had to! They proved you couldn't get close shave without one!

 

[Mr. Shavington]

I think Gillette made the science quite clear in the Trac II animation of the first blade cutting a whisker and the second blade saving the day by putting in the kill shot before the whisker could go hide because, obviously, Gillette's research showed that their past 70 or years with DE razors is you could never to better than a stubble shave. The Trac II animation absolutely proved that. They had to go to multiblade carts, had to! They proved you couldn't get close shave without one!

You put that beautifully.

 

[lasta]

Yeah. What I’m getting at, really, is that companies release new products and then market them and make claims about their benefits. Generally these claims are not science based, but rather for marketing purposes, and we often take this with a pinch of salt. Especially in this case when the genesis of multi-blade razors was purely to increase sales of razor blades, and the product was invented in the marketing department of Wilkinson Sword.

But with something like multi-blade razors where there has been a major change in the industry and consumer behaviour, surely somebody might have actually tested whether two blades actually do shave closer than one blade (or closer than one blade with two passes). I‘m not sure how likely it is that Gillette has commissioned any real research, and if they did they certainly wouldn’t tell us if it didn’t show a positive benefit. If there aren’t publicly available studies for such a big phenomenon then normally that tends to suggest the claimed benefits do not actually exist or are not provable.

I haven’t viewed yet the link that StewB posted, but I would just be interested if there are actually any scientific double-blind control studies of the shaving performance of multi-blade razors.

When I had an interview for a part time college job, I told the guy I could sell ice cubes to an Eskimo in a snowstorm.

But no way am I going to take up selling carts to BB'ers!

 

[RayClem]

I have a collection of straight razors, a shavette, several DE razors, and a couple of SE razors. However, I also also keep a cartridge razor in the shower to shave the back of my neck. When I am in too big a hurry to shave with my regular tools, I will lather my face with shampoo and use the cartridge razor. The shave will not be as close or as comfortable as I usually get, but it will be a socially acceptable shave that will get me through most of the day.

BTW: My favorite cartridge razor is the BIC Flex 5. I love the sharpness of BIC Chrome Platinum blades for my tough beard and find that the BIC cartridge has a similar level of sharpness. While Gillette cartridges used to be sharp enough before my beard turned white, I have not found one that can tackle my current beard without tugging. Just because I CAN use a BIC cartridge does not mean that I plan on giving up my straights, DEs and SEs anytime soon.

 

[musicman1951]

Nothing wrong with carts, lots of people use them. They're not comfortable for me - too much tugging. But I purchased some Bic Metal disposables for carry on bag situations and they're pretty good.

 

[StewB]

For me there are benefits and downsides to both carts and DE razors...

For carts, the benefit is mainly that you don't need to learn any technique. Just press the thing to your face, drag, and it removes the stubble. Carts are also pretty fast to shave with. The downsides are ingrown hairs, relatively expensive per-cart price, and clogging.

For DE razors, the benefits are no ingrown hairs, cheap per-shave price, and enjoyment. The downsides are that you have to learn proper pre-shave prep and technique and the shaves aren't as fast (particularly during the learning phase). But due to the enjoyment, the slower shave pace actually becomes a benefit.

I got interested in DE shaving because of per-cart cost and cart clogging. I never felt like I could get my carts cleaned sufficiently between the blades. The lack of ingrown hairs was an unexpected benefit.