I'm confused. After 3 months of using several razors and double-edge blades, I really thought I was getting the hang of it. Then I tried the Derby Extra (which my local shaving expert considers a 1 on a sharpness scale of 1 to 10) and my 'shaving experience' turned into a horror movie. Now I have questions. Like 'what?!' and 'HOW' and 'why'? I don't even know where to begin. I thought beginners should only fear the Feather. Am I misinterpreting the qualifications 'smooth' and 'sharp'?
As to what I've been using so far: I took a picture of the stash that I didn't really plan on accumulating.
This experiment started because of money and curiosity, but I'm staying for the fun and the challenge. I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but I do.
Last year I got married and, as everyone will tell you, weddings are expensive. (Worth it, but still.) Our savings account had already taken a hit during the covid-crisis and after the invasion of Ukraine, inflation and sky-high gas prices, I started to be a bit frugal with the Gillette Venus Olay razorblades that I've been using for the last decade. A single packet of 3 cartridges was never budget-friendly to begin with, but the price has roughly doubled in a short amount of time and one package now costs € 19.- in local drug stores (1 Euro currently has the exact same value as 1 US dollar). Gillette claims that a cartridge should last you 2 weeks, but the blade gets pretty dull after 4-5 uses. As a skirt-wearing girl, one does shave pretty much of the body, pretty much daily. But if I really were to change those blades once a week, as I should, it would cost me 329.- euros a year. So I started to postpone changing the blade, to the point where my husband would get this concerned look on his face inspecting the bright red spots of irritation on my legs. Even though Gillette Venus was all I'd ever known shaving-wise, the idea of having to keep paying such a staggering amount of money plus 'Pink Tax' made me angry. Then I saw an ad on Instagram for razor blades I didn't know still existed outside of the set of Peaky Blinders. 'SMOOTHER AND CHEAPER', the ad promised. I had to know. For less than 10 bucks, I ordered a safety razor which came with 15 DE blades and I was so excited when the package arrived that I immediately hopped into the shower, placed the razor on my ankle and on auto-pilot drew it straight up whilst pressing down, just like in the commercials. HOOO BURN. That was pretty dumb, especially since I'd already seen some YouTube videos of a happy man who kept saying: 'remember gentleman, let the razor do all the work'. I just forgot. But I liked the first results enough to keep trying (despite losing a strip of tan).
So with this forum as a Wikipedia of sorts, I've been reading up on technique, razor aggressiveness, blade sharpness and combinations, but most of the information pertains to beards, which is a bit of a confusing point of reference if you don't have one. It seems as though different body parts have wildly different shaving needs anyway. I've found out that I have sensitive shins, tricky ankles, bumpy knees, an impractically deep left armpit and a bikini area that, counter-intuitively, seems to require a more aggressive approach than the rest of me. Now I read on this forum that an adjustable safety razor would 'ruin your technique', but is there any way around it when one is attempting to body shave with a single safety razor? (Surely there are men who shave more than their beards with a safety razor?) I started using razor #1 (the blue one, a standard model in online shops like Amazon) but the gap between the razor and the blade is quite big and it was a little too aggressive for my legs. Razor #2 (Gillette) is actually pretty good, but barely weighs anything because of the plastic handle and I didn't want to learn to press a DE blade into the skin, however slightly. Razor #3 is a really nice adjustable Gillette Fatboy clone, except it's very gentle even on the most aggressive setting and the blade sticks out on both sides of the cap which hurt my armpits. The sides of the blade left scratches much like an angry kitten would, which is all sorts of fun when applying deodorant. Razor #4 is a Merkur Futur clone with a cap that does cover the sides and it's so good. It doesn't provide the best grip in the shower when you need to turn the handle, but I love it anyway. Setting 0.5-1.0 is perfect for ankles and knees, I use 1.5 for shins, 2 for calves and 3-3.5 for armpits etc.
I've mostly been using Gillette Platinum and Wilkinson Sword DE blades. The results are quite similar. The blades are good and durable, but I kept thinking I'd like the shave to be just a little closer, especially the armpits (especially in direct sunlight on the beach, thank you very much). The Yintal blades and the Gillette Bleu ones that came with the razors weren't my favs either, but the Ming Shi blades were surprisingly good. My legs were so smooth, they seemed to reflect light. (Someone here on the forum compared the Ming Shi blades to Gillette 7'O Clock, but I wouldn't know about that). I was curious about other blades and ordered a sample pack of 15 different blades (2 each). I decided to work my way up the sharpness ladder because that's recommended everywhere, which meant starting with the green Derby Extra. I placed the blade in the Merkur Futur clone as per usual (upside-down assembly), applied a thick lather of shaving foam on my legs and... it was by far the worst bloodbath to date. Apparently, I had a couple of mosquito bites on my legs, and the bumps were chopped clean off. I cut both ankles badly, savaged a knee and somehow drew a massive cut across one calf. The blood spread over my wet skin so fast, I couldn't see where or how I'd cut myself and couldn't believe I kept on doing it even though I thought I was being careful. I tasted copper and the water turned pink around me. After a full 3 months of shaving with 4 different safety razors and 6 different DE blades, I didn't expect to make so many mistakes. But the armpits? Perfect. A truly smooth shave. Better than a Venus ever delivered. How is that possible for a blade that is supposedly not very sharp at all?
I dug up an old electrical epilator for temporary use while the assortment of cuts on my legs healed, afraid a DE razor would tear everything up again. (I don't mind a bit of pain, but I'm borderline anemic and I'd rather not have to explain this experiment to my doctor, like: "Have you seen Peaky Blinders?") A week later the skin looked fine and I switched back to a Wilkinson blade in the Futur clone, which gave me the results I'd come to expect: no real nicks, but also not that baby bottom smooth finish. It's not like there's still a 5 o'clock shadow, but it could definitely be considered a 1 o'clock shadow here and there. I thought that meant I needed a sharper blade. Am I wrong? I'm sort of hesitantly looking at the blades from the sampler pack thinking: now what? Do I skip the so-called smooth blades? I have no idea what I'm doing.
Does body shaving in general require different techniques or even different blades/razors for different areas? It shouldn't be that different for women, right? I read that there are some women on the forum and also many wives/girlfriends trying DE blades. Any wisdom is appreciated.
Thank you very much for reading this far.
As to what I've been using so far: I took a picture of the stash that I didn't really plan on accumulating.
This experiment started because of money and curiosity, but I'm staying for the fun and the challenge. I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but I do. Last year I got married and, as everyone will tell you, weddings are expensive. (Worth it, but still.) Our savings account had already taken a hit during the covid-crisis and after the invasion of Ukraine, inflation and sky-high gas prices, I started to be a bit frugal with the Gillette Venus Olay razorblades that I've been using for the last decade. A single packet of 3 cartridges was never budget-friendly to begin with, but the price has roughly doubled in a short amount of time and one package now costs € 19.- in local drug stores (1 Euro currently has the exact same value as 1 US dollar). Gillette claims that a cartridge should last you 2 weeks, but the blade gets pretty dull after 4-5 uses. As a skirt-wearing girl, one does shave pretty much of the body, pretty much daily. But if I really were to change those blades once a week, as I should, it would cost me 329.- euros a year. So I started to postpone changing the blade, to the point where my husband would get this concerned look on his face inspecting the bright red spots of irritation on my legs. Even though Gillette Venus was all I'd ever known shaving-wise, the idea of having to keep paying such a staggering amount of money plus 'Pink Tax' made me angry. Then I saw an ad on Instagram for razor blades I didn't know still existed outside of the set of Peaky Blinders. 'SMOOTHER AND CHEAPER', the ad promised. I had to know. For less than 10 bucks, I ordered a safety razor which came with 15 DE blades and I was so excited when the package arrived that I immediately hopped into the shower, placed the razor on my ankle and on auto-pilot drew it straight up whilst pressing down, just like in the commercials. HOOO BURN. That was pretty dumb, especially since I'd already seen some YouTube videos of a happy man who kept saying: 'remember gentleman, let the razor do all the work'. I just forgot. But I liked the first results enough to keep trying (despite losing a strip of tan).
So with this forum as a Wikipedia of sorts, I've been reading up on technique, razor aggressiveness, blade sharpness and combinations, but most of the information pertains to beards, which is a bit of a confusing point of reference if you don't have one. It seems as though different body parts have wildly different shaving needs anyway. I've found out that I have sensitive shins, tricky ankles, bumpy knees, an impractically deep left armpit and a bikini area that, counter-intuitively, seems to require a more aggressive approach than the rest of me. Now I read on this forum that an adjustable safety razor would 'ruin your technique', but is there any way around it when one is attempting to body shave with a single safety razor? (Surely there are men who shave more than their beards with a safety razor?) I started using razor #1 (the blue one, a standard model in online shops like Amazon) but the gap between the razor and the blade is quite big and it was a little too aggressive for my legs. Razor #2 (Gillette) is actually pretty good, but barely weighs anything because of the plastic handle and I didn't want to learn to press a DE blade into the skin, however slightly. Razor #3 is a really nice adjustable Gillette Fatboy clone, except it's very gentle even on the most aggressive setting and the blade sticks out on both sides of the cap which hurt my armpits. The sides of the blade left scratches much like an angry kitten would, which is all sorts of fun when applying deodorant. Razor #4 is a Merkur Futur clone with a cap that does cover the sides and it's so good. It doesn't provide the best grip in the shower when you need to turn the handle, but I love it anyway. Setting 0.5-1.0 is perfect for ankles and knees, I use 1.5 for shins, 2 for calves and 3-3.5 for armpits etc.
I've mostly been using Gillette Platinum and Wilkinson Sword DE blades. The results are quite similar. The blades are good and durable, but I kept thinking I'd like the shave to be just a little closer, especially the armpits (especially in direct sunlight on the beach, thank you very much). The Yintal blades and the Gillette Bleu ones that came with the razors weren't my favs either, but the Ming Shi blades were surprisingly good. My legs were so smooth, they seemed to reflect light. (Someone here on the forum compared the Ming Shi blades to Gillette 7'O Clock, but I wouldn't know about that). I was curious about other blades and ordered a sample pack of 15 different blades (2 each). I decided to work my way up the sharpness ladder because that's recommended everywhere, which meant starting with the green Derby Extra. I placed the blade in the Merkur Futur clone as per usual (upside-down assembly), applied a thick lather of shaving foam on my legs and... it was by far the worst bloodbath to date. Apparently, I had a couple of mosquito bites on my legs, and the bumps were chopped clean off. I cut both ankles badly, savaged a knee and somehow drew a massive cut across one calf. The blood spread over my wet skin so fast, I couldn't see where or how I'd cut myself and couldn't believe I kept on doing it even though I thought I was being careful. I tasted copper and the water turned pink around me. After a full 3 months of shaving with 4 different safety razors and 6 different DE blades, I didn't expect to make so many mistakes. But the armpits? Perfect. A truly smooth shave. Better than a Venus ever delivered. How is that possible for a blade that is supposedly not very sharp at all?
I dug up an old electrical epilator for temporary use while the assortment of cuts on my legs healed, afraid a DE razor would tear everything up again. (I don't mind a bit of pain, but I'm borderline anemic and I'd rather not have to explain this experiment to my doctor, like: "Have you seen Peaky Blinders?") A week later the skin looked fine and I switched back to a Wilkinson blade in the Futur clone, which gave me the results I'd come to expect: no real nicks, but also not that baby bottom smooth finish. It's not like there's still a 5 o'clock shadow, but it could definitely be considered a 1 o'clock shadow here and there. I thought that meant I needed a sharper blade. Am I wrong? I'm sort of hesitantly looking at the blades from the sampler pack thinking: now what? Do I skip the so-called smooth blades? I have no idea what I'm doing.
Does body shaving in general require different techniques or even different blades/razors for different areas? It shouldn't be that different for women, right? I read that there are some women on the forum and also many wives/girlfriends trying DE blades. Any wisdom is appreciated.
Thank you very much for reading this far.
So sharper = less cuts. Got it. Seriously, I didn't see that one coming but it seems to be the case for me too. Yeah, good point. I'd want a little extra practice and a bit more of a steady hand before I try the Feather, that seems sensible.
). But the husband might be a safety razor convert after all. 
