I've bought a few new cartridge razors

[Ceri]

A couple of weeks ago I found myself in hospital after a bit of a bad reaction to prescription steroids. It was nothing serious really, picked up an infection and spent two days hallucinating in a respiratory ward. You'll be glad to hear I'm sure, that on the days I spent the correct side of the doors of perception I managed a DFS, thanks to my trusty Palmolive NEW, a Wee Scot and Erasmic shavestick. I was careful to not reveal my razor to the staff. as I was sure they'd be concerned over the blades. Lockable safety razors are a bit thin on the ground, and as I'm probably going to spend more time in hospital in the future I thought it best to get myself a cart razor.

Apart from a brief flirtation with disposables in my teens most of my shaving has been done with carts. Firstly a no name fixed twin blade, which got me through my twenties and most of my thirties, followed by a Mach 3 until I switched to DE and SE razors around three years ago. The M3 was ditched shortly after, but I still had the twin blade, and I used this for a week or so much as I would a DE. I got some very good shaves from it, but I'm a little attached to the old thing, so I started to look around for a new cart razor.



Now I'm of an age that if you mention the word swivel I think of the Fonz, and swivel head twin blades were new to me. I got a Contour and a Vector from eBay, and own brand razors from Boots and Superdrug, as well as a Sensor Excel.

I discovered on my first shave that trying to use the Contour like a DE with three passes - WTG, XTG, ATG - was an invitation to nicks and irritation. A second shave using more pressure and omitting the ATG pass didn't give a close shave at all, so this morning I tried WTG and ATG only. It gave a pretty good shave but I'm not sure my skin could stand up to it, day after day. Still, I have a few more combinations to try out.

 

[smalltank]

when I was a teenager..I "suffered" with these machine made blades..always bled/had major irritation..I use my straights 95% of the time...DE/SE..if im in a hurry..close enough but nothin beats a well honed straight!

 

[The Kiwi]

When I am in a hurry, and the shave quality doesn't matter, I keep a charged up electric razor in the car to use. That's the fastest, but also the worst. I used a Gillette Sensor with only two blades five days a week for 19 years; that is still what I reach for when shave quality matters, but I feel rushed. Since December,2011, instead of only a single classic / traditional shave a week, I'm using DEs, Injectors, and SEs most of the time, and my trusty Sensor only occasionally.

However, when I did dig out all of the DEs beyond a singleton next to the wash basin, I unearthed a half dozen old Atras, a single TracII, and a couple of spare Sensors. I have made side by side comparisons, left side to right side, two razors, and switch them for a second shave, and the TracII shaved better than the Atra. The Sensor is better than either the Atra or the TracII. My only experience with a Mach3 was very negative, and my evaluation of Gillette's Fusion is that it is merely a Mach3 overloaded on Steroids.

I haven't made a similar comparison with Schick's Hydro razors or their Quattro, but I think both are probably much better than the Mach3 / Fusion competition, without being as good as the two-blade Sensor.

 

[Ceri]

I forgot to add that the fixed head twin blade shaves my top lip closer than any other razor I've tried.

 

[BallisticBurrito]

Have you thought about trying a Gilette Guard?
Cheap single-blade cartridge razor made for the Indian market..can get them pretty dang cheap.