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Looking for Safety Razor Guidance

lasta

Blade Biter
Hi Elliot,

Looking back from a (formerly) exclusive straight shaver's perspective, I've gone from aggressive razors to sequentially milder ones paired with sharper and sharper blades.

Nowadays, Tech + Feather is hard to beat, regardless of price.
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
Price is fine if that’s gonna be a good razor for me.
That is always the issue... I absolutely love mine. I bought it because it was recommended to me by one of the resident slant experts here: @Old Hippie and another person I trust a lot: @Chan Eil Whiskers . They have a lot more experience than I do. For you to factor in... I've only been wet shaving since Feb. 15th of last year.... but I read a lot and try to minimize the risk, just as you are doing.

I am reading between the lines a bit. If I am getting this right, you have some personal issues that are causing you to head in the safety razor direction. I have psoriatic arthritis that also affects my face.... and has to be a part of my shaving decisions.

I don't know your face and whiskers. Your beard has to be considered as well... Are the lines on your cheeks straight.. or curved? If they are straight, an AC blade would be great, in my view. They are around 1/4" longer.... they are 50mm long. It has never been an issue for me, but it is worth mentioning. I shave my face and neck clean, so my needs vary a bit from yours.
 
That is always the issue... I absolutely love mine. I bought it because it was recommended to me by one of the resident slant experts here: @Old Hippie and another person I trust a lot: @Chan Eil Whiskers . They have a lot more experience than I do. For you to factor in... I've only been wet shaving since Feb. 15th of last year.... but I read a lot and try to minimize the risk, just as you are doing.

I am reading between the lines a bit. If I am getting this right, you have some personal issues that are causing you to head in the safety razor direction. I have psoriatic arthritis that also affects my face.... and has to be a part of my shaving decisions.

I don't know your face and whiskers. Your beard has to be considered as well... Are the lines on your cheeks straight.. or curved? If they are straight, an AC blade would be great, in my view. They are around 1/4" longer.... they are 50mm long. It has never been an issue for me, but it is worth mentioning. I shave my face and neck clean, so my needs vary a bit from yours.

Ahh, similar situation! Blade with the X1 seems to be a different question!
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
Ahh, similar situation! Blade with the X1 seems to be a different question!
People do differ on the AC blades they prefer. I've tried almost all of them and have one in house, yet to be tried: the more aggressive Feather Professional Super.

For me, I prefer the guarded blades. @Old Hippie doesn't care for them. They don't pull for me. If I had only one AC blade choice, I'd choose the Kai Captain Titan Mild "Pink" Protouch MG guarded blades. I think I have everything in the title of the blades. They also make an unguarded version that is also quite nice but the guarded blades last twice as long for me... but again, YMMV.
 
I'd go with a Tech (or similar) or a Wilkinson Sword Classic (the black plastic one). Both are mild razors, are quite user-friendly, and can be found quite inexpensively. No matter what other DE razors I try, those are the ones I go back to over and over. For blades, I'd go with something like Gillette Silver Blue or Nacets.
 
Things happen. Good on you for accommodating it, though I understand that you would rather not have to.



I imagine RazoRock razors like the Gamechanger and BBS, Henson's mild, some vintage, etc. will all show up here. As a slant fan, I'd say the RazoRock Superslant may be worth a look to you. As you know, technique and "software" contribute to the shave -- or detract from it -- so that's worth some attention as well.



I read that "sideways" and thought, "Well, I think there was one razor designed as a triple edge with a proprietary triangular blade." So there is another choice. :)

But to your question: DE offers a huge amount of choice in blades. Gem SE offers essentially three choices: carbon steel, stainless, or stainless with a PTFE coating. For most of us who shave Gem, the coated blades are pretty much the best choice. Schick injectors attract a fair bit of attention. I'm not an injector fan so I'll leave the nuances to the nuancers but in very broad injector blades are stiffer than DE blades and may offer less "chatter" and may also hold an edge longer. "It depends" is probably the phrase that pays here. The third SE style is Artist Club which is rather like a longer injector blade and has the same advantages.

There are also razors that take a half-DE blade. I have used 1/2DE shavettes but own no 1/2DE safety razors. Some razors clearly intended for Asian markets use rather unusual blades, but some folks have them and are able to source blades somewhere. Those aren't my kick, so I'll leave that for others to cover.

One of the mildest Gem moderns is the discontinued ATT G1. Lovely smooth razor if you can snag one. Although I like Gem format I don't have a lot of depth on the bench in that game. @RonR is your guy -- one of your guys -- for the Gem world. ATT also makes what I think is the mildest AC razor, the X1. It's also a slant razor, though a very mild tilted slant. I tend to discount the slant and point to the mildness. It's a great razor as well.



I like Astra SP for DE. Smooth, mid-sharp, easy to find, inexpensive, lasts me two weeks of shaving.

My AC choice is the Kai Captain Titan Mild Pink. Some guys like the guarded blades but I find them rough and scratchy. I get three weeks out of a Kai AC blade in the ATT X1. Schick Proline blades are probably the sharpest, and in a mild razor may be stellar. I have more difficulty getting Prolines, and they're too sharp for me in some uses, so I tend to stick with the Kai Pinks.

As I noted above, the top pick for Gem format is the Personna Stainless PTFE Coated blade. I generally get almost two weeks or five shaves out of a Gem blade no matter whether I'm using Gem Ancient (Jr. Bar lather catcher), Gem Vintage (MMOC) or Gem Modern (ATT G1 or Blackland Sabre).

O.H.

There appears to be levels of the superslant. Perhaps the 1 is a good place to start? It appears The Italian Barber has it in stock and I imagine the earlier recommendations for blades like the Astra SP would work fine.
 
My advice would to be to secure a classic safety in the three traditional blade formats - The Old Hippie has covered those above. Say a Gillette Superspeed, a Schick Type L, a GEM 1912. Those can be found very inexpensively. Then see which makes your own socks go up and down ... Once you know if a single format works well enough for you, then you are free to fall down that particular rabbit hole ..

I'd avoid the gimmicky snap a blade in half stuff. Just one of those will run you more than the three razors mentioned, and offers just a half of one DE blade to use ..
When you say three types, am I to understand that is: GEM/slant style, injector and classic DE?
I see vintage GEMs on Razor Emporium for very little.
 
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Ahhh, so perhaps to start, a slant (Razorock or ATT) and then a GEM.

Guessing quite different, and therefore telling, experiences.

I can always grab a Henson for pretty cheap to try also, as several here have mentioned it fondly.

For blades, the Astra could go in a RazoRock slant or Henson, I think, and then O.H. referenced something for a GEM.

Anyone have shops we recommend for vintage stuff?
 

Phoenixkh

I shaved a fortune
You could take a look here:


A note: I'm a bit partial to the English Gillette offerings. They tend to be a bit better built. You can always check eBay.... put Gillette England.. see what comes up. The England Flat Bottom Tech is a fine razor as are the England Raised Flat Bottom razors.

This is Chris Spencer's Etsy site... many of us use him for replating @ Back Roads Gold. He's replated 4 razors for me over the past few months and does amazing work:

 
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Another source for razors is the BST section here on B & B.

When you have your razors & are ready to begin your journey, please allow me to send you a sampler pack of blades. I'll send many of the better blades out there so you can discover what works for you.
Very kind!
 
The more I’m reading, I’m very interested in grabbing a GEM style razor. Seems quite user-friendly and can’t deny I enjoy the look.
 
You could take a look here:


A note: I'm a bit partial to the English Gillette offerings. They tend to be a bit better built. You can always check eBay.... put Gillette England.. see what comes up. The England Flat Bottom Tech is a fine razor as are the England Raised Flat Bottom razors.

This is Chris Spencer's Etsy site... many of us use him for replating @ Back Roads Gold. He's replated 4 razors for me over the past few months and does amazing work:


Thanks so much for the reco.
Chatting PB, FW and MMCC w/ the Etsy shop owner.
 

Chan Eil Whiskers

Fumbling about.
The more I’m reading, I’m very interested in grabbing a GEM style razor. Seems quite user-friendly and can’t deny I enjoy the look.


I've not used the GEM/E-R platform enough to know jack about it, but I have purchased on eBay a few brass GEM/E-R razors and polished them with a rag and Flitz so that they looked new.

Don't worry about tarnish on brass as it's easily removed. Do make sure an eBay vendor tells you the item can be returned or that they say it's mechanically sound in which case eBay will back up your claim if the razor is junk.

Some guys love 'em.

There are modern examples. Perhaps they're better but IDK.

Happy shaves,

Jim
 
I thiiinnkkk I’m down to two for my slant experiment: The RazoRock or the Konsul. Any noticeable differences people would share? The Konsul offers a chance to progress from super mild as needed, which is enticing.
 
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