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New Gillette 2 blades cart: The Gillette Skinguard!

It may be that the blades are not sharp enough for your beard. (this is a theory on my part, aka, guess) If you read the blade forum you will see a trend and that is folks with tough whiskers not liking blades that are considered on the mild side. They will stat things like tugging or pulling but not cutting the beard. They often times end up liking Feathers are other well known blades that lean to the sharper side.

Maybe the angle of the blade isn't quite right for you. It sucks that it doesn't work for you because I've read your posts here and know that you've not had great experience with a lot of products and have really tried a lot of products with an open mind.

I don't remember offhand your DE journeys, I think you had some, but did you prefer sharper blades in those? The reason I ask is I up until quite recently liked mild shaves, actually still do, but I always thought the way to get that was to have razors with small blade gap.

I recently bought a Karve with an E plate. That's got a huge blade gap, but it clamps the blade very tight. I've had some of my best shaves ever with that thing. It's my best razor. It shaves closer than anything I've tried

(Feather Popular, Merkur 42c, 45, DE89, Bevel DE, Fatip Gentile, smoother and closer than all of those. The only razors I've used that came closeness were the Parker 99 which I found way to heavy and easy to nick and the Muhle Rocca which was to quick to nick. In fact the Rocca and Parker were kind of what cemented in my mind that I need only look at razors a smaller blade gap, probably .8mm or under.)

So anyway the Karve has a gap of 1.10 mm and an exposure of a positive .17mm (from their site, I don't measure these things myself). Why the E plate? I had read a number of posts from guys talking about that it was better to have what might be considered an aggressive razor that does the job in a couple of passes rather than multiple passes. Close shave, less irritation. That registered for me and I though at least if that is not the case for me, I can always buy a milder plate.

I've got almost a weeks worth of shaves with the Karve and I love it. I did finally get two weepers yesterday on day five, but I'm going to say it's because it was time to ditch the blade, it was day 5 on a Derby Premium. I felt on day 4 like it was running out of life.

Sorry about the tangent - I absolutely excel at them:) But its another view point that you or someone may want to consider on their journey if they haven't. I pooh poohed the idea for a long time until it occurred to me that an adjustable razor was a good way to test the theory. But also an adjustable known to clamp the blade rigidly and by that I mean close to the blade edges to eliminate any possibility of chatter. And with your tough hair, you would notice chatter before someone with easy to cut hair would.


Not a tangent but a detailed well thought response that I appreciate! Yes I have gone through quite a journey with this whole shaving thing and you have been a name to pop up with helpful advice frequently during this time.

Most of my facial hair is thicker then a sewing needle (not kidding, my wife plucked one to show me) but also grows not only in tight ring-curls but very flat against my skin... If I grow a beard it never gets longer but Fuller lol. My growth pattern is in crazy directions which also doesn't help.

I think chatter is exactly the issue with the skinguard for me, I've tested it with tweezers (on a spent cartridge of course) and the blades seem to flex and have minimal support. They even designed little finger tabs behind the blades to almost act like springs. Now here is where most people would suggest the Indian guard due to it's rigidity... That also grabs my hair pretty bad. This then leads me to believe it's the preset angle Gillette uses in their carts. For me to get a comfortable (feeling... During the shave atleast) DE shave I, regardless of razor, would have to keep the handle almost horizontal, meaning the blade as flat against my skin as possible. When I look at the profile or angle of the Gillette carts the blades are almost sideways vs the angle I need typically. It lends more of a scrape then a cut for me.

As for DEs and blades themselves: I tried so much.... SO much, over about 5 years. If the blade was too mild it would pull but if it was too sharp my skin couldn't handle it, Astra sp were my all around favorite as they were plenty sharp to get the job done but didn't ruin my skin like personnas or feathers. Mild razors never did much for me, even with sharp blades I would have to go over spots too many times causing irritation. Aggressive razors would work too well and cut too far. I had a long stint with slants and they simultaneously fix issues I tried them for while causing other issues I never had before. I tried several models of injector with both Schick and Pella blades, those were the most uncomfortable shaves I've ever had. I also tried a slim adjustable for awhile with the concept of dialing in for different passes and that was ok but still not great.

I used to chase BBS then I stopped and focused for a long time on just CCS and DFS but my crazy growth pattern ultimately causes me to shave some areas ATG which not only causes irritation but leaves a visually patchy shave. The philips Norelco oneblade has been great for me in that no matter what direction I go it won't cut below a certain level. Visually and by feel I've got 10 hour stubble but it's atleast even length around my face and not riddled with red marks. I hate it though lol, damn 'blades' die out quick and are very fragile. I also frequently use a Braun foil shaver due to my above journey and it does a great job but I can't use it more then 2 times a week or my skin freaks out. So I alternate between two expensive electric devices, neither of which I'm totally happy with, simply because I've spent well over $1,000 in the last 5 years on razors, blades, creams/soaps, brushes, aftershaves, etc to never find a solution to my problems.

Maybe I'll buy another skinguard and just try it again for two weeks, regardless of possible irritation or lack of shave.
 
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Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
@slybrewguy Thanks for the detailed response. Have you ever tried an SE such as a Schick Injector or Gem. SE blades are thicker and will not chatter those might be an option to try and they are not expensive to try. One other thing you might try if you haven't is shaving with the grain, but doing small patches at a time and doing skin stretching to make your whiskers stand out more. That you could do with any razor you use.
 
@slybrewguy Thanks for the detailed response. Have you ever tried an SE such as a Schick Injector or Gem. SE blades are thicker and will not chatter those might be an option to try and they are not expensive to try. One other thing you might try if you haven't is shaving with the grain, but doing small patches at a time and doing skin stretching to make your whiskers stand out more. That you could do with any razor you use.

The problem really seems to be how flat my hair's grow so even if I cut slightly above the surface it still can grow in. My hair grows more sideways then out, it's weird.

One thing I never explored in detail with the skinguard was a thinner lather. I tried a few different cream and soap lathers as well as some different canned products but not a thinner brush lather or even hand application. I've read many reports of success with the skinguard with a thinner lather.
 

Chandu

I Waxed The Badger.
@slybrewguy RE: thinner lathers soaps that are good and slick and than thin lathers works well with:

Williams

Other tube products that work good thin
Cremo - wet the crap out of it
Dr. Carvers Shave Butter
Billy Jealousy Hydroplane

If you are interested , send my your address via PM and I can get you a sample of any or all of them.
 
@slybrewguy RE: thinner lathers soaps that are good and slick and than thin lathers works well with:

Williams

Other tube products that work good thin
Cremo - wet the crap out of it
Dr. Carvers Shave Butter
Billy Jealousy Hydroplane

If you are interested , send my your address via PM and I can get you a sample of any or all of them.

Thanks for the offer but I've tried most of those. I picked up a skinguard for the sole purpose of an experiment and I'm going to try to use it this whole week. For today's shave I used a fresh skinguard cart with Gillette's pure cream and my Omega s brush in the shower to help ensure hydrated and lifted whiskers. I went out of my comfort zone and specifically pushed the razor to see what would happen, I did 1 wtg pass then 1 atg pass followed by an additional atg touch up pass with just the residual slickness (I know, this will cause the irritation I spoke about... This is not my usual SOP). The pic below is my final result after 2 passes plus touch ups with double atg and using a brush to lift my hair:
IMG_20191007_165204083.jpg

The stubble you see helps give an idea of what I spoke about when I said the skin guard misses hair. The other issue is that because my hair is so flat this remaining stubble not only rubs on my skin and causes irritation but also will just work it's way into an ingrown.

I post this mainly because the common thought is ingrown hairs come ONLY from shaving so close the hair falls under the skin... Not the case for me (and many others) at all as even cut well above the surface of my skin the hair is growing sideways, not out.

Off topic of irritation but to speak on general comparison: the Philips Norelco oneblade leaves me with a slightly visually (and feeling) closer shave then what you see above.
 
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Yet another offering that mounts from the end of the cartridge. I literally have to put my finger on the back side of those to get enough pressure to shave anything off my face. Atra and Sensor mount in the center, and allow for the pressure needed with carts (for me anyway). I only use them when I travel and carry on, but will skip this offering. Plus nobody I know would use the word sensitive to describe me in any way.
 
Yet another offering that mounts from the end of the cartridge. I literally have to put my finger on the back side of those to get enough pressure to shave anything off my face. Atra and Sensor mount in the center, and allow for the pressure needed with carts (for me anyway). I only use them when I travel and carry on, but will skip this offering. Plus nobody I know would use the word sensitive to describe me in any way.
 
Thanks for the offer but I've tried most of those. I picked up a skinguard for the sole purpose of an experiment and I'm going to try to use it this whole week. For today's shave I used a fresh skinguard cart with Gillette's pure cream and my Omega s brush in the shower to help ensure hydrated and lifted whiskers. I went out of my comfort zone and specifically pushed the razor to see what would happen, I did 1 wtg pass then 1 atg pass followed by an additional atg touch up pass with just the residual slickness (I know, this will cause the irritation I spoke about... This is not my usual SOP). The pic below is my final result after 2 passes plus touch ups with double atg and using a brush to lift my hair:
View attachment 1023827

The stubble you see helps give an idea of what I spoke about when I said the skin guard misses hair. The other issue is that because my hair is so flat this remaining stubble not only rubs on my skin and causes irritation but also will just work it's way into an ingrown.

I post this mainly because the common thought is ingrown hairs come ONLY from shaving so close the hair falls under the skin... Not the case for me (and many others) at all as even cut well above the surface of my skin the hair is growing sideways, not out.

Off topic of irritation but to speak on general comparison: the Philips Norelco oneblade leaves me with a slightly visually (and feeling) closer shave then what you see above.
I was having a similar problem; the Skinguard is the less evil razor (I have tried so many combinations); gave up and growing a beard...... Or you can grow stubble and just trim around *I did this for many many years*
 
I was having a similar problem; the Skinguard is the less evil razor (I have tried so many combinations); gave up and growing a beard...... Or you can grow stubble and just trim around *I did this for many many years*

That's a good way to put it, "less evil razor" haha. Through it all what seems to give me the closest shave I can get without irritation is the Philips oneblade. I know it seems like a gimmick and goes against what most of this forum stands for but hey... If it works, it works. I didn't even get to day two of my skinguard experiment last night because my chin broke out with ingrowns from Monday's shave I spoke about above. Guess that experiment is over lol.
 
Just to show how I was after shaving with a new Skinguard blade. That was the last nail in that coffin.

Wow, that's not great. And no offense to you, we had a very similar result. I do still think this is a step in the correct direction for them and will help many people out there even though it didn't work for us.
 
I have had a change of heart, I am still using the same cart I had bought over a month ago and it is still shaving incredibly smooth, I've been able to get about 78 carts for less than 2 dollars each some of them way cheaper, it's a great razor , the handle is way too slippery so I use a different fusion handle
 
it's been a long time since I've used a cart and today I had my first shave with the Skin Guard and dare I say it gave me the best, most comfortable shave I've had. I had a few days growth so usually for me that first shave is always pretty comfortable. Looking forward to using it again tomorrow and seeing if I get the same results when used daily.
 
Just finished shave #30 with a cart that I bought and first used in Sept of 2019

So I take it you don't use the skinguard frequently then. What's your opinion on it? I've been sticking with foil shavers for some time now and pleased with the results but I do sometimes miss the elegance of a lather and blade shave. However, blades never really got along with my skin and even after several years of working with DEs and SEs could not even reduce, let alone eliminate, bumps/ingrowns/etc. I've used the skinguard in the past and wasn't very pleased but I've changed my approach to shaving, lathering and shaving technique, as well as my opinion on what is an 'acceptably close shave' so I've really been considering giving it another try. I just hate to spend $10 to get a handle and cart just to try, I don't mind the cart cost if I use it regularly because bulk purchases drop that price down but the initial $10 'just to see' bugs me for some reason... It's not like it's a DE that I can just BST lol. Have you used any Electrics and if so how does it compare for you?
 
I had to try this out, with the power up on half price at Woolworths A$9. The cartridges are a bit expensive here in Australia $27.50 for 4.
Anyway on with the shave. It plowed through 4 days of growth with ease of my, I would say medium to strong beard, with one pass, then a second pass with touch ups. It gave a very nice shave with no irritation, or effort. Those looking for BBS shaves will be disappointed with this razor. However, if you want your skin to look and feel good after a shave, this is the razor for you.
 
I had to try this out, with the power up on half price at Woolworths A$9. The cartridges are a bit expensive here in Australia $27.50 for 4.
Anyway on with the shave. It plowed through 4 days of growth with ease of my, I would say medium to strong beard, with one pass, then a second pass with touch ups. It gave a very nice shave with no irritation, or effort. Those looking for BBS shaves will be disappointed with this razor. However, if you want your skin to look and feel good after a shave, this is the razor for you.


Well said. Concise and accurate.
 
The more I shave with the Skinguard the more I like it. Well into double figures on the number of shaves, around 15, stopped counting after 10. I would say that you could get a minimum of 25 shaves and probably more, which offsets the high cost of refills.
 
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