I have a pile of both DE blades and cartridges. I was using cartridges for a while and when I switched back to DE, the first thing I noticed was that I had gotten used to pressing much harder with the cartridges because I never got cut, regardless of how I pressed the cartridge. After going back to DE, I first was getting cut with a Feather blade, then it dawned on me that I should treat the DE razor just as if I was lightly brushing a feather across my skin, letting the razor's weight alone carry it along. The result was no cuts with DE. Maybe this could help people starting out with DE. The most important thing in my opinion is to use a very sharp blade and treat it like a light feather. With a cart, you have a plastic frame preventing the blade from digging into your skin. You can't get as close as DE, but it's easier to avoid getting cut.