I have been dabbling in DE shaving, injector shaving, etc. for over a year now. Ultimately, I have pretty much settled into the use of a Trac II or its equivalent. I have argued elsewhere on this board about my belief that a two-blade razor actually works just as well as a DE and causes LESS irritation. This was based purely on my subjective experiences.
So, I decided to do a little experiment designed to test the hypothesis that a 2-blade cartridge razor is superior to a DE. Like a good scientist, I wanted to minimize the variables to make sure that the results could be attributed to the number of blades and not something else. My way of doing this was as follows: 1) for the purposes of this experiment I only used my cheeks, because these are flat surfaces that I can shave with relative ease. This removes the variables of poor angles/technique around the chin, jawline, and neck; 2) I used a Trac II as the comparator. If I had used a pivoting razor yet another variable would have been introduced; 3) I used the same lather on all parts of my face (obviously); 4) I tried both sides of my face, but alternated which side I started on; this removed the variable of how long the lather sat on my face before I started.
So, results follow:
Day 1. Omega boar, MB Spicey Lime SS. Made a good lather. Applied lather. Waited 30 seconds. Used Slim with Kai blade on left side of face, Trac II on right. Started on left side first. Two passes each (WTG, XTG), with lathering in between. Results? Very, very slightly closer on the right. Irritation virtually zero on either side.
Day 2. Semogue 2009 LE, MB Frankincense and Myrhh SS. Good lather. Waited 30 seconds after application. Slim on left, Trac II on right, just like day one. Started on RIGHT side first. Two passes, same as day one. Results? No difference in closeness of shave that I could discern. No irritation on either side.
Day 3. Omega boar, MB Spicey Lime SS again. Good lather. Waited 30 seconds after applying lather. Slim on RIGHT side, Trac II on left, started on left. Passes exactly the same as before. Results? Slightly better closeness on left side, but not noticeable to anybody but me. No irritation on either side.
Day 4. Semogue 2009 LE, Saint Charles Shave Candy Cane SS. Great lather. Same wait as usual. Slim on right again, Trac II on left, but started on left side this time. Two passes, same as always. Results? Closeness exactly the same. Very mild irritation on right side.
Conclusions? There really isn't much difference, even in my hands and on my face. Whenever a difference was noticed, it favored the Trac II, but these differences were very, very slight. With proper technique, there was no more irritation with the DE than with the cartridge razor.
This leads me to believe that the reason I had more irritation with the DE in the past was because my technique (all places except my cheeks) is still not very good.
You guys were right.
So, I decided to do a little experiment designed to test the hypothesis that a 2-blade cartridge razor is superior to a DE. Like a good scientist, I wanted to minimize the variables to make sure that the results could be attributed to the number of blades and not something else. My way of doing this was as follows: 1) for the purposes of this experiment I only used my cheeks, because these are flat surfaces that I can shave with relative ease. This removes the variables of poor angles/technique around the chin, jawline, and neck; 2) I used a Trac II as the comparator. If I had used a pivoting razor yet another variable would have been introduced; 3) I used the same lather on all parts of my face (obviously); 4) I tried both sides of my face, but alternated which side I started on; this removed the variable of how long the lather sat on my face before I started.
So, results follow:
Day 1. Omega boar, MB Spicey Lime SS. Made a good lather. Applied lather. Waited 30 seconds. Used Slim with Kai blade on left side of face, Trac II on right. Started on left side first. Two passes each (WTG, XTG), with lathering in between. Results? Very, very slightly closer on the right. Irritation virtually zero on either side.
Day 2. Semogue 2009 LE, MB Frankincense and Myrhh SS. Good lather. Waited 30 seconds after application. Slim on left, Trac II on right, just like day one. Started on RIGHT side first. Two passes, same as day one. Results? No difference in closeness of shave that I could discern. No irritation on either side.
Day 3. Omega boar, MB Spicey Lime SS again. Good lather. Waited 30 seconds after applying lather. Slim on RIGHT side, Trac II on left, started on left. Passes exactly the same as before. Results? Slightly better closeness on left side, but not noticeable to anybody but me. No irritation on either side.
Day 4. Semogue 2009 LE, Saint Charles Shave Candy Cane SS. Great lather. Same wait as usual. Slim on right again, Trac II on left, but started on left side this time. Two passes, same as always. Results? Closeness exactly the same. Very mild irritation on right side.
Conclusions? There really isn't much difference, even in my hands and on my face. Whenever a difference was noticed, it favored the Trac II, but these differences were very, very slight. With proper technique, there was no more irritation with the DE than with the cartridge razor.
This leads me to believe that the reason I had more irritation with the DE in the past was because my technique (all places except my cheeks) is still not very good.
You guys were right.
