Brett McKay might single handedly bring back the safety razor with his post “How to Shave Like Your Grandpa.”
From a dermatologist’s perspective, I have to say, it makes a lot of sense. Many men are plagued with ingrown hairs on their face and neck from shaving with 5-blade vibrating razors. They actually can shave the hair too short, leading to ingrown hairs, a condition called pseudofolliculitis barbae.
I won’t go so far as to recommend using a safety razor, but I do recommend using a razor with just two blades (plus it will save you a lot of money over the course of a year).
And as for the old fashioned shave lotion and shave brush, I couldn’t agree more.
See my post on A Proper Shave for more tips.
Photo credit: http://theartofmanliness.com.
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So does that mean that we all electric shaver users should start using grandpa’s 2-blade system?
Has anyone looked at the edge of various maker’s double edge blades under a 10 power magnifying glass, or, better yet, a microscope, to see if they can see a difference in the blade edges?
I looked at a Schick and a Merkur under a 10X glass. The Merkur has a rough edge. The Schick has a much smoother edge.
I checked this out after using one of each blade. The Schick gave me 25 good shaves before it started pulling,
The Merkur blade gave me a worse (it pulled more) shave on the first shave than the Schick did after 25 shaves.
I used to get 60 good shaves out of the Gillette Blue Blade. Now I am doing good to get 30 out of stainless steel, platinum, etc.
Seems the blade makers are just not putting as good of an edge on their blades just so they will get duller faster.
I have not tried the Feather Blades yet, but have ordered some, as they have a reputation for sharpness.
A person should be able to tell just how long, comparatively, a blade will last just by looking at its edge under a microscope.
The whole thing seems to be a “sting” operation though, as sharp blades could go out for weeks and then the makers of these blades start sending out less sharp ones.
It does seem near miraculous to me that in a century no one has come up with a way to sharpen and strop these double edge blades.