Double edged safety razors

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So I just got a double edged safety razor, and I think I made a worthwhile investment. The razor is a cheapie Chinese one, "Vincent" and if you read reviews online, most people say it's pretty bad. I thought mine was OK, they're $11 shipped on ebay, with 10 blades. Reason I bought it was, basically, I was using Shick, and Shick razors are pretty bad really no matter how you cut it, and the 3 or 4 blade ones are ridiculous expensive. Double edge safety razor blades, meanwhile, I got scammed and paid $7 for 10 blades at Walgreens, but online they're like $10-15 for a hundred blades. I was actually neglecting shaving at times, just because I was afraid I'd wear down my blades and then have to spend more money on blades.

So yeah, my solution was a DE razor. It's not really any different from shaving with a cartridge razor, I need to do 2 pass shaving or shave against the grain for a really smooth shave, but other than that, same technique. I was considering a straight razor, but that seemed kinda dangerous and the quality is quite variable razor to razor. It'd be the ultimate in non-disposability, but I'd have to learn to sharpen it and stuff. Maybe some day. I bought my DE slightly because in a SHTF (s**t hits the fan) scenario, I know I'd always have blades around no matter what, and they'll always be cheap, compared to random Gillette or Shick cartridges. I guess that's an odd way of looking at survivalism, but it's true, and even Ferfal in his SHTF guide based on the Argentina economic collapse of 2001 brought up razor cartridges as barter tools. End of my little survivalisty tidbit thing.

But anyway, I highly recommend a double edged safety razor to people, it'll save money in no time at all, and they shave quite well. Anyone else use an old style double edged razor on this board? Or straight razor?

I use both. I use the straight when I have no real time constraints (some weekday evenings after the shower, or weekends) and the DE in the morning before work. I haven't been using the straight very long, so I'm still slow with it.

I disagree that the technique for a DE is not different to a cartridge razor; in broad terms, yes, they are shaped roughly the same and you use a similar stroke. However, with a DE, you must control the cutting angle, this is pre-set for you with a cartridge razor. Cartridge razor heads flex around curved surfaces, with a DE you must use a combination of straight strokes to cover such surfaces. Cartridge razors will let you use force to such an extent that I cringe when I see someone shave that way; pushing in with a DE razor will give you results you most definitely do not want.

Straights aren't as dangerous as they're made out to be. If you can handle the "no pressure" aspect of DE shaving, you can learn a straight. It will take longer to go from DE to straight than from cartridge to DE though; I'm only just starting to get really good shaves with the straight after about a month or two. But when you do, they are the best. I've only given myself a few little weepers with my straight. Just be careful and respect the blade - as you should with a DE. You won't kill yourself with it unless you wield it like a weapon. Still, if you drop it, don't try and catch it on the way down, and get any body parts out of the way! If you set the razor down, be aware of where the blade is, don't absentmindedly plant your hand on it. Oh, and don't slice your ears when you're doing your sideburns; if you have detached earlobes, use them to pull your ears out of the way. The biggest challenge with a straight is that you need to learn to use your non-dominant hand to shave - left hand on the left side, right hand on the right side, with the non-shaving hand pulling the skin taut (which the safety bar does for you with a DE). It's much safer than say, driving a car, put it that way. For at least two hundred years, men either used straight razors, were shaved by barbers with straight razors, or grew beards, and there was no reported massive losses of men to razor accidents. The deaths I have heard of that were straight razor related were either from infected cuts or a result of the razor being used as a weapon.

One thing about straights is that the initial cost is very high; the razors are typically considerably more expensive than DEs, you need a strop to smooth the edge every few shaves, which is also expensive, and if you are doing this from a survivalist perspective, you'll probably want a hone so that you can hone the edge yourself rather than send it to a honemeister to do it for a fee. Though, an incorrectly honed razor is going to be hell to shave with and you may damage the razor in the process, requiring more expensive repair work from the honemeister. Still, you probably only need to spend all of that once, and you'll be shaving for a long time. Then, your only renewals are your soap/cream and aftershave or whatever you use to seal up your pores and protect against infection.

One way to bridge the gap between DEs and straights is to buy a cheaper disposable blade straight razor. They accept DE, or DE-style-but-straight-razor-length blades snapped in half lengthways. This allows you to concentrate on learning the straight razor technique without buying or learning to use a strop or a hone, or buying an expensive "real" straight when you're not sure you want one. I'm doing this now, I have a Dovo Shavette, which admittedly is not the pinnacle of razor engineering, but it works well enough for the price and I can get a great shave with it. The Feather Artist Club razors are also disposable blade straights, and are reportedly of much higher quality than the Dovo Shavette, but their price tag is equivalent to or even higher than "real" straights, which eliminates that particular benefit.

This is an obsession of mine, can you tell?

I got my razors yesterday. I've tried the Gillette and Star, I think I like the Star better. Someone on a razor forum I go on is offering to send me a Weishi and a brush for free, so now I can be more of a "proper" DE shaver. I might give my Gillette Tech to a friend or my father once I get the Weishi. I'm thinking this is becoming an "Aspie obsession" too. Oh well.

EDIT, nevermind I just necroed an old thread of mine. Oops.

I've used a straight razor ever since medical school. The same straight razor, in fact. When you look at the price of cartridges and disposables these days, it doesn't take very much math to demonstrate how quickly a high quality razor will pay for itself.