Back in November, my wife bought me, as an anniversary gift, a beautiful German-made safety razor, much llike the one pictured here, along with a package of ten blades, some soap, a mug, and some cologne.
I love shaving this way, and the single blades I use in this outfit shave me better than the three or five or seventeen blades in a drugstore throwaway razor. And the blades hold up pretty well too; I get about two to three weeks from a single double edged blade.
But I don’t seem to see them for sale anywhere. Granted they’re small, and I might easily have overlooked them, but as far as I could tell the big drug chains don’t have them. Is that actually the case? If I will need to reorder my shaving supplies from Germany it’s good to know that well before I need them.
As above, you can find them but the package is small and you have to look hard.
I think they give a great shave too; I shaved with a safety razor until a couple years ago.
I gave up on it not because I couldn’t find blades, but because it became hard to find blades that were not already dull. I think such things have a limited shelf life and unfortunately so few people use them anymore that they sit on the shelf a long time.
I always check them out at a local tobacco store every time I go in (even though they’re always the same ones; they’re neat!). They have all sorts of odd things: darts and boards, canes, chess boards and pieces, pipes, etc. They have knives and safety razors and flasks all in the same case.
Your best bet is purchasing them on the internet. A lot of the geeks on some of the shave forums (like me) recommend getting a sampler pack like this and finding out what blade suits you best. Most of us aren’t happy with the blades found in brick and mortar stores and the prices are much steeper (although no where in the neighborhood of overpriced cartridges). My blade of choice is the Turkish made Derby and I get them here (and use discount code “BB”). I think my last order came to less than 12 cents a blade.
Don’t forget to get yourself a badger brush and some quality shaving soap for the full experience. IMHO, shaving with a badger brush and an excellent soap like Tabac is more important than going to double edged blades. Everyone that I know that’s tried it was never able to go back to the goo in the can that doesn’t have the slickness of a quality soap. The standard starter brush is this one.
Also, check out the shave videos by Mantic59. Good stuff. If you’re interested in more shave geekery, check out the badger and blade forums and also shavemyface.
The one in the first link, since single edged blades won’t work in the razor with the Merkur head that the OP has. For a single edged blade, you’ll need a razor like this Gem. They’re fun to shave with too.
Get yourself a vintage Gillette on Ebay. I used to use a Merkur like the OP has, but I’ve come to prefer the Gillette “Slim.” There are tons of them on Ebay and lots of great deals. I have a few dozen safety razors in my collection. :eek:
Jesus, i think i might become a convert. How many shaves do you get per blade?
I was in Vons yesterday, and a pack of 8 Schick three-blade heads was about $22.00!!! I can’t believe how expensive they have gotten.
My main concern would be that my face has a few decent-sized moles on it, and if i nick the top of one of those fuckers it doesn’t stop bleeding for about three hours.
One place to check for razor blades you might also consider but not think to check is under the counter at gas stations, alot of drug users use them to “process” choreboy scrubbing pads for their pipes, at the store i worked at you could get 5 blades for a dollar.
Just one of the more worrisome things i picked up while slaving away there, Please forgive me is this is off base.
I get about the same amount of shaves I did when shaving with a Gillette Sensor, which is about five.
I know, it’s insane. Heavy marketing in the 70s got just about everyone to believe there’s something superior about having blades stuck to a disposable plastic handle and from there the bullshit that the more blades the better when there was no where to go from there. The truth is that with aftermarket blades being as cheap as they were (and are), they weren’t making money on blades and once someone owned a razor, it was all they needed for a lifetime. Well, they couldn’t have that, could they? The most expensive cartridge doesn’t give me as good a shave as a Derby blade in my '65 Gillette Slim.
If you’re shaving with a cartridge blade now, you shouldn’t have a problem. They’re both safety razors that leave just a portion of the blade exposed to limit the amount of a mistake you can make. There are just a few adjustments you’ll have to make to get your technique down. Unlike cartridge blades, you don’t use pressure; you let the weight of the razor do the work. The wrist stays stiff and it’s all in the shoulder and elbow. Check out the Mantic59 videos first (I believe he has a mole too) and once you give it a shot, you’ll never go back and you’ll be telling others to stop getting suckered into buying overpriced cartridges. And don’t forget the badger brush and quality soap or cream- that’s the best part!
Way overpriced. Merkur makes some fine razors, but their blades are horrible and they can be found much cheaper than what the Vermont Country Store is selling them for. One of the shave forums had Magnified blade pictures of a few brands and it was no wonder my shaves with them were as bad as they were once I saw the pics as compared to a few other brands. I’ll try to find those pics and post them.
Oh yeah, you can get them but you do have to look around a bit.
I’ve always used a mug and brush and now you can add me to the list of those who have gone back to double edge blades in a Merkur razor, not only because of the cost but also because they actually give a better shave.
More info than you could ever want on shaving: Badger & Blade
I’ve been using a double edge blade for about two years now. I’ll never go back to the multi-blade things they have out now. All they ever did was chew up my face. Not so with the safety razor.
I too have had problems finding blades. Our local Walmart doesn’t sell them. The only place I’ve ever seen the blades is in a local pharmacy store. Hope that helps
Then the answer to my question is yes in absolute terms, but maybe I’d just better go ahead and order my refills from Germany, or the American company that imports them.
Although, now that I come to think of it, I don’t think limited shelf life would be the reason you couldn’t find good blades. I haven’t noticed the least deterioration in quality in the blade I inserted a week ago, as compared to the first one I used in November, and they’re from the same package. Presumably the ones you found were lousy to begin with.
