Just be sure you keep a styptic pencil handy.
:smack:
I hope these related questions aren’t hijacks, but:
What’s the environmental impact of safety razor blades versus the lil plastic disposable ones?
-and-
Can you shave in a shower with just regular soap and a safety-style razor (cause that’s how I shave, I’m a one stop shaver kind of guy - no need for the badger brush and Jeeve’s help).
This thread has be bidding on safety razors on eBay, and looking to order some blades after I finally win. I’ve got a tough beard and very sensitive skin, and I hope old-school shaving might offer a solution.
I bought some recently - not for my face but for my range. They are good for getting burned on food off it. I found them at the hardware store, I believe.
I started shaving with those things. I’ll stick with my four blade ones, thanks.
You can, but not many ordinary sops are going to have the slickness, correct amount of cushion, etc. that a soap or cream specially formulated for shaving will will give you.
Getting the lather just right and with the correct amount of hydration with ordinary soap will be very difficult without the badger brush, but it’s your face.
If you started shaving with the sort of blades you’d find at a hardware store and believe you’d have the same experience with the sort of blades I recommended in earlier posts, then I don’t blame you for wanting to stick with overpriced multi-blade cartridges.
If you are concerned about environmental impact you will use an electric shaver. The amount of electricity it uses and the impact of producing that electricity is far, far less than what it takes to produce the hot water used to typically shave using a blade shaver.
Of course, shaving in the shower has a much greater environmental impact than shaving over the sink when running the water intermittently. However, most people keep the hot water running which is a big energy waste.
I have a box of 100 of the second type, which are sold as blades for the scraper I use on my stovetop.
That same product is sold for a number of uses; in the early days of my dad’s journalism career, when radio editing was done by physically cutting up reel-to-reel tape and sticking it back together, that was the standard tool for that purpose.
Well, I bought myself a badger brush and some soap on Crabtree and Evelyn last night, due to this thread. I’ll probably buy a double edge razor when my Mach 3 blades run out. Cool stuff, I’m excited.
You sure you’re not talking about the regular single-edged razor blades like this? That’s what I woudl expect to find at a hardware store. They’re good for box cutters, or glass (and cooktop) scrapers. They are not to be shaved with.
A safety razor blade looks more like this. Did you actually find that in the hardware store.
Not to drag the standard arguement in here, but you may also (those of you with sensitive faces and such) want to check out straightrazors (cuthroat razors, for our UK friends).
I have been shaving with one for about a year, and I love it.
I offered to pick up a DE for my wife (what you folks have been calling a “safety razor”, which is probably more correct) but she just looked at me like I was crazy. heheheh
Welcome to the club. 
Feel free to PM me if you’re looking for recommendations. For those that are looking for a brand new razor, the most popular model is the Merkur 34C and the least expensive it was available last time I checked was here.
You can shave with single edge blades in razors designed for them. A lot of folks on the shave forums prefer them to the double edge razors. Not sure how good the ones you linked to are (I’m doubting those found in hardware stores would work well for shaving), but the ones packaged by CVS work fairly well.
I had a quality straight edge sharpened by Lynn Abrams and a blade sharpened by hand just can’t compared to a blade sharpened by a machine. There was a good National Geographic program called “A Closer Shave” and it was claimed that modern factory made razor blades are the sharpest things on Earth, with the edge having the width only being few hundred molecules thick. Not knocking straight edge shaving, but IME, I just can’t get as close a shave with one as I can with a DE.
DE and safety razor are both correct terms. All DEs are safety razors but not all safety razors are DEs. All cartridges, disposables, Schick Injectors and DE razors are termed as safety razors because only a portion of the blade is exposed to minimize the damage one can do.
A friend of the family was devastated to learn the Bic regular single blade shavers are not sold
in the U.S. any more. The ones for ‘sensitive’ skin are, but he only wanted the regular, and threatened to grow a beard if he couldn’t have them. I came across several 6 packs in a dollar store and gave them to him for his birthday, and he was thrilled.
The razor blade companies have really bent over backwards, producing all kinds of expensive gadgets with special moisture strips, thing that sing, dance, and vibrate, all kinds of dumb toys they sell to silly women. I only want to shave my damn legs! I buy a bag of cheapy pink lady razors and use those random bottles of ‘body lotion’ that seem to proliferate in the bathroom after Christmas as shaving lotion. Works OK for the winter, I take more care in the summer with a tortiseshell-looking thing I’ves had forever that I load up with cartridges.
He might want to try the Bic Metal. A lot of DE users use them when traveling as DE blades aren’t allowed on carry-ons. The Bic Sensitive with the yellow that you mentioned handle is pretty popular too.
Its a multivariable problem. Currently I jump in the shower, soap up from head to toe, and shave my face with a cheap disposable while I rinse. I doubt I would decrease my total shower time by much if I didn’t shave in the shower, because I’d still be trying to wake up as well as finish the rinse cycle. I shower fast though, cause the water is boiling for coffee.
If I shave with an electric razor, or with a safety razor at the sink, I’d have to allot time for shaving as a separate activity, so that’s out. I’d consider a safety razor in the shower, as long as it fits in with the rest of the system, and bonus points for using less plastic, at least.
I may do that, thanks!
I’m going to be shaving a lot more often, because I just got a new job where I’ll be wearing a respirator. I think my chin is ugly, so I’ve kept it covered with hair since I’ve had the choice. It’ll be cool to try out all the different blades, I think. I’m looking forward to being advanced enough to use the “Ninja Sharp” ones that Mantic59 spoke of.
Ahh, the Feathers. They are REALLY sharp! Definitely not to be used when in a rush, but they give a damn fine shave. Haven’t bought any in a while, but they run about 50 cents a piece, which is considered expensive compared to the other blades that can be purchased on the net.
Those are the ones I use when I’m using my DE. Bought a box of a hundred or so off of eBay for $27 or something. Unfortunately, I’m leaving myself enough time less and less these days and just using a two blade disposable.
Do they still make those?
Somewhere I have an antique one with a shaving head that unscrews from the handle. Tucked into the handle is an attachment that screws onto the handle and holds the blade by the spine so you can use it like a straight razor. Looks cool but dangerous!
Our local Walmart stocks DE blades but the less “old school” SE injector blades, nowhere to be found. And of course the helpful staff there have no clue what a SE injector blade is.
Damn kids need to get off my beard!
CMC fnord!
Not to my knowledge, but they’re easily found on eBay. Try an eBay search for “Gem safety razor” and “American safety razor.”
Most of them have a cover that only allows just the edge of the blade to be exposed, making them true safety razors.
They stopped making Injector razors in the early 90s, but Schick and a few other companies still make the blades. I believe CVS and Walgreens stocks them. Most Injector lovers really like the Ted Pella blades. I tried them and they work great.