Anyone remember those circular ones for “ladies” in the 80’s? They had weird sectional blades, and were supposed to be “safety razors.” You turned it in the middle to get a new blade, and I think they had 5 all together.
That was what I learned to shave with. They were terrible and I cut myself as a teen all the time. A younger family friend stayed over once, and she was told explicitly not to use it when she took her shower, because her mom didn’t want her shaving yet. She thought she would be clever and not get caught, except she didn’t know how to shave, and she chose the worst razor to experiment with. She looked like someone had peeled a section of skin off with a cheese slicer.
That is basically it for me. There are good razors and bad razors but I don’t go for the fancy stuff. Dual blade disposables are fine for me and I have to shave my face nearly every day. I don’t go for the fancy blades and handles at all even though I have tried them when I got them as samples. The key is that I have muscle memory for my own face and a pattern that I go by. I couldn’t tell you what that pattern is right now because I am not doing it and I don’t think about it. It is just swipe, swipe, curve, double-swipe, curve etc. I can shave my whole face in less than one minute easily. I don’t understand why many men seem to overcomplicate the shaving process. It takes time to get it down but no special equipment is needed.
Count me as another who says that razors have gotten better.
I’ve always used disposable razors to shave my legs and pits. Back in the seventies, you had pink ones that were just a man’s razor in a different color and the infamous Flicker. Either would cut your skin to ribbons.
Now, the ladies’ razors are angled differently and even the store brand that I use rarely nicks me.
ETA: The Flicker was good for shaving your pilled polyester blouses and sweaters back in the day though.
I’ll keep my 1955 Gillette Fat Boy, thanks. It works just as well (for me) as the more expensive razors so I stick with it. I use the cup and brush too.
Although when it comes to razing the downstairs topiary and backyard I use a cheap disposable. The head of it is small enough to reach all those tender places I can’t see.
