Shaving

[RoamingFrancis]

What do you all use to shave? I want to stop using the plastic disposable razors. Is it worth investing in a straight razor?

Also, can one do DIY shaving cream?

[Hristo Botev]

I use this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002A ... UTF8&psc=1
With these: https://ebay.us/cWceIR
And instead of shaving cream I just use a small drop of Brommer's: https://shop.drbronner.com/pure-castile ... ent=Almond

ETA: To use the safety razor I don't think you need to use a brush; I just lather up a drop of Brommer's (or any concentrated body soap I'd think would work) with my hands and apply it to my face; never had a problem, and I prefer over something like Barbasol et al.

I've never used a straight razor.

[chicago81]

I use Gillette Series 2 disposable razors. It's been a while since I bought a bag of them, but the individual razors come down to about $1 each I think. However, each razor lasts me over a month, due to a "forearm stropping" technique I learned on some random YouTube video. I basically run the blade backwards along my fore-arm a few times after each shave. The blade stays usable for quite a long time!

[Solvent]

I went to safety razors for a while but would tend to cut myself a little every now and then. I've gone back to the mach 3 cartridge razors just because they've been the default since I was younger and they're easy to use. Also, the double-edge blades (and Amazon!) are not available everywhere. My "beard" is fine enough, and my workplace lax enough, that I only tend to shave once a week. Thus, a cartridge lasts quite long.

I do recommend the Proraso tubs of shaving cream, though. Again, with the qualifier that I shave only weekly, a tub of Proraso lasts me longer than a year. I don't remember exactly how long.

I have a nice badger hair brush that must be about 7-8 years old and still has most of its bristles, it looks like it would last another 7-8 without issue.

[Jean]

I used a straigth razors with soap and a badger brush for years, and i really loved it.

[ertyu]

Gillette 2-blade disposables here. My local big box had them on sale a while ago so I bought 4 packs which I anticipate I’ll be working through for quite a while to come. Also, because I don’t work, I’ve reduced the frequency of shaving to whenever mood strikes which usually ends up being every 3rd or 4th day.

[Western Red Cedar]

I use Gillette Mach 3 razors. I used plastic disposable razors for years but felt guilty about all of the plastic waste. At one point I was getting a lot of ingrown hairs, which I realized was from cheaper razors with two blades. Better quality razors are more expensive, but you don't have to replace them that often. The straight razor is probably more of a long-term ERE solution though.

[Kriegsspiel]

I use the Merkur, but the 33C, as opposed to Hristo's 34c.

[AxelHeyst]

Straight razor and strop.
coconut oil + shea butter for shaving cream (I have really bristly face hair and using only soap would murder my face). No need for a brush, just dab it on there.

[Alphaville]

Straight razor and strop.

i experimented with shavette (with shark blades) before committing to a straight razor and got massive razor bumps. this didn’t happen with my merkur safety razor+feather blades (currently trapped in my cabin.)

any pointers/suggestions? do shavettes suck or am i missing something?

ps will try coconut oil, i have oodles of it...

[AxelHeyst]

any pointers/suggestions?

There is a learning curve for sure. It took me a while to figure out what worked for me, as I'm prone to razor burn. This is what works for me:

.Lay out all your stuff so it's ready.
.Strop your blade well (don't skip the leather honing side). Your blade has to be super sharp.
.Take a hot shower. You could also just put a hot towel on your face for several minutes, but a hot shower is easiest if you have access to one. This softens the hairs.
.Lather up yer face. I tried a couple commercial shaving cream products, and coco oil + shea butter worked better than anything else for me.
.Run blade under HOT water.
.Take a couple swipes with the grain of your hair. Try to go slow and not go over the same bit over and over. Once or twice, move on.
.Rinse the blade in HOT water often, like every two passes.
.Re-rinse your face with HOT water as often as needed. I am unable to lather my whole face and then shave it, because my face cools off too much in that time. Work it in sections: hot water and cream upper cheek, shave it, re-rinse face and apply cream to lower cheek, shave it, re-rinse other side. Etc.
.Depending on thickness of beard, you might have to do half your face, and take a break to restrop.

After the shave, wash your face real well, dry it off, and apply coco oil lightly to your face (particularly areas that will be prone to razor burn). And *don't* touch your face for a while, keep it clean.

If your blade isn't sharp at any point, if you cut against the grain, if you don't keep your face and tools hot, if you take more than a couple passes, and if you don't keep your face clean, you'll get razor burn. But I think that with enough practice and diligence, any face can learn to be straight razored without burn.

When I was learning, I would straight razor the upper cheeks, and use my normal electric for the underbeard and jaw, because I wasn't good enough to shave that without *lots* of burn. As I learned technique, I started straight razoring more and more of the rest of my face, till I was able to do the whole thing. This way you can learn steadily without going through several weeks/months of bad razor burn.

[Alphaville]

ahhh.. thanks!

with the shavette you use safety razor halves, so there’s no stropping (i think...). i decided to try this first because a good straight razor + strop are $$ whereas the shavette with blades was less than $15.

but just 2 passes! good to know about this + hot rinse + soaping just some areas to reheat.

and yeah, the face is ok, the neck is where i look like i was attacked by a swarm of insects