when i was 12 years old i started needing to shave my mustache and sideburns. by the time i was 13 i had to shave my entire face. i had very sensitive skin and so i ended up with a terrible rash from razorburn which i kept shaving over and shaving over. i tried a multitude of razors, electric razors, even depilatory cream which made me break out worst of all. finally at 14 i stopped shaving and grew a beard. 41 years later i have never looked back.
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I knew a guy in college that had very very sensitive skin on his face and he found safety razors to be the only way he could get a good shave. I have no experience with them so i dunno… though i’m in your camp. I don’t have sensitive skin (i can shave with no water or cream), but my facial hair grows slow enough that i’m lazy about shaving so i don’t. And for the most part i enjoy it that way. I just trim my facial hair as needed
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I saw one of those “shaving experts” on the Today show a decade or so ago, who recommended shaving against the grain, which didn’t work especially well for me.
I took the technique and modified it, shaving against the grain after I’d already shaved with the grain. Now, smooth as a baby’s bottom.
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Five o’clock shadow here, very coarse and curly hair, every day shaver. Multi blade razors give me ingrown hairs all over my neck. Switched to a safety razor about three years ago.
Feather brand blades last me about 5 days worth of shaves before needing to be replaced. The blades come in a tiny plastic box that has a slot on the back for disposal- built in sharps container!
I finish with a splash of witch hazel (the smell isn’t my favorite) and a slather of good smelling Nivea balm and am good to go. Haven’t had an ingrown hair in 3 years.
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Or grow a beard for free.
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That would be me.
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i will also say i am pretty meticulous about keeping my beard clean, even when i let it grow out in the fall and winter to do my santa impersonation the week my school lets out for christmas. not for me the old joke about being able to tell what a man with beard had for lunch by looking at him. i soap it out every night and shampoo it when i wash my hair. i tend to prefer the look of men with beards over the clean shaven but guys who can’t keep it clean annoy me.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if @beschizza’s house with the legendary safe doesn’t have one of those charming built in slots used for disposing of those old safety razors, too.
Razor Blade Disposal - Album on Imgur (gallery not mine)
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Dollar Shave Club razors aren’t too bad, but the odd thing is that the razors seem to work best with their Dr. Carver’s Easy Shave Butter. I’ve been a very long fan of Gillette’s Mach 3 (in conjunction with Jason’s Shave Therapy Anti-Burn Lotion–a wicked combination that leaves an extremely close shave and a baby-butt soft face and my fave for several decades), but decided to give DSC a try. Giving DSC a shot was a no-brainer, considering the very low start-up price. Anyway, I decided to go with their top-o-the-line Executive (5 blades!) and tested it with the Jason lotion. Not so great with this initial trial. The (excessive?) number of blades appeared to strip the lotion off, leaving my face dry of lube. I ended up giving DSC’s Shave Butter a try. Much better. I’m able to get as good, if not perhaps slightly better, of a shave than with the Gillette M3 and the Jason Lotion combo. My only disappointment is that the Shave Butter doesn’t rinse away as well as the Jason Lotion. You gotta grab the soap to make it right and as clean as when you finished your shower. I decided to change my subscription plan to receiving cartridges with fewer blades. Maybe then I might be able to return to the Anti-Burn Lotion. I love that stuff to have to give up on it too quick.
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Those used to be my go-to disposables too.
[quote=“teknocholer, post:101, topic:84333”]
I picked this one up at an estate sale.[/quote]
So, is that Prussian cross on the blade a medal for surviving your shave? (Seriously, you should polish that up, good 19th century Sheffield steel polishes to a magnificent gleam.)
Since these are made by Dorco, who go up as high as 7 blades, I’m surprised 5 is the top-of-the-line.
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I will confess i’m not very tidy but my facial hair grows very very slowly so it’s something that i normally don’t have to think about. Last time i did no shave November and took before and after pics i could hardly notice a difference 
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Oh… weak chin.
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If I were going to shave with it, I would polish it (and replace the handle), but I like the look of the patina, and overpolishing could blur out the etch on the blade.
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Thanks for the heads up. I might give them a try. I’ve read that Dorconis their provider. I’ll probably just order directly from them.
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THIS!
My face just does not like some blades.
I actually get one of those variety packs every time that I run out of blades (or re-try left-overs from the previous variety packs). Many years ago I started out using some Derby Extra blades, went to Feather Platinum, and have been using Shark Chrome ones for quite a while. I’m far from hirsute, but my whiskers seem to be made out of the keratin equivalent of Damascus steel because blades of any type have never lasted very long. However, since I tend to only shave once every 4-10 days, I don’t go through them too quickly.
I do have a Panasonic electric razor that I use occasionally (usually when I need to be clean shaven for several days in a row), but it seems to lead to ingrown whiskers.
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Data point for you younguns, I am 65 YO & I mostly shave only every 3rd day. Low T, FTW!
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Unless you use a beltsander to hone the edges of the pyramid on a regular basis, you are fooling yourself.
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I’m 100% with you on that one. I made myself a razor a-la Japanese monk style, and tried it once. It took forever, and scared the poop out of me. I can’t imagine shaving with it at 5am when I have to get up for work (pre-caffeine). …Or what would happen in the case of an 
unfortunately timed sneeze…
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That’s a fine looking blade there
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How so?
