Anyone out there use a safety razor?

[usernamenumber]

...not the plastic kinds you get in most stores, the kind where the only disposable part is a double-sided razor blade? Ones like this.

I'm thinking of switching as part of my efforts to decrease the amount of waste I produce, but I'm taken aback by some of the tutorial videos that say "some people say it's too slow, but with practice you'll be able to shave in as little as five to ten minutes" (well, that and the fact that tutorial videos are involved at all).

Anyone have first-hand experience? Maybe even a razor I could borrow before I drop $30 on an experiment? Then again, I need new heads for my existing razor, and that's going to be $20, so...

Comments

[diego001.livejournal.com]

Hi. I use one. Add me on Gmail chat and we'll talk.

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

Address? Or you can write me at this un @gmail.

[diego001.livejournal.com]

OK, just sent you a message.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Yep. It's all about the angle between face and blade, and about getting your hair soft enough to be shave-able (hot water and shaving cream). Depending on what you do now, it may not be a big difference. You *will* nick yourself a bit, mostly from incautious corners or from sliding the razor sideways, but it's nothing like the danger of a straight razor.

Doing a touch-up in five minutes is easy, but you do have slightly more prep time. Doing more hair--I recently shaved off two weeks' growth--can take upward of ten minutes because you have to go slower and possibly make multiple passes.

[beowabbit]

I was using one regularly for a few years. If I’m remembering correctly, I switched back to disposable just because the drugstore near me stopped carrying blades I was happy with. (They’ve been through a couple changes of ownership since then; I should try again.)

I found it no more time consuming or inconvenient than using a disposable razor, but I did need to be slightly more careful.

[zapf.livejournal.com]

I say do what I do. Grow a beard.

[lucasthegray.livejournal.com]

I use one.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

I have been using one for years, and recently upgraded to a Merkur Future, which I really love. I had gifted all my spare razors to other Marines while I was deployed, so I don't have any razors to give out, but I have plenty of other good stuff.

Parker razors are okay, and the chances are good that you will go years before you decide that you would like to try something 'better'. Rather than the 96R, I quite liked my 22R and my 86R.

For blades, lately I have been using American Safety Razor blades (typically these are rebranded and sold as a store brand, but they have their own brand as well, 'Personna') but I also really like Astra Super Platinum blades.

In any event, you're likely to prefer either of those options to the Sharks that typically come with a Parker package, but they're worth shaving with. Derby's on the other hand, you ought to just pitch.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

I am not sure you're actually producing less waste with an old-style safety razor over a modern cartridge-style. You're still going to be throwing blades away. The safety razor blade contains more metal, the cartridge more plastic. In neither case can you toss the used blades into municipal recycling.

[usernamenumber.livejournal.com]

True, but with a little effort the plain-steel blades can be recycled, which is not (afaik) true of the plastic/metal mix ones.