Shaving

[Adam W.]

I remember watching the Roman Polanski film Bitter Moon. The young lady had a thing about undoing mens trousers with a cut throat razor.

 

[mikej460]

For my 15th birthday my parents bought me a Remington razor that just about coped with my bumfluff. When I was 18 I moved over to a Gillette Safety Razor until I tried shaving onboard a ship and took a 1 inch skin graft off my chin . I moved to Gillette G2 disposables until my 'save the planet' conscience took over and moved over to Gillette Fusion, which on board a moving ship could probably take your head off.

 

[baldkev]

I have an electric phillips which gets used a bit, i liked bic razors, quick and easy, but disliked the fact that they get thrown away. I got into straights, but im slow at it
Often im in a rush so reach for the electric
The black one was the first razor i honed myself. Its a 1918 ern Ator

 

[Robbo3]

I use a Phillips 3 head rotary. After shaving I remove the head & tap the detritus out & clean the base with an old toothbrush with a shortened handle kept specifically for this task.
Once a week the head gets put in with the washing up where it is broken down to its constituent parts & cleaned with the toothbrush, then left to dry. It is best to keep the cutter & guard pairing & not mix them up.
Wanting to try sharpening the cutters but afraid to be without a shaver if I mucked it up, I bought a cheap replacement set off ebay. They were no better than the ones I had replaced. However it did allow me to gently run the cutter heads over a 600 grit diamond stone using IPA (Iso Propy lAlcohol) as the lubricant instead of my usual GT85 or WD40.
I don't know what the difference between between the old & new cutters is. They look & feel the same but the old ones always seemed to give a slightly better shave especially after sharpening.

 

[Sachakins]

I have a triple head electric that I use occasionally for a quick shave on the way out of the house to take the scruffy edges off. I use disposable triple or quadruple edge razors I get at Costco, because they are cheap. I shave my head and beard with bar soap in the shower. I don't shave my chest or legs.

Pete

What about the bits between legs ️️

 

[Sachakins]

I have an electric phillips which gets used a bit, i liked bic razors, quick and easy, but disliked the fact that they get thrown away. I got into straights, but im slow at it
Often im in a rush so reach for the electric
The black one was the first razor i honed myself. Its a 1918 ern Ator

Weren't they the favourites of sweepy todd?

 

[ian33a]

In recent times I've had two Philips rotary three head shavers. The first started to give iffy results after about ten years and it was difficult to find a set of replacement blades that received good reviews. I took the plunge and bough a new razor about three years ago. At first the results were even worse that the unit I had just ditched. I started to use a pre-electric lotion and this was marginally better. I ran out of lotion and tried a more random stroke using the razor and the results were a revelation. I've no idea why I wasn't doing that with this razor before.

With both of these razors I have a cleaning/charging system. With the first unit I didn't bother much with the alcohol cleaner and just used the little brush. With the second razor I routinely clean out the debris and run it through the cleaning station each and every time it is recharged.

I've tried the foil electric as well as the wet shaves but always seem to go back to the Philips rotary system.

 

[Adam W.]

Weren't they the favourites of sweepy todd?

I think he preferred brushes.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

 

[croft36]

I shave 6 days a week.
I use a rotary three blade type as, I think, originally brought out by Phillips.
Except mine cost £16 in Lidl about 5 years ago.
Recently it hadn't been performing as good as I would like so I started looking around to see what is available.

It appears that most of the electric razors, although replacement blades are available, they suffer from cordless drill syndrome, It's almost as cheap to buy the complete unit.

I'm almost convinced to go back to the old style safety razor and flat blades, but I think the reason I stopped doing that many years ago was that it irritated my skin.

Maybe my hide is tougher nowadays.

I have ordered a razor and blades online but it's not here yet. It's not expensive so if I decide against it, it's no big loss.

Day before yesterday I took the Silvercrest razor apart. Turns out it must have been longer than I thought since I properly cleaned it. I blow it out each time I use it and then blast it with an airline when I remember.


It was pretty yucky when I took it right down, so I cleaned it spotless and gave the blades a good rub on a piece of flat marble before putting it back together.

Now it's shaving me like a brand new razor.

I wonder if it will last.

Does anyone else sharpen their electric razor blades?
What is the service schedule on your electric razor?

What do you all recommend electric or not?

Rechargeable reciprocating blade electric razor that Santa brought 20? years ago, shave once a week on setting number 4 (4mm?), brush after use and a drop of oil every couple of months (on the shaver blades that is, not my chin!). Aim was to minimise time spent (wasted?) shaving daily. I was a late starter, never had a wet shave!

 

[baldkev]

Yep, although i have yet to watch the film because i hate musicals!

 

[RobinBHM]

I've now stopped trying to find an electric razor that I'm compatible with and just accept that, for me, shaving is a waste of time and effort.

Quick spritz over with the 'leccy beard trimmer every couple of weeks when I can be bothered works for me

since buying a beard trimmer I’ve never looked back - I just trim every week or so. Much more comfortable than shaving to the skin

 

[Woodchip Wilbur]

I've now stopped trying to find an electric razor that I'm compatible with and just accept that, for me, shaving is a waste of time and effort.

Quick spritz over with the 'leccy beard trimmer every couple of weeks when I can be bothered works for me

+1 ! It happens roughly monthly - when a nuanced comment arrives from Sartorial Quality Control

 

[whatknot]

Having had a serious road accident courtesy of a drunk driver in the late 60s, it left me with scar tissue where the stitches were, so after a couple of attempts to shave with a wet razor and ending up looking like the chain saw massacre, I gave up on shaving and have only ever shaved my beard & tache off once since, I was immediately told by my other half and kids to grow it again ;-)

I have saved a considerable fortune by not shaving and no doubt helped in a meagre way to save the planet ;-)

 

[boggy]

Lillicrap's Hone was a device for sharpening razor blades available during and after WW2. It was during WW1 that soldiers were sharpening blades on the inside of broken bottles so Lillicrap captalised on this with his invention.
I have one made of uranium glass but have never used it. I am ashamed to admit that I use disposable plastic handled razors.

 

[baldkev]

The green ones?
I often wonder just how sharp the razors were back then. They obviously worked well enough!

 

[Ollie78]

Double edged safety razor for me. The best shave is without doubt a straght razor but I am too clumsy so a safety razor is best for me.
Tried an electric one once, couldn`t understand why I would want to take 4 times as long for an inferior result.

My beard is curly and pretty savage so will try to grow itself back in my face again if not careful, I would always get trouble with any fancy 3 or 4 bladed contraptions and get a rash, they would block up between the blades etc. Then I tried a safety razor and it just worked much better.
I use a badger brush and a bowl of soap.
Bonus is its completely recyclable I dispose of a tiny cube of steel every year instead of a bag of plastic and metal landfill and costs pennys a week.

I would add that the blades differ a surprising amount and I tried a few before finding my favourite ones, Astra superior platinum.

Ollie

 

[D_W]

Straight razor for the past 12 years. Will never go back to anything else. Hone every 150-300 shaves, linen once a week, cordovan shell strop every shave. strop for about 20 seconds, shave for three minutes.

 

[Kittyhawk]

In the late 60's I was circumnavigating single-handed in a small yacht. Shaving seemed a pointless exercise on long passages and especially so since I only carried 30 gallons of fresh water and had to be careful with it. I enjoyed the freedom from the tyranny of the razor and as a result my wife and children have never seen me without a full beard.