Pointers on Pointers? Why do people listen to me?

I've been shaving with "shavette" style SE razors for years, and (as many of us probably do) am always glad to point out how much superior the shave is in cost and quality to the current Gillette multi-blade options, although I usually recommend they try a DE safety razor. Sometimes people have actually listened to me.
So the two parts of my question are:
1) How is handling a safety razor different than a cartridge style? How not to murder your face in one minute or less?
2) What razor set would you buy and from where?
Since I use SE straights normally, I'm a little hazy on DE safey razor technique, so for #1 I've advised that instead of dragging the handle almost parallel to your face like a cartridge, start with it perpendicular and then roll it till the blade touches the skin, and to let the blade do the work and not press hard. I think that about sums it up?
For #2, safety razors aren't widely available, I've advised any old handle off of Amazon (although I'll name drop Parker and Merkur), with just a Wilkinson Sword brush, tub of soap, and Classic blades. The Wilkinson Sword gear is available in many grocery stores and pharmacies here in BC, although another chain (Pharmasave) does carry an Omega brush and Proraso soap, and the House of Knives (a common enough store in nearby malls) carries a variety of starter sets out there, but they often seem rather expensive for someone just starting out.

 

Edwin Jagger DE89BL. The Wilkinson Sword blades from Germany I'm familiar with. They were just ok for me. As far as other gear, I'm not familiar with what you would have in Canada. Biggest thing going from carts to DE is NO pressure!! Hope that was of some help.

 

Got it, no pressure! I learned that pretty fast when I started, the hard way. And if someone gets into safety razors on my advice, they will likely blame me personally and curse my name every time they nick themselves.
I see there are a variety of Edwin Jagger DE89x available I see, so that should be handy! A quick Google search seems to indicate that the Edwin Jaggers all use the same heads, and it's the handles that are different, so that will likely be a matter of personal choice. On Fendrihan.ca, the EJ-DE89BL is $42 CAD, so that's pretty reasonable.
And in the past, I only recommended the Wilkinson Sword blades and other accessories simply because they are widely available. I've got some, and I like them, but they are usually $5-6 for a 5 pack on store shelves, so online is much cheaper in the long run.
Thanks!

 

2. In the lower-48 Van Der Hagen sets are pretty common. If you have to have it now, then you can get one at Target, WalMart, and big-b0x drug stores. I'm not sure what the razor is, but it looks a lot like a Weishi that is available on-line.

I point newbies to Maggards, West Coast Shaving, Italian Barber, Connaught Shaving, Stirling, etc. for good starter kits. In some cases, the on-line sellers are 50% of the cost of the big-box stores and you can pick your own gear. It's generally better gear than a lot that I see on Amazon, IMHO.

1. But, like the others say good technique, which all about angle, pressure and stroke length, are the over-arching characteristics that define a good shave. Everything else is just a modifier. At least, that is the way it is for me.

I point people to good resources on the Internet.
http://theshaveden.com/
http://sharpologist.com/
https://www.badgerandblade.com/

I am going to be a bit of a heretic here, but technology has made shaving (in general) much easier and more accessible to the masses. It seems to me that cartridges are a very refined version of all of the wet shaving razors that came before and electric razors are like the shaving industry's self-driving car. They get you from A to B and your enjoyment is based on whether or not you made it to B; not how satisfying the car is to operate. There are undoubtedly some for whom cartridge or electric razors won't work. But, the majority of users get along just fine with cartridge razors. I used an electric razor for 40 years. It worked just fine and it was really, really fast. When I couldn't get a comfortable electric razor shave because of several days growth, I would do a one-pass shave with a cartridge razor and aerosol shave cream and it was only about a minute longer. So, it was fast, too. The one thing that I didn't realize then was how nice a shave can be. Up to my switch to DE wet shaving, it was just drudgery and a necessary part of looking halfway decent. But, I can't deny that the switch has been good for me. I actually miss my morning shave when I don't have one now. Before classic shaving I could just care less whether or not I'd shaved. But, I enjoy the experience most every morning, now. So, much so that I make the extra time that I need for a nice 3-pass DE shave. My advice to newbies is to make it enjoyable by performing the task well and performing it carefully. So, learn to use the equipment well and your face will thank you.

 

Just don't use the VDH blades. Your face will thank you

 

Best starter sets can be found on Stirling Soaps website. 3 soap samples, an aftershave sample, razor, blades and brush for $27...

 

See, I disagree with the cartridges being more refined. They're _safer_, but it's like adding training wheels to the side of your bike. You won't tip over anymore, but you also can't cut the corners as tightly.

The only reason to go to them wasn't because they were better. It's been taken as being fact that Gillette went to cartridges because they could patent them, and thus protect the virtual monopoly they'd lost - the slide starting when Wilkinson Sword decided to make stainless steel blades to try to draw attention to their other products. (There's too much history to go into right now) I'll go so far as to suggest that the _major_ changes in the style of Gillette cartridges have happened approximately 16 years apart, because normally, you're not allowed to re-patent an item - only a materially different item.

 

Ah, well there you go. Business opportunity (greed?) can sometimes be positioned as "improvement." Though, not to be defensive, but my definition of "refined" in this case is very similar to your analogy of training wheels. "Safer, easier, more accessible, less time consuming." All benefits of technology to some degree. But, you will have to pry my coveted DE razors from my cold, dead, hands.

 

That is a good deal although there's a pretty good chance that there might be a PIF of a starter set sooner or later

Sent from my XT1609 using Tapatalk

 

Yeah, but if you're pointing a new convert to something, that's a great starting point. I got one for myself, I basically wanted the brush and couldn't resist the value. Everything in the set is of good quality, and of course it's top notch soap!

 

I kind of agree with Terry to a certain point, but also Bookworm. I shaved with off brand Atra/Sensor's for about 20 years until I visited a barber that did shaves. I also used every free/discount/sampler razor that Gillette, Wilkinson Sword or Schick gave me.
I always got decent shaves with cartridges, and for the off brand Atra's/Sensor's there were some that were noticeably worse. Mangling your face with cartridges was difficult, but as others may have noted, I would get fairly bad razor burn if you tried too hard to get an exceptionally close shave. I figure the downside of those multi-blade cartridges is that you are dragging multiple blades across your face in a single pass. But I never really noticed any improvement as Schick/Gillette moved into the 3+ blade cartridges. 4+ blades was pretty much just a SNL skit made real. I think Dollar Shave Club or Harry's would be the way to go here though.
My most emphatic recommendation is always the shaving soap and brush though. That is the by far the biggest improvement in my shaving experience. And the SE replaceable straights have given me a great shave, but there was a learning curve. Since I wanted to get that barber shop shave though, I was motivated.
I have gone and ordered myself a EJ DE89BL though, so I can get a "handle" on DE safety razor, and have a loaner to pass along if someone want to try.
One of my shavette's is a Sanguine Coolcut 9, and it uses injector blades. It gives a great shave, and although the only injector's I've easily found are Personna, and they're a fair bit more pricey than standard SE/DE blades. I'm curious if anyone still makes injector style standard handles, that would be an easier transition. That also sounds like a different thread topic...

 

I understand the Sanguine usage, in that its current meaning is positive (although I always read it as being relaxed and slightly optimistic), but the older meaning of the word, in conjunction with razors, is just not a good thing. Sanguine - blood red, or bloody. (Here, shave with my bloody razor.)

 

Haha! That is the first thing I thought of as well! Apparently it's a UK barber scissor manufacturer. I've been curious why they chose to be in the business of making sharp things that might cut you and naming their company "Sanguine". I'm convinced it's not a coincidence.

 

Cheerful and optimistic barbers make lots of blood? If they're old enough, perhaps they started off by supplying Barber-Surgeons?

 

That could be part of the reason they chose that name as well. Come to think of it, I have no idea how old the company is. To the Googles!

 

When you say that, I immediately thought about Barney Google and Snuffy Smith.

 

I admit, I never heard of Barney Google and Snuffy Smith before. Just looked it up on Wikipedia, and I'm amazed that I managed to miss it. I guess it just wasn't carried in the papers around here. As to Sanguine Scissors, they were incorporated in 2009, in Essex England, so probably not a direct reference to Barber-Surgeons, but I still suspect it's an intentional historical aside.

 

yeah, always wondered how Google managed to claim ownership of the name. Considering that Barney Google was from _1919_, and continued for decades...

 

Can't go wrong with the DE89BL. With the right blade for your face it'll get 'er done.