hello fello shavers, gary here, a lot of us disliked shaving and avoided it unless absolutely necessary..and then looked for an upgrade. most here took a step back and found something more pleasurable, comfortable and more rewarding.. heres a thread to show the sets ups you used before you found your way..i used bics,mach 3s, foamy,and other stuff for 35 years,. vintage de is my way at present.. everyone has their preference.. but most of us left the bad stuff behind.. whats your bad set up you put to the curb... pics are cool...
DSC set up. Even used the shave butter. Preferred to grow a beard and just shape the edges than use the products to go clean shaven. I'd take a picture, but I just gave everything away to a friend who uses them to shave his head. He does use a DE for his face.
I mostly used disposibles. For a stretch there I had a Braun electric, but went back to the disposibles.
I've been wet shaving since the mid 60's. Started with a hand-me-down Gillette DE from my dad. Stuck with Gillettes and made the change to carts when Gillette did (early 70's). Trac II, Atra and Sensor. Never went for any with more than 2 blades. Prices for the carts got stupid high and about 9 years ago my wife (she who bought the blades and is Miss Frugal 2000) gifted me an Edwin Jagger DE87 razor for Christmas. My set up for a few years after that was Barbasol canned cream, the EJ DE87, Wal-mart sourced Wilkinson Sword blades and Mennen Skin Bracer. And then it happened! Wal-Mart (at least my local store) stopped carrying WS blades. Tried the CVS ones and didn't get along. On to the internet to find a blade source. Holy crap! There's an entire universe of shaving products out there. Who knew? Tried a bunch of soaps, creams, AS splashes and a few new razors. Pretty much rotate between a Fatip Grande and a RR German 37 slant. Anyway, I don't think I had many "bad" shaves with the carts over the years and I shave every morning even when I have a beard (rare) to trim cheeks & neck. But since I began using the EJ and the others I mentioned, I'd say I'm getting much better shaves. I retired 7 years ago and take my time shaving every morning. Quite enjoyable.
To keep this response simple and short; by far a Schick electric was the worst. Water and shave cream with basically ANY razor is better, in my opinion.
Two weeks ago, in a hotel, with a Bic disposable, generic canned goo, hard water, and by the second day, a gnarly attitude.
Why just this morning, two, two bad shaves in one. Beard: Czechoslovakian Astra razor which seems to not hold the blade properly. I think. Weepers anyway. Not satisfied with one bad shave, I put a Dorco ST800 (not 300) in my Rotbart and more carnage. Terrible blade. Quite the morning.
What are these things you call "bad shaves"? More seriously, the last time I had a bad shave was around April, 2017 when I tried a Flying Eagle carbon steel blade. Terrible!