cross-posted from: https://lemmit.online/post/5774540
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The original was posted on /r/todayilearned by /u/ICanStopTheRain on 2025-05-07 03:51:37+00:00.
Original Title: TIL that in 1975, after Gillette introduced a two-blade cartridge razor, Saturday Night Live aired a fake commercial for a three-blade razor. Gillette introduced one in 1998. In 2004, a satirical article in The Onion introduced a fictional five-blade razor. A real five-blade razor came out in 2006.
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I have the same safety razor. It’s seemingly safer than a Gillette against a lot of ‘features’ on the face, but I’m not getting your great results yet. I carry a lot of had habits from shaving out of a green melon bucket or in a tent, and it’s not translating well ;-)
I think you nailed it, moving from a cartridge razor to a safety razor requires a large jump in technique. With a cartridge you can just whip around your face and get an acceptable shave without really caring (unless you have sensitive skin). But with a safety razor you have to pay attention to the direction of hair growth, handle angle, and to a smaller extent the tautness of your skin.
I have VERY sensitive skin and cartridge razors were killing me, so switching to a safety razor and getting past the skill curve saved my face.
After 20 years of safety razor use I recently switched to a straight razor which accepts replaceable safety razor blades, which I saw my barber using. I’ve found the skill gap between a competent safety razor user and a straight razor was very small. Within 2 weeks I was getting better shaves with the straight razor! It’s closer, easier on my skin (fewer passes), and I can detail around my mustache and eyebrows way better.
YMMV
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How do you deal with the contorsions needed to shave on the side your good hand doesn’t flex well towards? I have an actual straight razor that I seldom use because it works really well and I don’t usually cut myself, but it’s really annoying to get everywhere on myself with it. I don’t trust using my other hand whereas with a safety razor if I need to I can without peeling half my face off.
When I first picked up the straight razor I ran into the weird areas and contorting my wrist as you mentioned.
I just tried different grips and shaving patterns until I found a pattern without weird wrist positions, it took about 10 shaves to really get comfortable.
I don’t know the terminology, but if the common wrist position you see people straight razor shave with can be called “wrist up” I actually shave about half of my face and most of my neck with my wrist “down” gripping the razor kind of like a paint brush. I don’t know if that’s the correct way to do it, but a few months in and I can complete a shave nearly as quickly as I could with a safety razor.
The only weird spots left to figure out are the sideburn on my non-dominant side (which I do by feel with decent success), and my brow lines.