Considering to move away from DE razors. Looking for advice.

[OkieStubble]

Straight razors. I had one for a few months back in 2008 or so, a Thiers-Issard I believe. Sold it for reasons I can't really recall Do you find the upkeep easy? I can sharpen a pocket knife but a straight requires
even more refined edge.

One can keep a pretty fine edge with 3M, Cr0x and newspaper if they don’t have the patience for stones.

I can be included in the too impatient for Honing on stones category and the above works for me when edge maintenance seems necessary. Other than giving it a few strops before and after my shave, this has worked for me quite a few years now.

 

[Frito Ray]

If ever you do choose to move away from DEs, make sure to keep one around along with a supply of your favorite blades. Neither take up much room. There are so many people here who suffer from seller’s remorse, so why not keep one at hand?

 

[Lockback]

Personally, I can't fathom going back to cartridge razors. Grossly overpriced and underperforming.
If I were going to shift away from DE safety razors, I'd lean towards SE razors, particularly razors that use AC blades. I haven't tried any yet but hear really good things about them.

 

[OkieStubble]

This.

Technique > Tools.

When I was converted to Old Skool wetshaving by a friend in 2010, I had been using a Mach3 for quite a few years.

Once I learned and got used to the shaving techniques of a DE razor and learning how to map my beard and face and prepping for the shave; I would go back and visit the Mach3 and was surprised by not only how good my shaves were with it, since before DE, I always got razor burns & bumps with a Mach3.

What was the change? Was it my new shaving skills that made the troubles I had with the Mach3 null & void? I was getting great shaves with a DE and triple blade cart?

While I don’t use a Mach3 any longer and haven’t in well over a decade, it’s no longer used because of its price not because I can’t get a great shave from it. But in the 14 years since I figured this out, I have used this same logic of learning techniques and perfecting new shaving skills I got from learning to shave with a DE.

Over the years I picked up learning how to also shave with SE, Injector, Straight and Shavette; and have mastered the techniques & skills to enjoy wonderful shaves from all of them.

I have my small collection of brushes & soaps that I have selected over the years to accompany any of these razors to reach the exact same goal of a damn fine shave regardless of the combinations I decide to use that day.

But guess what?

Just last week, I got in the shower and shaved with a vintage Trac II and only my wife’s hair conditioner to rub on my face; and would you believe it? Another damn fine shave!

Technique > Tools.

 

[MNshaver71]

I still keep a cart (Harry's) in my rotation, mainly for weekday shaves. The lower part of my neck, in particular, is an area where I find carts give me less irritation.

 

[OkieStubble]

I still keep a cart (Harry's) in my rotation, mainly for weekday shaves. The lower part of my neck, in particular, is an area where I find carts give me less irritation.

Have you noticed the hair at the lower part of your neck that is closest to your clavicle grows up towards the chin instead of in the down direction with the rest of your upper neck?

 

[MNshaver71]

Have you noticed the hair at the lower part of your neck that is closest to your clavicle grows up towards the chin instead of in the down direction with the rest of your upper neck?

I have...that's why I use upstrokes on that part of my neck.

 

[OkieStubble]

I have...that's why I use upstrokes on that part of my neck.

Me too. I think while beard mapping is as individual and different as a thumb print, that hair at the bottom of the neck growing up is a pretty common theme of many.

 

[Eric_75]

I think while beard mapping is as individual and different as a thumb print, that hair at the bottom of the neck growing up is a pretty common theme of many.

If I do have a problem area it would be the lower right side of my neck. Not so much now since switching from carts to DE. That being said, I'm still extra careful in that area.

 

[OkieStubble]

If I do have a problem area it would be the lower right side of my neck. Not so much now since switching from carts to DE. That being said, I'm still extra careful in that area.

When I first started DE shaving, I could shave wrg, X-ray and tag and would still feel some kind of prickly whiskers on the same lower right side of my neck. I couldn’t see the hair, it was totally invisible but I definitely could still feel it quite a lot. It frustrated me for at least that first year of shaving. I dot know how many times I left irritation and a red inflamed right lower side of my neck.

One day, it just hit me, to try a last few strokes of going diagonally from my back jaw line by my ear, downwards in a diagonal stroke going towards my Adam’s apple.

It worked!

 

[Eric_75]

When I first started DE shaving, I could shave wrg, X-ray and tag and would still feel some kind of prickly whiskers on the same lower right side of my neck. I couldn’t see the hair, it was totally invisible but I definitely could still feel it quite a lot. It frustrated me for at least that first year of shaving. I dot know how many times I left irritation and a red inflamed right lower side of my neck.

One day, it just hit me, to try a last few strokes of going diagonally from my back jaw line by my ear, downwards in a diagonal stroke going towards my Adam’s apple.

It worked!

Ha, I do that as well. Dang, we are related.

 

[kingfisher]

Yep. I moved away from DE shaving, to replaceable blade straights.

But now I use both razors for each shave. Replaceable blade straight for the first pass and a DE for the second. I enjoy both types.

As for cartridges, I like the Gillette Guard and I like Trac 2 and Atra. I use one of these when I travel, or a Tech.