More or less aggressive razor as technique improves?

[Brutus]

For me, it’s not so much about choosing between aggressive and mild razors.

Now, that I have shaved for near on 20 years with safety razors, I look for razors that give me a close and comfortable shave.
To that end, my razors tend to be on the more aggressive side, but I found that my most aggressive razors are not necessarily the ones that gives me the closest shave.

In other words, my criterion is closeness and comfort and not so much the aggressiveness of the razor by itself.
After coming to terms with DE shaving, one learns to handle aggressiveness quite well and it is no longer the main deciding factor.


B.

 

[JPO]

is it naive of me to think that so long as you give it time, you'll figure out pretty much any razor with regard to your face, even if it doesn't feel suitable on the first shave?

In my opinion, yes.
I had mixed feelings about my rex ambassador when I got it. Now I am glad I didn't sell it.

 

[Captain Howdy]

It's paradoxical, but aggressive razors are easier to get an okay shave with, but make it harder to get a really good one. At least that's my experience. Mild razors require the right blade and good technique, but you can get amazing results with no irritation.

For someone just doing a quick pass or two in the morning to look presentable, an aggressive razor might be preferable. Also, they have an advantage in head shaving due to their greater range of shaving angles.

Precisely my experience. When I was less experienced I, quite unconsciously, relied on the sheer efficiency of my razors to get a good shave. This was especially the case if I was in a hurry. The more experienced I've become the more I've traded efficiency for technique. Like many, I spent years under the impression that I had "sensitive skin" just because I didn't really know what I was doing despite having been wet shaving for many years. Today, if I'm willing to spend the time on 3.5 passes and want a "date night" quality shave, I use a mild razor... perhaps a lower middling, at the very most.

I've seen claims of "I can't get a good shave with the tech, with a 6S #3 plate, Karve A plate" etc ...to me, that screams a familiar unrecognized intermediacy.

 

[profusion]

Precisely my experience. When I was less experienced I, quite unconsciously, relied on the sheer efficiency of my razors to get a good shave. This was especially the case if I was in a hurry. The more experienced I've become the more I've traded efficiency for technique. Like many, I spent years under the impression that I had "sensitive skin" just because I didn't really know what I was doing despite having been wet shaving for many years. Today, if I'm willing to spend the time on 3.5 passes and want a "date night" quality shave, I use a mild razor... perhaps a lower middling, at the very most.

I've seen claims of "I can't get a good shave with the tech, with a 6S #3 plate, Karve A plate" etc ...to me, that screams a familiar unrecognized intermediacy.

I'm going through that right now. I've been DE shaving for over a decade, but I was using too steep an angle on every pass for all those years. Not even ultra-steep. I just thought that you always hold the handle at a 45-degree angle to your face, and then you're good. Not exactly!

It took a toll on my face, and I began to think it was because I had special skin or was just getting old etc.

There is a place for steep angles, even really steep ones, but for me, finally learning how to dial in an angle has led me to reevaluate my ideal shave into a mild razor with a really sharp blade.

Before, I was burning my skin bright red with my newly acquired Techs, until I learned how to dial them in with a Feather. All of a sudden, they're amazing.

 

[iknowpeanuts]

In my opinion, yes.
I had mixed feelings about my rex ambassador when I got it. Now I am glad I didn't sell it.

Glad to hear you made it work for you.. great to know that i shouldn't overthink it

 

[Captain Howdy]

I'm going through that right now. I've been DE shaving for over a decade, but I was using too steep an angle on every pass for all those years. Not even ultra-steep. I just thought that you always hold the handle at a 45-degree angle to your face, and then you're good. Not exactly!

It took a toll on my face, and I began to think it was because I had special skin or was just getting old etc.

There is a place for steep angles, even really steep ones, but for me, finally learning how to dial in an angle has led me to reevaluate my ideal shave into a mild razor with a really sharp blade.

Before, I was burning my skin bright red with my newly acquired Techs, until I learned how to dial them in with a Feather. All of a sudden, they're amazing.

Yeah, man. I found that I'll even use different angles with the same razor depending on where I'm shaving and which pass I'm on. I like a more accurate angle when shaving ATG on my neck. Slightly less so when shaving WTG on everything north of my chin, for example.

One reason why I really like the Meta-4. Very much favors my preference for acute blare angles.

 

[kingfisher]

People with more experience/better technique will get better shaves with very mild and with very aggressive razors. Very mild razors demand that the angle be precisely maintained. Very aggressive razors are more forgiving of angle, but more demanding of a light and careful touch.

Both of these skills are more likely to be present in an experiences shaver.


By way of contrast, medium razors can me wielded successfully by virtually anyone. (Although even here, a skilled shaver will have more success.)

 

[Tirvine]

I like mild razors. With the rare exceptions of backpacking trips, I have shaved every single day since the mid-1960s. I can shave quickly on virtual autopilot. So three passes is no big deal. I usually get BBS with little buffing. If you do not have good technique, getting that result with a mild razor can be challenging.

 

[Phoenixkh]

It took me quite a while to learn how to speak the razor language. I was trying to make razors bend to my will, I guess you could say... Odd as this sounds, the Athena taught me how to speak it.... The Athena taught me how to find the sweet spot by listening and feeling the blade on my skin.

After that, I still have one major lesson to learn. I was mentioning in a thread that I was still struggling with my problem areas: my chin and surrounding areas.... Aaron / @APBinNCA asked me if I was altering the shaving angle and was that the problem... Yes..and Yes... Since then, I'm still learning new stuff... but making minor adjustments instead of huge changes.

 

[RazorTom]

I think people vary in their opinion of what constitutes BBS. I think it is much easier to get visual BBS than to get tactile BBS. I prefer the latter, my face must feel smooth to my fingertips when rubbing against the grain. Getting that everywhere takes me three passes and touchups. If I would settle for looking clean shaven I could get by with two passes.

I settle for a clean 2 pass shave most days and agree that for "tactile BBS" its 3 passes.

 

[SharpieB]

I like all types of razors… mild, aggressive and in between.

With some experience, I would recommend trying more aggressive but there are folks on here that have been wetshaving for decades and only use very mild razors. No right or wrong.

My most aggressive razor is a Wolfman WR2 1.65DC and I absolutely would not recommend it for someone just starting out though.

 

[flash75]

People with more experience/better technique will get better shaves with very mild and with very aggressive razors. Very mild razors demand that the angle be precisely maintained. Very aggressive razors are more forgiving of angle, but more demanding of a light and careful touch.

Both of these skills are more likely to be present in an experiences shaver.


By way of contrast, medium razors can me wielded successfully by virtually anyone. (Although even here, a skilled shaver will have more success.)

Absolutely right, wanted to express similarly in my post above.

 

[old_pine]

My intention is not to throw a kink in the convo but....

I started sort of mild, went aggressive (cried), went back to mild/medium. Then one day I ended up with a lupo .72: I knew that it was "medium" but it would just hack me to shreds. For some odd reason I just committed. I tried different blades, soaps, brushes, everything... until one day I put a GSB in it and it just clicked! I finally "got" the light touch thing and now I can use any blade with it comfortably. That being said, I used that same light touch with my mamba .70 and lo and behold it was far more efficient than my previous times using it! I haven't gone back to any particularly aggressive razors, but I feel confident that I could get some good shaves with them. What I think I learned is that there are certain fringe razors that tested my ability and, much like golf, I would get one GREAT shave out of 3 or 4, so it kept me coming back to learn that particular razor's quirks. A couple of fringe razors for me were (earliest to most recent), GC .84, BB Dart, Yates 921-H, Greencult, and Lupo .72.

The kink... what I ALSO learned is that there is no substitution for time. The more I shaved, the better my lathers got, the better I got at addressing my hair level and skin "readiness", etc... so that is also something to consider. I tend to make more hydrated, thin lathers for my mild shavers and thicker "yogurt" lathers for my more aggressive shavers. But that all took time.

So time. Time seems to be the ingredient that can make most razors work. With that said, there is something so satisfying with picking a razor for a particular scenario: got 10 minutes to shave, running out the door, but need a bowling ball bbs? Mamba .70 with some sort of cream. Slow morning and want to challenge myself? Lupo .72 with a Personna CC with some cremo. Tuesday? A Henson and some stirling! It's kind of like different genres in music: it's all music but every genre has it's own challenges, feel, and place.

Love these kinds of discussions, love the input. Happy shaves.

 

[iknowpeanuts]

People with more experience/better technique will get better shaves with very mild and with very aggressive razors. Very mild razors demand that the angle be precisely maintained. Very aggressive razors are more forgiving of angle, but more demanding of a light and careful touch.

Both of these skills are more likely to be present in an experiences shaver.


By way of contrast, medium razors can me wielded successfully by virtually anyone. (Although even here, a skilled shaver will have more success.)

Kind of like the women in my life.

 

[tomas1870]

People with more experience/better technique will get better shaves with very mild and with very aggressive razors.

That is what I think.

Mild will be more efficient and aggressive will be not so aggressive but nice efficient..
Experience, technique and also skin needs time to adjust and accept well very close shaves

 

[Life Is A Dream]

Since I'm not a daily shaver, I started with a razor that offered both OC and CC.

It was the Pearl L-55 OC. I consider it an medium-aggressive razor. The CC head is more aggressive than the OC. The CC shaved off half my mole and it was the most blood I shed caused by shaving. Absolutely will not recommend it for newbies... However, the OC was workable and helped me hone my technique quickly. Aside from alignment issues, I found tiny bits of stubble every few shaves no matter how hard I tried. I later found far more experienced shavers reporting this exact issue with it.

My second razor was the Mühle Rocca. Not as aggressive as the L-55 but would still classify it as a medium-aggressive razor. It beats the L-55 OC (and CC) in every way while still being able to mow down my 11-day old stubble with ease.

If I shave every day I might try a milder razor but for shaving a 3-4 day stubble (typical) or 10 day stubble (occasionally), I want a razor that can tackle that with ease. So I'm sticking to medium aggressive razors for now.

 

[musicman1951]

There is only one rule: use what makes you happy.

Personally, I like to use the smallest level of aggression that gets the job done. For me that's a Wolfman WR1 and a sharp blade, but everyone's face/beard/technique is a little different.

Use what works. You can always buy another razor down the road, and the moderators track your equipment spending and kick you off the forum if you're not buying enough - so a new razor in a few years might save you.

(not really)

 

[markusk]

I started DE shaving about 7 months ago. Since then, my technique has improved dramatically. At first, I was not very happy with mild razors since I felt they took too much effort and too many passes to achieve a close shave. I gravitated towards more aggressive razors until about 1 month ago when I started using my DE89, exclusively. I can now achieve a close 2 pass shave with the DE89.

My most "aggressive" razor is a Muhle Rocca and although I can use it just fine, I do notice more blade feel from it and have to be more careful, particularly ATG. ATG on my mustache with the Rocca can be a bit scary (relatively large blade gap).

I'm currently enjoying the mild feeling 2 pass shaves I get from a DE89 and am contemplating selling the Rocca.

Have any seasoned DE shavers experienced this in their DE journey? As my technique continues to improve, will I one day revert back to preferring more aggressive razors and regret selling the Rocca? Or will improved technique lead me to more and more mild razors?

my suggestion: try a milder blade in the Rocca, examples that work for me: Lord Platinum, Derby Premium, Voskhod, Gillette Wilkinson (India), Tiger Platinum
And also for the mustache: XTG is probably enough and ATG not needed

 

[Brutus]

Very mild razors demand that the angle be precisely maintained. Very aggressive razors are more forgiving of angle, but more demanding of a light and careful touch.

Both of these skills are more likely to be present in an experiences shaver.

I do not dispute that, but what usually makes a razor “mild” is negative blade exposure, commonly paired with a minute blade gap.
Conversely, “aggressive” razors have often positive, or at least neutral, blade exposure and generous blade gap.

Take a look at this short video of settings 1 to 5 of the Tatara Muramasa razor, where the user can adjust not only blade gap, like on most adjustable razors, but also blade exposure, and you’ll understand (the oblique black line represents the skin):

Courtesy Tatara Razors.

No matter what a shaver tries, (short of using excessive pressure) shaving with a razor where the blade is recessed one can never achieve the closeness that a razor with positive blade exposure is capable of.
The difference is shaving with a blade that makes direct contact with the skin vs. shaving with a blade that hides by a fraction of a mm in the razor head.

B.

 

[kingfisher]

I do not dispute that, but what usually makes a razor “mild” is negative blade exposure, commonly paired with a minute blade gap.
Conversely, “aggressive” razors have often positive, or at least neutral, blade exposure and generous blade gap.

Take a look at this short video of settings 1 to 5 of the Tatara Muramasa razor, where the user can adjust not only blade gap, like on most adjustable razors, but also blade exposure, and you’ll understand (the oblique black line represents the skin):

Courtesy Tatara Razors.

No matter what a shaver tries, (short of using excessive pressure) shaving with a razor where the blade is recessed one can never achieve the closeness that a razor with positive blade exposure is capable of.
The difference is shaving with a blade that makes direct contact with the skin vs. shaving with a blade that hides by a fraction of a mm in the razor head.

B.

But your skin is not a solid block of iron. So even razors with negative exposure can still provide a good shave, because the skin buckles up ahead of the razor and the base of the whisker can still hit the blade.

Granted it is easier to get a close shave using a razor that has positive blade exposure.