Weird cartridge razor experiment

Intrigued by the ongoing cartridge razor vs DE razor debates, I loaded up my Gillette Atra razor with a fresh Wilkinson Sword Profile cartridge. Those cartridges were discontinued years ago (in the 1990's), but these "Made in England" carts are the best available for the Atra, in my opinion. YMMV, as always.

I also put a fresh "Made in Israel" blade (HEMA brand) in my Schick Krona razor. The Krona is my daily razor, and I always use a variety of the "Made in Israel" blades (Personna, or supermarket brand).

I lathered up with ARKO (one of the slickest soaps available, again YMMV), and started shaving. I did the left side of my face with the Atra, and the right side with the Krona. Since the Atra has two blades, I did a single WTG pass with the Atra, and two WTG passes with the Krona DE razor.

Shave feel of both razors, with a fresh blade, is about similar. This is helped by the fact that the Krona is a light and mild DE razor.
After my shave, I did a cold water rinse, and applied a moisturizing after shave balm (REWE, German supermarket brand).

My initial observation after my shave is that the Krona DE side is somewhat closer than the Atra cartridge side. That is consistent with my earlier experiences;

One WTG pass with a Trac or Atra razor equals about one and half WTG passes with a DE razor.

Apart from the DE side feeling somewhat smoother, especially rubbing ATG, I got an irritation and blood free shave with both razors. I also had not expected otherwise; I have a lot of experience with both razors, and both are pretty mild.

I'll report about the amount of stubble on either side of my face tonight, and I am going to repeat the experiment tomorrow. Again, to stay consistent, left side with the Atra, and right side with the Krona.

Interesting. After a few TracII shaves lately, I've realized there's no issues with my shave as well, though it may be down to better products and execution due to the knowledge learned from all here. I've been on the lookout (hint hint people ) for a decent Atra handle lately to see if the swivel makes a difference with exact same blades I'm using now as they are compatible. I'll check back to see what happens with you tomorrow.

Cash_Stronomer said:

Interesting. After a few TracII shaves lately, I've realized there's no issues with my shave as well, though it may be down to better products and execution due to the knowledge learned from all here. I've been on the lookout (hint hint people ) for a decent Atra handle lately to see if the swivel makes a difference with exact same blades I'm using now as they are compatible. I'll check back to see what happens with you tomorrow.

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IMHO the swivel makes it worse, not better. But my favorite cartridges (Wilkinson Sword Profile) are Atra only, so that is why I chose that handle for the experiment.

Half a day later ... hardly any difference between the two sides, in terms of stubble and face feel.

I have the theory that once the trac gets slighly dull, it will produce closer shaves. When there is some tugging before a cut, the first blade will pull the hair up from the follicle partly before cutting, straight following by the second blade cutting the hair in the new position. It is like automatic blade buffing.

Lets see if this will become true for you!

Interesting report. Thanks for risking your face for science!

engblom said:

I have the theory that once the trac gets slighly dull, it will produce closer shaves. When there is some tugging before a cut, the first blade will pull the hair up from the follicle partly before cutting, straight following by the second blade cutting the hair in the new position. It is like automatic blade buffing.

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Interesting theory! I'll continue the test for a week ... that should be enough to find out if there are detectable differences.

I have noticed the same effect using various cartridges. The 2nd or 3rd shave is typically better than the 1st.

Musikmann said:

I have noticed the same effect using various cartridges. The 2nd or 3rd shave is typically better than the 1st.

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That is the same with many DE blades, at least for me.

engblom said:

I have the theory that once the trac gets slighly dull, it will produce closer shaves. When there is some tugging before a cut, the first blade will pull the hair up from the follicle partly before cutting, straight following by the second blade cutting the hair in the new position. It is like automatic blade buffing.

Lets see if this will become true for you!

Click to expand...

Wow I also share the same experience ! I noticed it a while ago but thought that the assertion would be absolutely preposterous. So too I must mention cartridges like atra trac II plus and the sensor regime is that when the lubra strip dries up and serves mainly as a resevoir the shaves are much more closer...

flamingrevolver said:

Wow I also share the same experience ! I noticed it a while ago but thought that the assertion would be absolutely preposterous. So too I must mention cartridges like atra trac II plus and the sensor regime is that when the lubra strip dries up and serves mainly as a resevoir the shaves are much more closer...

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The vintage Wilkinson Sword cartridges do not have a slime strip.

Eeyore said:

IMHO the swivel makes it worse, not better. But my favorite cartridges (Wilkinson Sword Profile) are Atra only, so that is why I chose that handle for the experiment.

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At the time that the two were in active distribution, I considered the results from the Atra and Trac II to be the same, while the physical feel of using the Trac II handle was greatly inferior, and both would clog up far too easily, both being difficult to rinse clear without considerable effort. I liked the theory of the pivoting head, but I agree that the Atra's pivoting mechanism version was inferior to all that came before and after.

The Trac II handle felt like a disposable before there ever were any such ~~ really a cheap and poor quality product at the time!

The Kiwi said:

The Trac II handle felt like a disposable before there ever were any such ~~ really a cheap and poor quality product at the time!

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YMMV ;-)

I think that the Trac handle feels no worse than the Schick Krona or Gillette Knack handles. In fact, I liked the Trac, and the Wilkinson and Schick cartridges solved the clogging problem by better venting.

Not sure about the Trac's, but with the Sensor, when the head is new and dry that lube strip pulls right out like a new sticker so you can avoid that if that's you're thing? I find it works well anyway.

Second day of the experiment, same procedure.

After my shower, I lathered up with Arko. Same soap as yesterday, on purpose. Again, I used the Gillette Atra with the Wilkinson Sword Profile cartridge on the left side of my face, and the Schick Krona DE with the "Made in Israel" cartridge on the right side. Left side (2 blades) a single WTG pass, right side (1 blade) two WTG passes. I finished my shave with a cold water rinse, and a splash of Pitralon Classic.

My shave is about 30 minutes ago, a good moment to judge the stubble differences, if any.

It´s hard to quantify, but a single pass with the Gillette Atra gives me a SAS+ shave. Not enough for DFS, since I still feel some stubble XTG and ATG. But definitely good enough to appear in the office. The Atra shaved the same as yesterday, and it is clear that it is the winner in terms of speed. One Atra pass would definitely be better than one DE pass. Again, with my Atra cartridge razor, and my Krona DE razor.

For the right side of my face, I did two DE passes. And it is surprising how much stubble that second WTG pass removes! A single DE pass clearly is not sufficient for a smooth face, but a second pass in the same direction already makes a lot of difference. I clearly felt the "2nd day effect" on the "Made in Israel" blade; the second day shave is always smoother than the first day with a new blade.

The outcome? Hard to feel any differences between both sides. The DE side maybe feels slightly closer, but if I would not know that I shaved with two different razors, I probably could not detect a difference. Of course, in terms of enjoyment, the DE gave me the chance to lather up a second time. And in terms of efficiency, a single pass with the cartridge razor was enough for a very acceptable shave.

I can see how the Trac and Atra razors (called the GII and Contour in Europe) were a serious improvement for my dad, compared to a DE razor (the "single blades" like he calls them). He kept using the Trac handle for all his life, with no intention to move back to a DE razor. And given the shave results, I can understand that.

One task for today is weighing the Atra and Schick Krona razors, both loaded with a cartridge / blade. I want to see how much heavier the Krona is. In my hands, judging the balance, there is a difference, in favour of the Krona (as expected, due to the metal head).

Edit:

The Schick Krona, with a blade, is 58gr. (plain doors, metal turning knob)
The Gillette Atra, with a cartridge, is 51gr. ("Contour" knurled metal handle from the early 1980's)

Balance of the Krona is more towards the head than the Contour.

Third day, and the Krona DE shines.


Both the DE blade and the cartridge have lost their initial sharpness. This only makes the DE shave smoother, but I predict that the cartridge is going to tug my hairs in two or three days from now. The pivot head actually becomes a disadvantage then.

Same procedure, lathering up with Arko after my usual prep, and giving the left side of my face the Atra treatment, while I shave the right side with the Krona. The shave feel (glide and smoothness) of the Krona is better than the Atra. The Krona easily glides through the stubble, while I feel that the Atra is slightly dragging. It still cuts, but not with the same ease as the Krona.

Again, two passes with the Krona, and one pass with the Atra. And this time the Krona is noticably more efficient. I cannot see the difference in the mirror, but I feel that the Krona shaved closer than the Atra, especially in the "trouble spots". Again, the Krona is less close on the first pass, but makes up for that in the second pass. The "one cartridge pass is one and half DE razor passes" rule definitely applies to the Atra / Krona combination now.

Is the Atra bad? No way, but I would need some touch-ups, after the first pass, to get a SAS+ shave. To be fair, I normally would do a touch-up or two with the Krona as well, so that is not giving me the closest shave in the experiment either.

But in terms of closeness and shave feel, the Krona is taking the lead. SAS for the Atra versus SAS+ for the Krona.

BTW, normally I do a WTG and an XTG pass with the Krona, plus a few XTG/ATG touch-ups. I stick to two WTG passes now, because that makes a fairer comparison to the single Atra pass. I want to determine the differences between the two razors, instead of getting the best shave.

And here I was thinking they'd stay about par to each other.

Cash_Stronomer said:

And here I was thinking they'd stay about par to each other.

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The week is not over yet ... let's see what happens tomorrow.

Cash_Stronomer said:

And here I was thinking they'd stay about par to each other.

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In all fairness, after a few hours I don't feel a difference between the Atra and Krona side anymore. Performance wise, they are still close together for me.

Yesterday in a rush I did a quick face lather and ran through with a Good News. It was actually a damned fine BBS and very quick, BUT, the stubble returned VERY fast for some reason.