Straight vs Safety/DE.should i or shouldn't I?

Gabeson · Oct 28, 2014

Hi there B&B compatriots!

I have been straight shaving for a couple of years now. I love it, will never look back. Period. I love the results i get, the experience. It feels great.

I read very frequently about Safety/DE razors, many posters in this very forum love using their DE, and many i have seen also straight shave. I have read the pros and cons of both as well.
I know with the DE one needs to replace the blade (much much cheaper than changing the cart style blades on new gilettes, and the like).

A part of me is curious to get an AFFORDABLE but nice DE (although finances must allow) and give it a go. But is there any benefit?? Will my shave results be different? (Better? Worse?) I understand that as with everything YMMV, but what are your thoughts. I love the resutls i get with my straight, would a DE match these results?

All opinions welcome! Thanks

(oh also, any recommendations of where one can find/buy a great and affordable safety would be appreciated to. I am based in Australia, so most likely id be buying online. I love the reputation and look of the Merkur 34C...however that would require a heavier investment i think)

rpaduano · Oct 28, 2014

I use both, and I enjoy both techniques. DEs can be a little less time consuming when you are pressed for time. No stropping required, and depending on the head of the DE, you get BBS shaves with enough forgiveness as to not rip your face to shreds. There are a number of online Aussie based retailers. Just google them.

Jnatcat · Oct 28, 2014

I am most likely to very new to give advice but I just have gotten into straights and am on like my 3rd shave and really love it but for me at least if I'm pressed for time I would never reach for the straight, maybe in time I would but not now as for me to many bad things would happen, now DE/SE's are a totally different story as you can get up take a quick shower and grab a pretty inexpensive GEM 1912 or a Gillette SS and get a pretty BBS shave in a 2-3 pass with little to no irritation, total time shaving 10 minutes. YMMV but it works for me.

kcb5150 · Oct 28, 2014

DE are usually a bit quicker because you can't be careless with a straight during the shave or with the drying of the blade, but I find most de blades to be more irritating to my skin in general than any straight. Here is the merkur breakdown: the open comb merkur head is polarizing, some (like me) really like it as it is mild and impossible to clog, but others think it is too mild. I never found that an issue and think it shaves rather well. The HD style head is slightly aggressive, but a real workhorse design. A lot of other companies have blatantly ripped off the general layout of that head because it is proven. The slant head is fantastically efficient and really shines on a few days of growth. Where it is annoying is you really have to make sure you get the blade aligned with the cap for it to work as intended. The slant is a wonderful razor, though. The futur is an incredible de razor, but I barely consider it a safety razor, in all but setting 1, it behaves more like a shavette on a thick handle. It is capable of phenomenal shaves, though. I will say if you can find a nice progress in austrailia for a good price, probably go for that. It feels great in the hand and has a huge adjustment range where it does actually have a mild setting vs aggressive to blade just hanging out of the razor like futur. You can't really go wrong on the straight bar or slant HD razors. Ppl on here talk a lot of smack about merkur razors, but they shave great. I've also seen parker's full line fwiw and the new three piece stuff actually seems to be of quite good quality.

kcb5150 · Oct 28, 2014

The best cheap razor you can buy brand new is a Rimei from china if you don't mind Chinese goods. I think it is $4 usd and gilltette tech-like. It is china's answer to western de the way the gold dollar is for straights, only this is actually built to work properly out of the gates.

zed117 · Oct 28, 2014

I have been shaving with a straight for almost three months and love it! since joining this sight I had the same curiosity. I now own 7 DE Razors and love it ALMOST as much as my straights. I recommend picking up a Schick Krona for under $15 and a 10 pack Astra SP blades to try. Worst case scenario you spent 20 bucks and you don't like it. Best case like me....http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/428836-Did-i-buy-too-many-razors-P but ya know... I am sure there is a happy medium :lol:

The Goat · Oct 28, 2014

Finding the "right" blade for me was initially frustrating. I went round and round in the forums trying to get some magic shave. I tried almost any blade I could find. So if you swap it up, my advice is if you find one that works for you, do not stray from it.

joel · Oct 29, 2014

I take a contradicting stance. After about 13 years of shaving with a straight razor, I can get a shave done (including stropping) faster with a straight than a DE, and I can also get a better shave. What time I lose to a DE in stropping, I make up for by only needing one pass with a straight and the longer blade covering ground much quicker. If i'm in a rush, I can strop 50 round trips in 20 seconds and shave with the straight in about 2 min. Total time with building lather and cleanup is around 3 min.

Realistically - my straight razor shaves usually fall in the 5-7 minute range, but now that I have a beard, as silly as it sounds, i'm up to about a 10 minute shave. I find with a beard, clean up work on the top of the cheeks and along the beard line on the neck takes a lot more precision (otherwise you'll have a sloppy beard line and thus a sloppy beard). That, combined with shaving the neck/throat take more time that shaving my entire face.

Interesting off topic sidebar - i've found growing a beard has made me a much better shaver, and a far superior straight razor shaver. The neck area for me is always the most challenging to really get in around the throat, and do a good job with no irritation. Sporting a beard the last year has forced me to hyper focus on precision and the crooks of my neck/throat and has allowed me to get incredible one pass shaves on the neck/throat. When I shave off the beard, i'll be incredibly interested to see how this translates to the rest of my face.

Shave_Rat · Oct 29, 2014

I won't say you'd have the same experience, but while I love shaving with my DE's here and there, almost none of them get results as good as the straight. While the shave may feel equal initially, the real proof is 7 or 8 hours later, when the straight shave still feels almost freshly done, and the DE shave is definitely starting to break down to the touch, with stubble becoming evident. I still completely enjoy the DE experience just as much as my straights, I just don't use them on like a date night. lol

rpaduano · Oct 29, 2014

joel said:
I take a contradicting stance. After about 13 years of shaving with a straight razor, I can get a shave done (including stropping) faster with a straight than a DE, and I can also get a better shave. What time I lose to a DE in stropping, I make up for by only needing one pass with a straight and the longer blade covering ground much quicker. If i'm in a rush, I can strop 50 round trips in 20 seconds and shave with the straight in about 2 min. Total time with building lather and cleanup is around 3 min.

Realistically - my straight razor shaves usually fall in the 5-7 minute range, but now that I have a beard, as silly as it sounds, i'm up to about a 10 minute shave. I find with a beard, clean up work on the top of the cheeks and along the beard line on the neck takes a lot more precision (otherwise you'll have a sloppy beard line and thus a sloppy beard). That, combined with shaving the neck/throat take more time that shaving my entire face.

Interesting off topic sidebar - i've found growing a beard has made me a much better shaver, and a far superior straight razor shaver. The neck area for me is always the most challenging to really get in around the throat, and do a good job with no irritation. Sporting a beard the last year has forced me to hyper focus on precision and the crooks of my neck/throat and has allowed me to get incredible one pass shaves on the neck/throat. When I shave off the beard, i'll be incredibly interested to see how this translates to the rest of my face.

Experience is bliss, no doubt. However, some of us don't have the luxury of a decade+ of straight razor shaving under our belt. Until that happens, some mornings warrant a faster shaving technique as a function of our experience level...[emoji16]

SpikedLemon · Oct 29, 2014

kcb5150 said:
The best cheap razor you can buy brand new is a Rimei from china if you don't mind Chinese goods. I think it is $4 usd and gilltette tech-like. It is china's answer to western de the way the gold dollar is for straights, only this is actually built to work properly out of the gates.

Skip the Rimei. Rimei has very inconsistent quality. Mine was very aggressive while others complain theirs are mild. And then there's the counterfeit razors that are shipped in their stead.

I would rather look at the Lord or Weishi. Shaveabuck has a no-name that they recommend as a cheap razor (@$6).

Back on topic: DE is nice. It's a nice vintage shave. Compared to a straight: it's easy and works. I get good shaves from my DE razor. There, however, is a bit of experimenting at first with different blades as you get accustomed to using the DE.

What's your objective?
If you're getting good close shaves with your straight: you're not likely to get a drastically better or worse shave with a decent DE razor once you get the hang of it. But it should be much faster.

Gabeson · Oct 29, 2014

SpikedLemon said:
Skip the Rimei. Rimei has very inconsistent quality. Mine was very aggressive while others complain theirs are mild. And then there's the counterfeit razors that are shipped in their stead.

I would rather look at the Lord or Weishi. Shaveabuck has a no-name that they recommend as a cheap razor (@$6).

Back on topic: DE is nice. It's a nice vintage shave. Compared to a straight: it's easy and works. I get good shaves from my DE razor. There, however, is a bit of experimenting at first with different blades as you get accustomed to using the DE.

What's your objective?
If you're getting good close shaves with your straight: you're not likely to get a drastically better or worse shave with a decent DE razor once you get the hang of it. But it should be much faster.

Awesome! I'll check out as affordable options. Thanks

Yeh, as you have pointed out, my main objective here is just a quicker shave when im running late in the morning. In general my go-to has been, and i think always will be, my straight. I love the experience of shaving with it, and the results are great. Main objective...an option for a quicker shave!

Gabeson · Oct 29, 2014

joel said:
I take a contradicting stance. After about 13 years of shaving with a straight razor, I can get a shave done (including stropping) faster with a straight than a DE, and I can also get a better shave. What time I lose to a DE in stropping, I make up for by only needing one pass with a straight and the longer blade covering ground much quicker. If i'm in a rush, I can strop 50 round trips in 20 seconds and shave with the straight in about 2 min. Total time with building lather and cleanup is around 3 min.

Realistically - my straight razor shaves usually fall in the 5-7 minute range, but now that I have a beard, as silly as it sounds, i'm up to about a 10 minute shave. I find with a beard, clean up work on the top of the cheeks and along the beard line on the neck takes a lot more precision (otherwise you'll have a sloppy beard line and thus a sloppy beard). That, combined with shaving the neck/throat take more time that shaving my entire face.

Interesting off topic sidebar - i've found growing a beard has made me a much better shaver, and a far superior straight razor shaver. The neck area for me is always the most challenging to really get in around the throat, and do a good job with no irritation. Sporting a beard the last year has forced me to hyper focus on precision and the crooks of my neck/throat and has allowed me to get incredible one pass shaves on the neck/throat. When I shave off the beard, i'll be incredibly interested to see how this translates to the rest of my face.

Joel, i admire such speed and experience! Im sure i'll get there eventually. I do have a pretty good speed now also, obviously not like you though! I'll get there.

kcb5150 · Oct 29, 2014

Yeah, I've only seen the good rimei and I was impressed. The lord is very good as well. Junjie is a piece of garbage.

Gabeson · Oct 29, 2014

zed117 said:
I have been shaving with a straight for almost three months and love it! since joining this sight I had the same curiosity. I now own 7 DE Razors and love it ALMOST as much as my straights. I recommend picking up a Schick Krona for under $15 and a 10 pack Astra SP blades to try. Worst case scenario you spent 20 bucks and you don't like it. Best case like me....http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/428836-Did-i-buy-too-many-razors-P but ya know... I am sure there is a happy medium

I agree with you there - low investment, however would give me an idea if its for me or not. Although im sure i'll dig it!

Gabeson · Oct 29, 2014

kcb5150 said:
DE are usually a bit quicker because you can't be careless with a straight during the shave or with the drying of the blade, but I find most de blades to be more irritating to my skin in general than any straight. Here is the merkur breakdown: the open comb merkur head is polarizing, some (like me) really like it as it is mild and impossible to clog, but others think it is too mild. I never found that an issue and think it shaves rather well. The HD style head is slightly aggressive, but a real workhorse design. A lot of other companies have blatantly ripped off the general layout of that head because it is proven. The slant head is fantastically efficient and really shines on a few days of growth. Where it is annoying is you really have to make sure you get the blade aligned with the cap for it to work as intended. The slant is a wonderful razor, though. The futur is an incredible de razor, but I barely consider it a safety razor, in all but setting 1, it behaves more like a shavette on a thick handle. It is capable of phenomenal shaves, though. I will say if you can find a nice progress in austrailia for a good price, probably go for that. It feels great in the hand and has a huge adjustment range where it does actually have a mild setting vs aggressive to blade just hanging out of the razor like futur. You can't really go wrong on the straight bar or slant HD razors. Ppl on here talk a lot of smack about merkur razors, but they shave great. I've also seen parker's full line fwiw and the new three piece stuff actually seems to be of quite good quality.

Thanks for all that info! Very useful indeed - i just wish Merkur was a tiny bit more affordable - they by no means are crazy in price compared to straights, but still. Maybe one day. Ah heck who knows, may just end up jumping straight into a more expensive DE. Not sure yet.

Chaloney · Oct 29, 2014

If you just want an option for a quicker shave without compromising the quality, get a gilette guard from west coast shaving

BSAGuy · Oct 29, 2014

Good luck if you decide to go with a DE. Plenty of good advice above.

Monsieur Blaireau · Oct 29, 2014

I don't use DEs anymore. I can't really say where they fall on the spectrum, because I just plain stopped using them. But early on in my journey into straights I found I was getting less harsh results from a straight than from a DE, even though a DE at the time seemed quicker and felt initially smoother. Then at some point I was going back to the R41 when I thought I didn't have time for a straight shave and I dropped the R41 and it broke and I was left looking for what to use when I just didn't want to use a straight. That led me to single edge razors, and to injectors, and to the Cobra. The Cobra is hard to get and pricey. But you can get an injector inexpensively on Ebay, and I'd recommend you try one. They're easier to use than a straight (pace, Joel), and at least as smooth. DEs just never lost that initial harshness for me. YM, of course, MV.

Brianskeet · Oct 29, 2014

I keep an Ikon slant DE as a traveling razor. It never sees use at home, but it is so easy to take on the road that I keep it around.

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Straight vs Safety/DE.should i or shouldn't I?

Gabeson

rpaduano

Jnatcat

kcb5150

kcb5150

zed117

The Goat

joel

Shave_Rat

rpaduano

SpikedLemon

Gabeson

Gabeson

kcb5150

Gabeson

Gabeson

Chaloney

BSAGuy

Monsieur Blaireau

Brianskeet

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