Head Shaving

One of my co-workers has a question about shaving his head.

He's not happy with the shave he gets from his disposable cartridge, and he's going to make the switch to DE, but he's not sure about shaving his head with it.

Anyone out there have success with a DE on their noggin?

Thanx!

I tried it twice with my HD. Didn't like the experience one bit. DE shaving is all about angles and I've got a pretty round head. When you shave your head you can't even see the razor half of the time.

I use a disposable that flexes (forget the name at the moment). So basically the blades can flex in a curve around my curvy noggin. Works pretty good.

I've always found head shaving very painful until I started DE shaving. What changed you ask? Creams and Lathers. I went from using the canned crap in a can they call shave gel to using Proraso shave cream with a decent brush. The pain I had been experiencing instantly went away, the shaving was much easier as the razor didn't gunk up instantly.

So my advice to your friend as an experienced head shaver is to get flexible head disposables and some quality shaving cream with a brush.

I have been shaving my head for 30 years...nothing beats an oster classic 76 professional barber clippers with either a 0000 blade attached or a 00000 blade attached,you shave then shower....the blades can be resharpened 20 times,and the classic 76 is built to last forever,it can be rebuilt easily....great online prices and last time i looked it is still made in the u.s.a... if you decide to go this way let me know and i will give you a few tips on maintenance and peripherals..

I use a cheap triple-head rotary shaver on my head. I've used a DE and cartridge a few times but find the electric shaver works best for me on the rounded skin-on-bone terrain of the scalp.

Zatx Woopyoax said:

I use a disposable that flexes (forget the name at the moment). So basically the blades can flex in a curve around my curvy noggin. Works pretty good.

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Are you thinking of the Schick xtreme 3? That's whay I used when I was shaving my head last summer.

Obsessed said:

Are you thinking of the Schick xtreme 3? That's whay I used when I was shaving my head last summer.

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Bingo! These are great. If I remember right they are about $8-$10 for 8 of them. May sound pricey but I can get at least 3-4 shaves out of them and I only shave once every 1-2 weeks. So that is like 4-5 months of shaving. Or something... my math is horrible.

I get BBS shave on my head with them. The other solutions mentioned will not get you anywhere near BBS.

If he really hates his disposables.. tell him Schick Xtreme 3's with quality shaving cream (not goop in a can) and he should be on the road to shaving bliss... at least for his head.

Why worry about BBS if you're shaving every couple of weeks?
I shave my head every other day and generally prefer day two so I have a bit of a shadow to contrast my face shave. No worries about BBS on my head, it doesn't feel like real shaving anyway.

I tried shaving my head with several different DEs and never found one that I quite liked for the job. I setteled into shaving it every morning with an atra and haven't missed a day in over two years.

I had no success with it, I shave my grape in the shower and found that it was very diffiicult to maintain the proper angle. I went back to my Headblade with a Sensor cartridge and Headslick. I was always happy with it and decided not to fix what wasn't broke.

I've been shaving my head with a DE since shortly after I started shaving my face with a DE again about 4 years.
To me it made no sense to have to use a different razor for my head.
I now use any and all the DE razors in my rotation on my head.
There is a learning curve and you need to master shaving your face with the DE before you move onto the head.
I find that the Gillette NEW head with long combs to be an excellent head shave razor.
The turned over long combs are comfortable on the head unlike the short comb version and the Gillette Old Type and it's clones which can feel like a sharp rake on the head.
The long combs also make maintaining proper blade angle easy.

malocchio said:

I have been shaving my head for 30 years...nothing beats an oster classic 76 professional barber clippers with either a 0000 blade attached or a 00000 blade attached,you shave then shower....the blades can be resharpened 20 times,and the classic 76 is built to last forever,it can be rebuilt easily....great online prices and last time i looked it is still made in the u.s.a... if you decide to go this way let me know and i will give you a few tips on maintenance and peripherals..

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My father in-law is an ex-Italian barber, this is what he uses and I've shaved my head with it, it works amazing.

I didn't know you could get 00000 guards, 000 is the lowest I've used.

No need of a 3 flexing blade...just 2 will be okay: any of the now Classics FX, Performer or Diamond, both of Wilki', are splendid performers .

Head shave being made every morning no need of a BBS head...but you can achieve that when well handled the FX...and 2 mirrors, of course!!

And of course for head, Atra, Pivot, Ultrex and Ultra are options too, all pivoting heads.

So far, I've shaved my head with DE, SE, Injector, Atra, Sensor, Mach 3, Fusion, and Quattro.
If he's going to shave it every day, the multi blade cartridge razors are ok.
If he doesn't shave it everyday, the multi blades get clogged up with hair pretty quickly.
The best head shave I've gotten so far was with my old Schick Injector. I lopped off 4 days of growth with no clogging at all.

As far as DE razors go, unless he has really coarse, nappy hair, he's probably better off using a mild one like a Tech, SS, Edwin Jagger, Gillette Adjustable, etc.
I've never used my red tip ss on my head because I'm afraid I'll shred my scalp with it.

I currently use a DE for my head shaving w/ no problems at all. After a bit of practice you get great shaves.

Having said that, I always got good shaves w/ disposables too in the past. Just not at the 10 cent price.

Well, I use one of my str8s now and then, a swedish wedge (Törnblom), when I got time for it and I´m _very_ light on the hand. But most often I use my NEW and it works great, for me. Two passes and some touch ups and I´m in the ball game . Like cooncatbob said, you have to know how to use a DE before trying on the head though, but I´m very happy with the results I get. I´ve used other DE:s also, but the NEW works best for me.

Awesome, thanks for the info guys! There are definitely some good suggestions here for my buddy to try out.

It almost makes me want to shave my head... But I think I'll wait a few years till the male pattern baldness catches up with me

I have been shaving my head for over a year with DE or injector (whatever I shave my face with each day). I haven't found it any harder to shave the head than shaving the face. I started DE/injector on both at the same time, so I guess it's whatever you get used to... Anyway, I say he should try it, and give it a little time. It did take me a few months to get better at it, but then it seems to take any one a few months to get used to DE shaving in general. I much prefer a DE or single blade shave to electric or any cartridge these days!

cooncatbob said:

There is a learning curve and you need to master shaving your face with the DE before you move onto the head.
I find that the Gillette NEW head with long combs to be an excellent head shave razor.
The turned over long combs are comfortable on the head unlike the short comb version and the Gillette Old Type and it's clones which can feel like a sharp rake on the head.
The long combs also make maintaining proper blade angle easy.

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+1

NEW head w/Feather blade works Great for me

Slim Adj. w/Shark blade is pretty sweet too

Jaymo said:

So far, I've shaved my head with DE, SE, Injector, Atra, Sensor, Mach 3, Fusion, and Quattro.
If he's going to shave it every day, the multi blade cartridge razors are ok.
If he doesn't shave it everyday, the multi blades get clogged up with hair pretty quickly.
The best head shave I've gotten so far was with my old Schick Injector. I lopped off 4 days of growth with no clogging at all.

As far as DE razors go, unless he has really coarse, nappy hair, he's probably better off using a mild one like a Tech, SS, Edwin Jagger, Gillette Adjustable, etc.
I've never used my red tip ss on my head because I'm afraid I'll shred my scalp with it.

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+1; I have very similar experiences, except that I haven't used an Injector on my head. I use a Tech.

Gravy said:

I currently use a DE for my head shaving w/ no problems at all. After a bit of practice you get great shaves.

Having said that, I always got good shaves w/ disposables too in the past. Just not at the 10 cent price.

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I got an okay head shave with a (free) Fusion, but the friction/drag was noticeable and distracting. And of course the blades were dull after about two shaves, and the blades clogged, and...anyway, I got very good head shaves with a Sensor, but the Tech really does a great job.

malocchio said:

I have been shaving my head for 30 years...nothing beats an oster classic 76 professional barber clippers with either a 0000 blade attached or a 00000 blade attached,you shave then shower....the blades can be resharpened 20 times,and the classic 76 is built to last forever,it can be rebuilt easily....great online prices and last time i looked it is still made in the u.s.a... if you decide to go this way let me know and i will give you a few tips on maintenance and peripherals..

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Looks like a great recommendation. Pricey (saw several around $110 on Amazon) but you get what you pay for here.

http://besthairclippers.net/hair-clipper/oster-classic-76-hair-clipper