Crossed over to the dark side - Mach 3

[LRod]

For the ones that mention cost savings:
I've spent more in wet shaving gear in the last 3 years than I would have spent on carts over a
full lifetime!
And I wasn't a cart user before. I used electrics and had all brands & models with all the bells and whistles. In my 30+ years of shaving, adding up all my electric gear would never amount to my last 3 years of wet shaving.
It's crazy!!

 

[Hairy Callahan]

Personally, I would like a slightly meatier handle for my Mach 3, but I have not found one yet.

Have you checked Parker? They offer a few very nice Mach3 handles. Cartridge Razors Archives • Parker Shaving - https://www.parkershaving.com/c/parker-razors/cartridge-razors/

 

[rsp1202]

Personally, I would like a slightly meatier handle for my Mach 3, but I have not found one yet.

Byron Shaving Company on Etsy if you don't mind metal, and Bob Quinn makes a nice one in bog oak (and other woods) via Elite Razor.

 

[pellidon]

I recently did a comparison test of 11 different multi blade cartridges. Tpp two for me were the Gillette Mach 3 and the feather three blade. Followed by Dorco and then the Gillette and Schick five blade cartridges. Not surprisingly, the subscription service razors were authentication bottom of my list. Except for the one that rebrands Dorco.

The Mach 3 is not a bad razor.

 

[RazorTom]

Nothing wrong with a Mach 3. One of the best carts made IMHO. I still think Schick beat Gillette cart wise though.

Interesting, don't think I have ever tried a Schick cart. May check it out.

 

[RazorTom]

If the quality and ease of the shave were the only consideration, it might make sense (for you). However, there are at least two other significant considerations. First is the ridiculous cost of Mach III cartridges. Second, and most importantly, is tossing still more plastics back into the environment. Every little pro-environment action helps.

I hear you. The carts a bit pricey, but I don't feel bad about the plastic unless we're talking about throwing away entire disposable razors.

 

[RazorTom]

I’m cheap and carts are expensive. My average shave is $.10 a blade, $1300 for quiver of razors, $700 quiver of brushes and I’m almost done buying soaps for life. I’ll live for 370 more years so my eventual break down will be $.08 a shave since I shave 3 times a day and love it!

Feeling froggy this morn, great shaves everyone!

That's what this hobby is about, "saving" money! lol

 

[helicopter]

Interesting, don't think I have ever tried a Schick cart. May check it out.

Quattro is my favorite. But it clogs terribly like most of them.

 

[RazorTom]

If it works for you, no shame in that. I use a Mach 3 from time to time for travel or other reasons. I often find myself being impressed with it the first time I've used it in awhile.

However, if I start shaving with it more regularly, it's kind of a wash in the very least, and really the DE is ahead for me. I get more occasional razor burn and lingering facial irritation with cartridges than with DE — it's not most of the time but if you're comparing both in the long run, it's a factor for me. I'd have to shave with each cartridge once or twice and no more, and throw out cartridges at the slightest sign of problems even on first use, for it to maybe be similar to a DE in comfort. And that would get really pricey.

I actually think 5-bladed cartridges are even smoother for me, but I have the same issues with irritation on some shaves with the same frequency, and they're even more expensive. I think 5-bladed cartridges are more of a even proposition for me versus DE ignoring price, but you can't ignore price, and when you factor that in I'm not sure they're worth it to me over the Mach 3, and even less so versus a DE.

Have not tried a 5 blade yet, but I have been tempted to try the Gillette Fusion. Although I like my results with a Mach 3, I haven never consistently used a cart...well, at least not since I was MUCH younger. I'm not sure what it'd do to my skin if I were to completely switch over. I think I'd miss my DE razors too much, so maybe I'll rotate both and if I start getting skin irritation with the Mach 3 I'll dump it.

 

[RazorTom]

To sum up: (1) I don't like the Mach 3. (2) I'm so glad when I've used the Mach 3 for a couple of days. (3) Then, I go back to not liking the Mach 3 again.

This seriously make sense to me ^^^ DE razors are just fun.

 

[Eric_75]

I never liked the Mach 3. I was Sensor/Sensor Excel guy. I don't miss any of them though.

 

[RazorTom]

I tried a cartridge razor a few years ago, I was out of town and just went with it. Last time I used a Mach (or was it a Sensor?) was when I was in active duty Army. Paired with my newer technique from DE shaving, that cartridge razor did fine. It was an excellent shave.

But the price wasn't excellent. And the higher end Gillette stuff now is just ridiculous. Multi-blade, to my thinking, means that first blade makes the majority of contact with the hair, so it will go dull the quickest. And it doesn't matter how sharp that 2nd, 3rd or 5th blade is at that point, that dull first blade will make the shave uncomfortable.

Plus, the shave stubble just gathers under the blades and clogs up. Unless you have a water pick or have rigged up some high pressure reducer on your bathroom faucet, you have to resort to vigorously tapping the razor on the edge of the sink to dislodge it. I have too many memories of being in the field, in winter, trying to unclog a multi-blade razor by swirling it around in a canteen cup of water. When I think of how far LESS miserable those shaving sessions could've been with a Merkur Progress or Super Speed, I grind my teeth.

Lots of comments about carts clogging, which I don't find to be a problem with the Mach 3. The head is designed so that the shave creme and stubble passes out the back of the head. Works quite well, and pretty genius design IMO. I do agree that the first blade does most of the cutting. I think the multi blades heads make the shave safer and less prone to cuts, kind of like when you see circus performers standing on a bed of nails - they wouldn't try standing on just 1 nail! I can press pretty hard with a mach 3 and get away with it. I don't, because I know better after honing my technique with DE, but hopefully you get my point.

 

[Tirvine]

I hear you. The carts a bit pricey, but I don't feel bad about the plastic unless we're talking about throwing away entire disposable razors.

Three or four cartridges probably equals a plastic razor.

 

[RazorTom]

Three or four cartridges probably equals a plastic razor.

not too worried about it, honestly.

 

[kingfisher]

I hate 'em, personally. I was taking a metal Atra on vacations, and it worked, kinda, but I really disliked it.

Just got back from a vacation and I took my Lupo 0.58 and an iKon Tuckaway (very short) handle. Soooo much better!

Feel free to use whatever cartridge you want. But they are not for me.

 

[pellidon]

Lots of comments about carts clogging, which I don't find to be a problem with the Mach 3. The head is designed so that the shave creme and stubble passes out the back of the head. Works quite well, and pretty genius design IMO. I do agree that the first blade does most of the cutting. I think the multi blades heads make the shave safer and less prone to cuts, kind of like when you see circus performers standing on a bed of nails - they wouldn't try standing on just 1 nail! I can press pretty hard with a mach 3 and get away with it. I don't, because I know better after honing my technique with DE, but hopefully you get my point.

I noticed in my test the carts were not as easily clogged like before. I did use shaving soap rather than spray can goo which may have contributed. Also shaved every day which might have helped. Or I'm better at shaving now than I was.

 

[StewB]

For the ones that mention cost savings...

I hear you, but I was pointing out the per-shave cost of DE blades vs. cartridges. Shaving with a DE is nearly always going to be less expensive per-shave compared to shaving with a cartridge razor.

 

[StewB]

Lots of comments about carts clogging, which I don't find to be a problem with the Mach 3.

My experience is different. This is one of the reasons I have come to dislike multi-blade cartridges (the clogging). The clogging is a nuisance for me for any multi-blade cartridge razor that has the blades close together. The Defender has pretty much solved this by placing the blades farther apart.

 

[LRod]

I hear you, but I was pointing out the per-shave cost of DE blades vs. cartridges. Shaving with a DE is nearly always going to be less expensive per-shave compared to shaving with a cartridge razor.

I got you!
I knew what you meant but had to throw in my own "overall" crazy cost experience.
If someone were to buy just one quality DE razor (whichever one they like) and blades over a lifetime, they'd save
tons of money.
But then said person discovers B&B and it's game over!!

 

[tejolot3]

Googling ways to extend the life of my Mach3 cartridges is what got me into DE shaving. When I googled that, I called them 'razor blades', and some of the results I found were forum posts about extending the life of DE blades. On one of those forum threads, I read how cheap DE blades were. Considering that my only reason for wanting to extend the life of my Mach3 cartridges was cost, I started looking into DE shaving. Since I started nearly a dozen years ago, I think I've only used my Mach3 razor one time, and that was only a couple of years in.

My wife uses a female-marketed razor that uses the same cartridges as Mach3, but it has extra areas for gliding along the skin, which she says is important. In a pinch, she's been known to use an old Mach3 cartridge of mine instead, but only very rarely.

Anyway, your use of a brush and proper cream soap is, I'm sure, what made the difference. Quality of lather (QoL) is in my opinion the most under-appreciated variable in shaving, so I'm not surprised one bit that you got a find shave from a Mach3 while taking the effort to build a proper lather.

Personally, I don't plan to even consider going back to the dark side. My Mach3 razor is piece of plastic junk, whereas my DE razors are fine tools made of metal. That, in and of itself, is reason enough for me to stick with DE.