How do you shave?

Good Evening,

A topic that delved into many different realms when discussed among friends; a basic question rose out of the conversation. How do you shave?

There are numerous products out there.

Disposable Razors
Straight Razors
Safety Razors
Electric Razors
and many more!

I do suppose there is a difference if you are shaving your face verses shaving your legs but the remaining question stands.

What is your preferred shaving technique?

I have been a hybrid shaver now for about a year.

I primarily utilize a safety razor. The balance between incredible cheap blade costs as well are getting a close shave can't be beat in my book.

I do have an electric razor that can deal with teeny tiny hairs that I will use on days I don't have time to shave to clean my face up.

I'm eyeing straight razors, I can't lie. But that isn't in the cards for now.

I was on a trip two years ago and realized I forgot my razor (something like a gillete 5 blade thing).  So I got a similar type of disposable razor with 4 extra heads.  I shave about half of my face whiskers every 3 days.  I'm still using that first razor head.  So the full set should last me a decade, plus the set I forgot at home.  I'm good till 2040!

Philips electric shavers, since forever. The cost per shave is almost nothing, the cutting wheels are easily replaced (minimal waste), they last almost forever, and they are damn convenient to boot.

John uses a straight razor with a solid bar of shaving soap. He's allergic to stainless steel, so he found a coated blade. The edge is still bare, but it means minimal contact, so that's better than anything else he's tried, so far.

I use an epilator or wax. I do have an old travel razor that I keep & use with my homemade 7% super-fatted shampoo/body bars for those rare times when I need a quick touch up, though.

My husband loves to manscape, he is vane about his lovely beard and he has a raiser shaving set in a case.  

I'm the opposite, I only shave when I feel like I have to, I'm that cuckoo lady who swims every week in the river with my hairy legs.  I will shave them before our Hawaii trip in April, because tropical places seem to expect one to do this, I do it when I go visit my best friend and nieces in Florida also.  But here? forget it.  Regarding my other areas which women shave, armpits occasionally, and the other occasionally.  I just use the disposible ones, which last me quite a while.

I don't shave.

I permanently removed the hair on my legs so I have no reason to shave.

I have a pretty bushy beard.

Currently I use a disposable to tidy up the stray whiskers that grow up my cheeks, and to keep a tidy-ish beard line.

I periodically hack it with scissors to keep a rough shape so my face doesn't get swallowed. About once every 3 months I go to an actual barber to give it a more professional cut.

___

I'm sorely tempted by a straight razor. I dislike disposal stuff in general, and I like maintaining my other blades. I just can't justify the upfront cost at the moment, as I would also need the appropriate sharpening kit to keep the razor edge needed.

I shave only my neck, a little less frequently than once a week -- just whenever it gets annoyingly itchy. I use a stick that accepts disposable Gillette Venus cartridges (so that everyone in the house is on the same system) and I dispose of about two per year. I do this in the shower and just use bath-soap as a shaving cream/lubricant.

Time for a helpful post… scissors.

When I remodeled my bathroom, I found that there was a hole in the wall behind the mirror, and down in that hole, inside the wall, was about a bazillion old safety razors. It used to be common for the bathroom vanity to have a hole in it that you'd slip your used razor blades into, and they'd just fall inside the wall cavity. The thinking was that it would take such a long time to fill up the wall that the house would probably be gone by then. It saved rusty razor blades from going into the garbage and thus from going into the compost pile.

Before then, I had always used cheap disposable razors. Now I use a safety razor, and when I'm done with the blades, they go into that hole in the wall.

This is a surprisingly complex question.   I probably shave 2x a week….sometimes more and sometimes less. If it is less, I will hit my face with an electric hair trimmer first.   If the whiskers are on the long side, I will use a safety razor.  If not, I will normally use a Schick Disposable.  I bought a pack of the disposables maybe 2 years ago….I still have some left.

I forgot to mention - with John's allergy to the metal, he generally keeps a beard, only trimming his neck, so it doesn't interfere with his motorcycle helmet strap. That also cuts down on the frequency of contact with the blade. But, every once in a while - maybe every third or fourth year, he gets fed up with the beard, and off it goes. I can't blame him. He OFTEN gets mistaken for Santa, because his hair & beard are white, and have been since he was in his early 40s. But, being a biker, and wearing tshirts with skulls, and other graphic art Santa wouldn't be caught dead in, combined with the f-bomb seeming to find its way into his speech with fair regularity, he worries he might traumatize little kids and their parents, even though he almost always catches himself. We have some funny and interesting stories...

You caught me.

My one inappropriately technological indulgence is a power razor (you know the brand) -- looks like a regular disposable but it takes an AAA in the handle. Five little vibrating supersharp alloy blades.

I have a lot of tough fast-growing hair and sensitive skin and I shave my face and head two or three times a week in the shower with regular soap; there is nothing that gives a better shave faster. It's like combing your hair. Minimizes passes and so minimizes skin contact.

We buy the heads in (Costco) bulk and use rechargeable batteries. I am also meticulous about polishing the blades after use so they last longer; weeks or months usually, unless I manage drop and kink them somehow. They are very well made; we are so very good at steel these days.

The razor handles themselves are also very well constructed (Although why is the big bright LED on the button on the handle and not pointing at my face where I could use the light?!) and I have only replaced one that failed in maybe six years.

I used safety razors for years but lost my ancient one when I was on the road. A friend gave me one of these fancy electric ones (the company often offers a freeish razor with a pack of blade heads to suck you in).

Tried to go back to safety razors after another gift but there was no comparison (and when I peeked at the listing, OMG was it expensive; even the blades, and they seem terrible compared to the ones we used to get).

Never tried a good straight razor. I used to have a handle that would hold half a safety blade: that worked OK. But my head is somewhat lumpy and scarred; both would be an invitation to bleeding scalp wounds.

Currently still working on the new choice.

Some electric noreco corded.  Like the ease but not happy with the results.  On its second head head set but has served intermittently for 40 years

Had been a loyal Gillette user when not electric till their commercial convinced me never to do business with them again except in an emergency.  Had a back log of cartridges for them so have been using them mostly in the years since and have tried the other 6 main other brands.  I am down to the 2 blade cartridges I quite using because the 3's were enough better to be worth the added money that I changed without using the 2's but kept them for emergency use.  Haven't settled on anyone.

One thing I learned when I used to shave every day is that it takes time to switch between methods. Using a razor will be smooth and easy if that is what you have been using, for instance, but it will tear you up if you have been using an electric. Same thing in reverse.

I haven't shaved in 13 years. I always hated it. But when I did it was mostly the Mach 3. And then I took an electric to the desert once. The little mesh screens over the blades fell apart in the grit and that thing just shredded my beautiful face every morning. But like the old Cheech and Chong skit, I became even more handsome with the scars than without them.

I switched to a straight 14 years ago, and not only have i saved a ton of money on blades, but i far prefer the shave i get.

For more than a decade I used a double-edge safety razor. But I would only shave once a week. This year my wife bought me a nice electric razor, and I shave with that almost every day.