Thread: How long does it take to learn...

... how to shave with cartridge razors? You weren't expecting that question were you?

Reason I'm asking is that it's often pointed out that there's a steep learning curve for using a straight razor. But think back. When you first tried a cartridge razor, did you get a good shave? Was it comfortable? Did you cut yourself? Were you scared of the blade(s)?

How much practice did it take you to get a truly stubble-free and comfortable shave? (If you even reached that stage at all.)

Looking back, it probably took me years to get a good shave with cartridge systems, and maybe 20 years to get what I'd call perfect results (I had to wait until shaving oils came into existence).

Seems to me we place too much emphasis on the learning curve for straights. Clearly it is there, but relatively speaking it isn't that bad.

And if we started using straights as fresh-faced teenagers with nothing but bumfluff to lift off our cheeks, I bet we'd be wondering what all the fuss is about.

I don't recall every getting a very good shave from a cartridge. Never from a Mach 3. I found the Sensor 2 blade razors decent.

I have only shaved ONCE with a cartridge razor. In HS, I used a Bic disposable until I grew a beard, and then kept it until I came to Japan. Then I bought a Braun electric to shave it off (not so bad really, just boring as all heck). Once, when my electric was broken, I tried to use a cartridge but it was so terrible I gave up on it.

Then, last year, I started using a DE and now I'm trying straights. Soooo....nope, no cartridges for me.

As much as I hate to say it, it took a long time to get a "great" shave out of a cartridge ie- Mock 3. I started shaving around 13, and when facial hair is that light you can use anything for a decent shave. A few years later though, when that light fluffy hair goes from peach fuzz to wire, is when things started to go wrong. I should add that I had worn a beard of some description for many years (cutting down the need to shave) but this was due to personal reasons as much as an adversion to shaving itself. Even before I started using a straight it was only this past year that I could achieve a near irritation free shave from the cartridge, and that was due to sites like SRP and B & B, using prep techniques, a badger brush and good soap. I am now at the point where I can get a great shave from a straight alone, but must confess that I still resort to using the Mock 3, often due to time restraints, having only one usable straight, no hones, etc.............

I think for me the learning curve would have been a lot steeper if I allowed myself to go back to the M3 after a bad shave. There were a couple of days when I looked like I had shaved with a broken beer bottle, but I am very stubourn. Now after less than a month at it I can get a good shave with near bbs in most places and no most importantly, no ingrown hairs. Keep at it and every shave will be just that tiny bit better than the last.

Maybe a month to learn how to use the Mach3/gel combo initially, and then a week to add wet-shaving procedures, and another week to add products like brush and soap. Not that the quality of the shave didn't decrease much when I added the soap and brush, but over that week it improved a lot. There was maybe a year in between starting out and adding wet-shaving routine, and another month before I added the soap.
So if I can learn to shave with the straight so I can get the same results as with the Mach3 soap combo in less than a month, I'll consider a well-honed straight a superior shaving tool in both ease to learn, and shaving results. Ease to use is still in favour of the Mach3 since honing and stropping does take a lot of time...

Got me thinking! At first, I sort of skipped over this - thinking 'anybody can shave with a cartridge' but then I reminded myself of my own progression and the errors of my ways. My straight razor shaving is certainly as a result of dissatisfaction at cartridge blades (and earlier, electric shavers).

You have reminded me that my latter experiences with M3's were rushed, ineffective and unpredictable and I had found myself in a 'couldn't really care' mentality. Just a squirt of chemical gel (frequently not even that, if the blade was sharp and I shaved daily) followed by an assault on the facial skin to a tolerable result. Perhaps all of this was due to my not 'learning' to shave properly, I would suspect that most of us just 'get on with it'. I would eagerly have taken the straight razor route, had I invested time and effort in finding out just what was possible. I'm into my fifties and have just found that it would need to be a very good cartridge system indeed to match my Dovo. Those wilderness years!

second or third try. it's pretty hard to screw up a shave with a cartridge razor. first razor I ever used was a Mach3, and when the blades are new, they actually shave pretty close.

Yeah, but as soon you start growing a real beard those blades only lasts 2 shaves... According to my chart, keeping a Mach3 with blades at that pace you need to spend 380€ a year on blades. The fusions are supposed to last a bit longer, so if you get 3 shaves out of a blade then it's 450€ a year. A DE which gives 5 shaves per blade would cost about 34 € a year. If you then add the lather needed for the cartridges, and a Harris soap for the DE, the cost ends up at 470€ and 540€ (Mach3 and Fusion) and a wimpy 44€ for the DE. The straight only requires soap once you have all the kit you need to maintain the razor, so it's only 11€ per year.

Disposable razor are expensive, whether it be Mach 3, Quatro, or fusion. That's part of the draw to straight razor shaving.
I love these posts where guys say they "tried to go back" and cut themselves to pieces. That's rubbish. Those disposable razors are trash, but they are idiot proof. If you cut yourself or tear up your face with a disposable razor, you have no business picking up a straight razor.