Thread: can anyone share their experiences with DE's?

just wondering what they are like. how much maintenance do they require? how close do they shave? how difficult is it to shave with them? how much do decent blades cost and how often must they be replaced?

i'm trying to get my brother shaving with something other than his plastic disposable and i don't think he'll ever bother with a straight; he thinks it's pretty dopey. but i think if i could get him using a DE he might at least get some idea. the thing that will probably stop him, if anything does, is a lot of required maintenance. thanks!

Very little maintenance (change the blade once or twice a week, clean the soap scum off every now and again).

They can shave very close indeed. It takes some experimenting to find out the best combination of razor and blade, though a true DE master can easily get BBS with any combination most people have a favorite -- mine is the gillette fatboy and either the american personna blade or the merkur (dovo) blade. Feather also makes a highly acclaimed blade. American personna blades are about $.10 apiece, Feathers are about $.50 apiece, the other brands tend to be somewhere in between. Avoid the Gillettes that you find in the drugstores, they are the most expensive and worst quality (russian made) of all the choices.

Shaving with one is a little wierd, mostly because the angle you use is different from a cartridge razor and the blades are very thin and flexible, but if you use them like a cartridge razor they will kind of shave but cause nicks and razor burns. The DE is really an evolutionary dead end, in that nothing that came afterwards looks or works like them, and this tends to trip people up because their experience is all wrong.

The Schick Injector is another replaceable-blade razor that uses a single-sided blade and is kind of the granddaddy of the modern cartridge razor. The blades are readily available from CVS or Walgreens, and they shave almost identical to a cartridge razor except without the razor burn and $$$ cartridges. The blades are more expensive than the DE blades, but they are stouter blades and last longer, and come in this nifty magazine-fed loading widget that ejects the old blade from the razor and loads a new one into place, so you don't have to touch the blade except to put the old one into the blade safe in the back side of the loader.

I own both, but of the two I prefer the DE because the greater variety of blades means that I found a DE blade that better matches my beard than the standard injector blade. But I could have mastered the injector in seconds, whereas it took me a month or so to master the DE.

DEs are ok. They irritate less than regular disposables, they're cheaper and give a very nice shave (not as good as straight though).
My buddy who is of the same mind as your brother got some pretty good results with the Feather DE (fairly cheap, in the $25 ballpark) that he bought He is using Merkur blades (Personal Edge sells them). They're about 50c a pop.
I tried shaving with a DE that Tony M. gave me (thanks again Tony) and one of the Israeli blades that I got from Ed (thanks again Ed). It was ok. No nicks, good close shaves, but I couldn't wait to finally wear out the blade and go back to my straights.

There are lots of reviews and help for using DE's on badgerandblade.com (sorry if its against the rules to post other sites). I am new to straights but have been using a DE for awhile. You can get very close shaves with no irritation once you get the hang of it (easier than a straight, but lacks that ummph). I suggest you go to badgerandblade and order a sample pack of blades from letterk to try the major blades. I really like derby blades but YMMV so the sample pack is nice (you get swedish gillettes, feathers, merkurs, personnas, and derbys).

Cheers,

John

I will echo the comments here, plus add a few. Badgerandblade.com is a great site, another is shavemyface.com. Really good people and attitudes at both sites.

I am one of those people that gets BBS, glass-face shaves with a DE. No irritation or "weepers" or nicks. Almost always it makes my morning, where normally I used to dread shaving. Maintenance, like mparker mentioned, is almost a non-issue. Changing the blade is the "hardest" thing with maintaining the razor.

I will second getting the sampler pack from letterK (he is at both sites). Everyone has a favorite blade, and the sampler will let your brother decide what works for him. I, personally, use feathers almost exclusively (occasionally I'll use Merkur blades). Israeli personnas do not work at all for me (a potato peeler would work better.) Once he gets into it (oh, and I'm sure he will ), blades are cheaper when bought in bulk. cottonblossomcrafts.com has periodic Feather blade sales, where 100 blades (ten packs of 10 blades) is $24.

As far as the razor itself, I can only recommend the Merkur HD for a beginner. I have a Vision and a Progress, but I get better shaves with the HD. I think it would be the best starter razor because he would learn the proper technique (correct angle, no pressure, etc.) without futzing with how 'open' the razor is.

I am not an e-bayer, so I cannot comment on DE's sold there. Plus, if it is his first DE, and the razor doesn't shave that well, he may be negatively biased.

Charles at QEDusa.com has the HD for $29, plus your brother can pick up some of the other needed goodies (brush, the excellent QEDman soap that Charles makes). Unless he already uses a brush and soap or shavecream.

O.K. enough babbling from me. good luck on converting your brother

Colin

I was trying paste in something I wrote for new wetshavers that I think is a helpful guide. I also have a small section on straights. However, the site says the entry is too long so I'm going to link to it. MODs feel free to let me know if this is unacceptable.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=4069

DE's are pretty low maintenance. Change the blade once a week or so. I rinse mine thoroughly after every shave. Blades are very inexpensive -- Derby blades about $15 for 100, Feather blades for $25 for 100. Quality of shave is pretty good. I get a really good shave the DE's I've owned. The two other forum sites mentioned here have really good DE resources & information. The consensus, from what I can tell, is the Merkur HD (Hefty Classic) is the choice for beginners.

I used a DE for a few months before converting to
the straight. It is a Merkur classic. I also used Merkur
blades which I changed every Sunday. When using a
DE proper angle is necessary. Also use ZERO pressure.
It seems that a straight razor is more forgiving than a
DE IMHO.

There is an excellent link on www.classicshavig.com
under How to and Why on the proper use of a DE.

I think your brother will be quite satisfied with a DE
once he gets use to using one.

Oh, over at Wetshavers, quite a few of those guys
give favorable reviews on the Persona blades from
Wal Mart. They are cheap and definately worth a
try.

Terry

Originally Posted by wvbias

Oh, over at Wetshavers, quite a few of those guys
give favorable reviews on the Persona blades from
Wal Mart. They are cheap and definately worth a
try.

The "American Personna" blade I mentioned above are these same walmart/walgreens/cvs/grocery store blades. Not a universal favorite but they are both cheap and readily available, and were my go-to blade for my everyday shaves.

Originally Posted by cyrano138

just wondering what they are like. how much maintenance do they require? how close do they shave? how difficult is it to shave with them? how much do decent blades cost and how often must they be replaced?

I'm trying to get my brother shaving with something other than his plastic disposable and i don't think he'll ever bother with a straight; he thinks it's pretty dopey. but i think if i could get him using a DE he might at least get some idea. the thing that will probably stop him, if anything does, is a lot of required maintenance. thanks!

I've been using DEs for almost 50 years. They're a great way to shave and the learning curve is about the same as a str8. There is a technique to learn.

As far as use of blades goes it depends on the individual. The cost will be a small fraction of the cost of a cartridge razor. Think in terms of about 5 cents a shave.

The quality of the shave, once you learn the technique is excellent. THere are blades available which are much sharper than you can get a str8, and if you use those you can get a shave as good as or better than a str8. The advantage that the DE has is that it's easier to maneuver into difficult places.

As I said, the DE has about as much of a learning curve as a str8. Your brother doesn't sound very patient, so a better choice for him may be an injector razor. Nationwide Campus (look them up online)has revived the injector razor, and they're selling new ones for about $15. They are easier to use and learn. If you lay off the pressure you'll get a decent, confortable shave the first time.