Thread: The Mach Delivers ?!

Originally Posted by grizli

started straight shaving only about 2 months ago, but before that I shaved with my grandfathers Gillette Slim for a long while. about a month into straight shaving I was really REALLY late to work and decided to pick the DE instead. I got a superior shave to what I remembered from only a month before in terms of closeness, speed, irritation (none) and comfort. and that's using exactly the same DE, blades and cream and brush as before. what I figure is I learned a lot about stretching, prep, growth direction etc from wielding a straight, so that using a DE just got easier and better, too.
the Mach is the same as before. you're not.

Grizli

true, before i would have never even cared to present the question. i would not have even had anything to compare against. that is one thing that to me makes learning str8s great, is that you have an experience most people do not and that you can pass judgement on which is better or not. a subject that the 99 percentile has no clue anything about. to most (and to me pre str8) the only shave cream comes from a can. such a legacy that the masses are passing by.

I started SR shaving on Aug 21, 2011 I think. Never will I go back to a machx with goo. The first week or three I had to do touch ups on "date night", but I bought a TI in the end of august and have not looked back. Something about using a SR is just relaxing. I used to have a bit of a pimple problem, now they are gone, only problems I have are cuts.... but they are going away with time. I used to hate shaving and would only do it once or twice a week, now I do it almost everyday, if I do a one pass. When I try to get a bbs I wont shave for 2 probably.

The pot of gold isn't just the quality of the shave. BBS is BBS whether it's a straight or a Mach3. The pot of gold is the pleasure in standing in front of the bathroom mirror, with a razor that's 150 or so years old, that you honed yourself and just enjoying the experience of shaving yourself with it. Think about what the world was like when that razor was made. How many people have used it? Who were they and what was happening in their lives at the time? In this fast paced world, it's great to spend 20 minutes of "me" time shaving in the morning before heading out to work.

Originally Posted by groovyd

I had the same question to the TSA during my last flight... they indicated a DE would be fine and actually said it probably would not even get noticed on the carry on which surprised me. I have a EJ89 but I really should branch out and try more. Would like to get a feather and an old school 60's fatboy adjustable. Would love to try the new SS feather str8 with the disposible blades.

Obviously it's always up to the TSA inspector but I usually fly out of our little airport here in Gainesville and bring an empty DE carry-on. Surprisingly I've never had it looked at, inspected, or been questioned.

Please suffer a "noob" to chime in, as this thread is highly interesting.

I'm a recent SR convert, but I've been unable to get the BBS results between neck and jawline with the straight. It's agonizing to make the ATG pass below the jawline--it really tears up my face, and the long SR blade is difficult to manage at that awkward angle. Consequently, I can't get a full BBS reduction with the straight, which has been disappointing.

The closest, cleanest shave for me has been with cheap store-brand, triple-blade disposables with the lanolin strip. About a buck each, no irritation and the shaves are close enough to last two days. Try using them with a guillotine/diagonal stroke, up and down in an X-pattern. Also, try using fingertip control to make a scything stroke. Use a feather-light touch. The reduction you can get is amazingly complete and silky.

HOWEVER... like most of you, I'm addicted to the other aspects of SR shaving: collecting vintage blades, honing, soaps, fragrances, etc., not to mention the indulgence of a 25 minute spa treatment with hot towels, balms, etc. Then, there's the actual act of precisely drawing a bare blade over the face. Makes you feel a kinship to granddad and his pals who came of age when men were men. Gives you a sense of having cultivated a rare skill.

So for me, it looks like I'll have to keep some triple-track disposables around for the BBS finish. But I'll always enjoy shaving with a straight a couple or three times a week.

Sounds not unlike some of the other replies in this thread. Anybody else have a similar experience?

groovyd,
Definitely the Mach is the way to go for you. Send the straights to me, I'll even cover the postage. I'll send you periodic reports and photos of them playing with the other straights in my collection.
I live by the code, "Save a Mach; Adopt a straight."

Originally Posted by Hirlau

groovyd,
Definitely the Mach is the way to go for you. Send the straights to me, I'll even cover the postage. I'll send you periodic reports and photos of them playing with the other straights in my collection.
I live by the code, "Save a Mach; Adopt a straight."

sounds fair enough huh ?

I iam a str8 addict so no worries here that I will ever back down, just trying to better understand the true results across the experience of this great forum. Where else could you get so many great thoughtful replies to help guide your adventure into a new world. This is a great great group guys, really thank you everyone for all your ideas and words.

one thing to consider about the mach vs. straight, if you're like me you haven been shaving that long with straights, and that means that you previously shaved with mach-esque type safety razors for a long long time. Lets face it we got some serious skills with a mach. The straight, not so much. I had a similar experience (had to ship off my razors to be honed) today and thought the same thing, but I remembered that when I first started shaving I wasn that good at it and didnt get BBS shaves for a while. It made me feel real good about using straights. I also noticed that shaving with a mach again after shaving with straights felt like shaving with a fisher price toy. Theres just something strangely nostalgic in a manly way about shaving with a straight.

So the third and final shave with the mach this week has the cartridge starting to tug and take small bites here and there... no weepers but not 'irritation free' any more. As well there is a bump forming on my chin that is pretending to be something like an ingrown hair but might also be just a deep pimple forming. Let it be known this cartridge (orange mach 5 sensor) was not brand new at the start of the week and I forget how many shaves it already had but I would say maybe 2. So if my memory serves me 5 shaves and you are either going to start getting irritated or replace the blade. I was thinking to extend the experiment into next week using a new blue mach 5 fusion blade, the newer ones they say is even better to see how many shaves the blade gets before it starts to pull.

I am kinda missing the str8 though during this experiment and the experience of the shave is not at all the same. Kinda boring, generic, toy-like as others have said. I almost miss the sting of a good aftershave following a str8 that I am not getting with the mach.

Well, I commend you for taking a real look at it. There is a sense in which cartridge razors are a pariah around these parts. If you do review a new cartridge, be sure to update on your findings. It will be interesting information at least, and more fuel for the fire if things turn out bad for the cartridge.

Peace,
Jim