The last two days, after shaving with straights for 6 months, alternating with my Mach 3, I bought a double edge and blades and tried it out for when I don't have enough time for the entire stropping and associated SR shaving steps. I got a decent Parker razor for about $40, and a blade sampler. I chose the Wilkinson Sword first, since I was using Wilkinson (and was happy) when I gave up on DE and went to injector, then on to cartridges. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised for both the comfort and the ease of resuming with a DE after 46 years. It was almost as smooth as my SR shave, in a shorter time, so DE will be my new back up! I will rotate through the other blade sample packs and find one I like best.

Thanks for all the tips I got hanging out around this forum while I was making up my mind.

By the way, I still used the same shave prep and quality lather, and the same post-shave treatment. Figured I owed the blade that much effort!