So I found a couple Gilette Mach III blades and decided to give them a go ..........

While cleaning out the drawers in our bathroom I came across some of my old faithful Mach III cartridges. I decided to give them a go with one of the sample creams I got for my birthday/christmas gift. I decided on Geo F Trumper's Almond Shaving Cream and the brush was my big old Thater. Everything seemed to be going well with the grain, but when i went to do the across the grain I began to feel it. I re-lathered and did my against the grain, and I really felt it. I ended up finishing up with my W&B straight. I still had major razor burn and bumps under my chin, jaw and on my neck.

So now I think that I have confirmed my skin issues were from my previous use of the disposable cartridges. I gave the remaining 3 cartridges to my son and have forever vowed to never use them again (unless I go back to shaving my dome, but I use a head-blade for that.).

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Originally Posted by PHANTZM

While cleaning out the drawers in our bathroom I came across some of my old faithful Mach III cartridges. I decided to give them a go with one of the sample creams I got for my birthday/christmas gift. I decided on Geo F Trumper's Almond Shaving Cream and the brush was my big old Thater. Everything seemed to be going well with the grain, but when i went to do the across the grain I began to feel it. I re-lathered and did my against the grain, and I really felt it. I ended up finishing up with my W&B straight. I still had major razor burn and bumps under my chin, jaw and on my neck.

So now I think that I have confirmed my skin issues were from my previous use of the disposable cartridges. I gave the remaining 3 cartridges to my son and have forever vowed to never use them again (unless I go back to shaving my dome, but I use a head-blade for that.).

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My wife did the same thing yesterday and found 3 new Gillette razors and a few carts. I won't use them. She won't use them. To the Goodwill they go.

Did you make the transition from Mach III to straights, directly, or did you try DE in the interim? I'm just wondering if you had the same problems with DE?

I did use a DE for a bit and had little to no issues. I went from cartridges to a safety razor that was my grandfathers , to a parker shavette and finally onto straights. Most of my issues were much better with the safety and parker, but they were still there.

Since going to a straight I have had very little problems with my skin. With the exceptions of not watching blade angle when applying the razor to my skin leaving a nice red line , but no bumps or razor rash.

Same reason why I ditched the cartridges.
Started having too many ingrown hairs.

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Originally Posted by Scareface

Same reason why I ditched the cartridges.
Started having too many ingrown hairs.

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Same here.
One or two years ago I used a cart ONCE. In two days I had 4 ingrowns.
Never again.

After using cartridges for 25+ years, discovered it wasn't necessary to walk around looking like Fred Flintstone most of the day. I can't honestly remember having experienced an irritation-free shave all those years... just figured a bit was normal. Pulling, from time to time, went with the territory. As an adult, ran the gamut of electrics, settling on a Norelco for the face, and Mach 3 for the neck.

Then, my first DE shave was just short of magical- no pull, very little irritation. More Recently the allure of straights has brought me to SRP.

Admittedly, I still keep a Mach 3 for the back of my neck (which is typically a quick, dry shave). However, cartridges aren't likely to ever touch my face again.

I was spending 40 bucks a month on Fusion cartridges. So I switched to DE shaving. I was saving a good chunk of money till my RAD kicked in. Then I went to straights. Now, 2 Robert Williams customs, a Wade and Butcher, Boker and Dovo later, I figure I'll break even in 700 years! But, I love it. What was this thread about?

The cartridge blades have 1 good use, my Wife loves them for shaving her legs. Women's blades are no comparison to the men's Gillette's, apparently they shave way better than the blades designed for women.

I had a similar experience recently when I took a trip taking only a carry on onboard the plane. I couldn't take any razor blades with me, so Mach III disposables it was. Those few days were filled with scraping, pulling, and stubble reappearing several hours before I was used to since switching to a DE. It definitely reaffirmed my decision to switch to traditional shaving.