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

[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.).

[rolodave]

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.).

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.

[LexTac]

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?

[PHANTZM]

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.

[Scareface]

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

[rolodave]

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

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

[BlackGOLD]

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.

[Wayne1963]

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?

[Firefighter2]

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.

[Guitarguy118]

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.