Thread: Trying to find a decent cartridge razor for airline carry-on travel

Originally Posted by Steve56

Maybe a Bic Metal disposable? I used those for decades during my working career.

If you know your itinerary far enough in advance, why not mail yourself your razors or blades? Ask the hotel staff to hold the package for you.

I thought about this, Steve. I've done this with other items in the past, usually without issue. I have two concerns about doing this now.

1.) Mail theft. There is a rash of mail theft out there. It's not rampant, but it is present. I don't want to chance losing a good razor to theft.

2.) Last minute change of plans. I sometimes have to change my plans last minute to another hotel, or another city or cancel altogether. That can get costly and risky as I am sending my beloved razors all over the place.

Saying all this, I just got an idea. There is a very decent DE razor at Amazon made for travel that WAS very inexpensive (made i China that comes with a 3 pack of Chinese blades). The BAILI Razor. It's actually not a bad DE razor at all, especially for the price. I have two of them. They are still only $12 with FREE SHIPPING WITH PRIME. They even come in a small travel case with a small mirror for shaving on the go. I may just have Prime send me one to my hotel. That would be the same price as shipping a razor myself, and save me trips to the post office. I'm glad I just thought about that. I assumed after about 8 or 10 years that these razors would have doubled or tripled in price, but on the contrary. I just checked and they actually came down a buck or two since I last bought them. Amazing.

The only issue would be, I don't know how decent those included Chinese blades may be. I assume they would not be too bad, but I've never used them. I pulled them out of the case and put in Lord of Voskhod blades for travel when I traveled with them in checked baggage. So that would be the only downside of going this route.

I will try the Bic Metal razors, along with the Schick disposables that JB recommended. Thanks.

Originally Posted by ZipZop

I have two concerns about doing this now.

1.) Mail theft. There is a rash of mail theft out there. It's not rampant, but it is present. I don't want to chance losing a good razor to theft.

2.) Last minute change of plans. I sometimes have to change my plans last minute to another hotel, or another city or cancel altogether. That can get costly and risky as I am sending my beloved razors all over the place.


I will try the Bic Metal razors, along with the Schick disposables that JB recommended. Thanks.

Where I live, mail theft is not something that I am overly concerned with, but even if it were to happen, as long as I send only one or two blades no major loss would occur.
I see no reason to mail an entire safety razor.
At no airport security check-point have I ever been stopped for carrying a disassembled 3-piece safety razor in my carry-on baggage.

I also do not find it too difficult to find DE blades in most international destinations, but in some countries the majority of shops still close over weekends.

For emergency use, if all of the above should have failed you, you can always toss a disposable in your carry on (and hope you won’t have to use it).

But I would rather put my faith in my blade(s) getting there and in an emergency ask the hotel for a disposable razor. Most hotels have toothbrushes, toothpaste, disposable razors etc. for cases when baggage gets displaced or guests simply forget to bring them along.
They may not be stellar, but can be used in an emergency.


B.

Thanks to the help here on this thread, I have received two 5 packs of BIC METAL disposables and one 10 pack of Schick Exacta 2 Sensitive. Both give very good shaves for disposables. I think I prefer the Bic Metal (ONE BLADE with metal bar), but the Schick Sensitive is not far behind.

Thanks to all the contributors for help in this thread. I'm now set for traveling with only CARRY-ON luggage.

But on another note, have you gents seen the mess in the airline industry? It's horrific. I dread flying. But it's still cheaper and much faster than driving long distances, so I'm stuck being on an airplane.

You might want to check out the BIC Hybrid 5 razors. I have a coarse beard and sensitive skin. I love the sharpness and smoothness of BIC Chrome Platinum DE blades and I found the BIC Hybrid 5 razors to be some of the best cartridge razors available for my beard. I have tried various Gillette and Schick cartridges, but the BIC is the only one that can come close to the quality of a DE shave.

Back in the 90s, I used to fly about three weeks a month. With bonus miles, I earned my million mile flyer award on US Airways in five years. In 1999, I moved to the Chicago area. After 9/11, flying became such a hassle, I would drive to any destination less than 500 miles from home.

I have not flown since my retirement. I forfeited about 500,000 frequent flyer miles when US Airways took was bought out by American Airlines. Dealing with O'Hare was such a hassle that I did not even want to fly for free.

I understand that flying has become a nightmare after COVID. For those of you who have to travel by air, you have my sympathies.

Originally Posted by ZipZop

Thanks to the help here on this thread, I have received two 5 packs of BIC METAL disposables and one 10 pack of Schick Exacta 2 Sensitive. Both give very good shaves for disposables. I think I prefer the Bic Metal (ONE BLADE with metal bar), but the Schick Sensitive is not far behind.

Thanks to all the contributors for help in this thread. I'm now set for traveling with only CARRY-ON luggage.

But on another note, have you gents seen the mess in the airline industry? It's horrific. I dread flying. But it's still cheaper and much faster than driving long distances, so I'm stuck being on an airplane.

It's worse and worse. Before I retired I had to fly on average around 4 or 5 times a year, and my destination could be any place in the world where a ship could go. The majority of my jobs would be fly-out jobs, and the time window for meeting a ship could be very small. So not only did I have to fly a lot, but I had better not miss a connection, either. It was hell. I hated it. The only thing I hated worse about my job than getting full physicals 3 to 5 times a year was flying flying flying. Now that I am retired, I don't fly ANYWHERE. We just went to the Grand Canyon, which my wife has had on her bucket list for 50 years, and we drove. From New Orleans. We were concerned about the roadworthiness of our old Hyundai and the gas guzzling of our Dodge Ram pickup so we rented a Camry with all the bells and whistles, and it was very pleasant indeed. Even had radar assisted cruise, so I could just let it follow the car ahead and keep a safe distance. It would slow or speed up to keep up with the traffic as long as I set it slightly faster than the flow of traffic. It meeped at me if I got too close to the edge of my lane, though it wouldn't automatically steer for me. I think Hertz disabled that feature. Seats were sooooo comfy, AC worked perfectly, no way would I have been so comfortable even in business or first class. Driving rocks, with the right car. Flying sucks, on the best of commercial airlines. I feel overwhelming pity on those who are still forced to fly just to make a paycheck. It gets suckier and suckier. Wife's kiddo and her hubby live in San Jose (Peoples Demokratik Republik of Kalifornyia, not Puerto Rico) and I told her flat out I am not now and not never ever ever flying there. We will drive. Flying sucks too badly and I get a foul and evil temper when I am forced to cope with sucky crap and being treated like a convict or a suspect or a mental patient. A nice drive is pleasant. A longer nicer drive is even more pleasant. It's kind of like being on my boat. Who cares where I am going? I am already in my destination.

No more checked in luggage is definitely the only way to go for me. I thought cartridge razors would do it, but it was a miserable experience using one.

Fortunately I was able to find a cheap Wilkinson Sword DE razor at a supermarket in Greece and it proved to be a valuable tool during my stay.

They seem to be easy to find.

I just got back this morning from a trip, having been gone for about 10 days.

I have to say that after 8 or so days of shaving on the road (I rested the skin on my face for a few days during the 10 day trip), I have to say that now I prefer the Schick Exacta 2 Sensitive that @JBhoren recommended at the beginning of this thread. I thought I preferred the Bic Metal one blade disposable, but after 4 shaves each on the Bic Metal and the Schick 2 Sensitive, it's defintiely the Schick that wins out. It's a more comfortable shave, and a closer shave with less irritation that the Bic Metal. Not that the Bic Metal is a bad disposable, it's just not as comfortable nor close as the Schick - on my skin and beard.
For a Disposable carry-on, I have to give it up for the Schick Exacta 2 Sensitive;



And yes, AIRLINE TRAVEL SUCKS THESE DAYS! It just keeps getting worse by the year. I used to complain about airline travel in the 80s and 90s. Now, I'd feel fortunate to have those days back again. Compared to what we have to go through today, those truly seemed like the golden days of air travel. I'm not old enough to know how it was in the 50s or 60s. I started flying sporadically in the late 70s while attending college, and really "took off", so to speak, in the 80s. I do barely remember airline travel before deregulation. Some here that are older than I am can speak to this better than I can, but the only thing I seem to remember before deregulaton was that the planes seemed emptier (less passengers), with more room in your seat than there is now. It could be my memory is not accurate, but that's what I seem to recall.