Originally Posted by
Andonis
With all due respect, but the information in this post is not accurate and there are certain scenarios that a straight razor can not out perform a three blade; the main one being the neck area when the hair grows sideways, virtually parallel or close to parallel to the jaw line at a very low angle against the skin. In this situation a three blade will always out perform a straight razor, hands down, especially when you are shaving yourself (as opposed to being shaved by someone else who also knows what they are doing). The reason for this has nothing to do with the blade's sharpness or technique as is being intimated, but with the length of the blade and the angle one is able to hold the blade against the skin.
Before anyone tries to use the excuse of "my blade is not sharp enough" or "my technique is poor", let me tell you this: my razor is so sharp it slices a hair in half just from dropping the hair against the blade using gravity alone. As far as technique goes, I have used a straight razor for the past 15 years and also shave family and friends beautifully. A beautiful shave in my book means that if you run your finger against the grain after shaving you cannot not feel any sign of stubble however slight.
Does a straight razor give you a closer shave that a three blade? Even with an amazing straight razor and having fully prepared the skin and with perfect technique, the correct answer is still 'it depends' and 'not always' .
The reason why a three blade will outperform a straight razor on a neck area where the hair grows sideways is that a three blade is shorter and therefore can sit much more snug against the skin due to the curve of the neck (unless you have a fat neck.... No offence to anyone with a fat neck but you would not face this problem as your extra meatiness removes the issue of a tight neck curve).
The fact of the matter is, to get the smoothest closest shave imaginable with hair that grows at a tight low angle out of the skin, you need to be able to go exactly against the grain, which is not possible or extremely difficult on the neck's curve using a straight razor, unless your hair grows towards or away from your jaw line rather than parallel to it, in which case you just shave upward or downward.
Can you still achieve the desired closeness of shave in this area with a straight razor? Sure, but most likely after multiple strokes at very awkward and riskier angles, which defeats the whole point of a straight razor that is meant to be more efficient and effective than a three blade, which in this scenario it simply is not.
Why do I continue to use straight razors then? Because I love them. The fact is though that my three blade Wilkinson sword runs circles around my straight razor when it comes to my neck line, which you may have gathered has sideways growing hair.
I wager £20 to anyone who can prove me wrong... Be warned however that I am already £60 up from having this debate with others already.