Thread: Gillette Mach 3 VS. C.V. Heljestrand

I've been wondering about battle between my old Gillette Mach 3 with three bladed head and my C.V. Heljestrand straight razor. Today I just had to do it

I shared my face left and right and Gillette got left side of my face and C.V. other. I made lather of Fitjar shaving soap. I had four days stumble on my face. With the grain was alright with Gillette and cross the grain too, but C.V. did it always cleaner and didn't pull like Gillette time to time.

Against the grain made biggest difference and C.V. did much better job than Gillette and after battle I had to clean up Gillette's side of face with my C.V. I had to flush Gillette time to time with running water but C.V. did all passes without flushing.

This was interesting experiment and now it's time to lift Gillette top of cabinet and forgot it there. C.V. won big time.

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I would be interested in a similar test of a straight vs. a Cobra. This would be a much more interesting contest. I don't own any DEs or SEs or shavettes that won't out shave a M3.

My single edge GEM razor outshaves an M3 handily. The Merkur DE with a Feather destroys multi-blade carts.

Originally Posted by Jaatinen1982

I've been wondering about battle between my old Gillette Mach 3 with three bladed head and my C.V. Heljestrand straight razor. Today I just had to do it

I shared my face left and right and Gillette got left side of my face and C.V. other. I made lather of Fitjar shaving soap. I had four days stumble on my face. With the grain was alright with Gillette and cross the grain too, but C.V. did it always cleaner and didn't pull like Gillette time to time.

Against the grain made biggest difference and C.V. did much better job than Gillette and after battle I had to clean up Gillette's side of face with my C.V. I had to flush Gillette time to time with running water but C.V. did all passes without flushing.

This was interesting experiment and now it's time to lift Gillette top of cabinet and forgot it there. C.V. won big time.

The irritation and mixed results is what led me from one multi-blade razor to another over a period of about 40 years. The canned goo was a contributing factor in that it did not provide any buffer between blade and face. It was as useless for my face as the bubble bath bubbles. The canned gel gunked up the razor, and I could rinse in between the blades from sunup to sundown and not get rid of it. In between I tried again to adopt my dad's favorite, the electric razor. I got so mad at the beginning of 2010 that I surfed the internet for an alternative means of shaving.

The more I read about the experiences of others the more I think I had more trouble than most with the "modern" shaving equipment. What I really need to do is perhaps use a multi-blade razor with a quality shave soap in order to give the new stuff a fairer evaluation. But hey, they are the ones that sell the canned goo, and I've flushed enough money already down the commode. Some younger people having trouble today shave 2-3 times a week and it's no big deal to show up for a job unshaven. (My generation was criticized for the long hair, so we were young whippersnappers in another way.)

If I had the results you reported with the multi-blade razors I wouldn't have sought out alternatives. It's a given that it doesn't shave like a straight because experienced straight users control all the variables (after a long learning curve) and the multi-blade is a one size fits all operation.

I'm just glad that, even if it didn't happen until my mid-50s, I found an alternative to the stuff generally sold in stores today.

Now in my year of exile after giving up on straight razor shaving because of some trials and tribulations with the RSO I had originally gotten - I noticed I did get more life out of carts using wet shaving techniques. However, I could never get mire than a week out of one.

Even though I grow wiry patchy bumpy stubble instead of beard. Carts never left me truly clean shaven.

After around four years of DE shaving, I tried a Wilkinson Sword quattro cartridge razor, along with some Nivea shaving gel. A few words to describe the experience are "messy", "irksome", and "dreary".

Well, those are the preferable words... certainly more acceptable, to say the least.

What struck me was the amount of pressure needed to get the blades *through* the gel gunk. No wonder newcomers frequently mention the lack of pressure needed, when they're finally weaned off their cartridge razors.

Originally Posted by Deegee

What struck me was the amount of pressure needed to get the blades *through* the gel gunk. No wonder newcomers frequently mention the lack of pressure needed, when they're finally weaned off their cartridge razors.

You know, this makes me wonder if it has been easier for me to learn using a straight. For roughly 3 years, I only used my beard trimmer to trim down my beard to stubble. No shaving whatsoever. With straight shaving, I've only found myself using pressure once, and caught it almost immediately. Perhaps I unlearned a bad habit?