Wow, so happy to see this thread

I'm from the UK (spot the user name..) and love the Old Skool shaving. My weapon of choice is a vintage 1960 Gillette "Fatboy" Adjustable.

The locally-bought 'Nacet' blades are horrid. Derbys are cheap but not much better than Nacet.

Really I find the blades last quite awhile and I'm *still* using blades from a sampler pack! Typically each blade lasts me around 4-5 shaves. Note though that I shave my head as well as my face.

Currently I'm using 'Shark Stainless' blades. Seem pretty good, nothing special but nothing wrong with them either. Main thing is my razor allows me to adjust just how aggressive it is. With a new blade I use setting 3, as it dulls I wind it up to 4 then 5, taking extra care because more blade is exposed.

I've never once cut myself using the Fatboy, though certainly did using the local Chinese rubbish razors! I had one that cost me 7 ringgit and it. cut. me. every. single. time.

For my brush I have a synthetic Bodyshop thing, which is good for hard soaps, for softer soaps and creams I use a Silvertip Badger purchased from Ebay.

Let me answer some of the more common questions I've seen here:

1. Better than electric? Absolutely better! Note it's not called "wet shaving" for nothing though, as there's a lot more water and lather and stuff. Best done without a shirt on - but if you use electric you also know you can get that horrid grey hair-dust down your shirt, which I think is even worse!

2. Close shave? Part of the fun with a DE razor is you can shave closely but not TOO closely. That means you soon get stubble again but on the up-side you don't get the pimples, razor burn, lumps and bumps and ingrowing hairs that you get with the Mach3/4/5 or 6..

If you want really close than do 2 or 3 passes, first with the direction of growth, then directly against it.

3. Speed. DE shaving is relatively slow, and is about taking your time, taking care of yourself and your face, and refusing to let the world rush you. If you're a real man and in charge of yourself and your life then it's no biggie to get up 20 minutes earlier and enjoy a great shave, true? It's much better than being out of control and needing to slap your own face with a Mach3/4/5/6 and foam in a can, because you "don't have time".

You're a man, you're in charge of yourself and in charge of your time. If you really cannot make 20 minutes for your own face then grow a beard, which is also manly.

4. Straight Razor? I too toyed with the idea but trust me, the potential injuries (to your fingers and other parts as well as your face and neck) are far more serious than you might expect. We're not talking "nicks", you can easily slice veins, nerves and tendons.

You can also get multiple scars on your face from "minor" cuts. One or two scars may be bad-ass and you can say with pride "I shave with a straight razor blade". By 3 scars you're looking a bit silly though and 4 scars just makes you look an idiot. How stupid would you look with 5 scars? 6?

Using something like my Gillette Fatboy on the number 8 or 9 setting will give you all the shaving benefits of a straight razor, without constantly having to sharpen the thing and without the sliced fingers and scarred face.

You still get the old skool traditional gentlemanly feel, you still get to be different, you can still indulge in the luxury soaps and balms and expensive brushes and all that good stuff.

Gillette invented the 'safety DE razor' around 100 years ago. The open "straight" razor is only for a barber shaving someone else. Shaving yourself with it is stupid and dangerous when you can buy a vintage razor, more than 50 years old, which is safer!

Happy shaves!


UKG