Anyway you slice it, doesn't a six-blade razor feel excessive?

[qb]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072305083.html

It has come to our attention that ShaveMate, in its efforts to break into a stubble market dominated by Schick and Gillette, has recently introduced the ShaveMate Titan 6, which has six blades. Six.

We set out to find out why.

"It's not just the blades," says Lou Tomassetti who, along with his brother Peter, invented the Titan. "It's really everything you need in one." The Titan, he explains, also comes with shaving cream in the handle and a moisture strip.

"If you go out and try to buy equipment for shaving today," Lou continues, "it's very complicated."

"You might have to buy batteries," Peter adds.

:eyes:

I used disposable Schick double-blades from Costco for a while, and they worked great. Then one day I needed razors and wasn't near a Costco, so I grabbed a pack of cheap Bic single blades. They work just as well.

BTW, I buy disposable razors because for some obscene reason they are cheaper than refill blades.

[EOTE]

1. It may seem excessive, but I've found that more blades = smoother shave.

When the first 3 bladed razors came out, it seemed a little silly to me, but I tried them and was impressed. Then 4 and 5 bladed razors came out and I've found each successive generation to provide a more comfortable shave than the last. I've been using the latest and greatest 5 bladed razor recently and I've found that I can actually shave without shaving cream in a pinch and it's not all that uncomfortable. When I go back to disposables or even older 3-blade razors, I don't like them nearly as much. 6 blades may seem crazy, but I'd like to give it a try.

[MicaelS]

2. I agree...

I've been using a Gillette Fusion (battery) Power razor (5 blades), and it works MUCH better than any disposable razor, or electric razor I've ever used. I would never go back to less than 5 blades.

[Maine-ah]

11. I use my hubbies...

We have our own blades, of course, but share one handle. I love it, the best damn razor I have ever used on my legs and bikini area

[MicaelS]

12. If you don't consider it too personal...

How many shaves do each of you get with your respective blades?

[Maine-ah]

28. na, not too personal at all :)

it's always a new blade for the bikini area, but I will use that same blade on my legs after that and will get 3-4 shaves. Hubbie is a very furry fellow, I think he gets three out of his.

[MicaelS]

33. Thanks n/t

[Orrex]

8. I find that if I slide the twin-blade over my face three times, it's exactly the same.

[kayakjohnny]

9. Hahahaha! True!

:thumbsup:

[EOTE]

10. I'll take one swipe versus three that leave my face all red and burned.

With recent multi-blade razors, I've been using shaving cream less and less. I'll usually just use a bit of soapy water and I find that works perfectly. When I'm forced to go back to disposables or older twin-blade razors, I find myself using a bunch of shaving cream to make it a less abrasive shave. Even when I use shaving cream and prep myself before hand (by getting my skin good, hot and steamy), I still find those blades far more uncomfortable than the newer ones.

[Orrex]

23. If you shave in the shower, the abrasiveness is reduced almost to zero

And the dollop of shaving cream that I use fits on two fingertips.


I'll pay $2.49 for a 10-pack of twin blades over $99.97 for a three-pack of sextuplet blades.

[EOTE]

29. Not with my facial hair.

I generally shave in the shower and if I go back to using dual blades or disposables, it's a very painful experience. I generally get my blades from Slickdeals.net and rarely pay more than $3 a piece for them. Considering how much longer they last and how much more comfortable the shaving is, I'll never go back to old school blades.

What I would consider doing, however, is getting a straight edge and shaving that way. I'd certainly have to spend a lot more time shaving, but I've found I can get a really comfortable and close shave using a straight edge if I take my time.

[Orrex]

31. Dude--did you just prove that six equals one?

:wow:

[EOTE]

34. What? With regard to a straight edge?

Talking about equivalency seems a little sillier here. If I were to switch to a straight edge, it would be to save money and nothing else. Straight edges last forever if you take care of them and can provide consistently smooth shaves if you get the technique down. Disposable razors and even the cheaper, long lasting ones don't do any of that.

[Orrex]

36. I haven't been able to use a straight razor ever since reading "The Murders in the Rue Morgue"

[MajorChode]

24. That's been my experience

I think eventually you reach the point of diminishing returns. One thing I have also found is I get far more life out of a cartridge with multiple blades. I can easily get 4-6 weeks out of my Gillette Fusion blades and I have a pretty stiff beard. With single and twin razors, I was doing well to get anything over 1 week before reusing them was unbearable.

The latest so-called improvements to blades are primarily about the lubricants they incorporate into the cartridge which I find don't help all that much and are depleted in just a few shaves anyway.

[seabeyond]

3. i thought so after two.... nt

[Richardo]

4. Replacement cartridges are what, $18 each?

My replacements are 10 for $5. :D



Goes in one of these....

[qb]

5. Cool! I just might look for one of those.

I'll have to get over the trauma of trying to shave my forehead with one when I was 3, though.

[Richardo]

6. Ha!

I got mine on ebay a few years ago - it was made in 1956. I think I got it for about $30.

I had finally had it with the exhorbitant pricing on the replacement blades for the multi-blade razors (I only got up to 3). My only complaint with the safety razor is that that handle is SO short. Other than that, I've had zero problems and remarkably little bloodshed. :thumbsup:

I'm laughing at the forehead story, BTW :rofl:

[qb]

19. Thanks for the idea - I just nabbed one on eBay, along with a vintage blade sharpener!

Won't it be a hoot if this actually works?

[Richardo]

20. One word of advice: Very short strokes

"That's what she said."



...and, it's three words. But still, that will keep the cuts down.

[qb]

21. Thanks. I will also make sure the direction of the strokes is perpendicular

to the sharp edge of the blade... not parallel. That turned out badly when I was 3. :scared:

[pokerfan]

26. I've got my great uncle's

It must be about sixty years old. Gillette's patent from 1904:



The trick to shaving with a single blade is to use the lightest possible pressure. One of the reasons that multiple blades give a good shave without razor burn is that the pressure is divided among 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 blades. But, if you know what you're doing, you can achieve the same results with a single blade.

[Richardo]

27. Is this you, qb?

:D

[Schema Thing]

7. 5 blades work better than 4, 4 better than 3, 3 WAY better than 2

so maybe 6 blades will be better


but I think we are getting into diminishing returns territory.


you have very different skin and/or hair than me if double or singles work great for you.

[Common Sense Party]

15. I'm holding out for the 50-blade model.

Which will have to be positioned, stationary, on a solid pedestal. I'll have to move my face up and down to get a shave off it.

[uncommon]

35. Me too. Or at least 20. 20 might do it.

[MiddleFingerMom]

13. I prefer uber-cheap disposable single blades...

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...as I think they give me a closer shave, and the blades
don't get all gunked-up with hair every two strokes or so.
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I usually DO have to make two strokes, but GEEZ... c'mon!!!
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It's hard to keep my status as the laziest fucking person
in the crowd here on DU!!!
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[Beetwasher]

14. I'm Waiting For The Moonrock Google Blade Razor

Until then, I refuse to shave.

[burrfoot]

16. I thought so before I tried one,

but for me at least, 5 is WAY better than 1, 2, or 3; and still significantly better even than 4. I haven't tried 6 yet. I do agree with the poster upthread that we may have gotten into the land of diminishing returns now; but for my stiff, wiry facial hair and (apparently) sensitive skin, multi-blades are a must even though they cost a load. And I still get razor burn in a couple of areas on my neck. For my money, every innovation that makes it smoother is worthwhile. Even (although I'm embarrassed a little to admit it) the vibrating handle. Even if that's just a placebo effect, I'm in. :evilgrin:

YMMV, of course!

:toast:

Edit: stupid punctuation

[Schema Thing]

22. I think the vibrating feature is to corrupt young women.

[InternalDialogue]

17. I remember reading this Onion piece when it came out:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades,11056/

I laughed uproariously, until a five-blade razor came out just a couple months later.

[AngryAmish]

18. Satire from only 6 years ago: "Fuck Everything, We're Doing Five Blades"

[miscsoc]

32. A few months after that was posted, iirc

Gillete actually came out with a five blade one. I think it vibrated too.

[trackfan]

25. Saturday Night Live had a sketch, in the first or second season,

that was a parody of razor blade commercials. It featured a (then) non-existent blade called the "triple track". The Gillette Trak-II or Shick Super 2 were the cutting edge (pun unintentional, but detected in process) technology in blades at that time. I found it funny, because even as a kid, years before - in the 60s - I had wondered, and discussed with friends in school, how they were ever going to keep coming up with something new in razor blades. The Trak II and its imitators had been around a couple years, and it seemed we had come to the "end of history" as far as razor blade technology was concerned. In retrospect, I think this skit was probably a big thorn in the side of the razor blade companies, because it made a joke out of what they had planned for the following year. Most likely, in secret council, they took the decision to delay the release of the triple blade for several years, until the memory of the Saturday Night Live skit had faded among the general populace.

[Deep13]

30. I won't settle for less than a dozen!

Or I wouldn't if I didn't use an electric razor.

[Common Sense Party]

37. And Warren Buffett is laughing all the way to the bank.