Shaving

[Zanshin]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

A straight razor and boat that could be rocking, sometimes violently. Hmmm, what could possibly go wrong. If only there were a safer razor... we could call it, erm, a safety razor! That's a good name. I'll get working on that right away.

It really isn't that bad. I shave on passage, it helps to wedge oneself in a bit, but as long as the straight-edge is used correctly (never slice!) the odds of cutting oneself are very low. Even a safety razor will cut skin if pulled in a slicing motion. I've got quite a collection of straight-edge razors now, but only 4 of them go aboard as they are stainless-steel and don't rust; all the others are high carbon-content steels that just don't get along with all that salty air.

[Slamjunk]

I shave my entire head except my eyebrows. I use an electric shaver. It takes about 3 min if I use it daily. It isn't as close as other razors but its only about 6 hours behind a disposable.


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[Seymore]

I shave every day. Personally, I dislike a beard on me, and slightly mistrust men with scraggly beards, catagorizing them as opportunists.

I use multiblade disposable razors and get about 50 shaves from each one. Shaving soap is Kirk's Coconut Oil Castile soap and, sometimes, Barbasol on top of it. I once got 102 shaves from a Bic double blade disposable razor. But not twice.

[Slamjunk]

Seymore,

My biggest gripe with multi blade razors is my hair getting jammed between the blades. I can't shave my entire head with one razor without wanting to grab a new one to finish. What's your technique?


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[weavis]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Since I retired from the Army 13 yrs ago, I've worn a beard. Wife doesn't like it, but I hated shaving, but being in the Army I had no choice, now I do.
I've been considering going back to shaving to make her happy, but it's a chore that I dislike immensely. For one thing it gives me ingrown hairs.

I use double edge razors.
If in a hurry, take a shower, whilst in the shower, stand out of the stream, put on shaving cream and pull the blade around the face. Done in no time and a close shave.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Is a 'strait razor' what we call a "cut throat" .....?
.....

No, a cut throat razor is the same as a "straight" razor.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Funny, when I saw this thread's title a couple of days ago, I thought to myself, WTF?
But in reading it, there's some great, & much appreciated tips. Some that maybe I'll even try.


Shaving since I quit working for Uncle Sam (Military) has been an on again, off again thing. Especially since, quite literally, I can grow enough of a beard in 2 weeks or less, so that my Grandmother (whom I used to see regularly, may she Rest In Peace) wouldn't recognize me after not shaving for that length of time.


Anybody got some good bits of wisdom for us Lycans (Werewolves) out here? Especially as my facial hair clogs up multi-bladed razors as if the stuff were Kryptonian Kevlar. Even the GOOD blades.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

Funny, when I saw this thread's title a couple of days ago, I thought to myself, WTF?
But in reading it, there's some great, & much appreciated tips. Some that maybe I'll even try.


Shaving since I quit working for Uncle Sam (Military) has been an on again, off again thing. Especially since, quite literally, I can grow enough of a beard in 2 weeks or less, so that my Grandmother (whom I used to see regularly, may she Rest In Peace) wouldn't recognize me after not shaving for that length of time.


Anybody got some good bits of wisdom for us Lycans (Werewolves) out here? Especially as my facial hair clogs up multi-bladed razors as if the stuff were Kryptonian Kevlar. Even the GOOD blades.

Use a double edge razor. OR use a single blade Bic to start.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by weavis

Use a double edge razor. OR use a single blade Bic to start.

The original single blade Bic were superb. Once they brought out the twin blade, they wrecked the single blade ones (probably trying to sell lots of the twin blade ones for loads more dosh).

It used to take me about 3 weeks to run in one of the original single blades, then I used to get 8 to 10 months of great shaves out of them.

A friend used to bin his single blade Bics daily (only used them once), and never got to the stage where they gave a great shave with one, until I sounded surprised when talking about them, that he never ran them in.

I tried the 2 blade, but never really get on that well with them. Tried all sorts for a bit, then there was a buy one get one free on single blade Bics, and found they aren't as bad as they had been. Now they seem to take 2 weeks to run in, then I get 2 to 3 months out of them.

I do like the old cut throat razors as well. Had some nice ones stolen, and haven't bothered picking up any more as yet. Amongst the best are the 19th Century Solingen, but don't bother with anything Solingen after, the quality went to pot and stayed to pot. I even used to have a big collection of otherwise expensive Solingen knives I picked up cheap at auction (I used to need a lot of good sharp knives to swap out, then sharpen them all back up at the end of the day). What a load of useless trash they turned out to be.

I couldn't believe how they had gone from making wonderful stuff, to making such awful rubbish.

But yeah, if you can find a high carbon 19th Century Solingen at a fair price, snatch the sellers hand off.

[Zanshin]

I disagree with Ribbit regarding Solingen blades. They remain arguably the best forged blades around with only the French Thiers Issard as competition. Modern steels have come a long way in the past 100 years and while the art of hand-forging and hand-grinding has almost become last there are still some trained craftsman making straight razors and the majority of them reside in or around Solingen. The major player is Dovo and even they still reforge the blades and hand-grind the final product and they are the only ones who can make a good stainless blade. While I have several of their blades I favour the big heavy 7/8 razor made by Aust in Solingen and prefer all of them to the Thiers Issard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ACJrAI3SxM

[accomplice]

One thing I find regarding shaving and cruising is that often I don't get a chance to shave for several days. When this is the case, I find that all multi-blade safety razors and electric razors do a terrible job and are frustrating to use. I've had very good luck with Dovo, a Solingen steel straight razor. It doesn't care if a couple of days have passed since I shaved. I have not tried using it while on passage though, and am not sure I want to!

[cabo_sailor]

As I believe I mentioned before, I like straight razors, haven't even cut myself in years. Granted I'm just trimming around a beard. But using a straight does take a bit of time. When rushed I'll go to the DE. Mine is a nice German model, a bit pricey, but it will last several lifetimes. As others have noted, the blades are very cheap but provide a very smooth shave.

I also have a small collection of straights with my favorite being the DublDuck Gold Edge. Holds an edge forever.

All well and good but the single most important part I've found is the soap. Forget that chemical factory in a can. Some of the best soaps are for straights but are just as good for DE or even a disposable (shudder).

My personal favorites are hand made by a person calling herself "Mother Bear". All natural ingredients, non-irritating and in a variety of scents. My favorites being Bay Rum and Spicy Lime. Best of all they are inexpensive. Google Mother Bear soaps. She also sells some very nice aftershaves.

Rich

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[model 10]

Originally Posted by cabo_sailor

My personal favorites are hand made by a person calling herself "Mother Bear". All natural ingredients, non-irritating and in a variety of scents. My favorites being Bay Rum and Spicy Lime. Best of all they are inexpensive. Google Mother Bear soaps. She also sells some very nice aftershaves

Rich Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

I don't believe I've ever smelled a cruiser who used such fancy soap. I'm sure it's better than Joy dishwashing soap. I'm finding as my hair gets more and more gray, the lemon fresh Joy turns my gray hair kinda lemon or yellow color. I'm thinking one year I could go blue or orange just by changing dish soap.

[cabo_sailor]

Guy,

She has much fancier soaps but they are all inexpensive. If memory serves, and it sometimes doesn't, a tub of soap is about $8. That lasts me about a year. There are even a couple of vids on her site showing how to get the soap to lather.

No financial interest just been using them for last 6-7 years.

Rich


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[Capt Rottnest]

Originally Posted by Guy

I don't believe I've ever smelled a cruiser who used such fancy soap. I'm sure it's better than Joy dishwashing soap. I'm finding as my hair gets more and more gray, the lemon fresh Joy turns my gray hair kinda lemon or yellow color. I'm thinking one year I could go blue or orange just by changing dish soap.

Interesting. Being an avid double edge razor user myself, I use the cheap soap from any supermarket, $1 a bar, lasts over a year. If it has glycerine in it, the stuff that makes the soap foam, then that's all that's needed. Also, such soaps are usually fragrance free, with the wife suffering asthma, that's a good thing.
As far as I can tell, fancy soap is for those who want to smell like a fruit..