How to Choose Your First Safety Razor
Five decisions decide your first safety razor: mechanism, head, adjustability, weight and blade. Plus the three we would actually hand someone starting today.
Five decisions decide your first safety razor: mechanism, head, adjustability, weight and blade. Plus the three we would actually hand someone starting today.
An adjustable razor changes its blade gap with a dial. A fixed razor does not. What that changes about your shave, and who each one suits.
Boar, badger or synthetic. What backbone, water capacity, break-in and drying actually mean, and which type suits you.
A new boar brush is stiff and smells. Here is what break-in actually does to the bristle, a method that works, and how long it takes.
Half-DE blades and injector blades are both called single edge and they do not fit the same razors. How to tell which one your razor takes.
Both are made in Japan and both are sharp. Feather is the reference point and unforgiving with it. Kai is the gentler introduction. Which suits your razor.
A butterfly twists open in seconds. A three piece comes apart and rinses completely. Neither is milder. Here is how to choose the one you will enjoy using.
Feather is the sharper blade and asks more of your technique. Astra is the balanced all-rounder. Here is which one suits your razor, your beard and your budget.
Soap or cream? How the two differ in lather, effort, how long a tub lasts and what suits a beginner, with examples from the Wish4Blades range.
A double edge razor is one of the few grooming items that can genuinely last decades. Most of the ones that do not last are not worn out. They are corroded, pitted or stripped of plating because of small habits after the shave. None of this takes effort to get...