Safety razors are great! They're way cheaper than "conventional" (3, 4, 5 blade) razor blades. They shave a lot closer, and you can get a variety of different grades of blades to fit your comfort level.
The only reason the expensive multi-blade disposable razor cartridge became popular was because Gillette enshitified their razors to maximize profit.
As someone whose grandfather was a carpenter for Gillette in Massachusetts from after WWII until a few years before his death, I’ve got to say that while i use safety razors because of the price, I do get a far superior shave in less time with the “fuck everything it, we’re doing five blades” (basically the 3+ blades modern razors). I just don’t like having to take out a second mortgage for refills.
Could it be that the blade + razor aggressiveness combo you were using is not equivalent to a cartridge razor? Personally with a nice blade and 1960s Gillette Slim Adjustable on the higher settings it gets insanely close even going with the grain, much closer than I've gotten with plastic cartridge options.
I have this (I am sure irrational) fear that if I use a safety razor, I will cut the shit out of myself. Which, I realize, goes against the word 'safety' in the name.
You do have to be a little more delicate because it is easier to cut yourself but it doesn't take long to get a feel for it. I doubt I cut myself any more than I did with a 4 blade cartridge.
That's one area where safety razors are the clear winner. Multi-blade cartridges tend to get "clogged" by long hair. Safety razors don't.
I probably shave once a week unless I have someplace to be. I can make a full pass, flip it over and make another with no problem. The hair just rinses right out.
If you use an electric beard trimmer to cut the long stubble down first it works better. Any razor does, but especially safety razors, since there’s only one cutting blade per side and when it’s clogged with longer hairs must be fully cleaned out for a perfect shave.
It takes a few weeks for your face to get used to being shaved by a safety razor but once it is, my god.
It's like the MSPaint Erase Tool in real life. I used to do electric razor only going over and over and over
Now it's like almost pornographic how easy it is to shave -- one swipe down, two, three, four.. half the face is hairless.
Four swipes left, left side is hairless.
Four swipes under the moustache and bam.
Highly recommended getting over the beginner's curve, watch some YouTube videos but here's a Linux primer on how to do it:
Fill shaving cream bowl or basin with warm (not hot water).
Allow horsehair brush to soak in basin for 1-5 minutes.
Shake excess water off the brush
Add about half a toothpaste brush amount of shaving cream to the basin, stir into a rich lather, consistency of yogurt. If it's foaming up/running there's too much water. I recommend PRORASO, Menthol (Refresh). One $10 tube lasts 3-6 months. Extremely cost effective.
Run some warm/hot water on a very low pour from sink. This is used to wash hair off your razor between passes.
Sterilize your safety razor with a 55-75% isopropyl alcohol spray. This is optional but prevents any kind of infections, because these razors basically slice open everything including pimples.
Lather up your face. Sides, bottom, moustache, whatever.
Don't apply excess/heavy pressure, these razors are extremely sharp. Go down in a stripe, flip razor over, do another stripe. Down cuts hair, holding at a mild angle, across (left right) cuts your skin, so never try to slide the razor across your face.
Go slow, practice, once your face is used to it, it becomes second nature and shaving is 10× more pleasurable and convenient than those disposable razors or whatever.
It's good enough that I recommend it to other people. I'm a man, few things make me actually feel like a man more than a good/proper shave.
You have to shave lighter. Once you get used to it, they work incredibly well.
With a 3-5 mini razor Mach something, you can push pretty hard before you cut yourself.
Safety razors it's much lighter touch but it still shaves very close. I bought one of these 10 years ago and it's still going strong. Safety razors are cheap to buy and once you get used to it, works just as well if not better.
I have really enjoyed the experience and cannot imagine going back to disposables that get guarded more securely than fort Knox and require a credit application to purchase.
I do not, however, generally go about the general population proselytizing about it. Those people annoy me.
It's simply a solid shave for an affordable price.
The little plastic magazine my DE blades come in have a little slot in the back for used blades, just slide them in and then when the magazine is empty chuck the whole thing. Wrankles me a little bit that the steel is ending up in a landfill, but most things you put in the recycle bin does too because society doesn't work, so.
Been 'wet shaving' since I started shaving a very long time ago and never stopped. When the blade slots went away in the back of the medicine cabinets in every bathroom, I made a blade bank from a steel can with a lid that I cut a slot in. I takes me years to fill it.
***For those too young to have seen it.
The medicine cabinet in every bathroom used to have a slot in the back of it to drop used razor blades into when they got dull. The would simply fall in between the studs in the wall and pretty much just rust away since the blade back then were made of plain high carbon steel. I remember helping to do several bathroom remodels and when pulling the cabinet and the plaster and lath wall, we would find a small pile of rusted to nearly dust razor blades.
I replied to another comment with the same question that I have never encountered this packaging. I get a cardboard box. Sometimes the blades inside are subdivided into little plastic capsules of five, sometimes they're just stacked in the box. But that slot is entirely new to me.
I thought thats what's you're supposed to do. Wrap the blade in the wax wrap it came in, then break it up by bending it in the wax before throwing it away in the trash (still in the wax).
Interesting idea. I don't do any regular prescriptions, but I happen to have just finished some antibiotics from some dental work so I've got an empty pill bottle now.
I'm not suggesting burning all trash, I'm suggesting burning a miniscule amount of steel to avoid the risk it poses to human and animal life. It turns into iron oxide (RUST). The fire pit ring itself will have about 100x as much of it.
I literally don't have sharps disposal available to me. The rust will mix with the ash and become dispersed harmlessly into the soil. Look at an iron ore mine and you will see millions of tons of iron oxide, because that's how iron is usually found in nature.
If I didn't burn it? If I wrapped it in wax paper and threw it in the garbage? Maybe it cuts through the bag and injures someone handling it. Maybe an animal gets into the trash the and dies after getting cut by it. Turns into super steel? What the fuck are you even saying? It would take a razor blade many months to rust away if left completely exposed, and again I'm trying very specifically to avoid doing that because the blades are dangerous. I'm having trouble fathoming how you could be this dense.