In this article, we’ll first look at the differences between electric shavers and wet shaving. Then we will talk about the "traditional" side of wet shaving.
Soap and Water Against Electric Shaver
In this first part we compare wet shaving with electric shavers and discuss why wet shaving should be preferred. But before we begin, we need to remember how electric shavers were born:
Remembering the difficulties of finding water to shave in his military service and dreaming about an easier way of shaving, Jacob Schick came up with the first “dry” electric shaver in the year 1927. The machine he invented was mostly preferred by travelers; and could be used in train, airplane and ship baths connected to wall outlets. That was a major breakthrough in the conditions of that day and soon Remington, Philips and Braun followed Schick towards the late 1930s.
Although the supply of water to shave in today's modern world is no longer a problem, the greatest pressure of modern life; “Time” still plays the most important role in the choice of electric shavers.
Today there are very advanced electric shavers found in the market which can even be used wet. The main advantage of these machines is that they can shave quickly and easily. They do not require any preliminary preparation such as moistening, protecting or lubricating of the face before shaving, and are very practical to use. However, this can often cause skin burning, irritation and drying. But their most important problem is that they cannot offer the feeling of a clean, close, luxurious and pleasant shave that will make you feel good.
Then, what does wet shaving offer? First of all, the face is moistened with warm water, the pores are opened and the skin is removed from the oil and dirt with the help of soap, lather, cream or gel. During shaving with a razor, the skin is refreshed and cleansed from the dead skin on the top layer. This way, both the cleaning and maintenance of the face takes place with a peeling effect. The disadvantage of wet shaving compared to electric shavers is that it requires more time and care. You can see the microscopical appearance of the cut whisker, notice how cleanly it’s cut with a razor blade on the left compared to electric razor.
For this reason, we, as the RAZORUS.com family feel that the benefits and enjoyment of the wet shaving shouldn’t be sacrificed to save mere 5 - 10 minutes.
But What is “Traditional”?
Now we came to the second part of our article; the part of the wet shave that we call "traditional"...
Not without a Shaving Brush!
First of all, you should know that; the first difference we point out with the traditional word is the use of a shaving brush, which is the most important component of the shave.
Before shaving, the face is washed with warm water and the whiskers are softened; immediately after a lather is prepared by brush and applied to the face with a massaging action further exfoliating the skin.
For most men this is the most pleasurable part of shaving. This massage made with a warm brush cleanses the skin from dirt and oil, opens pores, stimulates and revitalizes the hair bottoms, lifts the whiskers, softens and prepares them for the shave.
The better your preparation before shaving, the better your shave will be.
There are four main types of shaving brushes; synthetic brushes, boar brushes, horse bristle brushes and badger hair brushes. Shaving brushes made from badger hairs are widely accepted as the best brushes in the world. The most important feature of these brushes is their unrivaled ability to retain water, heat and lather. They came in different grades, as pure badger, best badger, silvertip / super badger and high mountain badger. All these come from different parts of the badger, their availability, thickness and softness differ greatly. You can choose according to your skin characteristics and personal preferences. Whichever you prefer, we strongly recommend using a shaving brush for a quality shave and to keep your skin young, clean and healthy.
Then How Do We Shave?
After the preparation of the face, comes the shaving part. At this point you have four options to choose:
1. Multiple bladed cartridge systems. (They are named like that as the blades are packed in a cartridge type replaceable head.)
2. Razors (Known as Double Edge "DE” Razor or Safety Razor "SR”)
3. Shavettes (disposable blade straight razors, most barbers use them)
4. Straight Razors. (They are the Nirvana of the wet shave)
Let's look at the differences in these four shaving tools in the last part of our article:
We can say that the straight razors, which we call the Nirvana of wet shaving are unrivaled in terms of comfort, quality, shaving pleasure and cost. As long as they are well maintained and cared, they will serve for generations. The edge is honed and then stropped on a leather strop to smooth the edge, resulting the most comfortable and close shave you can have. The blade literally glides over your face. However, shaving with straight razors needs more time and carefulness. It takes quite a bit time to properly use them. And you may need to spend considerable amount of money to arrange a honing and stropping setup. After that you’re good to go for a lifetime. If you’ve always shaved with an electric shaver or a cartridge razor to this day, we absolutely do not recommend trying to shave with a straight razor right away.
Shavettes or disposable blade straight razors offers a nice alternative to regular steel straight razors since they don’t need honing or stropping. They use regular razor blades, while most of them are being suitable with standard double edge razor blades, some using their individual longer blades.
Nowadays, it is possible to find highly sophisticated shavettes that use extremely high-quality blades, turning the shaving into a tremendous pleasure, like the Feather artist club or Kai captain excelia series shavettes. People who like to shave with a straight razor but don’t want to cope with laborious steps such as stropping, honing and maintenance can prefer shavettes.
Don’t be afraid! You can do it too.
As for safety razors, we can say they are the safer and more practical versions of the shavettes. These tools are suitable for everyday use and very practical, as well being able to provide close and quality shaves of the shavettes. Most have durable metal bodies, you’ll feel their heft and quality, and they can serve you many years, even more than a life time as long as cleaned and maintained regularly. If you’re used to shaving with cartridge razors the most important things to get used to when using these are to shaving without any pressure and maintaining the right angle.
These tools shave gently with their own weights without the need for additional pressure on skin. You shouldn't try to cut all your whiskers in one pass. With these tools, an ideal shave is completed in two or three passes. That way the whiskers are cut gradually without irritating the skin. It won’t take much longer than a regular shave with a cartridge razor, since you won’t need to rinse the razor frequently.
Safety razors don’t get clogged with hairs like cartridge razors do. On the other hand, you’ll want your shaves with safety razors not to end since shaving will turn into a pleasure. In addition, you won’t have any problem with irritation after you abandon the bad habits from shaving with cartridge razors like pressing the razor. As a result; a two or three pass shave will only mean “prolonged shaving pleasure" for you. Of course, as in everything there is a learning curve. You will probably experience a few uncomfortable shaves until your hand gets used to and you find the right razor and blade combination. But once you get used to it and find your razor, you'll find yourself waiting for the shave time to come. We strongly recommend trying safety razors.
Finally, let's talk about the most commonly used system today, the cartridge razors. The above safety razors have been produced in such high-quality from the 1930s to the '80s, a large portion of them are still in use today handed down from father to son or even to grandson. If we calculate that a razor blade will be changed once a week, these cost per shaving is so little. But for many companies under the pressure of the economic system this is a troublesome situation where a returning customer is almost nonexistent. This is where the cartridge (multi-blade) systems, which are allegedly "safer" and shave "better" are manufactured. They are sold with a relatively affordable handle with a few replacement cartridges; however, you will see that the cost of shaving rapidly increases with the purchase of replacement cartridges over time. The above chart shows a long-term cost comparison between the cartridge systems and safety razors
In terms of shaving quality and comfort, cartridge systems may vary according to skin type. If you have a normal skin and your beard is not dense you can have very good comfortable shaves without needing a change over. But if you have hard and dense beard with a sensitive skin then we recommend giving safety razors a try. After a short learning and adjusting period your daily shave routines will turn into heavenly flings.
