Adventures in Shaving: Safety Razor Blades

This does get a bit nuts...

...but it's kinda fun and is fortunately cheap. This is a followup to the last time I talked about this. I only said a little bit about safety razor blades there when in fact it's kind of a big deal where safety razor shaving is concerned.

Above is one of many safety razor blade samplers available. They start around $7 and go up from there.

You first get a safety razor. Most go with Parker as the go-to brand for that because you get decent quality for what it is. If you're unsure what to get, get a 96R or 99R and just pick which one you think looks better.

Parker does supply 5 complimentary blades with each razor, which you can totally buy on their own if you like them, but that's no fun.

The fun comes in finding the best blade that works for your face, and that's what the samplers are all about.

I can confirm with certainty that different blades give a different shave. Some are definitely sharper than others, some last longer than others, and so on.

For example, Feather is said by many to be the sharpest blade you can get. However, it's also said that's the blade to be most careful with so you don't nick your face, and that they don't last very long. Then there are those who use the cheap-as-chips Derby Extra blades because they're not as aggressive, but then others say there are better options if you're willing to spend just a little more, such as for Astra.

This is why samplers of safety razor blades exist. There are a lot of brands out there, made in various places across the world. To test out blades, you don't need 100 of each but rather just 5 to 10.

I'm using Astra "Superior Stainless" (blue/white box) right now, but that might change if I find something better that works for my face.

It's really nice I can try different blades without changing the handle. And speaking of which, there are many who say certain handles work better using certain blades. What that means is that if you have a screw-top handle type (such as the Parker 91R) and a TTO (twist-to-open) Parker 99R, one may "favor" a certain blade while the other doesn't. This again makes getting a sampler of blades all the more important.

I have just one safety razor handle right now and it's a screw-top type. At some point I want to try a TTO, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if I had to switch the blade to something else for it to work best. Or maybe I won't have to. I won't know until I get one.

Also, if you couldn't tell by now, yes I'm definitely all-in with safety razor shaving now. I'm liking it quite a bit.

Published 2024 Feb 13