Originally Posted by
rsvman
I had forgotten I even started this thread oh so many years ago.
I have had quite a shaving journey since then. In March of 2009 I joined a forum called "Badger and Blade" that is dedicated to old-fashioned ways of shaving. My April I was lathering with a shaving brush and shaving with a double-edge razor.
This went on for a long time, and then, in late 2017, I tried a replaceable-blade straight razor for about a month. This led to acquisition of actual straight razors, which I maintained and used for about the next 260 shaves or so.
I finally got tired of obsessing about the "edge" and had no desire to learn honing, so I went back, for about 6 months or so, to double-edge safety razor shaving.
In late September of last year, I remembered how much I had liked straight shaving but disliked the upkeep. That led me back to replaceable blade straight razors (sometimes erroneously called "shavettes"). Just like a real straight razor, these are a form of open-blade shaving. They take special blades called Artist Club (or AC) blades. I started back with these razors in late September and since then I have used nothing else.
I now shave only 4 times a week rather than every single day. A single AC blade usually lasts me about a month, so about 16 shaves. I am still making lather the old-fashioned way, with a brush, and now use shaving soaps exclusively (rather than lathering creams).
I know this way of shaving isn't for everybody, but it works for me and I love it. It is very meditative. You have to learn the skill and you have to pay attention, because it is a very sharp open blade (much sharper than even the sharpest straight razor, which, by the way, are a lot safer), but once you get good at it it's pretty much muscle memory. My wife knows not to plow through the door when I'm in there with an open razor up against my jugular.
Another advantage of this type of shaving is that it contributes no waste to the environment. The razor itself lasts a lifetime. The tiny blades are fully recyclable. I put them into Altoids Smalls tins. I fill one up about every two years, lol. Then into the recycling it goes. I generally buy shave soap refills and re-use containers I already have.