How (and why) to use a safety razor

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The video this post was built around has since disappeared from the internet, so here is the written version. It is the same argument, and it does not depend on anyone else keeping a file online.

Why a safety razor

Two reasons, and the first is arithmetic. A cartridge refill costs two to five dollars. A double edge blade costs ten to thirty cents. Shave most days and that is roughly twenty to forty dollars a year instead of a hundred and fifty to three hundred.

The second is that nobody owns the format. Double edge blades have been made to the same specification for over a century by dozens of manufacturers on four continents. There is no cartridge to be discontinued and no subscription to cancel. A blade bought today fits a razor made in 1935.

How to use one

The short version: shave after a shower so the hair is soft, hold the razor at a shallower angle than feels natural, and use no pressure at all. The weight of the head is the pressure. If you are used to pressing a cartridge into your face, this will feel like you are barely doing anything for about a week, and then it will feel obvious.

Go with the grain on the first pass and stop before you are perfectly smooth. Smooth comes from a second pass, not from pushing harder on the first. Chasing baby-smooth on day one is the single most common reason people try double edge shaving once and give up.

We have written the whole thing out properly — the angle, the passes, what is normal in the first week, how often to change a blade, and what to buy alongside the razor:

Double Edge Shaving: A Beginner's Guide

One thing worth knowing before you order

Our razors ship without a blade, and we do not sell blades. That is deliberate — blade preference is genuinely personal. Most people start with a mixed sampler pack, and here is everything else worth owning.