New to double edge
Your first shave, and the ten after it.
Double edge shaving is not difficult. It is different, and nobody tells you how. This is everything we would say if you were standing in front of us — including the parts that are not flattering to us.
Before you start
What you actually need.
Two things, and one that helps. Everything past this is preference and can wait.
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Essential
A razor
Ours is machined aluminum, three pieces, 45 grams. Any three-piece double edge razor works the same way, and everything below applies to all of them.
See both finishes -
Essential
Blades — not from us
We do not sell blades and we are not going to. Preference is genuinely personal, a hundred of them costs about ten dollars, and buying a mixed sampler pack settles the question in a week or two. Feather are sharp and unforgiving. Astra and Derby are the usual gentle starting points. Try five brands before you decide you dislike double edge shaving — it is far more often the blade than the razor.
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Optional
Something to lather with
A soap and a brush make a real difference, mostly because they take thirty seconds and force you to slow down. Canned foam works. Nothing works badly enough to stop you starting today.
The technique
How to shave with a safety razor.
Five things, and four of them are about doing less than you are used to.
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1
Soften first, properly
Shave after a shower, or hold a hot wet towel to your face for a minute. Warm water softens the hair and makes the whole thing easier. This is the step people skip and then blame the razor for.
Watch for: Dry skin and a cold face. A double edge blade is less forgiving about this than a cartridge, which compensates with lubricating strips.
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2
Find the angle before you move
Lay the flat top of the razor head against your cheek so the handle is perpendicular to your face. Now tilt the handle down slowly until the blade just touches the skin — roughly thirty degrees. That is the angle. Learn what it feels like standing still, before you start moving.
Watch for: Holding it like a cartridge razor, nearly flat to the face. That angle either does not cut or scrapes.
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3
Use no pressure at all
This is the whole thing. The weight of the razor is the pressure. Rest it on your skin and move it — do not push. If you are used to pressing a cartridge into your face, this will feel like you are not doing anything for about a week, and then it will feel obvious.
Watch for: Pressing harder when a patch does not clear. It never helps. Take another pass instead.
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4
Short strokes, with the grain
An inch or two at a time, in the direction your beard grows. Rinse the head every few strokes. Your first pass should leave you shorter, not smooth — smooth comes from a second pass, not from pressing harder on the first.
Watch for: Long dragging strokes down the whole cheek. Beard direction changes across your face, especially on the neck.
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5
Stop before you are perfect
For the first week, one pass with the grain and call it done. Add a second pass across the grain in week two. Against the grain is for later, if at all — plenty of people never bother, and their skin thanks them.
Watch for: Chasing baby-smooth on day one. That is how you get irritation, decide double edge is not for you, and go back to cartridges.
Keeping it
Care, and what goes wrong.
Changing the blade
Three to seven shaves for most people. At ten to thirty cents each there is no reason to push a dull one, and a dull blade is the usual cause of irritation people blame on technique.
Never leave a wet blade sitting in the head. The razor is anodized aluminum and does not corrode, but the blade is carbon or stainless steel and will, and it will mark whatever it is resting against. Take it out or dry it properly.
Used blades go in a blade bank — a small tin with a slot — not in the trash, and not loose in a bathroom drawer.
Caring for the razor
Rinse it under hot water after each shave, shake the water out, and stand it somewhere it can dry. Once a month, take the three pieces apart and clean the threads and the underside of the cap where lather collects.
That is the entire maintenance schedule. There is no mechanism to service and no finish to protect.
What is normal in week one
Normal: a slightly less close shave than you are used to. The occasional weeper on the jaw or neck. Feeling like you are being too gentle.
Not normal: burning, razor burn across whole areas, or cuts that need attention. Those mean pressure, angle, or a blade that does not suit you — in that order of likelihood.
Most people who give up do so in the first two weeks, having pressed too hard and chased too close a shave. If it is going badly, do less.
Travelling with it
The razor can go in carry-on luggage. Loose double edge blades cannot — those must be checked. TSA is explicit about this and it is the one way to lose a razor at security.
At 45 grams it is one of the lighter things in a wash bag, which is most of the reason people who travel end up preferring aluminum to brass.
Context
Where all this came from.
A hundred and twenty years of the same blade
Safety razors appeared in the mid-1800s: a guard between the blade and the face, so shaving stopped requiring a straight razor and a steady hand. The disposable double edge blade followed in the early 1900s, and the format has barely changed since.
That is the unusual part. A blade bought today fits a razor made in 1935, and a razor bought today fits a blade made by any of dozens of manufacturers on four continents. Very few objects you can buy have that property.
Then the cartridge arrived
From the 1970s the industry moved to proprietary multi-blade cartridges. Handles got cheap; refills did not. Each new system made the last one obsolete, and every few years another blade was added.
Double edge shaving never went away — it just stopped being advertised, because there is no recurring revenue in a format nobody owns. That is also why the blades are still cheap.
Still wondering
Everything else.
Do I need to buy blades separately?
Yes. The razor does not include one and we do not sell them. Any standard double-edge blade fits. Most people start with a mixed sampler pack, because preference varies with skin and beard and it is the cheapest way to find yours.
Is it harder to use than a cartridge razor?
Different rather than harder. Shallower angle, no pressure, let the blade do the work. Most people take a week or two to adjust, and the first shave will not be the best one. Nearly everyone who sticks with it stops thinking about technique entirely.
How often do I change the blade?
Every three to seven shaves for most people. At ten to thirty cents a blade there is no reason to push a dull one, and a dull blade is the usual cause of irritation.
Are the blades dangerous to handle?
They are sharp, and they are handled one at a time. Hold them by the short ends, change them in seconds, and keep a blade bank — a small tin for used blades — rather than dropping them in the trash.
Will this razor become obsolete?
No. The double-edge format predates this brand by a century and is made by dozens of manufacturers. There is no version of the future where it stops fitting.
Silver or black?
Identical razor, identical price, identical finish process. Purely a preference.
Can I take it on a plane?
The razor, yes. Blades, no — those need to go in checked luggage. TSA is explicit about loose double-edge blades in carry-on.
Ready when you are.
One razor, two finishes, and a blade format that has outlived every cartridge system ever launched.
See both finishes — $49.99Free shipping · Blades sold separately, and not by us