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Thread: Ordering a DE

  1. #11
    Senior Member Sargon's Avatar
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    Like others have said blade gap is a lot of aggression, angle, and even weight of a razor can factor in. Open vs closed comb is more debatable.


    In my very humble and personal opinion, aggressive razors are useful for difficult growth patterns, and removing a bit more hair with each pass (also they tend to clog less). The downside is that they can nick and cut more easily, and also tend to give that "flayed/raw" skin feeling more easily. If you have good technique, skip days, have inconsistant growth direction, and don't have super sensitive skin, you may find yourself taking a shine to the more aggressive end of things.

    If you aren't pressed for time, shave often, have sensative skin, and a beard with fairly consistant growth direction, you'll probably prefer a milder razor with it's gentler shave.

    Some shavers ( myself incldued) will start their shave agressive and go milder as the shave progresses, either with an adjustable or with multiple fixed razors. When I use my progress, for example I often go wtg at a 4 or so, then xtg at about a 2 to a 2.5, and atg at 1.


    Keep in mind that, with a bit of practice, even very aggressive safety razors are really not very scarey. I use a progress on 5, a vintage gillette open comb, and even a Yuma, and don't consider any of them especially worrysome, and they are all much easier to use than a shavette or straight, at least in my experience.

    YMMV, of course.

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  3. #12
    Senior Member ats200's Avatar
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    Looking back on my week using a DE, it went very well. I went with the EJ89L and I'm very satisfied. It's a very reasonably priced razor, seems to be of really good quality, and looks great.
    As of now, I've only used Derby blades but I also bought Shark, Astra, Merkur, and Feather so I can get a bit of a sample of how the feel varies by brand.

    My pros and cons so far will likely change with experience but for the time being, I still much prefer the straight razor.

    I find that using the same techniques and shaving patterns, I have much less irritation and razor burn when using a straight. The shaves are very comparable but I still give the edge (haha) to the straight razor.

    I prefer the DE in terms of quickness and readiness (no stropping needed). The learning curve, if there was one at all, was far less. I got a great shave around the chin and jawline on my first shave with the DE - I can't say as much for the straight.

    Finally, and my main concern with the DE is that I don't seem to get as much feedback from the blade. I'm sure for now, it's an angle problem but I just don't have the feel of the DE yet in terms of knowing how well the shave is going (hard to describe this one).

    All things considered, I really enjoy it and like I said, even after just one week the shaves are comparable so it's going to be great to have this in my arsenal for a quick shave or for traveling.

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