(06-10-2023, 12:43 AM)Marko Wrote: Claus, with respect to your penchant for cart razors, do you do the “classic “ three pass shave with it? There is no doubt that cartridge razors (apart from the ugly handles) are well designed, efficient and convenient which explains their popularity, however, I never did a three pass shave back in my cart days because I didn’t know it was a thing. I started the three pass shave when I began DE shaving and I’m generally happy with the results. A few weeks back I was away from home for a couple of days and brought a disposable three blade cart razor just for convenience. I had a great shave. Nivea sensitive shave cream. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a great shave. If I’d known about the three pass shave back in my cart days, who knows…
Hi Marko,
Back before I started investigating traidiotnal wet shaving, I used the Gillette Sensor 2-blade and the Mach 3.
By accident I bought - on offer in a fragrance shop in Copenhagen - a Sensor excel Pils handle and a Mach 3 Pils handle and got great shaves with the Pils handle.
I newer knew what a 3-pass shave was before I began reading the wet shaving forums in 2011/2012.
But I still got pretty good shaves to be honest.
My mother learned me about skin care, so I already took good care of my skin before I really got into wet shaving.
Around 2011 I began doing a 2 pass shave with my Gillette Mach 3 ad got great shaves from it.
In 2013-2014 I learned what blade buffing and J hooking was.
You can blade buff and j-Hook with both a De razor and cart razor.
Today I have perfected my blade buffing and my J-hooking.
I normally did 2 passes back when I sold all my DE razors.
If I used a normal DE Razor for all passes, I would need 3 passes plus touch up to get BBS, except if I'm using my R41, then I only need 2 passes with a DE razor.
But when I combine the Fusion 5 with a DE razor, I can cut the number of passes down to 2 + touchup.
The 5 blade Fusion is so effective, than only very efficient razors like R41, Merkur Futur and Fatip can shave as efficient.
But my first pass with my Fusion 5 is not a real first pass - it's a first pass done with a lot of blade buffing and J-hooking to get most stubble cut down effectively. Many would get irritation from it.
I just make sure the area I shave still has some protection and cushion left from the shaving soap/cream and I then blade buff over it many times to get almost smooth.
I do the same with my DE razor - I blade buff and J-Hook a lot with it.
But I don't use any force or pressure, when I shave with my Fusion 5 nor when I shave with my DE razors.
I use very soft hands.
I basically learned from DE razors, that you can apply the same technique to a Fusion 5 cart and I find this gives me some fantastic BBS shaves.
I use very little wrist action, when I use my Fusion 5, it's bascially the same technique I use when I DE shave.
But in short -
If I shaved daily I would use a DE razor and two passes plus touch up. I may use a Mach 3 for daily shaves also, but a DE razor for daily shaving would be my clear preference.
I normally shave every third day, and here my perfect shave is with a Fusion 5 for first pass followed by the second pass with a DE razor.
DE razors can certainly shave under the nose, but the Fusion 5 is just a brilliant under the nose shave, when you use the backside of the Fusion 5 cart.
Shaving around the ears and on the jaw line can most certainly also be done to perfection with a DE razor to get BBS, but using my Fusion 5 on these delivate harder to get areas is just so more easy than any DE razor I have tried yet. Yes, I tend to pull up the skin on the jaw line to shave it with a DE razor and I use a bit iof blade buffing on the jawline too to get it BBS - but using a Fusion 5 on the jaw line can make it so smooth in a shorter time and I'm lucky enough to don't get any irritation from it. Using a DE razor on these spots just takes more technique, patience and time.
I do shave once in a while only using s DE razor for the complete shave, just to keep improving my technique with a DE razor, but it just takes me more time, and sometimes even 4 passes plus touch to get to a total smooth BBS.
On the other hand, If I did 3 full passes with my Fusion 5 alone , I would get the smoothest BBS ever, but I would risk getting razor burn to get to that BBS state.
Even if I used very soft hands and no pressure.