Getting back to shaving..

you guys think i should cancel the order? Status says ":preparing for Dispatch"
The razor is fine, Just follow what I said above
I follow all except for point 6. Since I go with two cycles- one in the direction of the hair and another against, I fear that I might end up with cuts if using a single blade razor. I agree that Mach 3 and others cost a lot but that fear of cuts along the neck and chin dissuades me from single blade. I Need something which glides easily over the contours.

To those who use Mach 3 blades, how often does your blades last before it starts irritating your beard? In my case, it's max 4. After that, I have to do multiple strokes when going against the hair to remove small hair.
The way you deal with that fear is practice. The person I learnt from over ten years ago is mantic59

Order the videos from oldest by date and work your way through. Short passes slowly. Time will be much longer than your current routine. With practice, it will come down.

It's that time and effort that people don't want to put in. But the benefit is obvious.

Better result for a much lower cost. You can use many single blades for the cost of one mach 3 blade.

You get the closest shave with a single blade as you only drag one blade across the skin per pass. Then you change the angle for another pass.

Multiple blade razors drag several blades across the skin so doing more passes ends up irritating the skin much more. A three-pass with a three-blade razor means nine blades versus 3.

With a single blade, your technique will change. A second pass against the grain isn't advisable. You want to do an across the grain twice in opposite directions and finish with against the grain. and against should only be done with fresh blades.
 
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Very often, it's not the razor which cuts, but the hair follicles stuck between multiple blades. They prick/pinch the skin and cut. Which is why multiple people here are saying that plain old safety razor is the best, because there's no space for follicles to get stuck when there's only one blade.

This is also the reason why people who shave daily/every alternate day cut themselves less often, because the beard is too small to get stuck between blades and cause cuts.
 
Wow! A ₹~120 blade lasting for 4 shaves sounds insane to me. Your weekly expenses on blade would be more than my annual expenses on it :D
Yeah, there is something definitely off with that. I'd put it down to a lack of prep. If the beard isn't soaked in warm water for a minimum of 3-5 min then this will happen.

I get more use with a single blade and multiple blades in my experience have lasted at least two months of daily shaving. I'm referring to 3 blade disposables by Schick. The thing is since they lose their edge gradually you don't realise you're getting a worse shave until you try with a new blade months later. I never bought Mach 3 let alone Mach 5.
 
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Gillette and other cartridge razors are a trap. You will keep on wasting money buying replacements. A good old safety razor does a better job and a pack of blades is dirt cheap. Don't worry about cuts, you will learn eventually.
Same here, the trick is to go slow and with less pressure. Once you master the process you can do it fast and even apply more force as per your need.
Related topic, which shaving cream you guys using? I have Nivia spray which is quite good but the spray system is really bad. the cream comes out with force so most of the times you end up with too much quantity
 
When I started off with this double edge shaving a decade or so back I would frequently discuss it with family. They would joke I am starting a barber shop because I had five of everything.

Nearly everyone, young and old had settled on some kind of Gillette vector plus twin parallel blade solution. They saw no need to change let alone learn anything new. The older members saw that twin blade as an improvement over double edge blades which always surprised me. Nobody cared about close shaves. Just shaves that made them presentable and that is typically a quick one. A close shave is asking for trouble. Don't do that they said. Of course, a close or multiple pass shave with a twin blade is running twice as many blades across your face. That is much more skin abuse than a single blade.

Yeah, mantic definitely filled a void for me. I could tell I was boring them to death. Shaving is like riding a bike, you cannot unlearn it. So what is the big deal? Why change?

That's why I started the discussion here :D

The one person that would have been interested was my dad but he passed on by the time I got on this thing. He left me a stash of blades and years later that was what prompted me to experiment. At one point I was thinking of donating them to the local barber. In hindsight, that would have been a bad move.
Once you master the process you can do it fast and even apply more force as per your need.
Never apply more force, if you need to do that it means the blade is blunt or prep is inadequate. And as we know a blunt blade even on a knife is more likely to lead to cuts.

Fast and blunt is compounding the problem further. This is why cheap double-edge blades mean you can always get a closer than barber shave in your home.

The barbers rarely go against the grain. A standard two-pass with a shavette is all you will get. I'd run the alum when I got home and was surprised a number of times it did sting. When it did not I knew which barber to choose.
Which is why multiple people here are saying that plain old safety razor is the best, because there's no space for follicles to get stuck when there's only one blade.
That would be the best thing about them. I frequently was surprised how blocked up even a twin blade can get.
This is also the reason why people who shave daily/every alternate day cut themselves less often, because the beard is too small to get stuck between blades and cause cuts.
A lot of people shave only once a week. Most just get it done at the barbers. A regular shave means more practice and once you know your contours you will always be the best at the job.
 
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The way you deal with that fear is practice. The person I learnt from over ten years ago is mantic59

Order the videos from oldest by date and work your way through. Short passes slowly. Time will be much longer than your current routine. With practice, it will come down.
Doing that now. The image of Mach12 extreme cracked me up. Looks like the ultra pro max meme existed even back then
 
Frankly I did use that 3/4 blades ..but then these are in bathrooms mostly and the moisture got them and then the rust..... got them to. Then I avoided these muti level blades... and switched to safety blades and saw these catch rust too.

Now as a practice.. I dismantle all the parts keep them seperate. Also trying to practice to shave every 3rd day
 
Try gilette guard single blade cartridge razors if you have heavy stubble and are not particular about an extremely close shave.

You won't find them in most upmarket areas/shops. They deliberately don't stock them/their refills so that they make more money on the double/triple/infinity Blade versions
I use a Chinese clone of the merkur futur but use the guard when I'm traveling and it works great
 
Try Gillette Guard 3 or Supermax Smooth 2-cartridge razors because they are cheap and can be used for 4 times at least after which you can replace them easily because they are cheap.
 
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