EKM

A couple of months ago, I dropped a bit over one hundred dollars for a Goodfella razor handle bundled with a hundred derby blades. Partly this was driven by my compulsion to buy more New Zealand made products, but most because I was fed up with paying $25 for eight small pieces of non-recyclable metal and plastic.

While I would like to consider myself hardcore enough to shave with a straight razor, the reality is that one morning, I’ll be a little too under-caffeinated, and then I’ll get to test out my theories about the lack of an after life. Safety razors are, well, safer.

But are they any good?

Yes.

The members of Badger & Blade would have you believe that shaving with a double edged safety razor will leave you with the face of an appropriately masculine angel. Unfortunately, this is not true. My experience has been that shaving with the razor pictured is better than with the Mach 3 & King of Shave cartridges razors that was I previously using – once you get the hang of it. Use of the safety razor requires patience and attention to detail, such as details of the direction each whisker grows in, and the exact angle of the head against ones skin. I seriously considered reworking my morning routine, just so that I would have caffeine before attempting to shave, as a moments lack of attention with a “safety” razor can lead to a lack of cohesion in ones face.

On the upside, as long as you aren’t doing anything too stupid, when you do slice yourself, it’s usually a small nick, rather than a gaping multi-front opening that could plausibly need stitches. I have at one point, when using a multi blade cartridge razor, opened a gash that did not stop bleeding for an hour. That date did not go well. Suffice to say, I did not get to see that particular woman again. Whereas, despite making the incredibly stupid decision to try out a safety razor for the first time – and thus screw it up rather badly – a bare half hour before meeting someone for dinner earlier this year, I did not bleed all over the table cloth – though a high collar was required to maintain some sense of decorum.

One of the niggling issues I’ve long had with cartridge shaving is that I was prevented from shaving daily. Attempts to shave more often than every two or three days would lead to an ugly looking rash, which looked worse than being unshaven. Some weeks, I would have to specifically plan on which days I would be clean shaven. This could be a problem if I had say, a date on Tuesday, and an important meeting with a client on Wednesday. I have not yet had this problem with the safety razor. This, and the fact that the blades are less than one tenth the price (thirty cents) of the cartridges ($3.12) are the best reasons to switch.

Later – otherwise known as, when I get around to it – I’ll discuss my impressions of the Goodfella razor handle itself.