reddragdiva | A question for those who shave their faces.

My Gilette Mach III razor just broke. That is, the handle, which I paid all of four quid for in 2002 and have kept stocked with blades ever since. Not just from inertia, I must note — in decades of shaving, this is the best sort of blade I've ever used.

But, the handle's broken and I'm out of blades. So this is a golden opportunity for a small optimisation!

So, tell me: what shaving equipment leaves you feeling unreasonably satisfied?

And is there anyone who's used a Mach III and found something better?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

pndc

I've yet to find anything better, but note that it's a great time to take advantage of the promotion of a stick and 15 blade cartridges for £20 in Superdrug.

There is also the "Mach III Turbo" brand which has a worthless aloe strip on it which immediately gets soggy, gunks up and can knacker the cartridge. They're also more expensive, and fall under the "what's the bloody point?" category. I can only assume the marketing department had a good delivery of charlie that morning.

From:

quiet000001

Is THAT what's special about the Turbo? I could never be bothered to figure it out.

(Another vote for Mach III, though I cannot claim to regularly shave my face. :) )

From:

bob

paying a barber to use a cuttthroat razor.

From:

reddragdiva

This being why you sport a luxuriant Unix beard.

From:

bob

indeed. the sides do get removed every so often :)

From:

baljemmett

I prefer my Sensor Excel to a Mach III, but that's mainly because I find the Mach III head too large. This is probably not useful information for you, by the sounds of it!

From:

alextiefling

I use a Mach3, and have not found anything better, despite trying.

From:

hirez

Nope. The kit with more blades is too large to fit under a chap's nose.

It's certainly worth pissing about with shaving-slap, mind. All the high-street stuff is pish. There's some gubbins from Neal's Yard which is jolly good, and Lush keep mucking about with various ingredients.

From:

alextiefling

Agreed about Lush. Their 'Dirty' and 'Ambrosia' are awesome.

From:

reddragdiva

I've used Ambrosia, actually. It's damn fine.

The trouble is that this entails entering Lush.

From:

pndc

It's nothing that a clothes peg or a really nasty cold can't solve.

From:

arkady

No, he'll just make puppy-dog eyes at me instead because he knows I'll have to go to Lush tomorrow anyway.

From:

hatter

if only there were some method of obtaining good from shops without having to go into, or even close to, the rest of the vendor's wares. Some others had this idea too, but asking industry experts, they were sure this internet lark would never catch on.

the hatter

From:

flemco

I am an American, and I cannot fathom your gibbelty-gobbelty speech.

From:

reddragdiva

That's Britain's finest Ealingpunk science fiction writer you're finding incomprehensible!

From:

hirez

From:

reddragdiva

Now you just need to find another one. And be better than them.

From:

rosefox

I'm an American (half) (m'lord) and I found it both comprehensible and entirely charming.

From:

flemco

I first used a Mach III back in 2000, when I started shaving my head. Since then, I have found nothing better. The Mach III is a great, great razor, for face, pits, body, or scalp.

But my god, the price of blades...

From:

reddragdiva

Yes ... and yes.

From:

flaviomatani

Indeed...

From:

fallenpegasus

Keep using the Mach III. There is *nothing* better. I've had a professional hot towel and stropped straight razor shave, and the Mach III is better.

However, if you have not yet, start using shave oil instead of soap or shaving cream. The stuff from Lush is good, shave oil is better. It's a mix of olive oil and menthol (which makes the muscles attached to the hairs contract, pulling the hair upright and out, and thus either to cut off).

I get mine from Secret Shave, but the other brands are probably just as good.

From:

reddragdiva

I actually shave in the shower with just water. I almost never actually put soap on my face. This has left my skin feeling much, much better in general. Water and skin oils seems sufficient to do really quite a good job, with nary a cut.

From:

quiet000001

I can't remember if you can get it in the UK, but both my ridiculously sensitive skin and Neph's tolerated Kiss My Face brand moisture shave very well, and it seemed to produce a better shave. (I may have brought some over with me, is why I can't remember where I got it. A tube or bottle lasts quite a long time since you need way less than you might think.)

From:

valkyriekaren

Years ago, Boots used to sell an amazing product called something like Gentlemen's Traditional Shaving Balsam, which was a menthol-based oil thing. They stopped doing it back in about 1997 and I really wish they'd reintroduce it like they have with some of the old-fashioned women's beauty products like cold cream. Good for shaving lady-bits as well as boy-faces.

From:

vatine

The best-ever razor model I've used on a regular basis was the disposable single-blade yellow-handle Bic razor.

From:

reddragdiva

AIEEEE. The skin on my face shudders at the thought of the yellow slicey horrors.

From:

vatine

They are the only razors I've used that don't have a habit of taking off th top layer of my skin. :/ OTOH, you had to be very careful not to pull them sideways, as they'd HAPPILY cut a gash if you did.

From: (Anonymous)

Out of those types of razors I found the vibrating Mach III to works best for me during a "shaving regular " cycle, slightly better than the non vibrating but not much in it.

There is a razor called the Rolls Razor, which they stopped making many years ago but you can still get good ones on auction site, which I prefer especially if I've not shaved for a few days or even weeks.
Though the Mach III is quicker and less fuss than the Rolls, so I'd go for that if in a hurry or still blurry of a morn. The Rolls about a close to a straight razor shave with a good degree of safety...Unfortunately I didn't get on too well with straight razors going round curves :(

From:

gths

For what its worth, I use sorbolene in my lather. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but I've found it the best thing for my skin which tends to get pretty dry (and which tends to get aggravated by anything resembling aftershave). Plus it doesn't smell.

From:

reddragdiva

I tried using Sorbolene for shaving and it was actually completely terrible. Mind you, I was still using a horrible two-blade Schick thing at the time.

From:

dakeyras

I've used the Mach III and Ambrosia for about 10 years now, at a guess, and I've never wanted anything else.

From:

fanf

I dislike the price/complexity ratchet that Gilette have been tightening for the last 20 or 30 years. It's a complete scam and the products are ugly and plasticky as well as over-complicated. I now use an Edwin Jagger double-edge traditional safety razor with Feather blades. It's a beautifully simple and elegant piece of kit which has only three parts plus the blade, and each part has at least two functions.