Under the microscope: The hair on the left was precisely cut by a razor, while the hair on the right was cut by an electric shaver and, by contrast, is jagged and appears as if it was ripped from its root
Posted on 06/15/2012 4:21:09 AM PDT by rawhide
There is no disputing that a wet razor shave leaves men with far smoother skin than if they had used an electric shaver.
But just how much finer a cut is delivered can here be seen in unprecedented detail.
Scientists have placed two beard hairs under a scanning electron microscope
On the left is one that was cut by a razor - it clearly shows a precise cut. The hair on the right was cut by an electric shaver and, by contrast, is jagged and appears as if it was ripped from its root.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Under the microscope: The hair on the left was precisely cut by a razor, while the hair on the right was cut by an electric shaver and, by contrast, is jagged and appears as if it was ripped from its root
Not shown is the blood from when I cut myself because I’m rushed and haven’t had enough coffee.
Or the dry-cleaning bill to remove the blood splats from my shirt collar.
I thought the same thing until I tried a Fusion shave (5 blades). It’s better than a Mach 3 for sure.
I’m a big fan of lathering with real shaving soap, no shaving creme from a can for me. Have a nice soap, razor and brush stand I got from Classic Shaving.
I shed a lot of blood while learning how to shave with that, some mornings when I was just starting I'd look like I'd been in a swordfight.
Once you learn how to do it, it's easy, but still requires a fair amount of regular razor care.
I shave in the shower, with a disposable double edge and the same deodorant soap I use on the rest of me. It’s been two decades since I’ve used shaving soap and brush; I can’t see any reason to go back. Anything more is a gimmick, IMO.
Meh.
By cleaning it thouroughly (and having very fine hair) I have used the same electric shaver blades for six years.
Frugality is a virtue.
I'm using a cheap, two blade gillette something or other (who remembers the generic-type razors that come 10 in a pack?) and I shave in the shower.
The razor I'm using is about 3 or 4 weeks old and still shaves perfecly.
I have a ledge at the top corner of my shower surround and I put a spray deoderant cap up there about 3/4 full of water.
For shaving soap, I use body wash ... the same stuff I use on my body. Slicker'n snot and very economical.
I shave with the shower on, everything goes down the drain.
When finished, I rinse the blade off and shake out (tap on the shower head ) any residual water that may have stray beard cuttings and place it in that cap with the water in it.
The bain of razors is rust, and rust can't happen if steel never really gets a chance to be in the oxygenated air ... so, my cheap, $5 pack of ten blades lasts me about a year and my shave, though not straight razor smooth ... (nothing but a straight razor shaves that smooth), it is smooth and clean ... and cheap.
I agree with the Fusion. I used the Mach 3 for years, but got me a Fusion for free when they first came out. In fact, I have about a dozen free Fusions. I have both manual and electric Fusion.
I find the manual actually gives me a closer shave. But the electric Fusion is a quicker shave. Now after using the Fusion for over a year, I will not go back to the Mach 3. I find the blades last me for many months. The electric blades last even longer.
I like the Fusion too, but it is no good for trimming sideburns. I use an old Shick injector for that. Best shaves I ever had were from a straight razor, but I never learned how to use one on myself.
I remember Clark Howard saying he actually blow-dries his razor dry.
Every time I tried an electric I had tiny pimples on my neck from the hair being pulled at by the "floating heads.".
I seem to be cursed with a tough beard and tender skin.
Shaving cream from a can gave me a HUGE ingrown hair every other week that would look like I had a jelly bean stuck under my skin until I could dig it out.
Soap and brush gives me no ingrowns, no pimples, no problems. Plus the blade seems to last about 3 times longer.
Anyone remember the old story about keeping yr razor under a pyramid to keep it sharp?
Never worked for...that I can remember. It was back in the 70s...heh heh heh.
Had to google that. Sure enough, there are links talking about that.
And another thing about this personal hygiene stuff .. I re-use those pump foam soapers using body wash.
when the expensive pump foam soap is gone, open it up, squeeze about a half inch of body wash in, fill with water and voila! ... more cheap, foam hand cleaner
I shave with a piece of broken beer bottle. If you use the bottom piece of glass from last night’s beer, the alcohol residue heals up any nicks...
“I like the Fusion too, but it is no good for trimming sideburns.”
You do know there is a blade on the back side of the Fusion specially designed for sideburns, right? I use it for edging around my goatee as well. Works great.
I’m with you. I ditched the expensive cartridges for a double edge safety razor and never looked back. Soap and brush, too. I pay fifteen bucks for a hundred blades that last about a week. Actually enjoy the process now.
I never cut myself. Like shooting a handgun, it’s just a matter of skill, and just like shooting, with traditional shaving the conventional wisdom and what’s portrayed in the media is utter BS.
The best part of the shave is the hot lather. I have a shave scuttle which is similar to a gravy boat with a double wall. Hot water goes around the outer wall and keeps the lather bowl warm throughout the shave. I use a good soap like L'Occitane Cade, Wool Fat Soap, or Presaro, all whipped into a luxurious lather with a silver tip badger hair shaving brush.
Many men consider shaving as drudgery, but with the right equipment, attitude, techniques and practice it can be very enjoyable. It can be done cheaper than the high priced multi-blade cartridges and canned shave cream route.
There are many web sites dedicated to wet shaving if you want to learn more, I recommend Badger and Blade as a start.
Agree, though it's becoming increasingly more difficult to find such razors--almost if all their resources and production lines are tied to razors with 3+ blades.
I have used the two-bladed Gillete Sensor for the better part of 25 years. Remember when they first came out with twin-bladed razors? The first blade was supposed to "pull" the hair away from your face, while the second blade would cut the hair. This poses several questions:
1) How does the first blade know it's the first blade, and "pulls" instead of "cuts?"
2) How does the second blade know it's job is to cut?
3) With the advent of 3, 4, and 5-bladed razors, what is the job of blades 3, 4 and 5, if the first two blades are pulling and cutting?
Can you see I've spent some time thinking about this?
I use a double edge razor. Blades are 8 cents each, including shipping ($8 for 100 blades). I use hand soap, wash well, leave the lather and shave. It gets as close at the Gillette Mach 3 I used to use...
Most electric razors are sold with a money back guarantee. I once spent 6 months going thru almost every brand available, and never found one that shaved as well as a blade.
Heh. I should have known that, but forgot all about it, The "orange side." I have reason to know about that specific part of the razor assembly too, aside from using the product. I worked on some machinery that produces the orange part.
Thanks for telling me what I should have known!
I still use the Schick injector, as I often go a week or more between shaves, and the Fusion clogs up on the overgrown beard.
I tried electrics and no go with them either.
Years ago, I tried Aramis Shave-Plexx, a cream in a tube. The first time I tried it, it gave a very comfortable shave. Drying my face, I looked at the towel, and it was speckled with blood. Looked at the ingredients on the tube - benzocaine stood out.
I've used hair conditioner as a shave lubricant, cheap and comfortable but it tends to block pores.
I'm back to soap and brush.
that’s why I’ve always called them electric hair pullers.
Interesting tip.
I use a Quattro because the electric razor that can give me a close shave has yet to be invented. I've always tried to make my blades last as long as possible (I usually get 6-8 weeks out of one) but I may have been going about it the wrong way. I've tried to dry my blades every morning but perhaps keeping them wet is a better option. Thanks!
Me too. beard in winter for the warmth, then weekly shaves in summer, because it's just too damned hot in Texas.
It's no lie
You can keep the edge of a razor as sharp as an Eagle's eye,
You can grow a hedge that is vertically straight over Ten feet high
All you really need is a pyramid and just a little luck
Alan Parsons Project - Pyramania
how does the safety razor compare to say the fusion in comfort and closeness? I really like the fusion...never had such a good shave.
Is it ironic that a thread about shaving comes from...
...rawhide?
Been while since I tried any sort of multi-blade razor.
I don’t think the shave with the safety razor is quite as close, but I don’t get the ingrown hairs and irritation with it - maybe because it doesn’t cut so close to the skin.
I’m not one of those guys who needs to shave twice a day, so the safety razor is plenty close for me.
YMMV...
I first started this experiment about a year ago using baby oil, which worked fine, but one day I spilled it and refilled the cap with water ... that was about 3 months ago.
I get 2 - 3 months also with cheap throw away razors.
And if you’ve ever done any re-work in an old house, you might find that many men cut a slit in the bathroom wall between the studs ... and guess where the used blades went ...
Do you actually clean your blades too after use? I know you said you tap the blades to clear out water and stubble, but I have a small brush I’ll run over my blades to accomplish the same purpose.
Definitely going to try this. I just bought a set of Quattro blades and they ain’t cheap. So I may as well make these last as long as possible. Thanks again.
/8^)
Clark Howard glues pickles together to keep from buying cucumbers....
Even if there's water left on the blade ... without oxygen, no oxidation (rust)
“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEFHbMDPkE8";
(Noxema’s “Take it all off” commercial)
Works for me:
1. Wash with Ivory soap
2. Noxema Medicated “Sensitive Skin” (red can)
3. Shick “ST2 Slim Twin” plastic razors (one lasts me weeks!)
But I’m a 100% natural blonde and couldn’t grow a full beard if I wanted to.
Aside: regardless of what safety razors have done for men, think of what they’ve done for -women-, that simply wasn’t possible 100 years ago! Viva le technology!
Yes, I’ve experienced the unexpected shower of rusty razor blades on our old house.
Your senses become amazingly accute all of a sudden when you realize what is happening. Luckily they’re so lightweight that I didn’t even get a scratch, but it sure is an interesting experience.
Our medicine cabinet had a slit in it. Always wondered what it was for until I did the remodelling on the other side of the wall.
The multiblade razors really work. Much less irritating, I think because the pressure of the razor against your face is divided by the number of blades. It makes it so no single blade can dig into you.
For me, the multiblades were always worse than the electrics.
The gave me a close shave, but the ingrown hairs weren’t worth it. Tried them off and on over the years, but I never tried the single-edge safety razor until recently and won’t go back to multis or electric.
By cleaning it thouroughly (and having very fine hair) I have used the same electric shaver blades for six years.
I went to a Gillette 4_blade because the weight of the razor and head allows you to put more pressure on your face and get a closer shave in one pass - for me. Their 3-blade head was on a spring hinge and I could never keep it as close as I wanted to my skin.
Yeah I went to a gillete 4-blade from a Mach 3 too. Better pressure control across the skin.
If you dry it off it lasts for months.
I take a hammer, beat the hairs back into my face, and bite them off from the inside. That’s how a real man does it.
OK, that’s funny right there!
I ran into him at Costco some years ago. It was an off time, very few people in the store, and for some reason I was walking “in” the main “out” aisle. I look up, and there he is heading towards me.
I just point and say something like “I knew this place was a bargain, and you being here confirms it!”, to which he replied “But you’ve still got to check the prices!”
Just 100% quintessentially Clark!
I later met him at a convention. I was wearing an Audi hat, and we had a pretty good talk about German cars and value. I make it work by buying used and doing my own maintenance, which isn’t possible for most, and which he found interesting but not necessarily applicable to the masses. It was obvious that he is always looking around, learning about things that help out with his areas of expertise in any way he can.
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