Double Edge Razors: Why Use Them?

In any razor advert you’re likely to see, what’s touted most (besides there being a supermodel in the bathroom stroking your cheek) is the closeness of the shave. Let’s have a look at that.

Using a Mach III, you have three blades scraping the face on each stroke. Blade one comes along and, so the marketing goes, pulls the whisker out so blade two can then cut it. Blade three is then there to, not sure exactly, catch any stragglers. I believe that’s supposed to be the concept.

Ever wonder why so many men complain of irritation when using these razors? After blade one removes what lather and moisture is there, the second and third blades are scraping dry skin! Ouch!

Shaving with a double edge (DE) razor is entirely different. It’s all about passes and gradual beard reduction.

You’ve done a thorough beard preparation and lathered up using your favorite cream or soap and badger brush. Your face is wet and lubricated. Now you take your razor in hand and slowly and with very light pressure (next to none), make a stroke with the grain of your beard. You notice a clean swath behind the path of the blade. Next easy stroke along a lathered portion of your face, with the grain, same result. Continue on, rinsing the razor frequently to clear the edge of cut whiskers, until your entire beard area has had a with-the-grain shaving pass.

The ‘grain’ of the beard refers to the direction the whiskers lie. You’ll notice when rubbing your chin with a good day or two of stubble that you get considerably more resistance one direction than the other. The direction of least resistance is considered ‘with the grain’. Vice versa for ‘against the grain’. Many of us, particularly under the chin and on the neck, have grain going all different directions. One tip for ‘mapping’ how your beard grows is to run a cotton ball over it. The direction that picks up fibers is against the grain.

Back to shaving. You’ve completed a first pass with the grain. Now you rinse, reapply lather (preferably still warm… tips on keeping lather warm to come) and make a second pass, across the grain. Rinse again. At this point, some wet shavers will feel around the beard area to check for stubborn areas with stubble remaining. Apply lather to these spots and touch them up with small strokes. Other shavers will completely lather again and do a full third pass against the grain.

The ‘against the grain’ pass probably shouldn’t be tried until you’ve had some practice with a DE. After years of pressing a plastic cartridge strongly against the face, it takes a few attempts to learn the light, light pressure the DE requires. When starting out, and until you’ve worked up a ‘map’ of your face so you know what direction the whiskers lie in a given area, it’s probably best to do a north-to-south pass followed by a south-to-north pass.

In between passes, it’s crucial to reapply a generous coating of lather. One should never scrape a DE razor over an unprotected area of skin.

Why go to all this trouble? This is a beauty of wet shaving. Taking the time to lather in between passes with the single cutting edge of the razor protects your skin. The benefit is a shave so close you didn’t believe it was possible. I’m talking smooth as a baby’s bottom. In fact, in the wet shaving community, ‘BBS’ or Baby Bottom Smooth is held up as the ultimate shaving result.

You will also find over time those red, irritated areas and ‘shave bumps’ will dissipate because you’ve

never shaved without proper protection from lather and you’ve used a blade that’s been machined to an extremely sharp edge. These DE razor blades slice through whiskers like a scythe. You can hear the ‘zzzzip’ noise as the whiskers are shorn. You’ve reduced the beard with each pass so that on the last pass, you take it all the way down. Your face hasn’t felt so smooth since you were ten years old!

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Bay Lime Shaving Cream