Sooner or later most wet-shaving enthusiasts inevitably come across the idea of using olive oil as part of their daily shave. There are good reasons for this. Olive oil has a number of extraordinary beneficial health properties. In fact, we know that the ancient Romans used olive oil for beauty and cleaning. Olive oil is an excellent moisturiser when applied to skin. But can you actually shave using olive oil? Opinion among shaving enthusiasts on this topic is certainly fairly divided. In this article we will unpack the truth about shaving with olive oil.

Advocates of shaving with olive oil argue that it is much healthier for facial skin than standard shaving gels and foams. Certainly, most mass-produced shaving gels and creams contain some very nasty chemicals. On top of this, olive oil is very cheap, per litre, compared to shaving foams and gels. So it seems like a no-brainer to ditch shaving gels and foams and use olive oil instead.

However, there is more to the story. These important benefits must be weighed against the costs. You should not switch to shaving with olive oil without considering a couple of important points first.

A Rough Tough Shave

Good-quality olive oil is relatively thick and viscous. When you shave with it, the oil will catch the hairs and they will then stick to your blade. If you use a “housed” blade, this will inevitably cause blockages and reduce overall shaving effectiveness. This will be true regardless of whether you use a cartridge or safety razor.

Furthermore, because oil and water do not mix by definition, you will find that your blade will be more difficult to clean. You cannot easily wash the hairs off your blade.

The moisturising qualities of olive oil also come at the cost of decreased lubrication. Your shave will definitely be more rough and less pleasant as a result. You will most likely experience considerably more irritation after shaving. If you have sensitive skin, this fact alone rules out using olive oil by itself.

For these reasons, the truth is that I cannot recommend shaving with olive oil ALONE, while using a traditional safety razor. I speak from experience here. I shaved with olive oil alone for several months using a cartridge razor. The roughness and irritation stopped me from using olive oil alone when I switched to traditional safety razors back in 2015.

A Sensible Alternative

That is not to say that you cannot incorporate olive oil into your daily shave – quite the contrary, in fact. There are several different ways to shave with olive oil.

Here I will lay out for you a useful, tried-and-tested method:

1. Soak a small towel in water and put it in a microwave-safe bowl.
2. Microwave the towel for one minute on high power. LET THE TOWEL SIT FOR 20 SECONDS – it will be extremely hot.
3. Put your face over the bowl and let the steam from the towel soften your beard.
4. Once the towel has cooled a little, apply it to your face and let it sit there for a few seconds. This will further moisten and soften your stubble.
5. With both hands, generously apply olive oil across your face and massage it into your stubble. Push against the grain of the hair.
6. Shave as you usually would, taking extra care to shave slowly with short strokes.
7. Apply an alcohol-free after-shave balm when finished.

The Best Way to Use Olive Oil for Shaving

The method outlined above does work. However, if you do this using a safety razor, rather than a straight or “cutthroat” razor, your blade life will be much shorter. This isn’t really a big problem for you, given the cheapness of razor blades these days. If you don’t want to keep changing blades frequently, though, you need a better way.

Fortunately, that “better way” combines the moisturising and toning qualities of olive oil, with the art and tradition and excellence of traditional wet-shaving.

The key here is to use olive oil like a pre-shave lotion. You simply apply it to your face and massage it in, as outlined in step 5 of the process above. And this approach absolutely works.

My Daily Shaving Method

Here is how you can incorporate olive oil effortlessly into your daily shave. I have used this precise approach five to six days a week for five years. This method will give you a great shave every single day:

1. Wash your face with warm water to soften your stubble and beard.
2. Take about a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and massage it all over your face. (You may want to warm it up in a microwave for 10-15 seconds first, though I don’t recommend this.)
3. Add more oil to cover your face as necessary.
4. Get your high-quality badger-hair shaving brush and your favourite type of Proraso shaving soap ready. Wet your shaving brush and shake off the excess water.
5. Create a thick creamy lather with your brush and soap. Apply the soap using clockwise circular strokes of the brush on your face. Add a second pass of lather using counter-clockwise circles to your face. This method ensures that the brush lifts up each hair to moisturise it.
6. After you have fully lathered your face, get your safety razor with its high-quality blade and shave with short, careful strokes.
7. Wash up, apply some after-shave balm, and carry on with your day.

Tips for Getting the Best Shave with Olive Oil

The truth about shaving with olive oil is that you can experience significant benefits from using it in your daily routine. You can maximise those benefits by following these simple tips:

• Get EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL. This is a bit more expensive but worth the cost. EVOO has a much higher percentage of healthy saturated fats and therefore is better as a moisturiser.
• Get oil from people who care about their product. This applies to oil that you buy for cooking and salad dressings too, by the way. Olive oil breaks down from sunlight and heat. Mass manufacturers of the stuff sell poor-quality oil in transparent bottles. That is because those bottles are cheap, and they do not block sunlight from breaking down the oil itself. Always buy olive oil sold in heavy, dark bottles. I personally love California Olive Ranch’s oil and highly recommend them.
• Store your oil carefully. As always, if you take good care of your tools, they will take good care of you. Olive oil is another tool that you can use for shaving. Buy good quality oil, keep it away from light and heat, and you will experience a better shave every time.

Conclusions

The truth is that you can start shaving with olive oil easily and quickly. You can experience the benefits from doing so simply by using it as a pre-shave lotion. You can get enough olive oil to last you for six months’ worth of shaving for less than $25. And you can enjoy your shave with confidence and comfort, knowing that your skin will benefit every day from using olive oil.

As I have stated before, when switching to traditional shaving, one requires four specific tools for the perfect shave. First, one needs a high-quality safety razor. Second, one requires long-lasting, well-made double-edged razor blades. Third, one must acquire an excellent badger-hair brush. And fourth, one must get a really good soap or cream. This is necessary for lathering and moisturising one’s skin and softening one’s stubble or beard. With this review of Proraso Green Shaving Soap, you will quickly see why this is one of the very best soaps that you can buy.

The Old Ways Are Still Best

Your biggest challenge in switching from modern cartridge razors and shaving gels/foams, will be from using shaving soap. You can be forgiven for thinking that modern technology would make old-school shaving soaps irrelevant and useless. In fact, quite the opposite has happened. This is because modern shaving gels and foams are designed for a completely different purpose than traditional shaving soaps.

Your can of modern Gillette shaving gel or foam is not actually formulated to protect and moisturise your skin. Your shaving gel is in fact designed specifically to improve lubrication under multiple blades. This is because multi-blade cartridge razors cut each hair much closer to the skin than traditional single-blade razors. As a result, you get a significant amount of friction on your skin as each blade passes over it. This problem was known all the way back when multi-blade razors were first created. Men using them consistently reported itching, friction and discomfort because of a lack of lubrication.

That is why your shaving gel aims to make each one of those blades move easily along your skin. The problem is that the ingredients used in those gels and foams are not good for your skin. Several of those ingredients are in fact outright toxic. These include sulphates (yes, that’s the right spelling), BHT, and palmitic acid. None of these things are good for you.

Moreover, if you have ever used modern shaving gel, then you know how your skin feels afterward. Your skin feels lumpy and soggy, like dough for bread. That is certainly not a pleasant feeling. And you certainly should not finish your shave feeling worse than when you started. 

Never Settle for a Substandard Shave

By contrast, old-school shaving soaps were designed for a completely different purpose. Traditional cutthroat and safety razors are designed to pass over your face once with one extremely sharp blade. That blade is not lubricated. The blade is not meant to cut the hair down to the root. As a result, you need a completely different type of shaving medium. The soap must protect your face from the blade, not the other way around.

And that is indeed the guiding philosophy behind most traditional shaving soaps. These soaps are formulated to moisturise and protect your skin. They are designed to soften the hairs of your face and open up your pores. These soaps are made with a lot of natural ingredients and oils. They are safe for your skin and will soothe away the irritation caused by the razor itself.

No School Like the Old School

Now that I have explained why you should switch away from modern shaving gels to soaps, the natural next question is: which one?

If you were to run a search on your favourite e-commerce platform for “shaving soap”, you would find a huge number of results.

I have personally used a number of different shaving soaps. I started out using Van Der Hagen – I didn’t much like the scent. Shortly afterwards, I tried Colonel Conk’s glycerin-based soap, which had a great old-school scent but was hard to turn into a good lather. When I had to spend a lot of time in Asia, I tried using a couple of different kinds of Trigodon shaving soap. I generally liked those too.

But the soap that I always come back to, the one that I recommend above all the others, is Proraso Green Shaving Soap.

What makes this such a great product?

The Four Marks of a Great Soap

In general, a really good shaving soap MUST meet all of the following criteria: 

1. Easy to turn into lather: A shaving soap that takes great effort to turn into a decent lather is worthless. You will spend far too much of your time trying to apply it to your face. Life is short enough as it is – don’t waste it on hard-to-use soaps.
2. Moisturises, refreshes, protects: Whatever shaving soap you use must also provide a high level of protection from cuts and nicks. Such a product must also feel good on your face and moisturise your skin when you use it.
3. Pleasant, natural, masculine scent: No self-respecting man wants or needs a harsh-smelling product on his face. Most of us stopped using products like AXE body spray after we grew out of our early twenties because that stuff reeks and stinks of chemicals. For the same reason, a shaving soap that smells of chemicals is not going to be pleasant to shave with.
4. Very high natural fat composition: Most shaving soaps are made with coconut oil, stearate, and glycerin, with very good reason. Coconut oil in particular is something of a miracle substance. This is a naturally occurring fat with a huge number of beneficial properties, particularly for skin and hair.

As you will see from this review, Proraso Green Soap meets all of these requirements quite handily.

The Best and the Rest

Of course, that could be said for a number of competing products too. What sets Proraso shaving soap apart, in general, is the fact that all of their soaps are actually quite soft.

If you look at most shaving soaps, they come in hard bars or cakes. This is because the coconut oil used in producing them has a relatively high melting point. Low-quality coconut oil melts at about 33 degrees Celsius (about 92 degrees Fahrenheit). But high-quality extra-virgin coconut oil melts at only about 24 degrees Celsius – which is to say, room temperature.

This soap, like the rest of the Proraso line, uses very high quality coconut oil. That is why it is expensive relative to the competition. But that is also why it is better, by far, than anything else.

Looking at the specific attributes of Proraso Green Shaving Soap for this review, this product also wins out in a number of other areas. Both the shaving soap and cream are infused with menthol and eucalyptus oil to refresh your skin and open up your pores. Its scent is enjoyable without being overly sharp, masculine without being unpleasant or musky. Crafted to the highest standards of excellence, this soap will remain usable even if you let it dry out. This soap is extremely easy to turn into a lather with a brush.

Best of all, one single tub of shaving soap will last – and I’m not making this up – at least three months. You simply cannot get better value than that. No can of shaving gel will last you longer than 5 weeks, and that’s if you stretch it. Most shaving soaps will last two to three months at most. But Proraso’s soaps will last at least three to four months before you need a refill. 

Make Every Shave Special

If you want to get started with traditional wet-shaving, you simply cannot go wrong by getting yourself a tub of Proraso Green Shaving Soap after reading this review. See how things go with it and take stock after you finish your first tub of this soap. You may decide that your skin requires a bit more gentle treatment. Or perhaps you will find that your stubble is not softened enough by your shaving soap and you need something a bit different.

Fortunately, Proraso has you covered on both counts. Beyond this review of Proraso Green Shaving Soap, keep an eye out for a review of their White and Red soap offerings in the near future. As of this writing, I have personally tried their Green and White soaps, and look forward to trying their Red soap next.

Ultimately, you simply cannot go wrong with Proraso’s products. They are the best in the business of making shaving soaps for a reason. Buy yourself a tub (or tube) of Proraso Green Shaving Soap (or cream) and find out for yourself why so many wet-shaving traditionalists rave about this company’s creations.

If you have followed the advice contained in the pages of this website, you are already well-stocked with the essential equipment that you need in order to get started with traditional wet-shaving. You have a great safety razor. And you paired it with high-quality double-edged stainless steel shaving blades. You bought yourself a genuine badger-hair shaving brush. Then you acquired some really high-quality shaving soap or cream. And you purchased both a good pre-shave cream and an outstanding post-shave balm. But you’re not done yet. Let us take a look at three vital accessories for your shaving collection that will make your daily shave an experience instead of a chore.

Naturally, the first question you might ask is: “why should I spend yet more money on accessories that don’t directly improve the quality of my shave, but only serve to clutter up my bathroom?”

I respectfully submit that you are looking at things in exactly the wrong way. You are looking at shaving as a daily chore – and this is the wrong paradigm.

Think instead of shaving as a ritual that allows you to take a little slice of time out of every day to appreciate the little things in life.

Tradition Gives Discipline and Focus

I strongly believe and advocate that male grooming is not merely an end in and of itself. Instead, the way that a man grooms himself should reflect the way that he treats himself – as a man of high value who takes his time over things that are worth the effort. And shaving is very much worth the time and effort required. That is why this site argues forcefully in favour of treating shaving as a ceremony with clear steps to be followed.

That is precisely the point of getting these accessories – to setup your toiletries space in a way that reflects order, discipline, cleanliness, and focus.

None of these three accessories is expensive. All are exceptionally robust and will last for years. They are easy to acquire. Two of them are absolutely essential when you travel on the road. And all three of them will complement your existing shaving collection beautifully.

The first of these accessories is of course:

A Shaving Razor and Brush Stand

A stainless steel razor and brush stand is more than merely aesthetically pleasing. This accessory is in fact essential for proper care and maintenance of your razor and especially your brush.

There are many different types and styles of brush stand to buy. Most of the cheap ones are made out of plastic. DO NOT BUY THEM. They do not last and they look and feel ugly.

Instead, make sure that you get yourself a proper stainless steel chromed brush stand. My personal favourite, which I bought for myself years ago, is the Perfecto Chrome Razor and Brush Stand. This stand is not at all expensive but it will last for years.

The Perfecto stand is designed with a heavy, solid base construction. It comes in three pieces that you can assemble in seconds. The rubber-coated bottom plate ensures that the stand itself will not slip on a wet surface.

The stand will allow you to keep your safety razor upright, and will let you hang your shaving brush upside down. Your brush will dry naturally with the water running down along the bristles. As a result, your brush will last longer and provide a comfortable shaving experience for many years.

This is not merely an important accessory for your own shaving experience. It is the perfect gift for a man that you respect and admire – your father, grandfather, uncle, or even son, when he gets to the right age.

The razor stand is an essential accessory for your home shaving assortment. But what if you are travelling? How can you ensure that your razor will be protected? For that, you need to get yourself:

A Leather Travelling Case

These days it is of course impossible to carry a safety razor in your hand luggage on an aircraft. So you have to put your razor itself into your checked baggage. And this inevitably causes all sorts of problems.

While stainless steel safety razors themselves are very solidly built and robust, their opening mechanisms can be damaged if they are left to rattle around unprotected inside of a travelling case. Now imagine if they are simply tossed into a suitcase without any protection. If that safety razor itself contains a double-edged razor blade, then it is likely that the inside of your travel case or suitcase will get sliced up by the extremely sharp blade.

It goes without saying that the razor, the blade, and the suitcase will not benefit from any of this. Nor will you, when it comes time to use the razor.

You can spare yourself all of these problems by simply investing in a leather travelling case from Parker.

As for whether this is essential – well, let me tell you a story.

I once went on a road trip with my family and didn’t take my safety razor along because I didn’t have a good way to protect it at the time. During that trip, I had to subject myself to the misery of shaving with a flimsy plastic cartridge razor for ten days. NEVER. AGAIN. The instant that I got back from that trip, I ordered this exact leather case. I have never travelled without my safety razor even for a single day since.

As a result, that one small investment in a simple leather case has paid for itself many times over.

Of course, if you are travelling, you also need to take with you:

A Blade Bank

Suppose you finish using both sides of a double-edged razor blade. Where do you put it?

You cannot in good conscience leave it in the trash. That is dangerous to you when packing up and carrying off the garbage. That is dangerous to others who handle the trash afterwards. These blades are entirely recyclable and can easily be turned into new and sharp razor blades.

So, instead of throwing away that steel and wasting it entirely, why not store the blade in a blade bank?

Now, you could always just keep the plastic or paper packets in which your razor blades are kept to store the blades themselves. The plastic Merkur blade packets, for instance, have a special slot into which you can insert used blades and keep them. You can do the same with the paper packets used for Gillette Blue razor blades.

Instead of keeping those small fragile paper packets or plastic containers that can easily be lost or break, though, why not keep everything in one big, sturdy, distinctive, high-capacity container?

Buy yourself a simple blade bank for this role. The bottom can be removed by you, but will not detach itself from the main case when travelling. The product is made entirely out of metal. This is not an expensive product, but it will last for YEARS.

Best of all, when it is time to get rid of all of your blades, literally all you have to do is seal up your blade bank and drop it off at your local recycling centre. Then, just get yourself a new blade bank, and start again.

Based on my personal experience, it’ll take you, oh, about five years of continuous shaving to get to the point where you actually need to do this.

Shave Like a Professional Barber

With these three vital accessories for your shaving collection, you will walk into your bathroom in the morning and look up on an assortment of tools used by professionals. You will be the proud inheritor of and participant in a tradition that stretches far back in time and connects you with the men of your family history. Those men did not know what it means to waste time and effort with a poor-quality shave. They took pride in their appearance and made the effort to take good care of their faces and beards.

With these three simple, cost-effective, straightforward accessories, you be able to preserve your razor and brush for years to come, you will save VAST amounts of money, and you will help preserve the environment.

Most men have no problems with itching, irritation, or inflammation of any kind after shaving. However, there is a substantial minority of men – the proportion could be as high as 30% – who have sensitive skin. That sensitivity causes no shortage of problems for them during their daily shave. Fortunately, if you are in this category, there is no reason for your daily shave to be unpleasant or irritating. For such men, here are some wet shaving tips for sensitive skin that will have you well on your way to a great daily shave.

Defining “Sensitive Skin”

The problem here is that there is no universally accepted definition of “sensitive skin”. Basically, if you have it, then you know about it. However, in order to optimise your daily shave, you need to be sure that your skin actually is a bit sensitive. Perhaps you’ve simply been using cartridge razors for a long time – this is not good for your skin no matter what kind you have. To be sure whether you actually have sensitivity, see if you answer “yes” to any of the following questions:

• Do you have dry skin? You can check this using a simple and cheap skin hydration monitor;
• Are you prone to eczema or contact dermatitis around your face?
• Is your face often dry or itchy even on a humid summer’s day?
• Do you often get acne breakouts?
• Does your skin flake and peel easily?
• Are you prone to sunburn?
• Do you easily develop rashes?
• Do you get a lot of irritation and razor burn from cartridge razors and shaving foams/gels?

If you are still unsure, make an appointment with a dermatologist and get your skin checked out. Yes, it is perfectly fine for a man to do this, nobody will think any less of you. It’s your face, so take good care of it.

Change Your Razor Blades

Now that you are reasonably sure that you have sensitive skin, you need to equip yourself appropriately for your daily shave.

As always, get yourself a proper safety razor first. Once you have that, though, you need real razor blades that will provide a low-irritation shave. To accomplish this, you need to buy mild or neutrally aggressive razor blades. I went over this in my previous post about the best razor blades that you can buy. As far as wet shaving tips for sensitive skin go, the biggest and most important one has to do with your choice of razor blade.

For my money, Merkur makes the very best blades out there:

They are expensive, however, so if you want a cheaper alternative, get yourself the VIKINGS BLADE mild blades. Always make sure you get the green package, not the red one, from VIKINGS BLADE. Their green-pack blades are made especially for men who want a milder shave:

Do not buy Astra or Feather blades. These are extremely sharp and highly aggressive. They have their place in the world of wet shaving, but they are designed more for men with tough and coarse stubble. That isn’t you, by definition, so don’t worry about them, even if they are cheap.

The Proraso White Line

Now that you’ve switched to a milder razor blade, such as the Merkur or VIKINGS BLADE offering, you need to make sure that your other shaving products are designed to suit your skin as well. These are essential wet shaving tips for sensitive skin. A good pre-shave lotion will soften the beard and help your blade glide better over your skin. A good shaving soap or cream (never use foam if you can avoid it) will reduce any itching or redness that you get from shaving. An alcohol-free after-shave balm will soothe and smooth your skin.

The net effect of using such products will be a smooth, gentle, and enjoyable daily wet shave. As a result, your whole day will get started off the right way. You will literally present your best face to the world. And if you want to be the best, you need to get the best.

I recommend using Proraso’s White line of products for all things related to your wet shave if you have sensitive skin. Proraso is an Italian company that makes exceptionally fine quality shaving soaps, creams, oils, foams, and pre- and post-shave lotions and balms. In my personal opinion, they are quite simply the very best in the business. And I only recommend the best to my readers.

Always Apply a Pre-Shave Lotion or Oil

Proraso’s White pre-shave lotion is perfectly designed for men with sensitive skin. Like the rest of Proraso’s White line, this product combines oatmeal extract and green tea for the perfect balance of moisture and smoothness.

Here is how you go about using this lotion:

Pour some warm water into your hands. Massage this into your stubble. Don’t use a towel, as this may irritate your skin. Shake off or smooth away any excess water to leave your face damp and warm. Pour a small amount of Proraso pre-shave lotion into your palm and smooth this into your face using slow circular motions with your fingers. Don’t push against the grain of your stubble when you do this.

Use a Really Good Shaving Soap

Now that you have prepared your face, you will want to apply a specially designed shaving soap or cream. Again, Proraso’s White line provides the perfect shaving soap for you. Their White shaving soap (or cream, if you prefer that), has a superb mild formulation and scent. You know that you’re using a quality product when you apply this to your face. Proraso’s line of products simply feels better than anything else.

Grab your genuine silvertip badger brush and work up a good lather. Apply the lather to your face using a circular motion on your face. This will help improve the quality of the lather. The motion will also lift up the hairs on your face, so that your blade can shave it down properly. As a result, you will get rid of ingrown hairs and reduce irritation significantly.

Finish With an Alcohol-Free Shaving Balm

Once you are done shaving, make sure to soothe and moisturise your skin again with a proper after-shave lotion or balm. Once more, Proraso provides you with exactly the right product. Their White after-shave balm is completely free of alcohol, so it doesn’t dry out your skin and doesn’t sting when you apply it. This balm will soothe away any irritation that you might feel while refreshing and moisturising your face.

Shaving With Sensitive Skin is a Pleasure Again

Even if you have sensitive skin, you no longer need to dread shaving in the morning. Just follow the simple wet shaving tips for sensitive skin that I have outlined here. Your daily shaving experience should significantly improve. You should feel much less itchiness and irritation. Your skin should feel much more moist and soft. Best of all, by switching to traditional safety razors, you will get rid of perhaps the biggest causes of irritation – razor burn and ingrown hairs.

So what are you waiting for? Get yourself the necessary products, start with your daily wet shaves, and experience far more pleasure and joy in your daily shaving ritual as a result!

There are a lot of different manufacturers who produce double-edged razor blades, so choosing the best safety razor blades can sometimes be a challenge. Far too many first-time safety razor users fall into the trap of buying the cheapest blades that they can find. They mistakenly assume that all double-edged razor blades are the same.

This is the wrong approach to finding the best safety razor blades for your needs. Some blades, especially the cheaper brands, wear out way too fast and go dull after just two or three shaves. As a result they cause a lot of unnecessary nicks and cuts and skin irritation. Other blades are simply too “aggressive”, which means that they are so sharp that they cause men with sensitive skin to have serious problems.

As with everything else related to traditional wet shaving, my advice to you is to start out with the advice given to you by those with a lot of experience in this field, and then branch out and see what you like best. This article will help you do exactly that.

Selection Criteria

Just as with the question of “which safety razor is best”, the question of “which blade is best” really depends on what you want and need.

Some men have very coarse and stiff hairs that require a super-sharp edge. Other men have sensitive skin that requires a lighter and gentler touch. Furthermore, our skin changes as we age. The way we shaved as young men will not really apply thirty years later. It is impossible to come up with ONE blade and ONE razor that will suit EVERY man at ALL times throughout his life.

Therefore, when promoting “the best safety razor blades”, I am basing my selection on the following points:

• Breadth of Applicability: The best blades should be usable by just about everyone. That includes those with coarse beards and those with sensitive skin. Such a blade must also be usable by the vast majority of regular shavers.
• Blade Longevity: You want to buy blades that last 4-6 shaves, not blades that go dull after just 3 uses.
• Manufacturing Quality: This is especially critical right now, as more and more people wake up to the fact that stuff manufactured in China is made badly and cheaply. If you buy really cheap razor blades, you’re usually going to get a really cheap-quality shave. That isn’t the objective. I want to direct you to buy really high quality products, not cheap junk that doesn’t last.

So let’s get started on the journey to find the perfect safety razor blade for you. And let’s not mess about here. We will begin with what I consider to be the absolute king of double-edged razor blades:

Merkur MK-911 Double Edge Razor Blades

Merkur’s brand is synonymous with quality, craftsmanship, and excellence. When it comes to the very best safety razor blades, you just don’t get much better than Merkur’s products. These blades are made of exceptionally high-quality platinum-coated stainless steel and fit any standard safety razor.

Now, these are expensive blades. For the cost of a single 10-pack of Merkur blades, you could buy a HUNDRED cheap Astra blades manufactured by Procter & Gamble instead. Many argue that Merkur blades are overpriced, given that there are some excellent alternatives out there. I provide a great alternative for you right below which is vastly cheaper, in fact.

My answer to that criticism is: Merkur blades last a lot longer than many cheaper competitors, are much sharper overall, and are designed for a much wider range of users and razors than the competition.

Also, it turns out that there is such a thing as a blade that is too sharp. This means that they give too aggressive a shave. Feather and Astra blades typically have this problem, which makes them difficult to use for men with sensitive skin.

In my personal experience, each edge lasts between 5 and 7 shaves. That puts this blade right at the top of the pile in terms of longevity and sharpness. When using Merkur blades, I typically use each side for one week.

Buy a 10-pack of Merkur razor blades right here.

If you’re looking for something cheaper but still high quality, then consider buying:

Gillette Platinum Blue Double Edge Razor Blades

Now I want to make this absolutely clear: I am NOT a fan of Gillette and their current marketing practices. And I write that as someone who owns shares in Procter & Gamble. But I am obliged to tell it like it is, and the fact is that Gillette’s Blue line of blades are really good.

I was recently stuck in a foreign country for several months. My available stock of Merkur blades ran out, and I urgently needed to get some new safety razor blades. AliExpress sells Gillette Blue blades made in China, and I bought those. When they finally got to me, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Gillette Blue blades are genuinely very good.

These blades are almost as sharp and durable as the Merkur ones, and for a significantly cheaper price. I still rank the Merkur blades higher simply because the feel of the German blades against the skin is far superior, and the Gillette blades tend to get dull just a little bit quicker than Merkur blades do. But Gillette’s blades are an excellent low-cost, high-quality alternative.

Buy a set of 100 blades (20×5 packs) right here.

If, on the other hand, you don’t want to spend money on Gillette’s products, and you would much rather buy high-quality products manufactured in a Western country by a Western company, then try out:

VIKINGS BLADE Swedish Steel Double Edge Razor Blades

One could make a strong argument that VIKINGS BLADE double-edged blades are simply the best safety razor blades on the market. At the very least, they would give Merkur a serious run for their money. VIKINGS BLADE has been in the business of manufacturing high-quality safety razors for 35 years. As a result, they absolutely know what they are doing. Their experience and manufacturing prowess is shown in their superb-quality mild razor blades that will suit just about every shaver.

Note, when you buy these blades, make sure you get the GREEN pack. VIKINGS BLADE makes two sets of razor blades in-house these days, one in a green pack and one in a red pack. The two are most assuredly NOT the same. The green pack contains blades made in the USA, but packaged in China, of high-quality Swedish platinum-coated stainless steel. The red pack is entirely manufactured in China.

I repeat: get the green pack. Then you get a long-lasting, high-quality blade, made in the USA, that can be used by just about any man with any skin type. The red pack is more aggressive (i.e. sharper) and is designed for coarse beards with stiff hairs.

Buy yourself a set of 50 VIKINGS BLADE Swedish Steel razor blades right here.

Try a Sampler Pack

As I stated above, once you start getting some experience with traditional wet shaving, you should branch out and experiment a bit on your own. To that end, you would be well served by buying and trying a sampler pack of various blade brands. That way, you can give a whole bunch of different blade manufacturers a fair assessment and decide for yourself exactly which blade is best for you. That will allow you to make the best possible decision for your own situation.

So buy yourself a sampler pack of double-edged razor blades, start your journey in traditional wet shaving, and find out for yourself which brand makes the very best safety razor blades!

Men who are just starting out with traditional wet shaving often wonder what is the best safety razor for beginners. It isn’t simply a matter of picking one product at random in a store and running with it. Many brands compete in the market, and as you might expect, some are definitely much better than others.

In my personal opinion, the Germans make simply the best safety razors around. But that’s just me. There are a number of excellent brands to choose from. In this article, I’m going to give you my personal pick for the very best safety razor for absolute beginners, and I’ll give you a couple of popular alternatives so that you can figure out which one you like best.

Selection Criteria

When buying your very first safety razor as a novice traditional shaver, it is important to keep in mind the following points:

1. Don’t buy the cheapest product you can find.

You get what you pay for, especially with a safety razor. The best ones last for decades because they are made with sturdy construction using high quality materials and exceptional craftsmanship. A quality safety razor will cost you somewhere between US$30 and US$45 – and if that sounds like a lot, remember that the cost of a Gillette Men’s Fusion Proglide Power razor with 6 replacement cartridges and a battery comes to at least TWICE that amount. You could get a safety razor and enough blades for an entire YEAR for that kind of money.

2. Decide whether you want easier blade replacement, or easier cleaning.

This means choosing betwee a 3-piece, a 2-piece, or a butterfly-opening mechanism. A butterfly mechanism is easy and safe for changing blades. A 2-piece razor is a compromise between easy blade replacement and easy cleaning. A 3-piece razor gives you complete freedom to clean the razor but makes blade replacement just a little bit more challenging.

3. Your first safety razor should have a closed comb.

Some – not many – safety razors on the market are sold with “teeth” that channel the hair of your beard toward the blade, which is much more exposed to the skin as a result. This is an open comb. Most razors on the market have a bottom plate with grooves, not teeth, that expose much less of the blade. This is a closed comb. You can see the difference in the main picture up top – closed-comb on the left, open-comb on the right. For your first razor, get a closed-comb variant, as this is gentler on your skin.

4. Decide whether you want a long- or short-handled razor.

This depends on the size of your hands. Most men will be fine with a short-handled razor. Some men with larger hands will need a longer handle. For most men, either a short- or regular-length razor will do just fine.

5.Make sure to get a razor with a textured handle.

When I first started out with safety razors, I bought a Muehle R106 black resin-handled safety razor (at a vastly inflated price, sadly). That is a great product and there is nothing wrong with it per se. But I always felt a little worried about slips and nicks that might be caused by the smooth handle. If you are a beginner, you will want to eliminate this problem entirely.

With these criteria in mind, let’s look at what I and many others consider to be the very best simple safety razor on the market:

Merkur 34C Classic 2-Piece Safety Razor

There is no doubt or hesitation about this one – Merkur makes simply the best safety razors and blades on the market. They are a premium choice, for sure – quality of that kind does not come cheap – but they are absolutely worth every penny.

The model that you see in the picture above is the Merkur 34G short-handled gold-plated safety razor, but this is more of a gift item than a regular daily shaver. Buy one of those fancy goldbugs for your dad for his birthday or for Father’s Day. And stick to the Merkur 34C safety razor for yourself.

This razor is perfect for beginners because it balances out everything just about perfectly.

The short handle is adequate for most men, though if you have larger hands and thicker fingers, you might want to check out one of the alternatives below.

The two-piece mechanism is quick, easy, and safe to use. It allows for easy blade replacement while offering a close, high-quality shave. Pair this razor with a Merkur double-edged razor blade, and you’re all set.

The weight of the razor does all of the work for you. This razor weighs in at 77g (2.72oz). And remember, when you shave, you must not press down on your skin. A great safety razor is designed to be and feel heavy, solid, and well put together. Let it do its job, so that you can do yours – which is to look like a million bucks.

The grip is textured to ensure that you never lose control while shaving. The whole thing just feels like a quality product, and because it’s made by Merkur, it absolutely is.

There really isn’t a single downside or bad point with this razor. But there are some alternatives that are worth looking at.

Muehle R89 Traditional Chrome Safety Razor

This is what I use every time I shave. It’s my featured product, and with good reason. This is THE safety razor for pretty much every man who wants to shave like his grandpa did. It is slightly lighter than the Merkur razor given above, at 64g (2.25oz), and has a slightly longer handle at 80mm (3.14in).

The grooved closed-comb bottom plate allows for a neutrally aggressive shave, and as a result this is a great razor even for beginners to use. Because of the high-quality sturdy construction and design, this razor will last for years, if not decades, as any good safety razor should. And the separating bottom plate means that you can clean all of the components easily with some hot water, soap, and a sponge.

(I advise regularly cleaning your razor every time you swap out blades, by the way. If you allow hair and soap residue to build up, you are simply reducing the efficiency of your own daily shaves.)

The quality, solidity, and feel of this product put it right up there with the Merkur razor as the best safety razor for beginners.

Both of the previous razors listed are in the 60-80g range in terms of weight. If you want a really heavy, solid, serious piece of shaving equipment with a textured handle and a cool butterfly opening mechanism, then you’re looking for the:

Parker 66R Butterfly Open Safety Razor

Parker is another well-known brand in the world of high-quality safety razors, and with excellent reason. They are right up there with German brands like Merkur and Muehle in terms of quality, durability, and design. The Parker 66R safety razor is a serious product, designed to the highest specifications. The handle is 95mm (3.75in) long and the razor itself weighs in at nearly 100g (3.5oz).

The handle is highly contoured and textured to ensure complete confidence in your grip as you shave. The butterfly opening mechanism makes this a doddle to use – just twist the handle to open the blade chamber, remove the old blade, and drop in a fresh one.

The only thing I don’t like about this razor – and this is a very minor complaint – is that the weight can be difficult for a complete novice to handle easily. That doesn’t take long to overcome. Traditional wet shaving requires patience and persistence. Just be a bit more careful when using this razor. The extra weight makes this somewhat less forgiving of rookie mistakes.

Nonetheless, if you want a solid candidate for the best safety razor for beginners, this one is definitely a top-three contender.

Real Shaving for Real Men

You will feel the difference when you start using a proper traditional safety razor, as long as you buy something that is well made from a properly reputable brand. The companies that make really good safety razors are not fly-by-night operations. They have been in the business for decades and know how to produce high-quality equipment.

Get started with traditional wet shaving by getting yourself a proper safety razor today. Stop by in the near future to get some insights and tips on which blades you should buy as well. Just as not all safety razors are created equal, not all blades are equally high quality or good value.

So what are you waiting for? Get yourself a really high quality safety razor, and start shaving the way your grandfather did, with the best safety razor for beginners.

Traditional, masculine shaving is exploding in popularity around the world. Wet shaving products have gone from quaint Father’s Day gift items to genuine must-have accessories. And that is because growing numbers of men are discovering that the old ways are so much better. Men just like you are finding out that the TV ads and marketing campaigns simply are not true. You can shave better and save more with a safety razor, double-edged blades, and soap or cream, than with modern cartridge razors and foam or gel.

Shaving the way your grandfather did – or even the way your great-grandfather did – will save you piles of money over years and decades. But which wet shaving products should you buy? Which ones do you actually need? You might find the plethora of choices available to be quite confusing and hard to navigate. And if you are not careful, you could end up spending quite a bit on expensive products that do not actually last very long and do not deliver good quality.

This guide breaks it all down for you and gives you just what you need – no more, no less.

For starters, you need:

1. A Safety Razor

The history of this type of razor dates back at least to 1880, if not earlier, as a way to make shaving safer than the old cutthroat razor method. These days, safety razors provide a great balance between the extreme sharpness and quality of a cutthroat razor, with the simplicity and safety of a cartridge razor. In some ways, safety razors are a better option than either of the alternatives for wet shaving.

There are a LOT of safety razor products available for the novice to buy. Open-comb, closed-comb, neutrally aggressive, highly aggressive, adjustable blade gaps – the list of attributes goes on and on. It’s all very confusing and nobody really has the time to figure it all out.

Here’s the simple truth: You just need a solid, well-designed, high-quality product. Pick one, and stick with it. DO NOT buy the cheapest product you can find – you will regret it. You want a product that will last.

I recommend buying the Muehle 3-piece closed-comb safety razor. This will last for years, if not decades, and will give you a great shave every single time. As far as I’m concerned, Muehle makes the best safety razors on the market. Because this razor disassembles into three pieces, it is very easy to clean.

If you like the visual effect and appeal of a butterfly mechanism in a simple one-piece design, where you twist the handle of the razor to open up the blade chamber, then the VIKINGS BLADE Chieftan safety razor is the way to go.

And that’s it. You’ll never have to spend money on cartridges and disposable lightweight plastic junk ever again. You will now have a solid, craftsman-built piece of precision engineering to use every time you shave.

Next, get yourself:

2. Double-Edged Razor Blades

Once again, there are plenty of brands and blades to choose from. And once again, you will be tempted to go for the cheap and easy option.

This is a mistake. If you insist on buying cheap Chinese-made blades, or low-quality Gillette razor blades, you will find that each edge of these blades lasts for perhaps 3-4 shaves before they go blunt. And the last thing you want is to shave with a dull blade. You will end up with nicks and cuts and extreme irritation – both physical and mental. Don’t do it.

Instead, get yourself a few packs of Merkur double-edged razor blades. These blades are superbly engineered and exquisitely sharp. They are expensive, but very much worth the price. Each side of each blade lasts a 6-8 shaves, which means that a set of 25 blades is all you need for an entire year. That’s $30 or so for an entire year of shaving.

If you are willing to use one blade a week – as opposed to one edge a week – in order to pay less, then the next best brand to use is Japan’s Feather double-edged razor blades. A pack of 50 blades will cost you only about $21. Each edge lasts 3-4 shaves.

There is one point to note: these blades are designed for most skin and hair types. They may not be suitable for those with sensitive skin and hair. I will address the issue of shaving for sensitive skin in a future post.

Now that you have your razor blades, you need some…

3. Shaving Soap or Cream

There are quite a few different shaving soaps and creams on the market these days. Precisely ONE brand deserves your actual time and investment. And that is Proraso.

This is an Italian brand that makes quite simply THE best shaving soaps and creams in the business. I have tried out a number of different shaving soaps from brands like Colonel Conk and Trigodon. I have even used a bar of regular bath soap when I found myself without access to shaving soap for about 6 weeks during the recent COVID-19 crisis. NOTHING compares to shaving with a Proraso soap.

Their soaps are made with the highest-quality ingredients and to the highest levels of craftsmanship. Each tub of soap comes in a plastic container that eliminates the need for a separate bowl or mug. Their three primary soap and cream types come in three different colours – green for everyday shaving, white for sensitive skin, and red for coarse beards.

If you are just starting out with traditional wet-shaving, get yourself a tub of Proraso Shaving Soap with eucalyptus oil and menthol. This will last you for a good 3 months.

If you prefer to use a shave cream rather than a soap, then, again, go for a tube of Proraso Shaving Cream. This uses the same basic ingredients as the shaving soap, but comes in a squeezable tube instead of a bulky tub.

You’re almost done. All you need now is something to lather up and apply your shaving soap (or cream) to your face. And for that, you need…

4. A High-Quality Shaving Brush

The quality of your shaving brush will determine the quality of your lather and therefore of your shave. So try to avoid buying a cheap brush with synthetic bristles. This will not last very long. You want a brush made of a type of hair that retains water very effectively. The brush needs to have hairs that are strong and durable, yet light and flexible. As a result of these qualities, your daily lather will be rich, thick, and luxurious.

There is a lot of debate about whether you should buy boar or badger hair brushes. My personal preference is badger hair. Boar hair is not light or flexible and does not retain water nearly as well as badger hair.

As a result of their lightness, quality, and water retention, badger hair brushes command a significant price premium. In my experience, they are WELL worth the extra money.

Don’t waste too much time over a particular brush. Just get yourself a Parker silvertip badger brush. That’s all you need – no muss, no fuss. This brush will give you a terrific lather every single time.

Quality Creates Quality

When you combine high-quality, high-value instruments with good technique and an appreciation for traditional, masculine shaving, you get great results. It’s just that simple.

Wet shaving products do not need to be overly expensive or complicated. They just need to be the best quality that you can afford for the purpose. The rest is up to you and your technique, and I will show you how to develop good shaving technique in a future post.

So commit yourself to getting a superb shave each and every morning. Take the time to savour the time, skill, and effort involved to shave the right way. Slow your day down just a bit to become a more masculine man with an appreciation for good grooming. And throw away your money-wasting, skin-damaging cartridge razor and petroleum-based gels and foams.

Save money, shave better with the best-value wet shaving products that you can buy.