What blades do you like?

Braiden @ ShavingClubTeam

Braiden @ ShavingClubTeam

Trusted Vendor
Joined
Aug 27, 2021
Hello There,
General Kenobi :)
After hearing some of your thoughts and general consensus on cartridges, straight razors and double edge razors we are going to plan on introducing some of our own straight razors and double edge razors. But before we do, we would like to ask you guys what you look for in a straight razor and double edge razor?
What features and product details are most appealing to you?
Are there other products that would work well with them?
And any other general thoughts about straight razors and double edge razors. All feedback is welcome. :)

Thanks, Shaving Club Team (Braiden)
 
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My first thoughts are that you need to determine the market that you are aiming for. Is it those who are new to DE/SR shaving or is it the more experienced? If it is both, there is no limit to what is their preferred DE/SR razor.

Beginners are usually looking for a relatively cheap traditional razor that is reasonably forgiving. As they pregress in developing their technique and start to learn what they need to look for, they will start to explore other traditional (and generally more expensive) razors.

I do not have recent experience with many DE razors, however I can offer some suggestions with regard to SR's for beginners.

SR beginners need a truly shave-ready razor. It is much more difficult to learn SR shaving and edge maintenance at the same time.

There are two main types of SR's; shavettes that take replaceable blades and traditional (cutthroat) SR's. I shave with both types. The shavette is less forgiving than the traditional SR. They are similar to shave with but different.

Some suggested shavette types are the cheap Chinese stainless steel ones, Parker, Kai and Feather.

Here is the cheap Chinese stainless steel shavette that I write of. They are available in bulk via Alibaba in many different brand names.

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Beginner SR users should be looking for about a 5/8 or 6/8 sized blade, Dutch (round) point, half to full hollow grind and truly shave-ready.

For a beginner new traditional SR, I would suggest some of the better Gold Dollar SR's from China or the Titan ACRM-2 from Taiwan. There are also others from Europe like Revisor, Dovo, Thiers Issard and Ralf Aust but at a much higher price.

Here is the Titan ACRM-2 T.H.60 that I write of. They are available in bulk via Alibaba.

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The problem with new traditional SR's from any mass manufacturer is that they are rarely if ever truly shave-ready. You will need a proper honing service for that. Honing a SR to shave-ready would currently cost about AUD 30 plus shipping.

There is one Australian manufacturer of traditional SR's, Proserpine Razor Co.. Very high quality at a reasonable (but not cheap) price.
 
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Other items that you could stock are:
  • *Shaving brushes - synthetic, badger hair and boar bristle.
  • *Shaving soaps (pucks and sticks) and creams.
  • *Pre-shave creams, oils and lotions.
  • *Aftershave lotions and balms.
  • Straight razor strops.
  • Lather bowls.
  • Razor/brush stands.
  • DE razor blades.
* Also used by multi-blade shavers but more often by traditional wet shaverd as they tend to take more care of their facial skin.
 
Let's not forget single-edge razors: the Artist Club type can sometimes be a bit expensive (Blackland Vector, Colonial General etc) but there are midprice ones eg from Razorock and cheap ones from Yaqi and probably others. Blades are easy, as there are really only 3 manufacturers worth looking at (Schick, Kai and Feather). There are also lots of shavettes that take these blades.

Also worth considering are Oneblade, and maybe Leaf...
 
rbscebu said:
Other items that you could stock are:
  • *Shaving brushes - synthetic, badger hair and boar bristle.
  • *Shaving soaps (pucks and sticks) and creams.
  • *Pre-shave creams, oils and lotions.
  • *Aftershave lotions and balms.
  • Straight razor strops.
  • Lather bowls.
  • Razor/brush stands.
  • DE razor blades.
* Also used by multi-blade shavers but more often by traditional wet shaverd as they tend to take more care of their facial skin.
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This....

My 5 cents worth - the software i.e. brushes, soaps, and perhaps even aftershave/balms are more than half the battle.If you can get them right, theres no reason every shave can't be a good shave.

The choice of, and combination of, razor and blade are what can take it from good to fantastic 😁.
 
I don't know of any Aussie vendors who has a reasonable range of straight razors and also hones the razors and ships them shave-ready (similar to what some US vendors do). This is a niche to fill, I think.
 
Hos said:
I don't know of any Aussie vendors who has a reasonable range of straight razors and also hones the razors and ships them shave-ready (similar to what some US vendors do). This is a niche to fill, I think.
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I agree. The hard part is finding/having someone who knows how to properly hone to an acceptable shave-ready standard.

A proficient straight razor honer needs to shave regularly with straight razors and have honed many SR's from bevel-set to shave-ready. Such a person may not be easy to find. Due to limited sales, a suitable honer would probably be needed to be engaged on a contract basis and just paid per razor.

Honing equipment may not be a great expense. A couple of synthetic whetstones to set the bevel, lapping film on a suitable substrate could be used to refine the edge and then diamond pasted balsa strops to finish.

With the equipment, they then need the person with the skill. Knife sharpening is nothing like straight razor sharpening.

A friend of mine in Turkey recently sent his one and only prized SR out to be honed. Only one person was available locally to him. That person swore that they knew how to hone a razor. His razor came back ruined!
 
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