Cartridge shaving Part 1 - Schick Hydro 5

I followed my normal pre-shave, shave, and after-shave routine while using this razor. I performed my shave as normal as I could, to compare the razor as fairly as possible. Pre-shave routine consisted of a shower, washing face with a mild face wash, and shaving in the shower, not at the sink. I used my badger hair brush with a few of my favorite creams and soaps (C.O. Bigelow, D.R. Harris, Tabac, & Cyril R. Salter). The shave was my standard lather + with the grain pass, second lather + second with the grain pass. After-shave routine consisted of cold water splash, alum, cold water splash 2, Thayer's Witch Hazel, Nivea after shave Balm.

The Schick Hydro 5

Packaging - The first thing I noticed right off the bat, is that all of the packaging can be recycled. There's not anything that I can't easily throw into my recycle bins and take to the curb. Yes, it's plastic, but it really is hard to find anything packaged in anything that isn't plastic now-a-days. It's cheap and convenient. The inserts in the packaging are all paper and cardboard, and can be easily recycled, too. Good job Schick!

First Impression - After taking the razor out of the packaging, the first thing you notice is the weight of the razor. When I stopped using cartridge blades back in December, I was using a Mach 3 or Mach 3 disposable. Both of these are very lightweight and are cheaply made. The Schick Hydro 5 feels surprisingly hefty in your hand. The razor is alot heavier than I was expecting. Not so much where your arm gets tired of using it, but enough to feel as though it's not made of cheap plastic materials.

Handle - The website and packaging information says it's got a premium high gloss metal handle. I also noticed that it also has a lot of rubber on the handle for a better grip.The handle is supposedly "ergonomic"... While I'm not sure about that last one, you can definitely tell it's a quality handle. It's hefty and has a nice grip and feel to it. Not flimsy, cheap, or light.

Fins - This is where the advanced engineering and technology of today’s razors, I believe, fails. I’m not sure who first came up with the concept of little rubber fins on a razor, but in my opinion, that wasn’t the smartest move. The whole purpose of a comfortable shave is to avoid irritation and ingrown hairs. So why put rubber fins on the first part of the razor that goes over your skin first? The rubber will first swipe away the protective lather, and then “pull” and “straighten” the hair before it cuts. This causes the hair then to slightly go back into the skin. The result...a closer shave right? Genius! ...er, not so much. This means that the hair has to grow back through a closed pore and skin. The result? Ingrown hairs! Bad move here. Not only that, but in my opinion, the rubber fins remove and sweep away the cushion of slick lather that protects your face from the blades isn't the best idea. Why do this? That’s like lathering your face, wiping it off, then shaving. Doesn’t make sense to me.

Lube strip - This is where this razor really shined! We’ve all seen the commercials. Water activated gel compartment for a smooth glide. This was by far the best thing about the razor. Not only did my lather create a layer of protection and comfort for the razor, but once the gel from the smooth strip hit my face, a slick, gooey substance was immediately created. I’m sure this stuff has got to be artificial, but It was definitely slicker than any cream, oil, or lube I could smear on my face. Amazing! After swiping with the razor and picking the razor up off my face to make another pass, you could see the lube and shaving cream mixed and literally “string” to the razor as I made another pass. It was pretty gross really. Kinda like snot, but it was the slickest stuff I’ve ever felt. It reminded me of that non-caloric silicone based kitchen lubricant that is 500x's more slippery than ordinary kitchen oil (Thanks Clark Grizwald).

Ultra guide blades - The Schick Hydro features unique skin guards on each of the blades. Doubling the point of impact the blade has with the skin, helping to reduce irritation. This is something that was hard for me to feel and pick up on because I’m not accustomed to how a normal cartridge blade feels on my skin. However, reverting back to my days of using the Mach 3, I can tell that my face was not irritated by the feel of these blades. I could hardly feel that the blades were even present. I believe this is what this technology was aiming for. I didn’t feel or get any irritation here, and that was good.

Pull back precision trimmer - This little feature was pretty cool. You flip back that goo strip on the top of the razor on a pivot and only the blades are visible on the head of the razor for precise trimming. While it sounds like a good idea and worked pretty well right under my nose, in that hard to get place, I’m not so sure this is necessary. Could be eliminated for less moving parts and easier to manufacture which could possibly be less cost.

Pivoting head - This is a pretty good idea here. It's old technology by cartridge razors standards. However, it allows the blade to pivot back and allow the razor to conform to the contours of your face. It's especially handy by the Adam's Apple and those hard to reach places on the neck. I have to admit, it got the hair on my neck better than I'm accustomed to. However, I am still learning how to get those places with my DE razor comfortably.

The Price - In comparison to the competition (Gillette Proglide), it's easier on the wallet. Replacement blades run about $2-3 a piece. This will still never beat the cost of DE blades, but a decent deal on good replacement cartridge blades.

Overall - While the fact that the non-eco-friendliness of the cartridge blade and the price of the razors may off put some of those in the traditional wet shaving community, the Schick Hydro 5 gave me a wonderful shave! I was shocked and pleasantly surprised. Although it missed a few spots here and there during the week, It honestly was very user friendly and easy to use. Pretty much dummy proof. I was very impressed by the hydro gel strip and the softness of the blades on my face. It also got those hard to reach places on my neck which was a great feeling.

Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 coming soon!

Happy Shaving!

Bluebeard's Revenge

"Designed by a real life Blue Beard who was bored to death with being a Desperate Dan look-alike, The Bluebeards Revenge™ is a paraben free, premium quality shaving cream with added ingredients like Decelerine ™ to specifically combat tough stubble. It has been formulated to our unique specification in one of the UK's premier male cosmetics laboratories who are renowned experts in the field of shaving cream."

- Courtesy of Bluebeard's Revenge Website -

So as I mentioned in my earlier blog post, the wonderful people over at Bluebeard’s Revenge were awesome enough to contact me via Twitter and ask if I would like to do a review on my blog if they sent me a tub of their shaving cream. I, of course, was much obliged.

When receiving the cream in the mail, I was VERY excited to use it. As you can see, their packaging is like no other; a pleasure to read and quite humorous. Both the box and the jar definitely have the best packaging and branding of any other product I’ve used or seen. I mean, just look at it! It’s got a skull and crossbones on it for crying out loud! Wicked awesome!

Bluebeard’s Revenge is, "The Ultimate Shaving Experience for Real Men". A Paraben free high quality shaving cream. However, it does contain a decelerine ingredient that claims to slow down and reduce the growth of hair. I’ve only been using the cream for a few short weeks, so I can’t attest to this claim. Me personally, I’m not patient enough to wait 60 days to test out the results, but it’s an interesting claim, none-the-less. Some have been hesitant about putting such a “chemical” on their face. If I’m being honest, as long as I don’t start growing an ear or extra limb on my face, I could care less about the extra chemical.

Of course the packaging is cool, but what about the smell? You can’t enjoy something that’s going to make you turn up your nose. THIS, however, wasn’t the case with Bluebeard’s Revenge Shave Cream. I can’t really put my finger on the scent. It’s just got a “zing” to it. It’s not a strong scent but very subtle. It’s a classic barbershop smell with a hint of clean powdery citrus (or so I think). Once you lather it up, the scent intensifies, but not enough to choke you. It’s a very pleasant clean smell. I really enjoyed the scent. It made the shave that much more enjoyable.

Now down to business. How was the lather… Honestly, the lather was one of the best, if not the best lathers I’ve ever used. Seriously, it only took just a small amount to create a wonderful lather. At first, I was swirling my wet badger brush directly into the jar to pick up the cream and face lathering. While I did this initially, I found it to be overkill and produced WAY more cream than I needed. I also dipped some out with my finger and "bowl lathered" as well. And just to try it out, I used my hands a time or two. It only took a very small amount and adding a little H2O at a time to produce a LOT of lather. It was thick and cushioned my face with ease. Think after-school snack Fluffernutter and you get the idea. The “latherability” definitely gets an A+ in my book.

Once lathered, the shave was incredible. I used both a DE razor and a cartridge razor for the shaves. The cream had no problem holding up for a 2 pass shave and some touch up. I had plenty left over. The lather protected my face from razor burn and any irritation and was very slick. I tend to have slightly sensitive skin, so I was concerned about how the “decelerine” might affect me. The result? A clean, well shaven, irritation-free shave. I was impressed how great of a shave I got with this cream. I even went against the grain on some portions of my neck (gasp!) to see how well it protected me. It did WONDERS! I personally can’t shave against the grain that much because of irritation. Some men can and some just can’t. However, I was able to do a single one swipe ATG pass on my neck with Bluebeard’s Revenge... Impressive. The razor glided across my face with ease without any skipping or dragging.

After shaving, the cream and residue rinses off cleanly and leaves no soapy feeling. It’s wasn’t “hot” or dry at all, and didn't leave me feeling greasy. It did, however, leave my face feeling moisturized and soft. I followed up with my regular after shave routine of Alum and Witch Hazel or sometimes an Aftershave splash and didn’t notice any effect on my skin (other than the soft and moisturized part).

The Verdict

I want to personally thank Bluebeard’s Revenge for sending me a tub of their wonderful cream. I can’t speak to the claim of reducing hair. However, the packaging is cool, the lather smells great, and it really did give me one of the best shaves I’ve had in a long time. Even though I was sent a complimentary tub, I can guarantee that when I run out, I will be purchasing more. A google search looks like the cream cost around $20-25 US dollars. This may be pretty pricey for shave cream, but for the amount of lather you get out of so little cream and the quality of it, I would highly recommend picking up a tub of Bluebeard’s Revenge.

Argghh!

Blade prices

I totally forgot the best part about using Double Edge (DE) blades.

THE COST!!!

While those cartridge blades are taking a toll your wallet at $2-4 a piece, DE blades are much cheaper. Example? You got it!

• Gillette Proglide replacement blades - $3-4 a piece

• Schick Hydro replacement blades - $2-3 a piece

• Derby DE blades - $0.30 – 0.35 a piece

• Red Personna DE blades - $0.35 – 0.40 a piece

• Feather DE blades - $0.40 – 0.45 a piece

You can’t argue with that.

Happy Shaving!

Blades

So when I started researching wetshaving, I was concerned that I wasn't sure which blade to use. I had my razor, but now I don't know which brand of blade to choose? I read all sorts of online guides on which blades to use. None of which directly pointed me toward one specific blade. Everything said, it depends. Even mantic told me so :) Well, not specifically to me but he did here...

This is because all blades are made and manufactured different. They all have different levels of sharpness and forgiveness. So everything I read, said to get a “sampler” of different blades to try out, which I did.

I got a sampler of 5 different blades from West Coast Shaving. I thought this was a good variety to start with. It’s taken me a while to try and test out each blade. I wanted to go through at least 3 blades each before really deciding on what I like best, what worked best with different razors, etc…

A good source of information I found was at www.shaving101.com. They had an article about different blades and which one worked best for which skin type and beard type. I personally, do not have thick wiry harsh hair. However, I don’t have fine thin hair either. I think I’m pretty normal, but on the sensitive skin side, so the more aggressive and harsh blades weren’t for me.

I started out using a Derby and Red persona blades. These were my favorite blades. They were mild, but seem to cut my beard relatively well. They were not harsh or aggressive in any way, and had a smooth feeling. I like to use these blades for my Merkur HD razor, as I feel it has a more open and aggressive cutting angle than my other razors.

The Merkur and Crystal blades I didn’t like so much. The Merkur’s just plain sucked. They didn’t feel good on my skin and were pretty rough and left my face feeling "hot." The Crystal blades on the other hand were good and sharp, but were not as comfortable as the Derby’s or Personna’s. I liked them better than the Merkur blades though. I think these blades are best used with my Gillette Superspeed. Not as aggressive to me, but not a mild or light shave.

The feather blades were by far the sharpest of the 5 brands I got. They were fairly a smooth shave, but we VERY sharp and I did happen to knick my nose, even though I had a lot of practice with the other blades and hadn’t done that yet (my knick stick cured that pretty quickly). I didn’t like the feather blades because they were so incredibly sharp, but they did give me the closest shave I had gotten. I am using these blades in my Gillette Travel Tech because this razor is the mildest of the three I own. I feel that the aggressiveness of the blade is toned down in this razor.

Overall, it was a good decision for me to get the sampler. If I had just got a bunch of feather or Merkur blades instead of going with the sampler, then I wouldn’t have been so thrilled with this new way of shaving and probably would have given it up. Yikes! Glad I got a sampler, because now I can match the blades that work best for my face with the razor that I have.

I’m using up all the blades even though I don’t like some. I don’t want to waste them. Besides, when I put them in the desired razors, then I can get the best results out of them. If you would like a sampler of blades, then check out www.westcoastshaving.com or www.qedusa.com and look at their selection.

Happy Shaving!

Coming Soon!

Wow! I really cannot believe it. Bluebeards Revenge contacted me via Twitter and asked if I would mind testing out and reviewing their shaving cream! How cool is that?!

I have been looking forward to receiving my cream in the mail for nearly a week and finally got it in the mail today! You can check out their website at www.http://www.bluebeards-revenge.co.uk/ Stay tuned for my review!

Happy Shaving!

P.S. - One of these days, I'm gonna make a video review or vlog. Just waiting to save up for an iPhone 5. Hurry up Apple!!!

Future plans

I was introduced to traditional wetshaving back in November, when I started researching it. By the time I received my first brush and DE razor, I was hooked! I have not shaved with a cartridge razor since.

6 months later, I decided to look back at my blog posts and see what I’ve been blogging about. I came to the realization that I’ve been using a DE razor for this long and I have been downplaying (to say the least) cartridge razors and the big US companies. So I decided to try out a cartridge razor after going Cold Turkey for so long to see if it’s really as bad as I remember it being.

I’ve decided to try out the two most popular cartridge razors on the market; the Gillette Proglide and the Schick Hydro 5. In the coming weeks I'll test out and give my lowly opinion about how I feel these razors stack up to my traditional wetshaving methods. It'll be interesting, but I promise to be fair and open minded.

Happy Shaving!

Pinaud Clubman

If you ever want that classic barbershop smell, this is the after shave for you. Being readily available and very inexpensive, this after shave could be a great way for you to start the day off right.

Pinaud Clubman has been around forever. It's commonly found in most large chain retails stores, so it's readily available and very inexpensive. I've seen it at Sally's Beauty Supply, Wal-Mart, and a couple of different drug stores in town. It's one of those all too common alcohol based after shave lotions/splashes. It doesn't have much benefit for your skin, so a lot of people I hear use it as a substitute for a cologne. Most after shave splash scents don't last that long, but this one I find that the sent lasts a long time. Even though it's mostly alcohol, I tend to have oily skin in the summer and anytime that Arkansas humidity kicks in (which is all the time). So I can usually use it without the product drying out my skin. It does burn on a freshly shaven face, but it tones and that initial burn really feels good and is very soothing.

The scent is where this splash really shines. Like I said, it has that classic old time barbershop smell. It makes you think of your grandpa or your youth. Not really spicy or sweet, but more of a fresh feeling and smell. It will likely remind you of yesteryear and the old style of America.

In addition to the After Shave Lotion, Pinaud Clubman also makes a Talc product. Talc is an old type of after shave product. This natual mineral form of after shave is very soft and velvety. It feels much better than the normal corn starch baby powders. Basically, you sprinkle this and rub it all over your shaven face. It hides blemishes, redness, cuts, and the like. It leaves you feeling dry, clean, and feeling good. Not to mention, it smells great! That classic barbershop scent in a powder form. My barber still uses this on my neck and fresh cut hairline with a brush after a haircut. It really soothes that fresh cut skin. I also use it for anytime I want to feel dry and fresh or after I get out of the shower.

I really like both of these products. The splash/lotion is my normal every day go to scent or whenever I feel like using it. Both are great products and are very reasonably priced. I found these at my local Sally's Beauty Supply store. I got both for under $10. A bargin!

Happy Shaving!

*BTW - sorry for the poor light. It's rainy and stormy here and didn't have any natural light to use. Just the florescence bulbs.