Eager to get the best shave ever I found Pharmacies sell a Wilkinson sword Double Edge with a pack of 5 blades ranging from £4.99 to £5.99. Got to try it at this price I thought, not being overly confident it would be any better. Well I must say I was pleasantly surprised, although plastic, the razor had a reasonable weight and was a little more aggressive, which suited me better. The Wilkinson sword blades I tried in both razors and found them to be far superior in terms of the finished shave.

Next step was to try more blades, and i therefore bought a mixed set from Shave Lounge for £5.95 comprising:

• 5 x Perma-Sharp blades
• 5 x Gillette Sharp Edge blades
• 5 x Gillette Super Stainless blades
• 5 x Astra Super Platinum blades
• 5 x Shark Super Stainless blades 

Perma-Sharp I found to give a few too many nicks and was not over enthusiastic about the results, Shark and Astra both good one or two nicks but overall a good shave but needing a few passes, Gillette Super good shave no nicks , Gillette Sharp edge, excellent shave you can feel how sharp it is by the way the razor just glides with no snagging.




 

On 22nd August I ordered my first DE razor from Amazon, Shaving Factory Kit SF289, comprising Butterfly opening DE Safety Razor, Shaving Brush (XS size), Arko Shaving Soap and 100 Derby Extra DE Blades. It arrived the following day and having already watched videos of how to prepare the face and shave with a DE Safety razor I duly set about doing so...I started by washing my face with L'Oreal Cool Wave effect face wash, then (not having a pre-shave oil) applied a thin coat of Real Shaving Shave Oil, lathered on a layer of TrueFitt & Hill No.10 Shaving Cream and loaded a new blade into the razor.

Getting the angle right took a few tries but the razor worked reasonably well but If ound a few passes were necessary to get the shave as close as I would like. A few nicks (although not unexpected) were a little irksome at first, but after a week or so I was better at avoiding them.

By the middle of 2016 I am back to a reasonable level of fitness and more importantly, have the use of both hands! I started returning to my hydro 5 and fusion power. This is when I started to get irritated with the cost of blades, and was about to return to the Braun when I came across some posts on pinterest about Shaving the traditional way. This piqued my interest and I decided to delve further, but being slightly accident prone I steered away from the very traditional cut throat single blade razor and veer towards the double edge safety razor.

Having a dislocated shoulder immobilised in a sling and requiring it to be surgically corrected throws up a number of issues, one of which is how on earth can you have a decent shave. One handed is difficult at best and damn near impossible at worst. The solution, go electric! no! I hear you shout, but needs must and for christmas 2015 I duly received a Braun 3040 rechargeable shaver. It does a reasonable job without getting really close, takes a couple of hours to fully charge and this will give 30 mins shaving (about 1 charge a week).

So, being fed up with cartridge razors and the increasing dent they put in my wallet, I asked for an electric rechargable for Christmas 2015. It was especially difficult as I had a shoulder operation and couldn't bring my left arm up to the face to assist with getting the skin taut for a good wet shave.

Having duly received the said gift I proceeded to use it for six months or so. Whilst not unhappy with the results I felt like a fine sandpaper most of the time and it began to annoy me. That is until I started using Pinterest and followed the shaving category. 

My oh my, so many types to choose from, blades, creams, gels, brushes....where to start