Mailbag: Double-Edge headshaving

I received the following email from Herbert recently:

Hello, I am thinking of shaving my head, mainly because of a very dry scalp which no shampoo seems to be able to fix. I currently use a straight razor and Double Edge razor for my face shave (Straight with the grain and the double edge against). The after shave balms and moiterizers I use really give my skin a softness and sheen I never had using the usual shaving products.

I never liked ever using a multi-blade system and shaving my head with a straight razor sounds a little dangerous. But I thought a Doubled Edge razor might work. I have two Murker razors, but niether have a pivoting head. I saw a beautiful DE at classic shaving called "Vision"
that looks like it may work very well for a head shave. What are your thoughts on head-shaving with a DE razor?

I have tried shaving with a DE razor (specifically, the Merkur "classic" Safety Razor), and didn't have great results with it. I posted a blog entry about it back in May, in case you want to read about my initial impressions.
I'm used to modern cartridge razor systems, like the Schick Extreme III or the Gillette Mach 3, but I used the Merkur Classic for several weeks last year. Results on my face were decent, but shaving my scalp proved less than satisfactory.

The biggest problem seems to be the lack of flexibility of the blade. Cartridge razors have a bit of flex to them and can adjust to the countours of the scalp to some degree. The Merkur Classic's blade is very rigid. A rigid blade works fine for the face, since that area is fairly malleable and will adjust to the blade, but the scalp doesn't have nearly so much give and it doesn't adjust to the blade at all.

As a result, shaving took much longer (approximately twice as long in most cases), and even then I couldn't achieve the same quality of shave as with a cartridge razor. I would frequently miss some small spots, and skin irritation levels were higher than I like.

I only shaved with the Merkur for a few weeks, so it is possible that I just don't have sufficient practice to get a good shave with a DE razor. As a long-time DE user, perhaps Herbert would have more success than I did.

In general, though, I don't recommend using a DE razor on the scalp. Based on my experience (and some comments I've read from other DE shavers), I think it's harder than it needs to be, and results with a cartridge razor are better and easier to achieve.

Experimenting with the double-edge safety razor

In my continuing quest to seek out the best in shaving, I recently purchased a Merkur "Classic" Safety Razor from Classic Shaving. These razors are basically the same design that King Gillette developed around 100 years ago, the type of razor that my Dad started shaving with. I got interested after reading some articles about old-school shaving (1, 2), and thought it would be worth a try.

I'm still in the experimenting stage, but I'll share my comments thus far.

It takes a bit to get used to shaving with this kind of razor. My first shave, I nicked myself in several places and had lots of irritation, despite using shaving oil. My next two shaves (each with a different high-quality shaving lubricant) got a bit better, but still much more irritation than I was used to, and nicks each time. I gradually learned to use less pressure and to go slower, and subsequent shaves have been much, much better in this area.

You can't rush shaving with a safety razor. I find shaving takes me twice as long as it did with a cartridge razor (like my trusty Mach 3).

"Corners" are pretty tricky, and I haven't mastered them yet. I always end up with rough spots in certain areas, even after spending some significant time on them. I'll keep working on it to see if I can improve.

Closeness of the shave is pretty good, except in the tricky areas. Is it as close as my Mach 3? I'm not entirely sure. At some point, I think I'll do some side-by-side trials and see how it feels.

At this point, though, I will say that cartridge razors are faster and easier to use than the old-fashioned safety razor. Alternately, the safety razors can be significantly cheaper to use, though. The razor itself was $25 (US), plus shipping and duty. I can get double-edged blades at 10 for $2 (Cdn) at a local store, though, which is less than a tenth of what most good cartridge razor blades cost.