A Little Traditional Shaving

IMG_0570Growing up I did not have my father around to teach me how to shave. I also didn’t have YouTube or the Internet so it was up to myself to learn the in’s and out’s of the blade. I would say that middle school me (yes, I started shaving early) did a pretty good job at keeping myself straight. As I grew older I didn’t take shaving as seriously and let it go for months at a time. In high school I started to rock a goatee for most of those years and then eventually in college I started keeping it clean again.

During all that time I used regular store bought disposable razors. You know the ones, triple, quadruple, octoblades with contouring angles and gel to help keep the stroke smooth. At some point I picked up an electric shaver, which I still have, but only used a handful of times. I am not a fan of the pre-electric shave lotion, and then the after shave lotion to battle the irritation. Plus charging! It just got tedious just to get a quick shave in, so I went back to the store bought disposables. Those are what I have been using for the last decade or so, that is until recently.

MenEssentials.com sent me over a few products to check out in exchange for this review. Happy to oblige, I was sent a Merkur Solingen 23c Double Edge traditional safety razor, some Lea Classic shaving cream, and a MenEssentials Razorsafe to put my used blades in. I will have to admit that I was a little nervous about using the new safety razor. I had never used anything like this and not having the strip of gel or the contour maneuvering like I was used to starting giving me second thoughts about trying this out.

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Putting fears aside I gave it a shot anyway. I loaded up the included sample blade, started lathering up some of the Lea Classic shaving cream and got to work. Immediately I was impressed. One of the problems I typically have with disposables is that they get clogged up so fast and just rinsing them off doesn’t clear out all of the straggly hairs. The Merkur handled this perfectly. A quick rinse and I was back in business. While I didn’t time myself so I’m not 100% sure on this but it felt like my shave time was a lot faster as well. Sure, this doesn’t have the contour maneuvering but I don’t think you really need it after using the Merkur for a little over a week. My face feels and looks great and I feel like I get better accuracy when lining up the edges of my sideburns. I give the Merkur a ten out of ten. No wonder it is listed as one of the best selling safety razors on the planet.

menessentialslogoAs for the shaving cream. Embarrassingly enough I’ve used my wife’s shaving gel for several years now and have been pretty happy with how it works with the disposables. Lucky for her, I will no longer be using that cut-rate stuff anymore. The Lea Classic shaving cream leaves my skin feeling incredible. Getting that clean, fresh feeling after a shave is incomparable to many of the other brands I’ve used. After using Lea Classic I’m actually finding it hard to want to try another cream. In my opinion it is just that good.

The MenEssentials Razorsafe hasn’t been used yet, and I’m not exactly sure when I will be dropping my first used blade into it. Whenever that might be, at least I know that I can drop these blades into this metal box and not have to worry about my children’s hands grabbing a blade out of the trash can like they could with a disposable. These blades are sharp and can hurt those little fingers, so it’s important to have a game plan for getting rid of these other than just tossing the used blades in the trash. The Razorsafe is very inexpensive and the perfect item to add to your MenEssentials order.

MenEssentials provided St. Louis Dad with these products as compensation in exchange for an honest review. Please visit MenEssentials.com for more shaving tips, shaving products, and more!