My favourite razor is an old fashioned safety razor that unscrews to let you fit a single blade. The blades are cheap and I probably have a lifetime's supply in the bathroom cabinet. It has quite a large gap before and after the cutting edge to it's quite easy to cut yourself with it, but with skill you can give yourself a very close shave. I can also shave with a cutthroat razor, and I find sharpening it fascinating, but it's too much palaver to be practical.
I went on a long weekend away and while I had packed my razor, shaving brush, and a stick of shaving soap I hadn't packed a razor blade. At the little Sainsbury's I found disposable razors, but they were quite expensive and sold in large bags. The cheapest option was a pack of 4 "Simply Venus" from the women's section. I argued that there could be precious little difference between a man's and a woman's razor, that Gilette doesn't run a different blade grinding factory for each sex, and that I didn't much care about the colour.
I did shave myself, and the razor is surprisingly different to what I'm used to. The two blades are very close together and the gaps before and after them are very narrow. It's seemingly impossible to cut yourself with it, and also impossible to get a close shave without making multiple strokes, but it can be done. The weirdest difference is a little strip of water soluble lubricant after the blades. In combination with my (harsh) shaving soap and scalding hot water it made a gluey slime, but I was intrigued by its lubricity.
The question I answered at the sink this morning was "in an emergency, could you shave with one of these things without all the rest of your shaving kit?" The answer is yes, and I haven't given myself razor burn, but it takes a while. I've already put one in my wash bag for the next time I go away and forget part of my shaving kit, and they'll be perfect when I'm travelling with a minimal luggage allowance.
Richard "Bic Classic Razor" B
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