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Comment by nostromo | Hacker News Reader

Pro tip: just get an old fashioned safety razor.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003LW4L2W/

It will last longer than you do and gives you a perfect shave. A box of 100 blades will last for years and will cost you almost nothing.

All disposable razors, including Harry's, are overpriced.

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I've switched to this setup a couple of years ago. The biggest improvement, even if you stay with disposable razors: get a good brush and whip up your own lather from soap or shaving cream and use a preshave. It's a massive improvement over the standard goo imo. I've experimented with a lot of them and settled on the relatively cheap Proraso shaving cream (green) and pre/postshave. Warning: you can spend tons of time and money tinkering :P

Finding the right blades also takes some time. I've tried some that are highly rated (Feather) but they didn't work for me. I'm using Personna Reds now and am very happy with them. I got a 200 pack and it usually last quite long (2-3 shaves per blade, you could get more but I prefer taking no risk)

The annoying thing with these is flying :( they are prohibited from carry on.

As a frequent flyer, here's my 2 cents:

- transport it bladeless, put it at the top of your bag. In Asia and Europe it gets asked about 1 out of 5 times. You can then take it out, and apart in 10 seconds.

- stock up blades at your frequent destinations (in my case, both in-laws and family have 3 packs of Feathers in a closet).

- if all else fails, buy blades locally - a 5-pack is still cheaper ($2-5) than a Gillette ($10) and can be found in most decent sized supermarkets all over the world. Won't be feathers, but enough for a week.

- if you are somewhere with no blades, which is rare, then there's always the throwaway option. In many countries (e.g. Japan) even the cheaper hotels include a throwaway razor. Otherwise you can buy it at the 7/11 with the toothpaste that you also couldn't carry-on. Some prefer the electric option.

- buy soap rather than cream so you can carry-on. E.g. Tabac Original screw soap. One will last you for years.

That's what I do, but the bad thing is that they get "rusty", maybe because they stay wet?

Also I use these blades: http://www.amazon.com/Derby-Extra-Double-Razor-Blades/dp/B00...

They are pretty cheap but I feel like they are not well made sometimes. Any tips on what blades to buy?

I shaved for at least two weeks each with Timor, Astra, Derby, Feather & Merkur blades. Everybody has a different experience, but I wasn't happy with Timor or Astra. Derby does the job, but I settled on Merkur and Feather (they're much, much better).

They're also a bit more expensive but since I can get so much use out of them and they're so, so much cheaper than the Mach 3's I used to use, I'm cool with that. :)

Yes, you always have to dry your razor after use. Disposable or not, the hour or so it needs to dry is actually enough for razor blades to noticeably loose their edge. This is part of what makes razor blade manufacture hard - you have to use very hard steel that can hold an edge, but the harder the steel the more prone it is to oxidation aka rust.

I'm happy to pay extra for a razor that gives a close shave without cuts or skin irritation, and that doesn't require extensive training to use.

If you can use a disposable razor, you can use a double-edged safety razor. You absolutely don't need "extensive training" to shave with one of these.

I bought one a few years ago and found it to be a much less enjoyable experience than a multi-blade razor. The single blade would pull at my hairs a painful amount before cutting them.

That's a problem with the specific brand of blade you were using, not with single blade razors in general.

As NoGravitas mentioned, that's a problem with the specific blade you were using. You can get blade starter packs that have quite a variety of blades in them, so you can find the one that works best for you. Everyone has different needs, so YMMV, but I use Feather blades.

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