Between DE blades, and having recently taken on the challenge of BBS as a learning exercise, I thought it would be a good time to break out the old 6-bladed wonder I picked up at Dollar Tree. I do this once in awhile to apply new blade handling skills, and see whether this could possibly help the plastic junk to measure up more favorably, as is sometimes asserted.
I personally prefer a one-blade BiC, white handle or orange, because they're actually fun to use. The hollow handle makes a choo-choo whistle noise as it resonates with blade song, and it flies over the skin. But a very close shave just isn't possible with the Sensitive, and I tend to burn myself trying with the white handle. So that wouldn't be the proper comparison. The six-blade pivoting disposable, I know, will be a skippy, stubble-bouncing challenge on first pass, but is the best shot at ATG success for me.
No surprises WTG -- not really "shaving," but one could certainly call it a "beard reduction" process. I had tried to soften the hair with oil, flaxseed extract and pumpkin juice. I guess it helped, but there's no way to know for sure, because it was still pretty terrible, mechanically. But I got through it safely, with two strokes only in most places, not deviating too far from what I've been doing with DE.
ATG, I was surprised at the drag, and feared I would lose too much skin. It really, really felt like skin planing, as every blade seemed to find hair, but somehow wasn't so dangerous on the neck. With my new stroke patterns, it was definitely doable, with no sore spot under the chin that would presage a late-onset burn. The blades have moved closer together over time, they say.
The skin inflammatory result was comparable to my better shaves this week. The DE is more hit or miss, and the planer effectively splits the difference. I can do better, and I have done better -- but I'm not there consistently, yet. I honestly expected much worse, and it felt like it was doing much worse, while I was shaving.
The hair result was also contrary to expectation. I shaved deeper than the disposable. That shows the flip side of the planing mechanism, and refutes the hysteresis effect, in my mind. Every blade was hitting, yet every stub is right there, at the skin surface.
ATG may be a more dangerous proposition with DE, in the end, but the risk has its rewards.
For me, multi blade ATG on the neck area was a suicide run every time. Before my DE days I was partial to the Schick Twin with the cleanout lever. Less blades was always better.
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