Shaving Is A Double-Edged...

You may or may not be aware of it, but there is an entire sub-culture of men out there who spend a lot (capital A LOT) of time reviewing, comparing and corresponding about the best wet shaving techniques.  Now we're not just talking about armchair barbers casually querying their buddies as to whether they've ever tried Edge Gel or the new Fusion 6 (does that even exist?).

Instead, we're talking about shaving geeks (and we say that in the most complimentary way as we're certainly walking a fine line in that department) who debate ad nasueam old-school blades and how they work with new school foams vs. gels; how the hair differs on shaving brushes made in Europe vs. Asia; and the remote, out-of-the way retailers who still stock shaving implements made at the turn of the century. You might not even realize that there are entire forums on the web that devote their entire content to such subjects.  They're well-trafficked sites too mind you.

Anyway, we admire anyone who takes such an interest in shaving.  The art of it, the history of it and the tools necessary to get the best results.  And to that end, we've reviewed a lot of these message boards, chat rooms, etc. and come to several conclusions -- one of which we'll address here

A lot of guys out there like to give the classic "Double Edged Safety Razor" a role in their morning shave ritual. They like the history, the regal-ness of it and above all... enjoy the results.  So, always wanting to provide more results-driven options, us Grooming Guys ordered a few of these Double-Edge numbers and gave them a shot.  The results: a few nicks and cuts the first few times around -- but after that -- continually solid shaves.  Now were not saying the shave was better than with a quality Mach III, but it was certainly in the ball park.

The Downside Was... it takes much longer since you have to be a bit more careful not to cut yourself.

The Upside Was... it enables you to get a little better access to the curves and hard-to-reach areas of the face.

If you're interested in giving one a test drive yourself, we picked up a couple high-end ones from the folks at Merkur.  See them here.

In our next installment, we'll give you some tips on how to get the best shave using a double-edge razor.