How many times do you wake up, shave and shower, put on your clothes, go to work, and then you’re suddenly aware of how it feels like your face is on fire. Let’s face it guys, shaving sucks! About 15% of men won’t shave their faces due to the day-long pain they experience from shaving. The rashes, the break-outs, your collar scraping against your raw neck all day…
It doesn’t have to be this way!
The shaving razor you choose makes all the difference
Nearly all shaving pains and problems are caused by using a crappy razor. Not only that, we tend to use razors way beyond their useful life expectancy. How long do you think a razor is good for? The advice on the internet varies wildly from 3 shaves to 5 weeks. The reality is—and your experience will back this up—a razor loses its fine edge after about 10 shaves. After that, it starts to drag across your skin creating the typical razor burn, shaving induced acne and those ever-present cuts and nicks.
So in order to be good to your face, you might consider switching out razors after a little more than a week. On top of that, if your razors only come with two blades made out of cheap white plastic, you are pretty much destroying your skin. Think of it this way: these are the exact same shaving razors they hand out in prison… to convicted criminals! You are not a prisoner. You are better than that. Start taking care of your face and you will stay handsome well into your old age.
The types of razors for men
There are 4 typical types of razors for men. There are straight razors, safety razors, razors with disposable heads and razors that are completely disposable. There are others, but none you can easily find. Let’s look at the benefits of each type:
- The straight razor. Bar none, this is the coolest way to shave your face. Seriously guys, if you ever want someone to fall in love with you, let them watch you shave with one of these sexy bad boys. The problem with these razors is that you have to go slow and be precise with your shaving technique. There is a learning curve and you will cut yourself especially right under the nose when you first start out. However, as you gain proficiency with these men’s razors, you will experience the best shave of your life. And if you take good care of it, it will pretty much last you forever.
- The safety razor. Another old-timey shaving device that creates a phenomenal shave, makes you look cool, but takes a little skill to get used to. For those of you who don’t know what the safety razor is, it’s the one with the replaceable flat double-sided blades. The ones made with today’s technology are a lot less likely to cut you if you get careless.
- Disposable head razors. You might actually have one of these in your home right now. Many of the razor companies send the nice handle with your first head to you as a promotion. You get hooked and now you buy the disposable heads to refill. These are excellent razor heads and some have so many blades that it’s kind of like shaving with a car radiator. The first dozen shaves you get with each head is world class. The shave quality drops off significantly after that.
- Disposable razors. I don’t know. It seems like you are creating a ton of garbage when you buy these. These mass produced razors are probably why you face feels so raw right now. They’re great for when you’re traveling or for doing other forms of “manscaping” in areas that would be very painful to cut, but I probably wouldn’t get them anywhere near my face.
The 4 best razors for men
This could easily be the 20 best razors for men, but in the interest of creating an easy to understand list, we’ve picked our top favorites (plus we allow in a couple disposable razors just because we know sometimes it’s hard to start a new hobby).
Did you ever want to look like the biggest badass in the world when shaving? This exquisite beauty is exactly what you need. Now you can buy a straight razor that costs upwards of $300 so this one is a good place to start. Not only is it built to last forever with a Japanese carbon steel wedge, this is a professional piece of shaving equipment. It has an amazing feel in your hand and just the right weight to do the job right.
Keep in mind, there are no straight razors that come “shave ready” they all should be properly stropped every time you use them. Sure there are better straight razors on the market, but for the price and the quality (and the gorgeous box it comes in), this one is the best razor for men.
If this is your first trip in using a safety razor, this one is an excellent choice. Safety razors are measured on how “aggressive” they are. Some leave a very small space between the blade and the head (less aggressive). This one is right in the middle. It has a big handle so you feel like you’re in complete control and has a two piece assembly so changing out razor blades is much easier than with some other devices.
Keep in mind, if you feel that this razor is a little too aggressive (meaning it shaves too much leaving your skin sore), you can put in feather light blades to get an easier shave. Our favorites are the Wilkinson Sword razor blades to go easy on your sensitive skin.
So you’re a disposable razor guy? I don’t blame you. It’s super easy and the chances of you slicing your face with one of these is pretty slim. But if you gotta go with disposable, go with the ones with disposable heads and not the “throw the whole thing away” kind. Why? Because having a big heavy handle actually helps you have more control over the razor and this helps you get a better shave.
I think you’ll agree that Gillette makes all of the best disposable razors for men, but the Proshield Chill really is the one you should get excited about. This disposable cartridge razor as pretty much all the bells and whistles they could pack into a shaving device. As with all of the best razors for men, this one takes a little getting used to especially if what you’re using now is really lousy. Your first shave with this razor might feel a little aggressive to you, but you won’t be able to imagine how you lived without this razor after the second shave (and just about everyone after).
Now you’re talking! If you really must shave with disposable razors, you might as well get a seriously civilized handle to shave with. This beautiful razor works with the Gillette Fusion POWER disposable shave cartridges. Essentially, it vibrates. Now you might be sitting there wondering how a vibrating razor could do a better job than the non-vibratey kind and I really can’t even begin to tell you, but this really works!
I love my straight razor on those days where I have time and patience to do the job right, but when I’m in a hurry (or late for a date), this really is one of the best manual razors for men. The gentle vibrations seem to make for a much closer shave. I’m not sitting there swiping at my face over and over again just to get smooth. I’ve never cut myself or razor burned myself with this razor either. This handle is pretty expensive, but in my opinion and given how much I shave, it’s worth every penny to have something as cool as this in my daily routine. Those guys at the Art of Shaving really know what they’re doing.
How to make a razor last longer
Let’s face it, if you want to do it right, shaving is a very expensive daily chore. And given that razors really don’t last as long as you would hope for given how much you just paid for one, there just has to be a better way to make them stay sharper longer.
Well my friends, there is! Up above, when I listed the best straight razor for men, there was a word in there called STROP. A strop is that usually leather strap that you run your straight razor back and forth over to put an amazingly sharp edge on your blade. This is why investing in a straight razor is so awesome. You are sharpening it before every shave so it lasts forever. So how does this help you if you are using disposable razors? The same science works no matter what kind of a blade you are using.
Safety blades and disposable razors can be stropped too.
Check out the ShaveFace Strop Deluxe Leather and Denim Razor Blade Sharpener for Disposable Razors. It’s not the leather kind you’ve seen on old movies because disposable razors don’t require such an abrasive surface. What you do is hang this cool looking device on a towel rack and push your razor against it in an upwards motion. This would be the opposite direction that you shave with. Do this a bout 5 or 10 times before every shave and this puts a fine edge on your best razor for men, realigns all of the blades and cleans any debris from between the razors. The result is that you have a disposable razor that lasts three times long than what you are used to. This strop is worth every penny and will be one of those things in your life that will constantly impress you with how much money it saves you.
Thoughts on the best razor for men
Excluding those who don’t shave for religious reasons, about 90% of men shave weekly. Most do it every day and they shave for the rest of their lives. The remaining 10% either don’t shave because they hate the discomfort of shaving or they’re in a cool biker gang.
Do you really want to go through the rest of your life feeling like your face is burning off every time you use that lousy manual razor? Sure, each of the products listed cost as much as a whole box of 200 prisoner razors, but they give you control over something you just assumed you’d have to live with the rest of your life. A wise person said that you should always spend a lot of money on your shoes and your mattress because if you’re not in one, then you’re in the other. I would add a really high quality shaving razor for men to that list because none of us deserve to go through life with a never-ending pain on our faces and necks.
Spend a little money now on one of our best razors for men and you will not only feel like a badass every time you shave, you face will feel amazing after every shave. It’s the civilized thing to do…