Just over two week ago I decided to switch over from my Mach3 cartridge razor to the more traditional double edged Merkur HD razor wet shave.

From paranoia about bleeding to death, worrying about losing half my mornings to shaving and trying to get that pre-shave routine down pat at 6am in the morning, here’s what I’ve learnt.

Plan out your first shaves

For me this meant shaving in the evening before bed. This might seem like an odd time to shave but I’m glad I chose to do it for the first week I was using the Merkur HD. My first shave left me with more then a few superficial nicks on the right of my neck then I’d be comfortable rocking up to work with.

Planning the shaves in the evening for the first week also gives you ample time to get your preshave routine right. Getting the preshave right is important as a preshave routine has the ability to make or break a shave.

By the end of the first week I was much more confident going into the second week of trying to get a morning routing happening that was quick, efficient and luxuriously smooth.

Technique

One of the biggest advantages of a cartridge system is that anyone with any level of skill can get a reasonable shave with one. These days they are pretty much idiot proof and you can rub the razor whichever way you want all over your face.

Hell you could be shaving on a rollercoaster during an earthquake and still not cut yourself.

Using a double edged razor forces you to learn your face. Things like angle and wrist weight come into play and have important roles in ensuring the absolutely minimal (if any) of skin irritation occurs.

Once again the first week of night time shaving is very useful for learning exactly how your hair grows. Another thing you want to do is become familiar with the best technique to work with the hair growth patterns you have.

For example my stubble grows uniformly down on my cheeks so two passes with the grain followed by an against the grain on the third pass is all I need to get baby smooth skin there.

For my neck however I have bits of my jawline that grow towards my ears whilst the upper neck grows inwards towards my adams apple. Over the first week of shaving (and the second week of morning shaves too) I tried different routines and began to memorise the various areas of my face and how to best shave them.

This is obviously going to be unique to each person and is a brilliantly useful thing to know about your face. Knowing how it grows and how to best shave it means your prepared in the future for any kind of shave, cartridge or otherwise.

Regular modern shaving allows you to completely bypass getting to know your face and I think it’s a major loss for those that don’t bother.

Routine

At the end of the day you want to have a smooth rash free face in the least amount of time and still feel fresh and awake in the morning. Whilst you might want to indulge and spend 30 mins on the weekend shaving once in a while, let’s face it – nobody wants to be doing that every weekday.

Currently I’ve got my shave down to about 15 minutes total. That’s counting from the pouring of boiling water into the towel bowl to applying aftershave at the end of my shave. I have no doubt it will get slightly faster over time as I get better at shaving but for now 15 minutes is a perfectly adequate amount of time to be spending making sure my face looks great in the morning.

To put it into perspective some people spend more time then that styling their hair!

I’ll write a bit more in detail about my preshave routine next weekend but will highlight the fact that it’s the most important part of the shave. A good preshave means you save time during the actual shave. There’s less chance of nicks and burns as the face is fully prepared.

About 4-5 minutes of my 15 minutes is devoted to preshave time. This includes 2-3 minutes of wearing a hot towel on my face and the initial lather and brushing of the stubble.


For me the investment has already proven worth it, my skin (particularly around the neckline) is a lot happier and I’ve even noticed my skin is a lot clearer and uniform in colour.

Happy skin = happy me.

What I’ve learnt in the past fortnight or so about my facial hair and how to best shave it was worth the initial investment into the shaving equipment alone. The fact that I now actually look forward to shaving every morning as opposed to hating the routine is doing miracles for my morning life.

Whilst I’m not about to fully commit to becoming a morning person, having a nice clean double edged shave every weekday is definitely the best thing I’ve woken up to in years. As a non-coffee drinker this is probably the next best thing I’m going to have.

Well that and the cold blast I get over my face riding to work during winter but that’s whole other story for another time.

1. Shaving with a double-edged razor: Taking the plunge
2. The preservation of man: My first double edged razor shave
3. Derby Extra double edged razor blades review
4. Astra Superior Platinum double edged blades review
5. Feather HiStainless Platinum double edged blade review