DAVIDHERSH

When it comes to shaving, I've discovered that more is better. That is, more blades are a good thing!

In my constant quest to find a better (i.e., less painful) shaving experience, I've been trying out a couple of different 3-blade razors; the Gillette Sensor 3 and the Schick Xtreme 3. I go back and forth as to which of those two are better. I'd probably go with the Sensor 3 largely because the Schick is only a disposable. In either case though, the three blades definitely gave me a better shave.

After listening to my Dad rave about the new Gillette Fusion 5-blade razor, I finally broke down and tried it. It definitely sounded like a cool razor, especially with the single blade on the back of it for getting a clean line on the sideburns. But, the Mach 3 is essentially a 3-blade version of the same razor and that one didn't work out very well for me. The big issue was that the handle connects at the base of the blade rather than directly behind the blade. This prevents you from applying pressure while shaving, and with a very coarse beard like mine I really needed to be able to do that to get a close shave.

Apparently, with the Fusion, the extra two blades make enough of a difference that I don't need to apply as much pressure. The real benefit of this is that I get absolutely no skin irritation when shaving. With my trusty old 2-blade Sensor, I tried to avoid shaving two days in a row because the second day would often result in a lot of irritation. The move to 3-blade razors made shaving on sequential days less of a concern. With the Fusion I can easily shave everyday with no problems. In fact, I almost look forward to shaving now!

The other thing to note is that I've been using the cheap foam shaving cream that came with the razor. Normally I use more expensive creams to try to find a better shave, but its clear now that its all about the razor.