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.

After reading recent reviews of razors by Peter and Neal, I thought I'd throw my own 2 cents into the mix.

I need to preface this review by saying that I've got one bitch of a beard. No need for sandpaper in this household. Just apply some chin! I have to shave in the shower, so that the steam softens the beard, and I make two passes. The first goes down with the grain, and the second goes up against the grain. Even with all the machinations, I've still got a 5 o'clock shadow by lunchtime.

The day that Gilette introduced the Sensor was a glorious one for me, as shaving was suddenly not a daily blood letting. When they introduced the Mach 3, I figured things would only get better. For me, that wasn't the case though. The fact that the handle connects to the bottom edge of the blade makes it impossible to really apply any pressure while shaving. To a large degree, you're just dragging the blade across your face. That may be fine for some, but I need to apply some pressure or I might as well not even bother shaving at all.

In the drugstore recently I saw that Gilette had recently come out with the Sensor3, a triple blade that fits a regular Sensor handle. I figured, what the hell, maybe three blades will be better than two when mounted properly on the handle.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed again. I didn't really notice any appreciable difference in the closeness of my shave. Also, the fact that the three blades are closer together than the two on the regular Sensor sometimes made it feel like the hair was being caught in between them and tugged out. Mostly on days where I hadn't shaved the previous day and the hair was longer (which is most of the time these days. :-)

So, me and my brillo pad for a face will be sticking with the Sensor Excel for now. Maybe they'll come out with a Power version of that some day.