They're undeniably cheap as chips. But shaving with safety razor takes longer and requires more skill not to cut yourself.
With a cartridge system, it is damn near impossible to cut yourself even if you tried... With a safety razor if you hold it at the wrong angle you'll get cut (and the angle depends where on your face you're shaving, so it is very much a per-face learnt skill).
The main reason why a safety razor takes so much longer is that you need a good lather from the shaving soap. This offers the most lubrication, which will protect your face from the sharp blade. The crappy supermarket shaving foam just won't cut it (minor pun intended).
I use the non-foaming gels with a cartridge, which is fast and smooth. I gave a safety razor a real shot, but I don't want to spend 20-30 minutes before working shaving, I want to spend 5-10 minutes, and have almost no risk cutting myself no matter how reckless I am.
But undeniably safety razors are sharp and cheap. They're just a lot of hassle.
As someone who made the switch to safety razors, I have to say that with practice the shaving time gets within a few minutes of cartridge shaving. Cartridge shaving was taking me about 5 minutes, and I've gotten safety razor shaving down to about 7 minutes.
Part of the time savings is going with a tubes of shaving cream. The cream (Proraso in my case) lathers quickly and consistently, and is vastly superior to the canned stuff.
In the end, after becoming fully adjusted, I find that safety razors are just as convenient, give a better shave, and are far cheaper than cartridge razors. It takes just a minute or two longer.
By far the most important factor for getting a smooth, fast shave with a traditional safety razor is finding the right shaving cream. If you get the pre-lathered ones that come in a tube or tub, you can avoid spending several minutes lathering in a bowl. Good creams include Keihl's White Eagle or Blue Eagle and Truefitt and Hill 1805, each of which is pretty much universally loved by anyone who has ever tried them.
With those shaving creams, I find that it pretty much doesn't matter what brand of blade I use any more, and I can shave in 5 minutes. If you really wanted to optimize on the margins, you could get a sampler pack of 10 different kinds of blades and find the one that works best for your skin chemistry.
I had an issue with Proraso, but I started putting Jack Black's Beard Lube on first and it seems to make my shave much more smooth.
Lathering the Proraso takes seconds, rinse my brush with really hot water and put some hot water in the Proraso tub for a few seconds before dumping it out. Swirl around the brush for a few seconds and it's good to go.
I find a shave faster if anything - short quick strokes with a sharp razor decimates my thick facial hair faster than a triple blade cartridge.
I typically wait until my facial hair is pretty thick before shaving too. I use Jack Black's Face buff in the shower, then Jack Black's Beard Lube and layer Proraso on top of it. I'd be interested how well my shave would be if I used the same method with a cartridge.
Same here. I have really thick hair and I use an old 1950's style razor with cheap single blades. One pass and I'm done. With the 3-4 blade razors I'd have to shave down 2-3 times in each spot and then back up again to get a clean shave.
I've found the opposite to be true. My beard hair is so thick it gets stuck in the space between blades on multi-blade razors and I spend twice as long making the cartridge usable again. By the time I'm done shaving I'm irritated and the blades are not in great shape (if only my beard hair were my head hair, hah!). The thing with safety razors is you need to find the right blade/razor combo. The big reason why you get cut by a safety razor is a mismatch between blade gap and your technique. Adjustable safety razors are simply awesome for dialing that in.
I use a Merkur Futur with Astra Blades, set to somewhere between 2.75 and 3.25 (typically on the lower side). That plus any alcohol free aftershave leaves me with the best shave possible with low irritation (I have sensitive skin) and no blood loss. The shave lasts me about a day and a half before obvious stubble shows up. When I used a Mach III I had to shave every day.
That said, you don't really need the adjust-ability to deal with beard thickness, you set the blade gap to match your skin, the angle you shave at, and your blade selection. The idea is more gap means the razor cuts deeper into the exposed hair, giving a closer longer lasting shave. If you get too greedy, you eventually cut your face. Sharper blades typically need less blade gap than less aggressive blades. Adjustable razors just make it easier to tune for the other two variables you can control (sadly it does nothing to make your skin more robust ;).
Having a single disassemble-able razor is what helps with beard thickness. The hair just washes away rather than getting stuck in between the blades. Cut beard hair is fairly sharp and irritates the skin as it passes over your face. It also bends the blades and changes the angle the blades travel at. That can also increase irritation.
For a large swath of the world that isn't a big deal, but it makes it darn near impossible for me to get a good shave.
When I travel I use a non-adjustable 53 Gillette Super Speed[2] due to its light weight and size. It's not nearly as nice as the Futur but responds well to the Astra blades for a shave that is as good as I would get with a Mach III but without the cleaning needs and less irritation. I bought it for $20 off of ebay and it's not quite as pretty as the linked one.
It's a skill you'll have for the rest of your life. It's a razor you'll have for the rest of your life. A minor hassle of a few bad shaves while you learn good technique for shaving your face is entirely worth it. Think long term, get away from short term thinking.
This is going to sound stupid, but after a while of shaving with a double-edged razor I found I could shave in the shower with no lather.
I just wait until I'm done washing and the steam has had a chance to soften the hair, then shave directly in the shower. It took a couple of weeks of shaving daily for my skin to get used to it but now I get it done with no irritation. An advantage of no lather/gel is that I can keep putting my face under the shower to keep the hair soft.
(I shave without a mirror, and then clean up afterwards)
This isn't going to be for everyone, and it certainly isn't as close as a gilette, but I can get the shave done in a couple of minutes.
I haven't used shaving cream in decades. I exclusively use a small amount of regular conditioner. I don't need a foamy mess all over my face, just need the smooth glide the conditioner offers.
Personally I like the multi-blade disposables razors. I think I have a pack of gillete 3 blade disposables that have lasted me almost half a year. It was 7.99 for a pack of 10.
With a cartridge system, it is damn near impossible to cut yourself even if you tried... With a safety razor if you hold it at the wrong angle you'll get cut (and the angle depends where on your face you're shaving, so it is very much a per-face learnt skill).
The main reason why a safety razor takes so much longer is that you need a good lather from the shaving soap. This offers the most lubrication, which will protect your face from the sharp blade. The crappy supermarket shaving foam just won't cut it (minor pun intended).
I use the non-foaming gels with a cartridge, which is fast and smooth. I gave a safety razor a real shot, but I don't want to spend 20-30 minutes before working shaving, I want to spend 5-10 minutes, and have almost no risk cutting myself no matter how reckless I am.
But undeniably safety razors are sharp and cheap. They're just a lot of hassle.