The $50 safety razor I swear by to get a close, smooth shave is 15% off as a Black Friday deal
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- There are a wealth of different shaving startups to turn to for better razors than the drugstore variety I'd relied upon for years, but the razor that has improved my shave the most is the $50 Rockwell 6C Safety Razor.
- Rockwell Razors makes high-quality safety razors that they claim "anyone can start using without the learning curve of other safety razors."
- I've shaved with the 6C safety razor for the last few months, and while it's expensive and requires more time and concentration (remember, we're dealing with very sharp blades here), the extremely close shave the razor offers is far superior to any other razor I've used.
- The razor has significantly cut down on my ingrown hairs and any acne I was getting from clogged pores, which helps justify its $50 cost.
- Right now, all customers can save 15% off store-wide using code "BLACKFRIDAY".
I'm pretty set in my ways when it comes to shaving. I've tried razors from other shaving startups, but I've found that five- or six-blade razors irritate my skin.
I don't have a very thick beard and I don't need to be clean shaven every day for work, which means I've been pretty happy with my standard three-blade razor I bought a bunch of years ago. I only have to shave a couple times a week, which means my blade cartridges last a while, so it hasn't been a big cost issue for me to pay a little more for another four-pack of them every few months.
Until recently, I'd never had a straight razor shave (the scary barbershop kind), nor had I ever tried a safety razor (a mix of a single razor blade but with some safety features). Rockwell Razors sent me their 6C safety razor model because they wanted to prove their claim that they've made "a double-edge safety razor that anyone can start using without the learning curve of other safety razors."
So, after I got the razor, I didn't watch any YouTube videos about shaving and only used their instruction manual. The model they sent me has six settings that determine the angle at which the blade meets your skin. I started with the third, figuring the middle setting would be the best place to start. At first, I treated it like a normal drugstore razor and made some mistakes.
I will get into how you need to pay more attention to the shave below, but true to their claim, I didn't make any huge mistakes. I might have made fewer if I took a safer setting to start, but hindsight is 20/20.
Rockwell RazorsThe Rockwell 6C safety razor comes with three different plates, so you can change the angle of the razor blade.
As I wrote earlier, whenever I shaved with a razor with more than three blades, my skin got irritated. It turns out the opposite is also true; when I shave with less than three blades, my skin gets even less irritated.
Since I began shaving with the 6C, I've noticed an almost complete absence of any ingrown hairs on my cheeks and neck, and any acne I was getting from clogged pores is also gone. Using a single razor blade means the shave is incredibly close. For me, this also means shaving even less often. If you're a very beard-y person, you'll have more time before that 5 o'clock shadow shows up.
Furthermore, since you're using one blade and getting very close, I have noticed that when my beard does grow back, it grows back in softer than it does with a more traditional drugstore razor. It stand to reason that because the one blade cuts closely, it blunts the hair rather than slicing it at angle, so the hair grows out flat rather than pointy.
My facial hair is far less coarse, which I wasn't expecting and count as a major benefit of using the razor.
That said, this product is not without its trade-offs. First, the upfront cost is significant and can't be ignored. Second, this is a product that requires patience and precision. We're dealing with very sharp razor blades. They are so sharp you may struggle to notice if you cut yourself. When using a safety razor, you must absolutely not be in a rush; you have to take the time to pull your skin taut so that you get a clean connection between the blade and the skin.
The razor also takes a little more care to clean out. You can use both sides while you shave, but because of how the blade is screwed into place, you may need to loosen it when you run it under the sink to clear out the hair. I've cut my fingers doing this and I've also cut myself when I wasn't paying complete attention.
Now that I've laid out the risks and benefits, we should also look at the economics.
Rockwell sells a pack of 100 razors for $12. Using the eight shaves per blade as my assumption (if you have thicker hair you might wear through them faster than I do), that's 800 shaves for $12, or about $.02 a shave. That $12 pack would also last me seven years before I'd have to buy more at 2 shaves per week. Compared to what I've been doing, I've been spending $16 on a four-pack of blades that lasts me six or seven months at about $.50 per shave. Even with the cost of the fancy razor upfront, after a couple of years this easily pays for itself. And that's without considering the benefits I've seen to my skin from using a safety razor.
If you're interested in looking at some other safety razor options, our buying guide has a bunch of other great options.
You can also check out the full Rockwell shop here.