Dear Users of Razors,

I find it strange that more of you haven't discovered the advantages of the double-edged safety razor. They're awesome.

Now, I'm not talking about those disposable plastic toys from the likes of Gillette and Schick, mind you. I'm speaking of the hefty, re-usable, aesthetically-pleasing shaving implements made by Parker, Merkur, and Edwin Jagger, among others. Once you pick up one of these finely-engineered, astutely-designed, meticulously-crafted tools, adorned with steel, chrome, polished bone, or sometimes very nice-looking plastic, you'll know what it means to be a man. Or a woman, in the case of leg shaving.

For a man, there are few things quite so irresistible as those being shiny or metal; the combination is bedazzling. If that and the pride and delight of owning personal care instruments of great and lasting quality are not enough to sway you, then the insanely close shave will certainly help. These razors show that overwhelming force can not substitute for superior capability. You can not hit a target at 300m using ten guns with a range of 100m. 100 nitwits will not design a better spaceship than a lone rocket scientist. A choir of Chris Browns will never sound as good as one Bing Crosby or silence. A multi-blade disposable razor is like an album of Nickleback songs, both comprising dull, indistinguishable parts, while a DESR is like a Beatles song. I think you get the point, or edge rather. The single, ultra-sharp blade on these razors allows for a much closer shave than you'll ever get with a plastic disposable razor, I don't care if you've got a Mach 11. Plastic razors do not go to eleven.

As if all that weren't enough, the DESR could save you a veritable fortune. Exhibit A: Gillette Mach 3 cartridges. These obnoxious things are over a $1 per cartridge, and will likely not give you more than 5 shaves before becoming painfully dull. Note, also, the link shows one of the best prices I've seen for these sorts of razors, and some customers have complained these seem like "seconds" or defective stock.
Now witness exhibit B: bulk packs of DE blades from Derby, the Toyota of blades, and Feather, the Lotus of blades. The Derbys are about 22¢ and the Feathers, 50¢. You get 4-6 shaves from these, depending on how coarse your beard is. The savings will add up pretty fast, using standard math.

With all these irrefutable pros, surely there must be some cons. "If they're so great, why doesn't everybody use them?" you ask in your indignant, you're-not-the-boss-of-me tone. It turns out there is a reason not everyone uses a DESR: shaving apathy. You see, if you just don't care about shaving, you won't really get the DESR. I know plenty of guys who buy the absolute cheapest, single-blade disposable razors available. Then they use each of these razors until the thing pulls more hairs than it cuts, and the edge of the blade looks like sponge. Others do the same with the expensive disposables. Their razor budget is small enough, a DESR probably wouldn't save them much. Others spend a maximum 3:45min shaving. They view as a waste any additional time spent shaving. Still others use electric shavers. I don't know what to say for them.

All of these groups share a common approach to shaving: it's a chore. They only shave because they must, and as such want to spend as little time or money as possible. Shaving with a DESR is definitely cheap, but it also requires patience, skill, and care. The first few times I used a DESR, my face hurt more than I was used to. Okay, it felt like I had just burned all my whiskers off with 5M HCL. But since then, my skin has gotten used to it, and it feels fine. I also had to learn to shave carefully around certain areas, like, uh, moles. My wife was somewhat disturbed by the blood flowing down my neck when I was just starting out. But I had cut my self plenty of times with disposables, and now it's rare to have any nick that requires toilet paper. As for the time requirement, I allow no less than 15 minutes. I've taken as much as 25min, but that was only on one occasion, and I was really spacing out. Since I don't shave every day, this isn't a problem for me.

You might have seen somewhere those old dauber brushes and mugs men used with bars of shaving soap. This is the preferred lather arrangement for DESRs. That's what I've heard, anyway. I've never used a DESR with canned shave foam/gel; only with shaving soap applied with a brush. Therefore I can not comment on the difference in performance or value between foam/gel and soap. I'd venture to guess foam/gel is a little cheaper and a great deal crappier. You'll have to figure that part out for yourself.

I hope you recognize merits of the DESR, or at least the demerits of disposables. Think it over. Admitting there's a problem is the first step. After that, who knows how far you may go? Heck, someday you may even find yourself annihilating whiskers with a full-on straight razor.