Learn About Safety Razors — Western Razor Co (2024)

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Safety Razors | Total Cost of Ownership | 0% Plastic | A Superior Shave | Heft | Physics 101 | Women | Propaganda | Blade Count | Shaving Culture | It Just Works | Safety | Travel | Ockham’s Razor

Western Razor makes “safety razors” which use double edge blades. They’re called safety razors because, at the time they were invented, the other way to shave was with a straight razor, which was, uh, less safe.

Our classic model—High Noon—is comprised of 3 pieces. Assembly is easy: just place a blade between the cap and clamp, then screw those onto the handle.

That’s it! The very definition of simplicity.

You save money with Western Razor. The real cost of ownership over time is considerably less in the long term than it is with other guys.

Why pay 4-5 dollars per plastic cartridge when you could pay 25 CENTS or less for a real metal blade?

Why pay to have plastic cartridges shipped every month when you could have a 3-year supply of blades in your medicine cabinet for literally a fraction of the cost?

Don't wasteyour time and money; use a real razor— a Western Razor!

Plastic is cheap and disposable. Every disposable plastic razor you’ve ever used is either sitting in a landfill or in a whale’s stomach. It’s time for this to stop! Not only could our all-metal razor last you decades, but it also uses easily disposable all-metal blades! You’re not only saving money here, you’re saving a whale’s life (or at the very least, reducing a whale’s indigestion)!

Now, maybe you’re thinking, “Slow down, Greta, I don’t care about environment stuff!” Fair enough. But plastic is still not cool. Would you buy plastic tools? Plastic knives? No, because they’re low quality. There’s a reason there’s no “Heavy Plastic” music. When the Egyptians sent King Tut to the afterlife, they didn’t include a single plastic item in his tomb. Coincidence? We think not.

Metal > Plastic. Case closed.

A Western Razorgives you a better shave while being simple and easy to use.

Most everyone who tries a safety razor agrees that it is a superior shave that results in:

• ✔️ reduced irritation and tugging

• ✔️ fewer ingrown hairs

• ✔️ no blade clogging during the shave

• 😎 increased coolness

And on top of that, all of our razors are made in the USA!

Weighing in at over 4 oz (4.1 oz, 116 grams), our High Noon Safety Razor dwarfs the competition. It is one of the most solid and substantial razors on the market.

There are almost no razors available in this weight class for under $100. And, besides the satisfying in-hand feel, a heavier razor comes with all sorts of other benefits (which we outline next, in the “Physics” section).

Come to think of it, the only thing that isn’t heavy is the price.

Lightweight plastic razors (½ oz or less) are exactly that, so you need to increase speed to get that momentum. In doing so, you usually face the unintended consequence of pushing down more on the razor to compensate for the lack of weight. The result? Unnecessary additional irritation from the excess friction caused by pushing the blade against the skin.

With the additional weight of a Western Razor, you get momentum without needing increased speed, ensuring a smooth and steady stroke with less skin irritation, fewer ingrown hairs, and none of the negative effects of shaving with a lighter, lesser razor.

It gets better. To ensure a satisfying and crisp stroke, you don’t want the razor to go off from its intended, straight path (y-axis). Any such deviation requires an acceleration perpendicular to your stroke (x-axis).

But Newton’s law tells us that the force resisting this deviation is mass times acceleration. Thus, our razor’s hefty mass increases this resisting force, preventing your razor from going haywire and keeping it moving smoothly on the straight and narrow!

Isaac Newton would undoubtedly approve.

Razors, especially safety razors, tend to get categorized as a “guy thing.” This traces back to school when it was big news whenever guys started to shave their weird little patchy mustaches. Meanwhile, in the shadows, women have been silently shaving 30x more surface area of their bodies while being totally marginalized by the major razor manufacturers.

Western Razor’s safety razors are unisex and work great for women’s shaving needs as well! In other words, all the benefits of our razor apply to everyone, whoever you are!

Other razor companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising to trick you into thinking you need their overpriced products and subscriptions. You don't!

Don't let them keep ripping you off. Use a safety razor— it really is better, more affordable, and more environmentally friendly.

It's an unfortunate triumph of marketing propaganda that you don't have one already.

"But aren’t five blades at once better??" No! You should be able to cut a hair with one stroke from one blade.

Then what are the other 4 doing? Most likely getting clogged and causing more skin irritation.

When you have 5 lines of contact on the skin, it causes 5 times the friction on each pass, increasing irritation. It is like 5 blade passes on the skin instead of 1 for each stroke. Your skin deserves better!

What great samurai ever preferred a 5-blade sword?

You don't need to have a homeapothecary or live the steam-punk lifestyle to use a safety razor.

You don't need fancy accessories, a club membership, or advanced training either— it works like any other type of razor!

While sometimes safety razors get pigeonholed into the realm of "niche subculture," they’re really not. Don’t be fooled—there’s nothing pretentious about them!

They provide a better shave, last longer, and cost less—that’s why the powers that be don’t want to keep them under wraps!

Use whatever shaving cream or soap you'd use with any other non-electric razor and apply it however you like (hands or brush, it’s all good). Don’t have a favorite yet? Give Caswell-Massey shave cream a shot!

All of our razors accept any standard double edge razor blades, which you can stock up on directly from us. Each blade lasts around 5-7 shaves, so 50 blades should give you approximately 250 shaves.

Yes, shaving with a safety razor is very safe. They’re not called safety razors for nothin’! In fact, our High Noon Safety Razor is safer than most due to our unique tweaks of the tried-and-true safety razor design.

There might be a small learning curve to adjust your shaving motions when changing to a safety razor from cartridge razors, but it shouldn’t take long to get adjusted and once you get the hang of it you won’t go back.

However, as with handling other sharp objects, always use caution with any razor blades:

• 👷 handle with care

• ⏱️ take your time when shaving

• ✋ keep away from children

Due to TSA regulations, razor blades are not allowed in carry-on luggage for flights. Securely wrap and put them in your checked luggage and you’ll be all set.

The Western Razor itself should be okay to fly in your carry-on without any blades (as of this writing). We say “should be” because we’ve heard occasional reports of TSA confiscating safety razors at security even without any blades (maybe at the behest of Big Cartridge Razor). These are indeed disturbing developments!

For the time being, we recommend at least packing the razor disassembled to reduce the likelihood that TSA has to check it for blades, and if possible in your checked luggage. We suggest checking the TSA website for the most up-to-date info on what is allowed in your luggage for your flight.

Or take the train or bus. Safety razors and blades are not discriminated against on those modes of transportation!

"Ockham's Razor" is the principlethat the simplest solution usually makes the most sense.

It’s doubtful Ockham was a member of “Shipping Intensive3,000% Markup Razor Club” or needed5 blades to cut each hair.

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