Use short strokes, especially when you’re just getting the hang of it. It takes time and patience to shave with a safety razor. Six months later, I still have scars.Ī word to the wise: You have to be slow, careful and methodical with these tools. I’ll spare you the photos of my bleeding legs, but I will tell you the scabs took a month to heal.
If you’re squeamish, DO NOT READ THE NEXT SENTENCE: As I drained the bath water, I found strips of my own skin at the bottom of the tub, sliding around like squishy, deflated, little worms. ( Albatross on the left leg, Well Kept on the right, so that neither would have an unfair benefit from their place on my safety-razor-learning-curve.) But despite my care, I still managed to mangle myself equally with both razors: I worked up a good lather, and took my time, shaving more slowly and carefully than I have in years. I sat down in the tub, and exfoliated first. To be clear, the first time I tried these safety razors, I did everything they told me to: If the razor slides from East to West, even just slightly, instead of sticking to its designated North-South path up the leg, that’s how you’ll get those bright white, missing-skin cuts. On the right: Leaf Shave’s Twig and original Leaf Razor. ) The first two safety razors I tested, on the left: Well Kept’s pink razor, and Albatross’ short-handled butterfly razor.
But if you’re just here for my review of the Leaf Shave razors, feel free to jump down by clicking here. (This story gets long, as I had to rant about the concept of “self-care,” and the predictable shallowness of so many reviews. I don’t think I’d experienced this so vividly since I was maybe 14, but it happened again when I tried my first two safety razors. You know when you’re shaving your legs and you look down and see a thin strip of pure white, often straight up your shin bone, and you realize it’s not a bit of shaving cream you’ve missed, but a place where you actually sliced off the top layer of skin? (Never shaved your legs before? Try to use your imagination.)