What makes a good razor? 5 factors that influence your shaving!

When shaving with a double edge safety razor there are essentially 5 key parameters to notice before you start. Each of these factors influences a certain aspect of your shaving and the final result itself. On this page, we will breakdown all of them so you can learn a bit more about them.

Open Comb vs Closed Comb

On a classic safety razor, there are 3 parts: The handle, the cap, which is the top part that touches your face, and the middle plate.

This intermediate part pushes the blade against the cap and there are essentially 2 types: Open comb and Closed comb.

The open comb is dented, which allows a higher exposition of your skin to the blade, thus this comb is considered more aggressive and ideal for bigger beards.

On the other hand, the closed comb is much smoother. Most beginners choose this one because it often results in much fewer cuts during shaving.

Blade Angle

This is the angle between your face and the blade cutting edge. This is linked to comfort while shaving. A good blade angle is the one that allows you to shave with comfort in every contour of your face.

If we take a closer look at this picture, we will discover another 2 essential parameters: blade exposure and blade gap. These 2 are somehow related. Let’s find out how!

Blade Exposure

The blade exposure is the amount of the blade cutting edge your skin is exposed to. A negative exposure “hides” the blade inside the razor and this leads to a very smooth and cut free shaving. A positive exposure makes the blade salient of the razor, this permits a very deep and aggressive cut, ideal to achieve what we call baby skin.

Blade Gap

The blade gap is linked with the amount of beard that you can cut in one single passage, simply because there is less or more space between the blade and the middle plate. Note that a larger blade gap leads do an also larger blade exposure, these concepts are indissociable.

Handle Length

To analyze the overall performance of a razor, you can never forget it’s dimensions, especially the handle length and weight. Of course, a longer and heavier handle will get a little extra help from gravity when you shave downwards, and vice-versa. Also, the center of gravity of such razor is slightly shifted farther from the blade and this affects its balance (positively or negatively depends on personal preference).

A longer handle normally suits better for people with big hands and shorter cables for people with smaller hands.

Build your own razor

Now that you know how every aspect of the razors affects your shaving, you are able to make your own safety razor. You can know more about our 2 models – Masamune and Nodachi– or you can combine parts from both models and find what is best for you – your own custom razor!

And now that you are an expert with the numbers, you can make a better decision by reading our master table.

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