01 / Shaving
A Braun for daily use. A Gillette for a quick, close shave. A safety razor for the days when I’ve let things grow.
I took too long to discover how comfortable shaving could be. These are the tools I recommend trying. There is also some unexpectedly good chemistry.
Straight to the shopping list
01 / The kit
Buy either to start. Both take the same Feather blades and use the same brush and soap below.
Phoenix Shaving / Stainless steel
Flare Tip Series · 316L stainless
This is the Phoenix in my photo. A substantial, fixed-head safety razor with a patterned grip and a flared tip. A straightforward tool for trying a traditional double-edge shave.
Merkur / Bright chrome
Closed comb · Compact two-piece design
My Merkur pick for this kit. A short, substantial handle and a conventional fixed head make it a useful counterpart to the META-4, with different geometry to try.
Makers make geometry decisions particular to each model: how the blade is held, how much edge is exposed, and how the head meets your face. The same blade can feel different in another razor. You may have to iterate a little to find your daily favorite, or keep different favorites for a day’s stubble and several days’ growth.
I own and recommend both Phoenix and Merkur. The 34C is the specific model selected here; my owned Merkur model hasn’t been identified.
Allow about ten minutes, including the lather. Both the lather and the shaving take practice.
Phoenix Shaving
Buy the complete brush with the 24 mm Nexus synthetic knot. It matches the family and size of one of the knots I bought for my ShaveRite, in a ready-to-use brush with a butterscotch acrylic handle.
The aluminum ShaveRite in my photo is unavailable at its old link. I bought both Nexus and Roswell Grey knots; which one is installed remains unresolved.
Pasteur Pharmacy
The French shaving soap I use. I like it in the 200 g wooden bowl pictured here. Pasteur is out of that format; buy the available 50 g glass jar for the same soap and scent now.
The little jar supplies its own container for loading the brush. No separate bowl is required to get started.
Pasteur Pharmacy
I’ve tried blades from around the world and come to prefer Feather. Buy the 20-blade pack for either safety razor. One pack serves both.
Pasteur Pharmacy
Keep an alum block or styptic pencil handy for minor shaving nicks. This 75 g Osma block fills that job in the kit.
My recommendation is the category; Osma is the specific buying selection here. Why does a little block do that? ↓
With practice, the safety razor is my least painful method, especially after several days’ growth. Getting there involved nicking my neck rather more often than I’d have liked. My face is a sample size of one.
Also in the cabinet
Try the Braun dry, wet, and wet with Cremo. Then compare five blades with two on the same Gillette handle. Keep what suits your face.
Best Buy
The Series 9 is the electric razor I’ve settled on. Daily use is comfortable for me; longer whiskers can tug. I like being able to pop off the foil head and rinse it.
Buy the wet/dry 9577cc from Best Buy. This is a current selection in the family, rather than an identification of my own unit. The maker link describes the Series 9 family in a different bundle.
Pasteur Pharmacy
A quick, very close shave when my whiskers are already short. This handle comes with two five-blade cartridges, so you can try it without buying another pack of five-blade refills.
Pasteur Pharmacy
Buy these two-blade refills for the same ProGlide handle. Compare them with the five-blade cartridges that come with it. You don’t need a second handle.
Pasteur Pharmacy
For the Braun or a quick cartridge shave: hydrate a dab with water in your palms, spread it, shave, then rinse. Add water as needed to keep it slippery.
Classic Citrus / Original is the formula selected here; my own variant wasn’t recorded. What’s in that slippery little dab? ↓
02 / A few detours
The shopping advice has a tendency to turn into a small investigation. Here are two worth the detour.
Cremo sends you back to the tap. An almond-sized amount, wet skin, more water as needed. The trick is keeping a slippery film going while you shave.
The current Original label includes palmitic and stearic acids, cetearyl alcohol, and polymers including Polyether-1 and a modified guar. It’s a formulated cream; the long names are doing jobs.
Cetearyl alcohol is a mixture of fatty alcohols, chiefly cetyl and stearyl alcohol. A supplier sells it as white flakes and describes its uses as thickening, helping emulsions, and softening skin. “Alcohol” covers a surprisingly wide range of things to find in a bathroom.
The ingredient list doesn’t disclose the whole recipe or let me assign a percentage of slipperiness to each ingredient. The useful instruction is much simpler: add water when it stops feeling slippery. A little cream goes a long way.
Further reading: Cremo’s ingredients & instructions; cetearyl alcohol supplier sheet (PDF).
A small piece of bathroom chemistry, ready for the moment your technique gets ahead of your skill.
A styptic pencil can contain aluminum sulfate; an alum block uses an alum salt, commonly potassium alum. They are related astringents. Aluminum salts help precipitate proteins at the surface, which helps stop small amounts of bleeding. Think local chemistry at a tiny nick.
The HIS styptic pencil label, for example, lists aluminum sulfate as its active ingredient and gives its use as stopping bleeding from minor surface cuts, including shaving. Its directions are to wet the tip, apply it, and dry the pencil afterward. Follow the label on the product you buy.
The protein explanation comes from research on astringents used in dentistry, where aluminum salts are also useful for controlling small amounts of bleeding. That explains the chemical idea; it isn’t a claim that a shaving block and a dental preparation are interchangeable.
Further reading: styptic pencil drug label; astringent research (Materials, 2021); Osma’s backstory.
03 / Buy it
Exact products, grouped into orders. Choose either safety razor, or buy both to compare. Everything else in the safety kit works with either.
For the whole list, the META-4 route uses Phoenix, Pasteur, and Best Buy. The 34C route also needs ShopMerkur; the brush still comes from Phoenix. Buying both razors is four orders too. I buy electronics from Best Buy.
The META-4 and the complete Nexus brush, bought from their maker.
Flare Tip Series · 316L stainless steel. Choose this safety razor, the 34C, or both to compare.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026Complete synthetic brush with an acrylic handle. No separate knot or assembly required.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026One order for the soap, blades, alum, cream, and both cartridge types.
Buy now: 50 g glass jar, same soap and scent. The preferred 200 g wooden bowl pictured above is out of stock here.
50 g available · checked Nov 3, 2026Double-edge blades for the META-4 or the Merkur 34C. One pack serves both.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026The specific block selected to fill out this kit. Keep it handy for minor shaving nicks.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026Includes two five-blade cartridges. You can make the comparison without buying extra five-blade refills yet.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026Two blades per cartridge. These fit the ProGlide handle above.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026Classic Citrus. The quick-shave cream for the Braun or the Gillette.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026The 34C in bright chrome, direct from the Merkur specialist.
Closed comb, two-piece safety razor. Choose this safety razor, the META-4, or both to compare.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026The electric razor. I buy electronics from Best Buy.
Silver wet/dry shaver with SmartCare Center. Buy the listing sold by Best Buy.
Listed available · checked Nov 3, 2026Buying links and availability checked November 3, 2026. Stock and delivery can change. These are direct product links; no purchase happens on this page.
The META-4, ShaveRite handle, and wooden Fougère bowl are identified from my photographs and purchase records. The stand in the photograph isn’t a recommendation.
The Merkur 34C, Solar Flare brush, Braun 9577cc, Cremo Original, Osma block, and current pack sizes make the recommendations specific enough to buy. My original notes did not identify those exact variants. The brush matches a knot family I purchased, rather than an identified knot in my photograph.
The 50 g Fougère jar is a buy-now substitute for my preferred 200 g wooden bowl. Both links are kept explicit above. Personal descriptions of comfort are my experience, rather than a promise about your face.