When I became more environmentally conscious many years ago, I decided to switch to a safety razor to reduce plastic waste. I landed on a reputable safety razor with a ‘mild’ angle, something that would be good for sensitive skin. Even with a good shaving soap, I found that I would regularly still get some discomfort from razor burn, despite learning a solid technique.
Enter: the Henson. This was touted as a ‘new’ design of safety razor that fully supported the blade, making it particularly well suited for sensitive skin, and much harder to nick yourself.
Well, I’ve been using this thing for a few months now, and I can honestly say the marketing isn’t an exaggeration, it’s been a game-changer for me.
It really is MUCH harder to nick myself with this, to the point where I can press it against my skin firmly like a disposable, and I still don’t get irritation. It’s one of the most pleasant shaving experiences I’ve had, and I can heartily recommend one for anyone who wants a truly mild safety razor.
Its made of machined aluminum, and built to tight tolerances. I anticipate I’ll be using this sucker quite literally for the rest of my life.
Though do bear in mind, If you have a thick beard or non-sensitive skin, the mild henson might not be ideal for you. As an example I still use my old razor with it’s more exposed blade to shave my head, as this henson gets clogged up far too quickly for that application (unless the hair is already really short). But for the face with light facial hair? Perfection.
For a long time I wanted to write a post about safety razors, but this will not be the time, again. I’ll just summarize some of my experiences.
First of all, different razor blades will work differently, but the sharpest seem to work great in Henson AL13 (note: mild model).
Next, there are some cheap and good razors, like Feather Popular and Yaqi Mellon. There are also some mid-range good ones like Henson AL13 and Rockwell 6S/2C. Other razors are hit and miss in my experience, they may work well for you, they may work well for you with a specific blade, and they may also be total crap for you; you generally can guess which is which but not be sure.
The shaving in three passes along the hair growth, across the hair, and against the hair is also very important. I used to think that shaving immediately against the hair was enough and would one day get me a smooth cut-free shave, but it wouldn’t and I ended up bleeding quite a lot every single time.
Last, on a tangential point, every time I see some product being advertised I feel being scammed, especially if the comments are largely positive. With Henson, it’s probably the first time this is not a scam, but I am glad that I got the razor before seeing any of the praises online and already have tried it, otherwise I would have thought that to be another marketing bullshit and passed on it, most likely.
All-in-all, I tried about two dozen safety razors in combination with different blades, and the Henson AL13 is in my top 2.
Any ladies or theys in the chat that can attest to how good it is for legs/bits? I assume that if it’s good for faces it’s good for any other part of the body as well, but I’d love to hear any personal experiences you guys may have on that front!
Face and leg razors have different contours (that’s why leg razors are more expensive) if you’re worried about cutting then stick to a leg razor
I was worried about that, especially with a straight razor when my legs don’t have many flat planes on them. I will say, though, I’ve used men’s brand razors for years instead of women’s brands, and haven’t noticed much difference between the two. I assume the price difference is just typical pink tax.
Do you have any recommendations for a non-disposable that is good for legs? I have had the same safety razor for almost a decade but still shill out too much money for disposables because the safety razor tears up my knees/ankles.
Dang, I hate to hear that. I was worried about that with a straight razor on those areas. That and poking around blindly with it in my bikini area without knowing how well it does didn’t sound ideal.
I love my safety razor. Go with one that has a longer handle. I have a vintage Lady Gillette Starburst razor that I picked up on eBay. It’s a super close shave. I stay smoother a couple of days longer than I did with cartridge razors. It completely got rid of shave bumps and my skin irritation that was driving me crazy. West Coast shaving sells blade sample packs so you can try a bunch and pick the one you like most.
Fwiw safety razor shaving is a deep deep rabbit hole. You will drop a bunch of money up front but the benefits are great. Some people get into it to save money (it is cheaper than cartridge shaving) but then they turn into collectors with bunches of razors and a huge array of shaving soaps, creams, and after shaves. You don’t HAVE to go that deep.
Haha it’s funny that you mention the rabbit hole, because this post definitely sent me down one. I was researching using safety razors for body shaving, and people seemed to keep mentioning the lady Gillette! I may have to pick one up. Do you recommend any particular year, or are they all about the same?
Be warned, safety razor shaving can become a rabbit hole if you’re not careful. I’ve spent a fair bit of coin on various razors, brushes, soaps, blades, and numerous other accessories. I was pretty settled on my setup for the last 2 years, but really wanted to try a lighter weight razor (aluminum or titanium). These have historically been very expensive. I stumbled upon this Henson AL13 razor and decided to try it out. Still expensive for me at roughly $80, but much cheaper than options I was looking at a few years back.
It’s been a couple of months now, and I am extremely happy with it. Compared with my previous razor (Karve Christopher Bradly, which I was very happy with) I barely even feel this razor on my skin, but it gets just as clean of a shave. I have very sensitive skin, so this is a blessing for me. 100% recommend.
Outside of this, pricing wise chances are high you will spend less money on a safety razor and it’s replacement blades than most others.
Someone did the math, it’s almost exponential.
That’s a great point. I can use a brand new blade every shave and still spend far less than it would cost to buy Mach-3 heads (or similar). Even using those disposable heads for multiple shaves (I would normally go 5 shaves per head), it’s still much much much cheaper with the safety razor blades I now use.
Though do bear in mind, If you have a thick beard or non-sensitive skin, the mild henson might not be ideal for you.
I see they have the -M class for more blade exposure for thicker and longer hair. I wonder if this would mitigate that. Did you have the AL13 non-M model?
Yes, I have the standard one. I kinda wish I’d gotten the AL13-M now, as I suspect it might’ve been able to pull double duty.
I bought the aluminium and loved it so much I upgraded to the titanium. No regrets, although I can’t say there’s much difference except for the weight feels better.
I haven’t used any other safety razors, but I can’t imagine how anything could be better. It’s so good I can shave with just cold water (no shaving cream) and it still comes out perfect.