Originally Posted by
Chris_W
Thanks for the input everyone; I think I'm going to have to try out a double-edged safety razor.
I've pretty much only used electric shavers in the past, only occasionally using a disposable razor, which I was never that keen on. I didn't really know about all the different forms of manual razors, and it looks like the double-edge safety razor might be a bit more serious and more up to the task than the crappy disposables that I've tried.
I bought some vintage Gillette double edge razors at a garage sale a couple decades ago. You can also find them on Ebay but you really do not know what you are getting until you receive them, I bought a couple on Ebay that looked good in photos but were worthless. There are new ones available too, but they are not cheap. Good luck finding one you like. I have a strong preference for the vintage Gillette ones with an adjustment knob from 1 to 9.
Try rubbing a few drops of shampoo on a wet beard before you buy any shaving cream, if that works for you then shaving cream is one thing you do not need to buy to put in your pannier. As I noted above, I just use bar soap instead of shaving cream.