using a brush with cream is way better. it helps stand the hairs up and gets the face ready for the trauma you are about to inflict upon it. and a saftey razor is better. it reduces irritation (one blade at a time touch your skin, not 5), it's less expensive for blades, and is more manly. it requires focus on the task at hand, but it allows you to return to the traditions of being a man. you can also recycle your saftey razor blades, because it's just steel, it's not steel encased in plastic that no one recycles
FAIR WARNING: the first time i shaved with a safety razor i messed up badly. i pushed like it was a cartridge. my face was a horror, blood everywhere, and then i thought i would use a styptic pencil to staunch the bleeding. but it was so much that my face became dehydrated and the skin tight about half hour later; i couldn't make facial expressions it was so bad. so i guess when you try it, let the head of the Merkur do the work for you. let it glide over. you're going to have to do a few passes with it to get it baby ass smooth but it's so worth it
i stopped shaving my whole face years ago, but i still use the safety razor to clean up my neck
you can try out west coast shaving https://www.westcoastshaving.com/blogs/ ... zor-better a merkur can be 30 - 50 bucks or so, depending on what you get, but blades are about 0.10 - 0.30 a piece. i bought my tube or proaraso years ago and i still use it, and my badger brush was like 20-30 bucks