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There is a fellow in England named Andy, and he is a genius.

A few days ago, Andy posted some comments on the Wetshavers discussion board about an experiment he tried with his Schick Injector razor. Seems Andy also shaves with a Feather disposable blade straight razor, and he noticed that the Feather Pro Guard blades that go with this razor were exactly the same size as standard Injector blades, only a few millimeters longer. So he snipped a Feather blade down to size, loaded it into his Injector, and got "the mother of all shaves".

I was so juiced by his idea that I tried it myself, but for some strange reason it didn't work at all for me. Which really threw me, because I'd even taken things a bit further and tried putting an even sharper Feather Professional blade in my Injector -- unlike the "training wheel" Pro Guard blades which have plastic guards wrapped around the blade to prevent nicks and cuts, the next-step-up Professional blades are designed to mimic a "naked" straight razor blade, with no protection at all. But try as I might, I just couldn't get this combo to cut any whiskers. It was like I hadn't even loaded a blade into my razor.

After emailing Andy and tossing ideas back and forth, it was clear neither one of us had a clue why the Professional blade didn't work in my Injector. So I figured what the hell, I've got some Pro Guard blades, I may as well duplicate his experiment down to the same blade just for grins. Why not?

That's what I shaved with today, and let me tell you something man and boy, I got the very best shave I've gotten from the Injector so far. I thought this razor shaved like a dream with a stock Schick blade, but wait till you try one of these Injectors with a modified Feather Pro Guard blade. If you think Feather's super-sharp Feather Platinum DE blades make a big difference compared with Merkur/Wilkinson/Personna blades when used in a DE razor, you won't believe the transformative power of the Feather Pro Guard disposable straight razor blades have over the Schick Injector. It's a whole new ball game.

For starters, the shave seems frictionless -- the blade just glides over your face like you'd already shaved it and there's no more stubble to cut. You feel a stock Injector blade cutting, but you don't feel the Feather blade at all. You just slide it over your face and it leaves a virgin swath of skin behind.

But the really amazing thing is that for the first time ever, I've been able to achieve the same incredible closeness from just one downward pass of a safety razor as I have from a straight razor. I'm no expert with a cut throat by any means, but I can shave my cheeks with one and get really, really close with just that one downward pass. No DE razor, not even the mad-dog Merkur Slant Bar, can duplicate that feat. Neither can the Injector loaded with a Schick blade. But put a Feather Pro Guard in it, and the Injector can give you that same closeness on the first pass that could stand on its own as a damned good shave.

And here's the best part: unlike a straight razor, the Feather-loaded Injector loves shaving uphill. Loves it. If anything, the against-grain pass was even easier than the first pass, probably because there was so little stubble left to mow. Try that with a straight razor and the blade will skip on your skin like it's playing hopscotch, leaving a little trail of red dots behind it. But the Feather/Injector cuts against the grain like it's on greased skids, even on my neck and underchin, which are the hardest areas to shave like this.

I did nothing special for this shave -- just showered first and then lathered as usual with some Taylor's rose shaving cream and a Vulfix #2235 brush. I didn't even hit the Y today, so shave-enhancing sweat wasn't part of the equation. To be honest, I wasn't really expecting much from the Pro Guard blade, because of the MIA shave I got with the Feather Professional blade. I was just trying the Pro Guard blade so I could tell Andy in my next email that I tried doing it just like he had so why didn't it work for my Injector? Except it did, with a vengeance.

Honestly, it was one of the very best shaves I've ever had. It was on a par with a straight razor shave except it was far, far easier to do. My face had exactly the same exfoliated tingling, and total lack of feelable stubble anywhere on my face and neck, that I've only experienced after a professional straight razor shave.

I don't know why the entry-level Feather Pro Guard blade works so incredibly well in the Injector while the superior Feather Professional blade falls flat. I'm going to experiment some more with the Pro and even the top-shelf Professional Super blade, to see if maybe I just didn't have the Pro loaded properly when I tried it the first time. But for now, I'm going to enjoy the astounding, no-brainer shaves with this Feather/Injector rig and try not to question it, lest I jinx it somehow. This is just too good to mess with right now. I just want to enjoy it for awhile before I whip out my lab coat again.

Andy, my hat's off to you. While entire shavegeek forums generate nothing but methane, you single-handedly lit a rocket under the Injector and launched it to the moon. It's very likely that nobody has ever gotten as good a shave with any Injector as you got when you first stuck a Feather blade in yours.

Forget pastes and oils and cubes and fake "custom" silvertip brushes that are really made in China -- none of these improves the shave beyond the basic tools, if you're really being honest with yourself. But if you want to vastly improve the quality of your shaves, and you're currently using using a DE or an Injector razor, you owe it to yourself to try this idea. Simply put, the Feather Pro Guard blade, when clipped down to stock Injector blade size and inserted properly, transforms a great safety razor into something else entirely -- a bona-fide straight razor with a safety razor's handle and greater ease of use.

Way to go, Andy!