By far the most important factor for getting a smooth, fast shave with a traditional safety razor is finding the right shaving cream. If you get the pre-lathered ones that come in a tube or tub, you can avoid spending several minutes lathering in a bowl. Good creams include Keihl's White Eagle or Blue Eagle and Truefitt and Hill 1805, each of which is pretty much universally loved by anyone who has ever tried them.

With those shaving creams, I find that it pretty much doesn't matter what brand of blade I use any more, and I can shave in 5 minutes. If you really wanted to optimize on the margins, you could get a sampler pack of 10 different kinds of blades and find the one that works best for your skin chemistry.

I had an issue with Proraso, but I started putting Jack Black's Beard Lube on first and it seems to make my shave much more smooth.

Lathering the Proraso takes seconds, rinse my brush with really hot water and put some hot water in the Proraso tub for a few seconds before dumping it out. Swirl around the brush for a few seconds and it's good to go.

I find a shave faster if anything - short quick strokes with a sharp razor decimates my thick facial hair faster than a triple blade cartridge.

I typically wait until my facial hair is pretty thick before shaving too. I use Jack Black's Face buff in the shower, then Jack Black's Beard Lube and layer Proraso on top of it. I'd be interested how well my shave would be if I used the same method with a cartridge.

Same here. I have really thick hair and I use an old 1950's style razor with cheap single blades. One pass and I'm done. With the 3-4 blade razors I'd have to shave down 2-3 times in each spot and then back up again to get a clean shave.

>> The cream (Proraso in my case) lathers quickly and consistently, and is vastly superior to the canned stuff.

For what it's worth, Proraso works well with cartridge and disposable razors also.