Second Annual "One Blade in February" Challenge

[goby]

Blade: Personna 74
Razor: EJ 89 DEL
Brush: Semogue 620
Soap: VDH (with Bleu Marine mixed it)
AS: WH, Anthony Logistic Moisturizer

Wow!! Every time I use VDH I wonder why people use Williams. If you want to go cheap, VDH is the way to go. Melt it and mix in some cologne and you have a great smelling, great performing soap for under $2.00.

The blade pulled like crazy, then I made the soap really watery. After that the shave was fine. A little less than DFS, but passable.

One more shave!!

 

[BroJohn]

Day 27, shave #26.

Same setup as before, P74 DE. Got a DFS today, but a lot of sting with the Alum bar. An hour later my face felt a little 'tight' with a barely perceptible sense of 'burn' on my lower neck. This in spite of good prep and a light touch.

I declare my effort for the 'One Blade in February Challenge' to be at an end.

Came close to one month, but just didn't quite make it. Oh, well, there's always next year. Still, 26 consecutive three-pass BBS/DFS is pretty darned good with a single blade. Last year I only made it two weeks.

I'm gearing up for the 'Open Comb March'.

-- John Gehman

 

[instpasr]

Im still hanging in there with the feather lite this blade is amazing (I hope I didn't jinx it) had yet another DFS. I will continue with this blade into march. Anybody with me?

 

[rajagra]

Still no drama. As I've missed a few days, I may keep going into March to see how well it lasts to shave 28.

 

[Hagbardr]

I haven't been keeping count, but I estimate I've had 12-14 shaves this month out of a Schick Plus Platinum. It's had a good run, but is at the end of its lifespan. I'll get one more shave out of it tonight or tomorrow morning, and then Tues or Weds, I'll load up a fresh blade.

 

[thedeacon]

It's over!.Final shave.."rough" ... what a ride it's been...

 

[Xman74]

Hats off to you gentlemen. I had fun while it lasted. See you next year!

 

[goby]

Blade: Personna 74
Razor: EJ 89 DEL
Brush: Semogue 830
Soap: Trumper Coconut
AS: WH, Nivea ASB


I gave the honors of my final shave to my favorite soap, Trumper Coconut. Every time I use it I'm amazed that some people say Trumper is hard to lather.

Ok shave, lots of micro stubble left, but good enough for my final shave. The Personna 74 passed the challenge.

I got close to 20 really great shaves from this blade. Thanks and kudos to the academy, ASR, the fine employees of Personna.

 

[Stevestan]

28 acceptable shaves with the ASCO. This last week required several passes over the sides of my chin to remove the stubble.

I'm going to do three more days to prove the the naysayers I can go a "full month"--31 days rather than just 28 on one blade. Buying blades in quantity works out to 20 cents per blade, so I could get by on $2.40 for blades for a year--Rationalization for the acquisition disorders!

 

[GatorShaver]

I made it through the whole month with an Indian Wilkinson Sword, getting high quality shaves the whole way through with the same 3 pass technique and a little touch up on the neck that I always use!!

That said, there were a few days that I didn't shave, so I'm a little short of 28 shaves on the blade. I think I'll keep it going a little ways into March just to hit that 28 shave mark, but this was a fantastic eye-opening experience for me.

 

[instpasr]

Got BBS with the feather lite today wasn't expecting that since I've only been getting DFS lately. I'm going to push it a bit longer to see how the blade holds up.

 

[Darjeeling Express]

23 shaves clocked in on The Lion. Very impressive. Retired the blade today. A job well, well, done. Looking forward to next February.

 

[rajagra]

So shave 23 is my last shave in February with this blade, and it was a damned fine one. Nearly all BBS without any special effort. Maybe my technique is adapting, I'm using very short, fast strokes in an almost blade-buffing manner, but without going over the same area more than once.

I might keep going for those final 5 shaves, but I'm itching to use a straight again.

In any case it was a useful lesson. I'll never get stressed wondering if a blade has 2 or 3 shaves under its belt!

 

[Trainer7]

Well, I'm still getting great shaves (to my surprise) and made it to 28 shaves includign on my Wedding Anniversary on 2/28! I have been using the Progress on 2.5 with Tabac Shaving Soap for all of these month completing shaves and still going strong! I think I will continue a while longer on this Personna 74 and see where it takes me

I have gone all the way doing the typical WTG, ATG, XTG and a reverse XTG under the neck. All great shaves from the blade perspective with variation due to shaving cream/soap consistency and the razor (when I was trying different ones in the beginning)

Here are my shaves from 23-28:

I am still using the same Personna 74 blade and Shave Moisture Badger Brush, and Progress on 2.5 (pulled this from my regular log Excel spreadsheet):

Shave# Cream/soap: Comments:

23 Tabac Shaving Soap.............................Still a great shave, no nicks
24 Tabac Shaving Soap.............................Still a great shave, no nicks
25 Tabac Shaving Soap.............................Still a great shave, no nicks
26 Tabac Shaving Soap.............................Still a great shave, no nicks
27 Tabac Shaving Soap.............................Still a great shave, no nicks
28 Tabac Shaving Soap.............................Still a great shave, no nicks, Wedding Anniversary


It's been an honor to go "a month on a blade" in this contest!

Joe.

 

[Stevestan]

Completed my 31st shave with the ASCO. Acceptable results and no weepers. Going to a new blade tomorrow. It's been a lot of fun. Hope to join in again next year!

 

[goby]

Completed my 31st shave with the ASCO. Acceptable results and no weepers. Going to a new blade tomorrow. It's been a lot of fun. Hope to join in again next year!

Amazing!!!!

BTW, on March 1 I shaved with a Wal-Mart Personna.... IT WAS SO SHARP!!! I guess my P74 was pretty beat up after 28 shaves.

 

[instpasr]

Today was the last shave on the feather lite it still provided a SAS but I had to push it along and strop it before this shave. I'm going out of town tomorrow so I'm officially retiring it and taking my futur with me because it needs some attention. It's been a good run.

 

[Stevestan]

It's interesting to me how you can make stuff last if you really put your mind to it. My Mother used the same pencil in Norwegian grade school for a year and a half. She had a very "light hand" and she sharpened it very carefully as minimally necessary. She grew up during the depression. Not many people today can do that kind of stuff or care to.

 

[StillShaving]

Heading into March, I made it to shave #20 with a Feather Professional blade loaded in a Kai Excelia. I am going to continue for a few more shaves to see how it goes. The blade is not sharp when compared to day 1 shave, but still works pretty well and is very forgiving. I made a false move during my last shave which would have certainly drawn blood with a new blade, but no problem with this well used one.

 

[rajagra]

Aha! I just realised that last night's shave was shave 28 with the Merkur Super blade!
It still shaves well. I'm going to clean and oil the blade and carry on using it next February!!

Now the real test begins. Yesterday the supermarket had 1/3 off Proglide razors. I bought the powered version and tomorrow I will try it out to see how it compares to a 28-shave-old DE blade.