Testing blade samples

[Moody]

I have been at this a while but haven't really tried that many blades.

I have issues trying to get a lot to work for me so i have gotten a nice big set of samples of some of the more popular plus some less popular that i gather may work for me.

I have been less than happy with most of what rapira have to offer. My go-to for a long time has been shark stainless.

There are several previous threads on my ongoing trials. Most have not ended well

I will give each of these blades a decent shot in several razors and give my opinion of them as i go. Hopefully i can get some better results.

 

[Moody]

Shave 1:

Bic chrome platinum.

Derby soap, Gillette on 5.

Result: Not good but I think I know where I went wrong.

The slim on 5 is my default for Shark, Voskhod, Ladas and other smooth less sharp blades. The Bic is not a smooth less sharp blade.

First pass uneventful - it always is.

Second pass. Mowed through the hair a lot better than I expected. Not as much to clean up for the third pass, this felt sharp.
Third pass, good but I could feel it scraping my skin. Halfway through I turned down to one and if felt much better.

alum was painful. Worse than I have had in a while. Result was very smooth though.

i will use the same blade in a weishi tomorrow. Much milder razor.

 

[jamesspo]

I don't know what your experience level is, but if you're relatively new at DE shaving I'd say there probably are just basic technique issues here at play. Just about any of the blades in your picture there should be able to give you a couple of pain-free shaves minimum. Blades aren't all that different and the differences are pretty subtle when everything else is right. What's much more likely is short term damage to your face due to technique getting randomly blamed on a blade. Pick a well liked blade - say any of the 7 oclock or the Polisilvers, and stick with that for a couple of months (with a slow rotation of razors if you must). When that gets to where you can shave without issues indefinitely, come back to looking at other blades. The blade/razor combinatorics are way oversold and are not going to help you here.

 

[KeenDogg]

I don't know what your experience level is, but if you're relatively new at DE shaving I'd say there probably are just basic technique issues here at play. Just about any of the blades in your picture there should be able to give you a couple of pain-free shaves minimum. Blades aren't all that different and the differences are pretty subtle when everything else is right. What's much more likely is short term damage to your face due to technique getting randomly blamed on a blade. Pick a well liked blade - say any of the 7 oclock or the Polisilvers, and stick with that for a couple of months (with a slow rotation of razors if you must). When that gets to where you can shave without issues indefinitely, come back to looking at other blades. The blade/razor combinatorics are way oversold and are not going to help you here.

This. I am learning this as I go. Great post, thank you.

 

[psfred]

Shallow angle, very light pressure, short strokes and just about any blade will give you a good shave for quite a while. Works for Derby to Polsilver for me, just trust the blade to do it's job with just enough pressure to keep the edge on your face and light overlapping strokes.

I shave mostly one pass against the grain this way, usually need some touchups for the first dozen shaves on an edge and a second pass after that, once I need three passes I change blades.

With very shallow angle and featherlight pressure, I've not found huge differences in blades. If you use high blade angle, you will find huge differences, and very limited blade life -- wrong technique. Razors are typically sharpened with very shallow angles -- 16 -18 degrees inclusive as a rule, and you only need a few degrees of clearance angle on top of that to keep them cutting well, so a blade angle to your face (not handle angle) of 20 degrees is the most you need. Shallower if you can manage to get a good shave.

This will cut the hair at the skin fairly close to perpendicular to the skin. Higher angle will pull, the higher the angle the greater the pull, and the greater the risk of scraping your skin enough to cause razor burn. I've seen people on youtube shaving with the blade nearly perpendicular to the skin, at least 70 degrees, and I also see red skin when they finish....

My personal experience is that Derby and Dorco ST 301 blades pull badly if you get very much higher than the proper angle, but used properly give very comfortable close shaves if I use short strokes. Blade life on the Dorcos is similar to Astra (twenty plus shaves so far) and I find that Dorco Prime, Gillette Rubie, and Polsilver blades, while sharper and less effort, give the same results with similar feel after a couple shaves. No cuts, nicks, or weepers.

Typical blade life according to friends and acquaintances who have been shaving as long or longer than I is a month or more on a blade, often six months or more on a 5 pack from the grocery with daily shaving.

Peter

 

[Grundi]

@jamesspo and @psfred, great tips!! These are things that took me a little while to learn.

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Halfway through I turned down to one and if felt much better.
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@Moody, you've got some very nice blades in that sampler pack. And I still love trying different blades. It takes me forever to go thru a tuck because I like to mix things up.

I started my DE adventure with a razor that's rated as "mild" (standard Merkur 3-piece head) and have notice that, because it's mild, it tends to hide many of the differences in the blades. For the record, my face like super-platinums and super-stainless blades best. When my technique is "on", I get a smooth shave; when it's off a bit, I still get a decent shave but my face let's me know about it. You may want to stay close to the "1" or "2" settings, get proficient, then move up. I recently tried a more aggressive razor and found that I'm not ready to move up in class just yet.

 

[Moody]

I will mention one thing. I have been at this for about a year. I have been through the technique and pretty much everything else you can think of. I have been scientific with it and am incredibly frustrated by people saying they can get wonderful shaves with anything and pointing out every trick and tip that I already do.

I concentrate on technique and prep and 95% of the time I get a decent shave. But it is 'not' easy for me.

 

[jamesspo]

I will mention one thing. I have been at this for about a year. I have been through the technique and pretty much everything else you can think of. I have been scientific with it and am incredibly frustrated by people saying they can get wonderful shaves with anything and pointing out every trick and tip that I already do.

I concentrate on technique and prep and 95% of the time I get a decent shave. But it is 'not' easy for me.

That's great..in fact I'd say excellent. To me that says it's just a matter of refinement of technique or maybe just consistency. It can be difficult to keep technique at a high level consistently. I've been DE shaving since the early 80's, but I still occasionally have some irritation, weeper, etc. It's just part of the deal. That will approach zero over time, though. Since there probably is still some room for improvement, I'd still recommend to simplify. Single blade, single razor for a good long while to just be sure on technique. Variation makes it very difficult to nail down issues with technique/prep.

 

[psfred]

It's never thoughtless. I certainly cannot speak for your skin or beard, but the physics of cutting hair doesn't change much -- thicker denser hair takes more effort and wears blades faster, thinner sparcer less. Some blades are very much more sensitive to less than perfect technique, others allow much more variation without too much trouble, but I can still feel when I'm off on angle or pressure.

If I pay close attention to growth direction, use tiny strokes to avoid pulling, and use good lather all the blades I've used give me good shaves. Some feel better than others, but they all work and I can minimize the feel differences. I like some blades more than others, but I don't "hate" any of them and none of them cause me face damage.

Peter

 

[Moody]

Some of my previous conclusions: Several blades according to sharpness are better in one or other razor. While I have several razors, at the moment I am only testing with two extremes. Slim on 5 for mild blades. Weishi for sharper blades.

I think my error with the previous blade was that I misjudged it and went for the slim first.

Shark Stainless. Good overall blade, very smooth for my face. Works best in Slim set on 5. Good for 3 shaves.
Voskhod. I have issues with this blade but I can get one good shave in a Slim set on 5.
Ladas. Better than Voskhod but similar in feel. Again one good shave in a Slim set on 5.
Swedish Supersteel. Worst blade I have tried. Best results in weishi, yet feels blunt. 1 ok shave only.
Rapira Platinum Lux. Good blade. Best results in weishi. Good for 3 shaves.
Wilkinson Sword india. Feels blunt and only good for one shave. Best in Slim set on 5.

Hence the only keepers I have gotten have been shark stainless and rapira platinum lux - with ladas in third place.

I have tried several other blades, but far enough back that I don't really trust my testing of them. As such the following are still in my list to try or retry along with the ones listed in my first post:

Gillette silver blue.
Gillette Nacet
Astra SP
Derby
Dorco 300

 

[Jaidmaster]

I will mention one thing. I have been at this for about a year. I have been through the technique and pretty much everything else you can think of. I have been scientific with it and am incredibly frustrated by people saying they can get wonderful shaves with anything and pointing out every trick and tip that I already do.

I concentrate on technique and prep and 95% of the time I get a decent shave. But it is 'not' easy for me.

I have recently revisited some blades I struggled with around the 1 year mark, and have found that they are much better after another year of learning and refining my technique and lather in addition to having another razor in my arsenal that I really like!
The 1 year mark is actually still quite early on considering some here have been DE shaving for 40+ years. Just because you are already using the tips and tricks mentioned does not mean you will not continue to improve. Just like any other skill, we continue to improve over time with more practice. Don't get me wrong - after almost 2 years, I know I am in the same boat, but I can see even more improvement over the past year. Trying different blades and razors help to develop the skill to make minor adjustments to get that good shave using different equipment.
You have a nice selection of blades there and should have fun trying them!
I have a few of the blades in your additional "To Try" list and would be happy to send some samples your way if you wish. (Assuming you are in the US).
Hang in there and enjoy the journey!

 

[Moody]

I have a few of the blades in your additional "To Try" list and would be happy to send some samples your way if you wish. (Assuming you are in the US).
Hang in there and enjoy the journey!

Thank you for your kind offer.

I am not in the US. Additionally I made the horrible error of not properly explaining myself.

I have all the blades in my additional 'too try' list. They just didn't come in this most recent shipment.

That said:

BIC Chrome platinum Shave 2. Derby Soap. Weishi 9306 or whatever it is.

Decent 3 pass shave. Felt much more in control with the Weishi though it still felt sharp. Sharpness similar to what I remember of 7oclock yellow that I tried 6 or 8 months ago but doesn't feel as smooth.

Still a fair bit of irritation by the end but that is because my face wasn't properly healed from the last shave.

I might do a couple of shaves with the shark until my face is properly better then give the BIC another go.

 

[Moody]

Had a shave particularly to let my face heal up a bit more.

Used a modernish gillette tech razor with plastic handle with whatever blade had been in it (I had forgotten).
This is a very light razor.

First pass, Uneventful as always.
Second pass. Quite a bit tuggy but smooth. I made the assumption at this point that the blade was a voskhod.
Third pass. Still quite tuggy. Didn't work to hard at this pass as I intended it to be less good and let my face heal.

Was a bit surprised that this ended up being a swedish supersteel. Not incredibly as they have similarities but the supersteel usually feels worse on my face.

 

[Moody]

Had the third shave with the Bic in the weishi.

Bic shave 3: much the same as the previous, even with face healed up. Lots of irritation given the level of shave.

I decided to try a new blade with otherwise the same setup.

Bic shave 1. Weishi

i took a great deal of care with this shave. Lightest touch possible. End result was a passable level of irritation with a slightly less good end result than I usually get. The amount of extra work to get to that point however....

Bic shave 2. British gillette flat bottom tech.

My hopefully secret weapon. I am not happy with the blade in my regular two razors, but this one has a different geometry, the blade sits at a subtlety different angle to the face. End result, not half bad.

decent smooth shave without much irritation. What I did get was 3 insignificant cuts which is uncommon for me but seems to happen when I use sharper than my average blades.

I would live with this situation if there were nothing else available. I think however that platinum lux still beat these and are usable in more razors.

I will use the current blade at least once more. I think I will leave the other three for the time being. I have gotten some gauge on how I lie this blade..... Now what next?

 

[BSAGuy]

Enjoy your journey.

 

[frstplce]

My go-to for a long time has been shark stainless.

I think the easy option here could just be to drop $100 on 1000 Shark Stainless and be happy for quite some time. I tried to poke around your previous threads to see what else you've tried, but I may have missed a few things.

I didn't see any mention of Israeli made Personna Red blades. They are pretty well known for being a smooth, forgiving blade. Another option I thought of was Treet Durasharp. This is a coated carbon steel blade, so the experience is a bit different from your normal stainless blades. Maybe different is just what you need? Also, I see the Lord, Big Ben, and ASCO blades in your sample pack. These might be agreeable to you as they are made by the same company as your preferred Sharks.

 

[Moody]

I think the easy option here could just be to drop $100 on 1000 Shark Stainless and be happy for quite some time. I tried to poke around your previous threads to see what else you've tried, but I may have missed a few things.

I didn't see any mention of Israeli made Personna Red blades. They are pretty well known for being a smooth, forgiving blade. Another option I thought of was Treet Durasharp. This is a coated carbon steel blade, so the experience is a bit different from your normal stainless blades. Maybe different is just what you need? Also, I see the Lord, Big Ben, and ASCO blades in your sample pack. These might be agreeable to you as they are made by the same company as your preferred Sharks.

That is why I got them. Minor variations of what already reasonably works.

 

[Moody]

Bic shave 3. British gillette flat bottom tech.

Ok. But not as good as previous. Either I have stuffed something with my technique or the blade is a little more passed it.

anyway. Enough of this blade for the moment.

Missed one evenings shave. Fell asleep exhausted and just didn't shave. That happens once in a blue moon now days.

I think I'll do a shave or three with sharks to re-accustom myself with them.

Then next stop, since I have a particular bag of 3 tucks opened, sputnic then polsilver si. Talk about radical departure.

 

[arrowhead147]

I like to keep a log when I try sample blades. Just a few impressions while the experience is fresh in my mind.

 

[Grassy]

I am working through a few (quite a few ) samples myself and yesterday and today tried the Bic for the first (and second time). Like you Igot more irritation than usual, and a couple of weepers for me. Sharp and rough is how I would describe them. The blade is gone and won't be revisited.

I think my technique is OK (I'm sure it will improve over time) and testing out new blades is fun, even the rough ones. So far I think I could happily buy 100 Astra SP and avoid Derby and Bic but I have lots more to try before I do that, including many Russian blades, it will be interesting to hear what you think of the Polsilver.