GIVEAWAY! Challenge PIF - In The Footsteps Of Legends

[Demolition]

Eleventh shave with the Legendary Feather Hi-Stainless blade #1

Razor: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Yaqi Aqua 24mm Tuxedo
Soap: Pré de Provence Bergamot and Thyme

The FOCS/Feather duo is still shaving quite well.

After some early ups and downs, I've now received two close, comfortable shaves with only minimal post-shave irritation. A dab of ASB quells the irritation, so there's not much to complain about, although...

Consistency has been an issue. It shouldn't have taken 10+ shaves to reach this point with a bunch of mediocre shaves in between. Performance did start to improve after I switched to a thicker, more cushiony lather, though. It's possible that I could enjoy several more decent shaves, as a result. Who knows? I'll keep going until it finally gives up (or I do).

Meanwhile, the Yaqi Aqua Tuxedo/PdP B&T combo are a fantastic pairing. As @Grundi noted, PdP B&T makes a very thick and slick lather. It's one of the easiest-lathering soaps that I own and will always have a place in my rotation.

 

[Mike M]

Kai shave#13

Razor: Yaqi DLC SB
Blade: Kai
Cream: Palmolive Classic
Brush: Yaqi Lucky Dice

Tonight's shave cream, Palmolive, was my dad's only cream or soap. I don't remember him using anything else, I often look up at my bathroom shelf struggling under the weight of my soap collection and my collection of brushes and razors and I wonder what he'd make of it. If I was thinking of it I should have used my Gillette Slim Twist, the razor dad used. Knowing my dad he'd probably have a laugh at me for making something so simple into something so complicated.
So to the shave, Palmolive gives a good lather as long as you use enough, I prefer a thicker lather. The first WTG pass was as usual superlative and moving quickly on to the second XTG pass there was no tugging or irritation. The third ATG pass was kinda loud with a lot of audio feedback, but again no tugging or irritation.
The final word on this thirteenth shave (equalling my previous highest number of shaves with this blade) it appears that this blade will keep going at least for a little while longer the DFS+ finish is easy to achieve for now and we'll see how much further it can go

 

[Balthier]

Blade: Feather #2 shave 2
Razor: Henson AL13
Brush: TGN black badger 24mm
Pre shave: PAA menthol cube
Soap: Goodfellas smile royal lime
Aftershave: Spearhead Seaforth Spice Lime
Fantastic shave. Did some buffing on chin which is usually the rougher spot, otherwise was nearly effortless.

 

[Yuritau]

Thirteenth shave, third Kai (2)
Fendrihan Mk II, Tiny Trio of brushes, Canada Shaving Soap

I had no time constraints at all for today's shave, so I went a bit overboard and loved every second of it, hehe.

I wondered how well each of my trio of brushes would fare in a comparison of lathering Canada Shaving Soap, and decided to find out all at once! One pass with a fresh face lather on each brush.

-Simpsons Wee Scot, Best Badger, 13/39
-Omega 10086, Boar, 18/46
-Maggard's Travel Synthetic, 18/42

I loaded each brush for 20 seconds before lathering and otherwise proceeded with a standard three pass shave.

The Wee Scot developed the lather noticeably faster than the other two and felt like a better application of the soap as well.

The Omega seemed to load more soap in the 20 seconds, which makes sense with it being a far stiffer backbone than the others. It also held on to more of the lather than the others and took much longer to develop it.

The Maggard's developed the lather a bit slower than the Scot, but seemed to develop a more picture perfect lather (I'm now kicking myself for not taking pictures, heh), despite the Scot lather feeling a bit better.

I'll certainly be doing more comparisons over time, but for now it seems like Canada Shaving Soap performs best with the Wee Scot and the Maggard's, and less well with the Omega.

The Kai performed just as well today as it's first outing, indicating that I may need to revisit a second Feather shave with the Fendrihan Mk II, as that may have been an anomaly. At any rate, with the help of the Tiny Trio, Canada Shaving Soap guided the Kai in giving me a delightfully smooth face. This gives Kai the defacto win in this razor, as I do not personally consider it an effective razor & blade combo if the blade can only deliver one good shave.

I might have to amend my notes on this decision at a later date when I revisit the pairing. For now I am moving on to the next razor in my lineup, the Weber DLC with the Weber bulldog handle. And after that, I'll be adding one final razor to the lineup, as I have a RazoRock Game Changer .68 on the way, making it 5 of each blade in total.

 

[Space_Cadet]

Eleventh shave with the Legendary Feather Hi-Stainless blade #1

Razor: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Yaqi Aqua 24mm Tuxedo
Soap: Pré de Provence Bergamot and Thyme

The FOCS/Feather duo is still shaving quite well.

After some early ups and downs, I've now received two close, comfortable shaves with only minimal post-shave irritation. A dab of ASB quells the irritation, so there's not much to complain about, although...

Consistency has been an issue. It shouldn't have taken 10+ shaves to reach this point with a bunch of mediocre shaves in between. Performance did start to improve after I switched to a thicker, more cushiony lather, though. It's possible that I could enjoy several more decent shaves, as a result. Who knows? I'll keep going until it finally gives up (or I do).

Meanwhile, the Yaqi Aqua Tuxedo/PdP B&T combo are a fantastic pairing. As @Grundi noted, PdP B&T makes a very thick and slick lather. It's one of the easiest-lathering soaps that I own and will always have a place in my rotation.

Our brother @Demolition here is almost a one-man-wonder with his blade-use numbers. I think now he will reach a wild number of shaves with the Feather as well. Although I haven't used Feathers a lot, I never took it beyond shave number 3 or 4. That's almost funny in comparison, lol.

 

[Demolition]

Our brother @Demolition here is almost a one-man-wonder with his blade-use numbers. I think now he will reach a wild number of shaves with the Feather as well. Although I haven't used Feathers a lot, I never took it beyond shave number 3 or 4. That's almost funny in comparison, lol.

I'm as surprised as anyone with the number of uses that I've gotten from the Feather. Until this Challenge, the most uses I'd gotten from a Feather was 6!

I'm not surprised about the Kai, though. I reached 63 uses on a Kai in the last Participation PIF, so there's some precedent for a crazy amount of shaves from that blade.

What would be a real shock is if I could get 63 shaves from a Feather. Just thinking about it gives me the willies!

 

[Space_Cadet]

I'm as surprised as anyone with the number of uses that I've gotten from the Feather. Until this Challenge, the most uses I'd gotten from a Feather was 6!

I'm not surprised about the Kai, though. I reached 63 uses on a Kai in the last Participation PIF, so there's some precedent for a crazy amount of shaves from that blade.

What would be a real shock is if I could get 63 shaves from a Feather. Just thinking about it gives me the willies!

Well, KAI - yes, but the Feather is notorious for its short "working cycle"...
Do rub your face with some kind of a mysterious extra-terrestrial pre-shaving oil or something?

 

[BradWorld]

Kai blade 1, shave 2:

Gave the Kai a shot in my WR1 .80 OC today. I am trying to use different razors that I normally would never try with a Kai to see if there is some magic combination to be discovered. This is not it. The shave was quite rough. However the results were really good. Zero blood, only minor irritation. But it was a rough ride that I care not to repeat. The WR1 is not the smoothest of the Wolfman razors to begin with, but this shave was quite uncomfortable comparatively to any other blade I’ve tried in this razor.

 

[fast shaver]

Kai Blade #2 Shave #3
Tools: Doc Razor & #63 soap.
Another great shave from the Kai blade.
Three passes plus minor touch up & done.
No nicks noted.

 

[fast shaver]

@Space_Cadet
I managed to get 20 shaves from a Feather blade but it has never happened again.
Most Feather shaves are around 6-8 shaves.

 

[Space_Cadet]

@Space_Cadet
I managed to get 20 shaves from a Feather blade but it has never happened again.
Most Feather shaves are around 6-8 shaves.

Wow. Now that's an achievement!
By the way, how many shaves do you usually get from the higher-end modern-day blades, like the Wizamets or Gillette Platinum or Silver Blue?

 

[fast shaver]

I don't have Wizamets but Gillette Platinum is around 5-7 shaves & the GSB is around 6-10 shaves if I recall correctly.?
The Gillette Silver Blue blade works better for me than the Platinum.
Actually when I think of it the GSB lasts as long & shaves as close for me as a Feather blade at less cost.

 

[BigJ]

Kai blade two, shave #4

Razor: Wolfman WR1
Brush: Rudy Vey B&B 2-band
Soap: Haslinger’s schafmilch
AS: Pitralon classic

Rating: 10/10!! A terrific outing for this very fine blade!!

 

[Space_Cadet]

I don't have Wizamets but Gillette Platinum is around 5-7 shaves & the GSB is around 6-10 shaves if I recall correctly.?
The Gillette Silver Blue blade works better for me than the Platinum.
Actually when I think of it the GSB lasts as long & shaves as close for me as a Feather blade at less cost.

I see, I see. And what blades aside of the GSB do you like?

 

[cwright]

Kai #2 Shave 1
RR BBS AS, Stirling soap, Proraso Red pre shave, Stirling Evergreen Forrest, Stirling Splash, Stirling Balm. No drama, no weepers just a comfortable, easy BBS. 2 passes with Kai much closer than 2 passes with Feather. First pass a lot of blade feel, smoothed out by 2nd pass. Another + for Kai.

 

[Grundi]

Feather Blade #2 - Shave #2

Equipment: Gillette Slim (on 4), Legendary Feather (2), PdP Bergamot & Thyme

The Shave Results: I kept everything the same as yesterday, and the results were the same as yesterday - a very good, DFS+ shave with a couple of weepers and some neck irritation. Feathers are great, top shelf blades, but that moment of distraction will earn you a reminder of the Feather's well-earned reputation for being sharp. Still, for me, pairing the Feather with the Gillette Slim and PdP B&T makes for a great shave.

 

[Weean]

Feather edge 2 shave 2. Wizamet W-11 razor, Edwin Jagger Limes & Pomegranate cream, Captains Choice bowl, Vigshaving 24mm silvertip brush.

There was a lot wrong with this shave, and some of that was me.

A lack of recent familiarity with this cream led to me using far too little, and in turn to a very thin lather with little glide and zero cushin. The Feather's 'sharp' feeling that was missing on shave one was back with a vengeance!

There was already a couple of weepers half-way through the first pass, to the extent I had to quickly whip up a second lather to complete it. There was no excuse for the subsequent weepers, though. The razor, which felt like a pussycat with the Kai, felt dangerous with a Feather in situ. If I was willing to risk a third shave on this edge I would be dialling the adjustment right down (or doing the sensible thing and putting it in a Tech), but on balance I think I'll just see out the Kai for the rest of this round and start with a fresh Feather somewhere down the line.

 

[Demolition]

Eleventh shave with the Mysterous Kai Stainless blade #1

Razor: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Fine Accoutrements Classic 20mm Angel Hair
Soap: RazoRock Santa Maria del Fiore

Very little change from the previous shave... which is a good thing.

The FOCS/Kai pairing is still delivering a fine shave despite some fairly heavy use. As well as my three usual passes, I've regularly buffed my trouble spots to reach my desired level of closeness (at least a DFS+, often a BBS).

Blade-feel has been more pronounced over the last couple of shaves, but not enough to significantly affect the comfort level. Efficiency remains high and overall shave quality is still outstanding. This is expected, of course. Previous Kai blades have demonstrated excellent longevity for me in the past and I forecast the same for my current blade.

Well, KAI - yes, but the Feather is notorious for its short "working cycle"...
Do rub your face with some kind of a mysterious extra-terrestrial pre-shaving oil or something?

The longest I've ever heard of anyone using a Feather is @TheVez2 with 115 shaves. Then there's @dionesius3 with 78 uses, I believe. Those kinds of numbers are insane!

However, I've seen more reachable numbers like 35-ish by @TexOkie Shaver and I recently joked with @fast shaver that I was hot on the heels of his record of 20 uses.

Seriously, though, 20 still seems far away since I only reached 11 on my current Feather blade, yesterday. What's the chance that I'll get there, considering that every one of my posts about the Feather is mostly about me complaining what a crappy shave I got with that blade!

As for pre-treating my face... You might recall my method for extending blade life that I described in the Vintage Polsilver Participation PIF thread.

It works great! (...if you survive... )

 

[fast shaver]

I see, I see. And what blades aside of the GSB do you like?

Personna Lab Blue, Astra SP & Wilkinson Sword work OK for me as well.

 

[RedRx74]

Kai Shave #2 and #3.

Sorry, I’m late posting but I’ve had two more shaves with the Kai blade. The first was last Thursday and it wasn’t quite as excellent as the first shave but still a really good shave. I’m actually going to blame it on technique since I was rushing to get it done before work.

Shave #3 for the Kai blade was Sunday and this was another excellent shave. It just cuts through my hair with ease. This was a little bit better than shave #2 which further validates my suspicion that shave #2 wasn‘t quite as excellent as the other two shaves due to user error.

A quick search on Amazon shows these blades selling for $35 per 100. Certainly still reasonable on a per shave basis but quite the premium over most other brands of blades. I’m still not sure if they are worth that premium.

I think I’m going to do one more shave with the Kai blade before switching and giving Feather a try. Then I can make some comparisons between how these blades compare for me using the same razor.