Derby Extra - DE Razor Blades

I was disappointed when I tried this blade. I did not think it was very sharp in my Merkur HD and on my tough beard. I did not get a real close shave with it - better than the Dorco 300 but still I need something sharper. The smoothness was just OK for me. Not super smooth, not super rough either, just in the middle. I will not be using these again.

Got a five pack from a B&B member to try.

Used them so far with a Tech and SuperSpeed doing a two pass WTG and XTG/ATG shave. The result was a DFS to BBS shave.

After finding a local Beauty Supply store selling them for 100 for $10 they are now part of my rotation.

Price: 10 / As I mentioned 100 for $10. 10 cents a blade.

Quality: 8 / Better than average blade.

Sharpness: 8 / Granted they are not as sharp as Feathers but close to them.

Smoothness of Shave: 8 / First shave is not real smooth but my 2nd and 3rd are nice.

Packaging: 10 / Nicely done with paper wrap and plastic container.

Performance, price and shaves are all working for me.

Give them a try.

i wanted to really like these after the many positive reviews posted here, but I found these blades to be completly average. I shaved with them continuously for about 2 weeks using Tabac and can report that they were fine, just fine.

For me, not as punishing as the Feathers, not as long lasting as the Israelis or Trig Platinums. About as comfortable as the Elios. But they are cheap.

Together with the Wal-Mart Personnas, a good back-up blade when you cannot find your regular blade.

I like this blade, but find that for me the Israeli Personna out does it. The prices are comparable, and I do like the dispenser that the Derby has, but will just use it as my fall-back blade.

What can I say, these are the best all around blade that money can buy. When I first got into DE shaving, I lucked out and blindly bought 100 blades. Since then I have tried many other blades including Feathers. I found Feathers to be harsh the first couple of shaves and then gave great shaves later. But the Derby is good for 6 or 7 great shaves every time you use them. I would have to say at this time, I don't think there is a better blade.

Oh boy, this was one of the worst blades I have used!

I usually use red pack personnas and astra-SPs. I popped the derby into my slim @ just 3 and the blade pulled and tugged like hell! I threw it out after half a pass and put in an astra-SP...it certainly came to the rescue.

Packaging is very good, the dispenser is easy to use, it didn't get a 10 cos I think all blades should come in cardboard packs, not plastic!

I finally finished my sampler pack and these are the worst blades I've tried to date. They are sharp, too sharp in my opinion, they left my face battered and bloody. No matter how carefull I was I recieved nick after nick, I won't be using these ever again. I'm sticking to my Astra's and Precison's... They are fairly cheap so don't hesitate to give them a try they may work wonders for you, but they don't for me...

Better than some higher priced blades. Very good price-performans-ratio.

Price - Inexpensive

Quality - Varies a bit from blade to blade. I occasionally run into bad blades.

Sharpness - One of the sharpest I've tried. Not comparable to the Feather, yet the Derby is still pretty sharp.

Longevity - Around 3 to 4 good 3-pass shaves.

Smoothness of Shave - Only the Red IP's and 7 O'clock Sharpedge blades seem a bit smoother than Derbys.

Packaging - I find the packaging a bit dumb. 5 blades in a plastic container, why not 10? I prefer the cardboard boxes anyway.

Conclusion - Price/sharpness/smoothness ratio for these blades is great. I already have quite a bunch of 'em but I think I'll be shopping for more soon

(Merkur 34C & Col Conk Amber)

cesium;1062474 said:

I bought my first de with a 5 pack of derbys and 5 wilkinson's swords. chucked the swords a few days later and ordered a 100 pack of derby's. I've never looked back.

Click to expand...

Price: Approx. $13.00 USD for 100. With the included shipping that is thirteen cents per blade. C'mon, that is a bargain. How can anyone complain about that.

Quality: Six very smooth shaves so far at 13 cents per blade. I sure can't fault that. Tomorrow will be my seventh shave. How long will it go on the same blade?

Sharpness: Yep, sharp all right. More than does the job on my beard.

Longevity: Six shaves and counting. Even if I had to change blades tomorrow I can't honestly object at the price I paid.

Smoothness of Shave: My wife likes it. Enough said!

Packaging: I gave it an "N/A" because I really don't care about that when all is said and done. However, I do give it a plus because the plastic case is recyclable and there is also a space in the bottom of the case to dispose of the old blades. Much like those British blades that my Dad used back in the 1960's.

This is my first rating/review, and I gave this blade a superlative rating. I may later regret it if I find something else that is absolutely superior. I'll just have to wait and see.

I am not a complete Noob when it comes to DE wet shaving. I am 51 years old and learned to shave with my father's Gillette adjustable with Wilkinson Sword blades back in the early to mid 1970's.

I had to give up DE shaving shortly afterward for PC reasons when I entered into service with the U.S. Coast Guard in 1975. They wouldn't allow anything other than a cartridge-type razor. Hence, the Gillette Atra.

After all these years, I just recently re-entered the world of DE shaving. I am at this time using a 1957 Gillette Tech (my birth year razor) with Derby Extra blades.

I am not disappointed at all. Just this very evening I lathered up with a Valobra stick and got an excellent shave with two NS passes and one across the grain pass.

I have been using the same Derby blade for six shaves now and anticipate a few more to follow. Granted, I have a short beard and only shave the cheek pockets and around the throat instead of the entire face. As I have mentioned in another thread, I do not have a Neanderthal wire beard. So, your mileage/experience will most probably vary.

Still, I am not at all unsatisfied based upon my beard type and expectations.

I believe I'll stick with these. They will always be in my rotation. I just recently ordered some Isreali Personnas in a bulk pack and I look forward to comparing those with the Derby Extra blades.

Warmest Regards,

David

I started wet shaving almost 3 years ago. Almost from the start, I have used Feather blades. In the interest of trying something new, I purchased a few packs of Derby Extra blades. Boy was I disappointed!

Compared to Feathers, these blades were as dull as a butter knife. They did not cut well, but were constantly pulling and tugging at my whiskers instead.

While it is true that Feathers can cause irritation, they work extremely well when handled correctly, which can take some time.

I will not comment much on this blade except to say that I did not find it particularly sharp, and it took a lot of work to obtain a reasonably close shave with this blade. It is a smooth blade tho. They are very well made, attractively packaged, and can be had for a very good price directly from the US distributor.

I tried this blade after using some Merkurs and I was quite happy. Shaves were smooth, and two blades lasted 3 shaves each. The second wasn't as good as the first, but was still pretty good. Probably a little sharper than the Merkurs and cheap Personna's from Wal-Mart, but they still gave me a little but of irritation. Came in a sampler pack, so price was good, but I didn't like the used razor slot--it was a bit difficult to get to, and find for that matter. Overall, I was happy with this blade, and will go back to them once I try a few more blades for comparison.

These blades are pretty good on the whole. They're fairly smooth and sharp enough to do most work for me. I have no complaints about them. The packaging does have the nice little used blade compartment, though the plastic flap can be stubborn. The price is pretty low, and performance pretty good. They're higher in quality than the really cheap stuff you can get (7am Bangladesh or dollar store blue Personnas). They're a good all-around blade.

Late 2007 I bought the Derby's and was happy with their performance. I just recently bought 200 blades and they don't seem to be as comfortable as the ones I bought previously. The shave is the ultimate test and after several blades this batch is not what I was expecting. I could get up to 4 comfortable shaves before. With this batch, I can only get 2 uncomfortable shaves. I can feel the deterioration of the blade after that.

This is a good alround and go to blade. It's cheap and it does what it is supposed to.
Though I have not given it max points for two reasons: There should always be room in the spectrum for the very best performance, which this blade does not offer, and when I give a lot of fine numbers they are relative to each other. This means that I think the quality, sharpness, and longevity is very fine compared to the price, which is a tough act to follow for other brands in the same league.
For me a Derby blade normally gives four fine shaves. Maybe I could push it to five or maybe even six but why bother with such an inexpensive blade?
A Derby gives me a BBS in a pretty agressive razor like a Merkur in just two passes. But it does not in a mild shaver as a forties Super Speed.
It is a rather forgiving blade but I can easily get some razor burn on a troublesome spot of my neck with it so you have to pay attention to the shave and your tecnique in spite of this forgivingness.
For the blade itself, I can't ask for much more. The packaging is so-so. Using a plastic box is fine with me but in order to reduce the environmental waste the factory could as well have put ten blades in it in stead of just five. And made a slit in the bottom for used blades, so that you don't have to open the little door in the side to deposit your used blades safely.
But a fine and cheap blade. No wonder it has gained a fine reputation among so many shavers.
cop

Great blades for the price.

They are very good blades. I would call them great ones if Feather blades did not exist.

I bought my first de with a 5 pack of derbys and 5 wilkinson's swords. chucked the swords a few days later and ordered a 100 pack of derby's. I've never looked back.

I've only been shaving with the Derby blades for a week, but I really like them. First day I used them I nicked myself pretty good, just because of sheer carelessness. These little rascals are super sharp! So far, all I've used up to the Derby is Persona, Wilkinson, and some crappy CVS store brand blade. I am still new to wet shaving, but so far this is my blade of choice.