Second batch of sample blades arrived today! Why so many? I suppose a large part of the answer is that I’ve only been DE shaving for just under two months—that’s the Executive Summary. But as with most ES’s, it leaves out detail which many of us geeky types like.
What I should have done: My son gave me a VDH razor for Christmas which came with 5 VDH blades—he also gave me a Cremo gift pack with containing a horsehair brush (which I really like) and a tin of Reserve Blend (really like the scent!). Didn’t take me long to move on to other soaps, but that’s another post.
I should have stuck with the same blade and honed my technique first. My son likes Astra SP’s (I do, too), so that would have probably been a good set up to work with for a while. But, I’m human and a tad geeky. I wasn’t getting data I wanted. In my budding DE enthusiasm I forgot a key tenet of any scientific information gathering . . . you need a common baseline/reference point . . . a control. Between all the great stuff on B&B and all the guys on YouTube looking like they were having fun with it my brain stood up and declared “I want me some of that!”. Usually what brain wants, brain gets.
What I did do: Probably goes without saying I did the polar opposite of the above. Having said that, I did take the sage advice of many and ordered my first sample blades from tryablade.com. I’m still working through those blades, but here’s that list:
Astra Superior Platinum — used . . . really liked
Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow) — used . . . meh
Polsilver Super Iridium — haven’t tried yet
Shark Super Stainless — in current use . . . so far I really like them
Treat 7 Day Platinum — haven’t tried yet
Treet DuraSharp — used . . . not on my revisit list
Wilkinson Sword (German) — used . . . really liked
Persona Platinum (Israeli Red) — haven’t tried yet
Lord Super Stainless — used. . . . not entirely convinced about these, but will revisit
A little much for a newbie? Maybe. But if I’m not having fun what’s the point, right?
About mid-January I paid a visit to local shop Razor Emporium and spoke with Matt for a bit. Nice guy, really. But, when a kid walks into a candy store what are the chances he walks out empty handed? I headed home with a new Merkur 38C and a new puck of soap and some AS balm (Elvado Pacific Kahuna, if you must know).
Also saw his goodie boxes loaded with tucks of different blades. Sadly, I was a little like a teenager getting his first look at a Playboy. When in Rome, right? So I picked up a few more sample blades but in tucks this time instead of singles:
Gillette Perma-Sharps — haven’t tried yet
Rapira Platinum Lux — haven’t tried yet
Rapire Swedish Supersteel — haven’t tried yet
Astra SP’s—c’mon, they’re Astras! A known-good fallback option if I wanted.
Since I had visited these hallowed forums so often I finally signed up and continued to read up on all the different blades out there. I know many of them won’t necessarily be my cup of tea, but I won’t know unless I try them. Please don’t flame me for quoting Short Circuit, “Need input”.
The picture above extends this tale a bit further. All you guys floating opinions on this blade and that, how the hell is a geek supposed to resist?
So, my face and I have made an accord with the brain. We will try all these sample blades on the condition that the brain remembers to make detailed notes as we go along; brain was amenable to this arrangement, and now we are working on improving technique (getting better with every shave, I think) and documenting the journey.
Some of these blades I will revisit once my technique is consistently good. As some have pointed out it’s not entirely fair to say a blade sucks when it could just as well (if not more probably) be ones technique.
But along the way I’m enjoying the process of trying these out to discover my personal preferences, and hopefully I’ll have a solid opinion on a few ultimate faves by 2020
Once again, thanks to everyone for their perspectives and advice!
