Astra SP vs SS.

[RayClem]

Can a blade tug and be smooth at the same time? If it tugs how can you tell if it's smooth?


Fair enough. Hearing isn't the same as reading is it? Read post; 10, 23, 24, 27 (your post above), 28, 34...

I have very sensitive skin and judge the smoothness of a blade by how rough (or lack thereof) it feels on my face. I judge sharpness by how easily it glides through my coarse beard. If a blade tugs, it is not sharp enough for my beard. However, it might still feel smooth on my skin. An example of that is the Personna Lab Blue with the "comfort Coating". It is a very smooth blade, but on the first shave, it does tend to tug. I would never use a new Lab Blue for the first pass with more than one day's grow as the results would be painful due to tugging. However, I could use a new Lab Blue for the ATG or cleand-up pass of that shave once the heavy growth is knocked down. Thus, I judge sharpness by the way a blade deals with my beard on the first pass. I judge smoothness by how the blade feels on my skin during the last pass.

Feather blades are the opposite. They are very sharp and zip through my beard for a couple of shaves, but by the third shave, they feel very rough on my face.

I know there are some folks who contend that sharpness and smoothness are interrelated or even that some folks perceive smoothness as sharpness. However, with my combination of coarse beard and hypersensitive skin, I can perceive both properties.

 

[Starsky]

I have been a fan of the Astra SP blades for a long time. Has been my barometer for using in a new razor. I pretty well know what the blade is like so I try it in all razors.
That said I now find myself getting excellent shaves with the SS blade. I would find it easy to choose the Astra SS over the SP. I actually find the SS to be smoother. It’s a tough choice for me.

 

[Raphael_P.]

After using a lot of different blades and a handful of razors, I found that the Astra Superior Stainless are my favorite blades. In comparison with the SP variant, they are almost as sharp (if not the same), but have a much smoother feeling on my skin. I have fairly sensitive skin and soft/medium beard hair, and it slices through with out any problem. The Superior Platinum did the same, but left me with irritation and maybe a few cuts. I also found that the Astra Blues last a lot longer that their Platinum counterpart, with the SS lasting for as long as 8-9 shaves, whereas the SPs lasting only for 3-4 shaves. In my opinion the Astra SS are a great middle ground for a beginner to start experiementing with blades or provide a consistently good shave for a more experienced shaver. Last but not least, I would like to mention that other blades close to the Astra SS would be the Polsliver and the Shark SS, in feeling, performance and durability.

 

[Juijitsu2010]

I'm sorry to tell you guys this but the Astra SP is not the best blade out there.In fact the SS is better by far ....that blade SP has quality control problems and has gone downblade.All I can say is use common sense and experiment with different blade ...you might be surprised!

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[Kennyg2019]

I judge sharpness by the way a blade deals with my beard on the first pass. I judge smoothness by how the blade feels on my skin during the last pass.

Never thought of it that way but I actually do the same thing!