best blade & razor pairing 👍🏼

[bluesparkuk]

the ones under the Perma Sharps are Haward they came with the Haward razor, the ones above the Silver Blues I'm unsure of, they came along with my Barbarossa brothers Ottoman Stubby, their original ad said it came with a pack of Feather blades but these are what turned up with it,but i doubt very much if they are Feathers, as there is no markings on the blades whatsoever, and what you see on the box is the only markings, so I'm really unsure what these are

i've actually e-mailed the Barbarossa seller to ask if they can tell me what blades they are, as i doubt they are the Feathers as advertised... i'll update if they reply

 

[bluesparkuk]

4th use of the Astra Platinum blade this time with the blue Yaqi razor, another perfect shave, what i am noticing,considering i was going to use each Astra blade 3 times and then replace, the Astra blade seems to get better each use, hence why I've used it a 4th time the shave itself was great today, was actually giving it a 9.8 then i thought to myself that it really couldn't get any closer or smoother so I've upped it to a 10/10, i did have one tiny nick below my nose after the first pass, but it was so tiny i didn't feel the need to knock a point off, as shave was so good, 1 pass wtg and a 2nd pass with a bit of xtg and atg

pre shave...ice cube, soap...Barristers reserve waves and the brush...Vielong horse 50-50 main & tail, finished off with some Clean Shaven balm

 

[DaveHStone]

FWIW, the only blades I use are Feather, in ALL of my DE, SE and AC razors. I'm a happy camper

 

[bluesparkuk]

FWIW, the only blades I use are Feather, in ALL of my DE, SE and AC razors. I'm a happy camper

at end of experiment I'm sure there will be blades that will never be getting replaced and some that will, will be fun when i get to the Feather blade as of yet I've only used the Feather blade with my Feather ASD2, so I'll enjoy trying it with the other specimens

 

[Trollky]

I salute your patience embarking on this exercise!

Favourite combos for me are:
Rockwell 6S (R4) with a Perma Sharp or ASCO Orange
Merkur 37C and 34C with a Kai
Muhle R41 with a Muhle or ASCO Orange

 

[ivan_101]

There are many more factors. Not only the blade and the razor. Your whiskers, your skin, the preparation, the cream you use. What combination works excellent for you might be another user's nightmare.

 

[Eben Stone]

FWIW, the only blades I use are Feather, in ALL of my DE, SE and AC razors. I'm a happy camper

I can only get 2 good shaves from a feather DE blade. I'm hoping the SE blades have better longevity by a few magnitudes. What's the Feather AC blade longevity like in your experience?

 

[stovepipe699]

Feather is the best, shave a few times and toss, enjoy the best shaves I can get. For how many blades I actually use in a year it’s so cheap it’s irrelevant.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DaveHStone]

I can only get 2 good shaves from a feather DE blade. I'm hoping the SE blades have better longevity by a few magnitudes. What's the Feather AC blade longevity like in your experience?

10+ shaves easily. I use Pros and Pro Supers. Should say I'm a 3-4 pass shaver. Some people only go 1-pass WTG, so the "number of shaves" will vary greatly. I think a more accurate description would be to list the number of passes. So, I get, say, 50 or so passes (I don't count) and I'm happy with that.

 

[bluesparkuk]

5th use of the Astra Platinum blade, this time with the Muhle R89 Grande, another very close shave 2 passes, wtg and xtg, with a 3rd little touch up under the chin, another really good close shave, with no nicks, i felt on the touch up pass the blade starting to slide a little, made no difference to the shave as it had already been done, so 9.8/10,it will defo be a fresh Astra blade next shave though, but 5 shaves from the one blade i think is really good

pre shave...ice cube, brush...Omega boar, soap...Stirling Bay Rum, finished off with Clean Shaven Balm

 

[Kent Kimmons]

I honestly do not believe there is such a thing as best pairing of blade to razor. while I will confirm that there ARE worst pairings (Like my open comb New and Rockwell blades) I think that the difference really is the technique. I shave very differently when comparing my Krona to my OC New.

 

[bluesparkuk]

I honestly do not believe there is such a thing as best pairing of blade to razor. while I will confirm that there ARE worst pairings (Like my open comb New and Rockwell blades) I think that the difference really is the technique. I shave very differently when comparing my Krona to my OC New.

possibly not for everyone, i think my technique is always the same though, and ive found the green Astra good so far in all the razors except the Jag Shaving one, so i think it's down to the razor rather than the actual blade, my aim at the end of the experiment is to find the blades i like and will be kept in the rotation(and replaced when finished) some in certain razors, and then others that I'm not too keen on that won't be replaced when finished...i have 33 different makes of blades at the moment, at the end i'll try to keep it around 20 or so

 

[Trollky]

The ultimate YMMV question but for me winning combos are:

Kai blade in a Merkur 34C, 37C and Muhle R89.
ASCO orange in a Muhle R41.

 

[DaveHStone]

It has been scientifically proven that a shar(er) blade will cut more easily than a dull(er) one.

It's not YMMV, it's physics.

Seemingly, a lot of folks unfortunately don't believe in physics and so they try to compensate for the aggressive razor-head architecture with a dull blade. Aggressiveness is determined by head's (large) blade gap and blade exposure, not by sharpness of the blade.

My preference is always the sharpest possible blades (Feather) paired with a mild DE or SE razor. Mild razor means that the razor head has small blade gap/exposure. In this respect, there is some YMMV in terms of preference. I prefer a very small blade exposure and somewhat larger blade gap, as that allows me to use the razor optimally at a wider range of angles.

That said, I put Feather blades both in my R41, which has both large blade gap and blade exposure and my AS-D2, which has a tiny blade exposure and even tinier blade gap.

At the end of the day, it's only your technique that matters, given you don't use dull blades!

 

[Ripitup]

these are the blades and razors that will be getting usedView attachment 1205769View attachment 1205771there is one more razor to add, but just noticed, i forgot to picture it

Wow, impressive collection.

 

[bluesparkuk]

Wow, impressive collection.

thank you friend, I've just added another razor to the collection, a few days ago too

 

[Medivh]

Unless you have lots of blades and use them in different rotation, I really don't understand the best razor and blade combo. If I really like a certain blade that works for me, then that blade will work in pretty much all my razors and that's it. The only blade that I can think of that might work slightly different in some razors is the Feather and it's performance is different in mild vs more efficient and aggressive razors, but with a bit of practice and skill it can be improved.

I use 2-3 blade brands and from time to time I try new blades from samples mostly out of curiosity, experimenting and in case I find something better, but I really don't see the point of stocking up with hundreds of blades from 10 or more brands and use them in some razors, because they feel slightly better. But hey, that's just how I shave and if that brings you joy and you get better results and so on, more power to you.

 

[BradtheImpaler]

I have 5 razors...

RazoRock "Baby Smooth" (2)
Maggard MR3
Merkur 37C
Edwin Jagger (black handle-don't recall the model # cause there's several that look the same)

After sampling all the top contenders in blades, I decided on a 100 pack of Derby's and a 100 pack of Astra's 2 or 3 years ago.
The Astra's are sharper so I have found I can only use them with the Baby Smooth's and the Maggard. The Derby's I can use with any but since the ones I just mentioned are for the Astra's I'm using the Derby's in all but the Baby Smooth's.

The odd-man out may be the Jagger. I haven't used it in awhile and I remember it being the most aggressive. So I'm going to try it with the Derby's next and if that's still too aggressive I guess I can still get by with the others since I only shave with one razor at a time

 

[bluesparkuk]

these are the blades and razors that will be getting usedView attachment 1205769View attachment 1205771there is one more razor to add, but just noticed, i forgot to picture it

my recently purchased "Outlaw" from Executive shaving will be included in my experiment too, making 16 total

 

[BubblesUK]

View attachment 12133663rd use of the Astra Platinum blade, with the DS Cosmetics Destroyer razor & T7 head(Destroyer is the right name, couldnt get head apart to remove blade, and whatever way I've moved it I've sliced the top of my finger open on the blade) anyway, the shave itself is probably one of the best BBS shaves I've had, really close and smooth this is a very good pairing, and i think it will be a regular pairing in my rotation

First post

I have one of these on the way and a good stock of Astra's, so it'll be interesting to see if my experience agrees with yours.... Fingers crossed mine doesn't stick together like yours has, I've still got the scars from a similar experience with an R41 9 years ago!!

What I can say, for any interest it may provide, is that in my Mamba .70 (that this is supposed to be a copy of), the Astra is nice but the real golden blade is a Treet Carbon - only for two shaves, but two incredible shaves... An odd blade though, excels in some razors and nothing special at all in others - a true YMMV blade, especially if your razor varies.