I normally do not do razor blade reviews. It is really hard for me to tell the difference between two blades unless that difference is vast. Like comparing a Derby Extra to a Feather. Almost any other blade I can only start telling the difference after the third shave. The better blades I can only start feeling the dullness on the fourth shave. I am not a blade pusher. DE blades are too cheap for me to try to Marathon them. I would Marathon a cartridge razor before discovering DE and SE wetshaving. Even then, due to a cartridge not being usable for me after the first shave, if not halfway through the first shave, I would grow a beard just to lessen the area of my face that I would have to shave.
Well, I promised I would do this review to certain individuals, so here it is. I hope everyone enjoys it. I don’t think it will be as informative as say a review from @Macduff or @malocchio , but it is as good as I can give with my current level of blade experience.
The blade itself is packaged in paper with no wax. Though the tuck itself of ten blades is your typical Derby blade dispenser with a used blade bank, the actual paper and blade look cheap. The blade tabs were rough and unrefined. So if you have razor blade overhang be extremely careful with this blade. The blade itself was unmarked and looked like a Kai blade, only a bit rougher. I didn’t see any glue spots, nor was the blade stuck to the paper to prevent shifting that I could tell. This doesn’t bode well for any real travel or longevity of blade storage. Though, it is advertised as having the newest German made production facilities, I don’t see that much care taken in the blade itself. The actual performance of the blade was not indicative to it’s presentation. I performed four shaves with the blade.
Shave one;
The first shave with this blade was a modern Williams Mug shave. Due to the nature of that day I was only able to perform a two pass shave. The first pass was with the grain and the second was across the grain. For a two pass shave it was pretty good. The whiskers were all cut down uniformly and I was passable for the day. There was not any irritation, nicks, or cuts. I was impressed.
Shave two;
The second shave was my typical three pass shave using an Arko Stick. This was an extremely enjoyable experience. The blade was still smooth and cut through the whiskers like a hot knife through butter. It was right up there with a Dorco Prime. Again, no irritation, nicks, or cuts.
Shave three;
The third shave was another of my typical three pass shaves using Proraso Red. Again, smooth and sharp. Most of my blades start faltering after a third shave. This felt just as wonderful as the first shave.
Shave four;
The fourth shave was my ender shave with three passes to the face and shaving of certain parts of my body using a cold water shave with Proraso Green. By the second pass the blade finally started showing it was used. The with the grain pass didn’t pick up as many whiskers as it had in the previous shaves, but still a better performance than a lot of blades by the third shave. Just an overall great ender shave for this blade. Even when I was putting it in the blade bank I was thinking I could have probably gone for a fifth, or even sixth shave.
I will do a follow up with a Derby Premium due to some reporting that the Derby Usta blade is just a repackaged, unmarked Derby Premium.
Well, I promised I would do this review to certain individuals, so here it is. I hope everyone enjoys it. I don’t think it will be as informative as say a review from @Macduff or @malocchio , but it is as good as I can give with my current level of blade experience.
The blade itself is packaged in paper with no wax. Though the tuck itself of ten blades is your typical Derby blade dispenser with a used blade bank, the actual paper and blade look cheap. The blade tabs were rough and unrefined. So if you have razor blade overhang be extremely careful with this blade. The blade itself was unmarked and looked like a Kai blade, only a bit rougher. I didn’t see any glue spots, nor was the blade stuck to the paper to prevent shifting that I could tell. This doesn’t bode well for any real travel or longevity of blade storage. Though, it is advertised as having the newest German made production facilities, I don’t see that much care taken in the blade itself. The actual performance of the blade was not indicative to it’s presentation. I performed four shaves with the blade.
Shave one;
The first shave with this blade was a modern Williams Mug shave. Due to the nature of that day I was only able to perform a two pass shave. The first pass was with the grain and the second was across the grain. For a two pass shave it was pretty good. The whiskers were all cut down uniformly and I was passable for the day. There was not any irritation, nicks, or cuts. I was impressed.
Shave two;
The second shave was my typical three pass shave using an Arko Stick. This was an extremely enjoyable experience. The blade was still smooth and cut through the whiskers like a hot knife through butter. It was right up there with a Dorco Prime. Again, no irritation, nicks, or cuts.
Shave three;
The third shave was another of my typical three pass shaves using Proraso Red. Again, smooth and sharp. Most of my blades start faltering after a third shave. This felt just as wonderful as the first shave.
Shave four;
The fourth shave was my ender shave with three passes to the face and shaving of certain parts of my body using a cold water shave with Proraso Green. By the second pass the blade finally started showing it was used. The with the grain pass didn’t pick up as many whiskers as it had in the previous shaves, but still a better performance than a lot of blades by the third shave. Just an overall great ender shave for this blade. Even when I was putting it in the blade bank I was thinking I could have probably gone for a fifth, or even sixth shave.
I will do a follow up with a Derby Premium due to some reporting that the Derby Usta blade is just a repackaged, unmarked Derby Premium.
