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Blade Recommendations for Mild Razors

I'm relatively new to DE shaving and I've tried a combination of blades and razors. I've found that my preference seems to be using mild razors such as the Gillette Tech and the Feather Popular, paired with a sharp blade such as a Feather.

With this in mind, I'm looking for recommendations on which blades I should try next, i.e. sharp blades that pair well with mild razors. For reference, these are all of the blades I've tried so far, ranked highest to lowest:
  1. Feather
  2. Gillette Silver Blue
  3. Astra SP
  4. Gillette 7 O'Clock Greens
  5. Derby Extra
As well as the above, I've already bought these blades to sample. Please recommend others, even if they're not listed:
  1. Bic Chrome Platinum
  2. Gillette 7 O'Clock Yellows
  3. Gillette Minora
  4. Gillette Nacet
  5. Gillette Perma-sharp
  6. Gillette Rubie
  7. Kai SS
  8. Lord Platinum
  9. Personna Platinum
  10. Rapira Platinum Lux
  11. Rapira Swedish Supersteel
  12. Shark Super Stainless
  13. Tiger Platinum
  14. Vokshod
  15. Wilkinson Sword
I know "YMMV", I'm just looking for an idea of where to start given my preferences. Any help much appreciated! :thumbup:
 
My R89 seems to work best for me with:
  • Super Iridium (PolSilver/Wizamet)
  • Gillette Minora (these work better for me than Nacets in the R89)
  • Personna MedPreps (Platinums and Crystals are fantastic also)
  • Timor
For my AS-D2, it's simply a Feather or Kai
 
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Based on your ranking of the 5 you've tried, from your incoming blades I bet you'll like:
Bic Chrome Platinum
Gillette 7 O'Clock Yellows
Gillette Minora
Gillette Nacet
Gillette Perma-sharp
Gillette Rubie
Kai SS (this one depends on how much blade feel you like)
Personna Platinum
Wilkinson Sword

Some others to try:
Gillette Platinum
Wizamet
Personna Lab Blue and Med Prep
Silver Star

If you're still learning your DE technique I'd recommend sticking with 2 or max 3 different blades until you get your technique dialled in. I did the same as you early in my DE career and ordered a million different blades to try, and I think it set me back. I never knew if I had a poor shave because of the blade or because of me (spoiler: it was usually me).
 
Kai is the best choice to make a mild razor a bit less mild and a bit more efficient. The blades are wider so they give a little more blade exposure.

Try it, use no pressure, then use less pressure than that. Pressure is counter-productive, causes the blade to cut less efficiently and it irritates your skin. So no pressure, then less. And a Kai blade should give you a great shave in a mild razor.

If you want a milder shave in a mild razor then not the Kai. One of the others. I like Personna better than the rest - very close to Kai or Feather sharpness, but a bit smoother feeling.
 

Ron R

I survived a lathey foreman
You picked mostly really good blades for testing, The Derby extra I would change for the Derby premium because it is a better blade IMO.
My top five DE blades are
Gillette silver blue- sharp & smoooth with reasonable longevity.
Gillette 7oClock SP(black)- sharp & smoooth with reasonable longevity.
Personna red- sharp & smooth with great longevity.
Gillette Astra SP- sharp & smooth with great longevity.( my test standard for comparing other blades.)
Kai SS - Sharp & smoooth with excellent longevity- this blade as mentioned by other members is extra wide by 9/1000 or 4.5/1000 of a inch per side and I use this blade in a lot of my mild razors for a little more blade feel. You pay a premium price for this premium blade but is worth the extra blade feel IMO.
Good luck finding your blades that you will eventually order in bulk.
 
With a very few exceptions, I tend to use my favorite blades in both mild and more efficient/aggressive razors and I tend to like sharper blades. Here's my top list:


1. Nacet - my all time favorite, which is plenty of sharp and works in all of my razors.

2. BIC Chrome Platinum - perhaps a little bit sharper than Nacet, but for whatever reason, it doesn't work well in absolutely every razor in my collection and I have a love - hate relationship with them.

3. Perma-Sharp - another great blade, which is known as the poor man's Polsilver SI/Wizamet.

4. Feather - it needs no introduction, but while they are the sharpest blade on the market, they are also not the smoothest and also no the most durable as well as on the pricey side and they don't work well in all of my razors.



Honorable mentions of other sharp blades, which not bad, but are not on my top list mostly because of their price:



1. Polsilver Super Iridium/Wizamet Super Iridium
- used to be my all time favorite go-to blade, until I shaved with Nacet and on top of that the Polsilver SI is now discontinued and the Wizamet is just not worth it's premium price imho, but you know - YMMV.

2. Personna Lab Blue - great blade, but quite inconsistent and on the pricey side for those of us outside the US.

3. Bolzano from Germany - another very good blade, but since Bolzano is now made in Egypt and I'm not sure if the quality is the same, but they are not the most durable blades and are also quite pricy.

4. KAI - decent blades with a good amount of sharpness, smoothness and longevity, but nothing impressive and also quite expensive.
 
Bic's!
Feathers are good on some mild razors but at least for me, they feel like they over do it sometimes (YMMV with this).
Your skin type will be what determines if you can handle the Feathers all the time.
Feathers are super sharp right off the bat but Bic's are sharper than Feathers after the first shave.
That extra sharpness on the Bic's not only gives efficiency but smoothness with no irritation
And they last for many shaves!
Feathers won't make it past a couple shaves!
Bottom line (for me at least) is that Bic's are #1 on every razor I have!

Note: I've tried almost every blade on your list!
 
This may be a bit controversial but here goes. I think the vast majority of us can not distinguish one blade from another by feel and shave alone. I believe our knowledge and perception of the blade being used plays a significant role in the final outcome. My challenge for myself (and for others as well) is to blind test a different new blade each day (or whatever frequency suits you) with all other potential variables being the same. Take notes during each shave on the blade’s performance. After day two, rank the blades used on your notes and continue this ranking until all blades have been blind tested. Only after your final ranking should you reveal the individual blades used on a particular day. My sweetie is helping on this one by randomly choosing the blade, as well as inserting and replacing the blade each day, to prevent any accidental disclosure.
 
This may be a bit controversial but here goes. I think the vast majority of us can not distinguish one blade from another by feel and shave alone. I believe our knowledge and perception of the blade being used plays a significant role in the final outcome.

I'll have to say that I disagree with it ( but understand why you're saying that).

Explanation...

When I was with my ex girlfriend. I introduced her to wetshaving, but she didn't care at all for all these informations and comparison and everything in between. She wanted to use a mild razor because she was scared of cutting herself at first. I let her tried 3 mild razors I had and she decided to use the one she preferred the most.

To come back to why I disagree... I always haved her used Feather blade and Feather only. Depending on how she felt the shave was going, she was telling me if it was time to change the blade or not.

Years prior, I had bought a sampler pack of blades to try a bunch of variety ( Voshkod, Ladas, Derby, Nacet etc .. ). Since I didn't like those blade, they were put aside by me. One day I decided to pass them by letting my ex girlfriend use them.

I've put a brand new derby blade in it (of course she didnt knew about it)... after 3 or 4 stroke she was yelling my name because "that #@*%& blade need to be changed"...

It was the same result for quite a lot of variety of blades as I've tried to pass other type of blade hoping that it would be ok, but it wasn't. It's like that even though she didn't even know the blade I used to use for her was marked Feather, she clearly preferred these one for her to shave with.
 
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