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Challenge PIF - Classic Wilkinsons Vs Modern Wilkinsons

PURPOSE. The goal is to pick a winner! No ties allowed!!

This should be a classic match-up between two solid, heavy-weight contenders.

METHODS. No blinding. So this will be consistent with my daily shaves rather than the ’highest science’ or a ‘blind wine tasting.’ Top-tier hardware and software are designed to allow each blade to shine!

Prep. Hot shower, then CeraVe face wash.

Soap. MWF for blade one of each brand, then Haslinger schafmilch (‘tallow’) for blade two.

Brush. 2 or 3-band badger from my rotation.

After shave. Fine splash (’4 simple indgredients’) contain alcohol but no soothing ingredients.

Each shave will be judged using the ’10 point must system’ (my usual 10 point grading for daily shaves).

RESULTS.

German one

Shave #1: 9
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1

British one
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.8

German two
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 10!!!
Shave #4: 9.5
Shave #5: 9
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
German two
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 10!!!
Shave #4: 9.5
Shave #5: 9

Wow! Quite excellent results for you. Just goes to show you that YMMV. I cant get a good shave with the German Wilkie. What razor(s) are you using?
 
PURPOSE. The goal is to pick a winner! No ties allowed!!

This should be a classic match-up between two solid, heavy-weight contenders.

METHODS. No blinding. So this will be consistent with my daily shaves rather than the ’highest science’ or a ‘blind wine tasting.’ Top-tier hardware and software are designed to allow each blade to shine!

Prep. Hot shower, then CeraVe face wash.

Soap. MWF for blade one of each brand, then Haslinger schafmilch (‘tallow’) for blade two.

Brush. 2 or 3-band badger from my rotation.

Razor. Wolfman WR1/WRH2 handle

After shave. Fine splash (’4 simple indgredients’) contain alcohol but no soothing ingredients.

Each shave will be judged using the ’10 point must system’ (my usual 10 point grading for daily shaves).

RESULTS.

German one

Shave #1: 9
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1

British one
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.8

German two
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 10!!!
Shave #4: 9.5
Shave #5: 9
Shave #5: 9
 
Shave 22 - UK Wilkinson, 11th Use
UK Shave #11 with an NDC SuperSpeed, Proraso Red Tub, Semogue SOC Badger, & Nivea Sensitive PSB.

The UK WS continues its comeback, as today's shave was ever so slightly smoother than the German shave yesterday.
Again, no nicks or irritation.

I find myself wondering if these blades have an upper limit to the number of shaves. I've changed razors, brushes, soaps - everthing but the blade. I've been getting good, close shaves all the way through, but with some irritation when I went to the hyper-aggressive razors.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Shave 22 - UK Wilkinson, 11th Use
UK Shave #11 with an NDC SuperSpeed, Proraso Red Tub, Semogue SOC Badger, & Nivea Sensitive PSB.

The UK WS continues its comeback, as today's shave was ever so slightly smoother than the German shave yesterday.
Again, no nicks or irritation.

I find myself wondering if these blades have an upper limit to the number of shaves. I've changed razors, brushes, soaps - everthing but the blade. I've been getting good, close shaves all the way through, but with some irritation when I went to the hyper-aggressive razors.
I think you might be onto something. My shaves have gotten kinder with milder razors.
 
Edge 1, shave 3, German blade: Wilkinson Sword Classic (plastic), Art of Shaving Lavender soap

I've moved the shaves slightly out of synch because I don't take a German blade beyond 3 shaves/edge, and I have a little project in mind for the razor itself over the weekend...

Third shave on the edge, and as expected there's the tiniest hint of rawness to the shave, and the alum's beginning to make its presence felt. I know I can get at least another couple of decent shaves out of it, but I also know it's past its best, so I'm going to move the blade into a NEW LC I recently acquired just because, and see what the English blade can do in my other Classic.
 
First shave ever with a modern Wilkinson blade for me. Very simple setup: proraso green pre-shave, proraso green soap, omega brush and Feather ASD2.

It was better than expected, I read a lot of terror stories on this blade before this test, I have no idea if these are deserved or it's just usual internet amplification of known limits in a product.

It was an ok shave, no feeling of discomfort at all, not the closest shave ever, I'm sure the blade will improve a bit in the next days as I test it progressively thru more aggressive razors.
 
PURPOSE. The goal is to pick a winner! No ties allowed!!

This should be a classic match-up between two solid, heavy-weight contenders.

METHODS. No blinding. So this will be consistent with my daily shaves rather than the ’highest science’ or a ‘blind wine tasting.’ Top-tier hardware and software are designed to allow each blade to shine!

Prep. Hot shower, then CeraVe face wash.

Soap. MWF for blade one of each brand, then Haslinger schafmilch (‘tallow’) for blade two.

Brush. 2 or 3-band badger from my rotation.

Razor. Wolfman WR1/WRH2 handle

After shave. Fine splash (’4 simple indgredients’) contain alcohol but no soothing ingredients.

Each shave will be judged using the ’10 point must system’ (my usual 10 point grading for daily shaves).

RESULTS.

German one

Shave #1: 9
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1

British one
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.8

German two
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 10!!!
Shave #4: 9.5
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1
 
Shave 23 - German Wilkinson, 12th Use
German Shave #12 with a V3 SuperSpeed, Proraso Red Tub, GS/Semogue Synthetic, & Nivea Sensitive PSB.

Another drama free BBS shave. It's really getting to be routine.

I'm going to give the UK WS one more shave tomorrow and then declare a winner. I have to set these aside for awhile; there are too many other things I want to try.
 
As expected: the second shave with the german Wilkinsons was way better than the first, I find myself often in this situation where the blade seems to shave smoother on the second shave.

Some changes to my setup today, most relevant one: I used my TTO tech clone (Baili) which I find marginally "more aggressive" (in relative terms, it's two super mild heads) than the Feather. Proraso white preshave, prosaso green soap, Omega badger brush.

I have a very sensitive area in my neck, which I use to judge how much a blade is "compatible" with my skin. Wilkinson gives me some red points in that area, this tells me the compatibility is not perfect. Anyway I was expecting an almost unusable blade (bias from previous readings) while that's definitely not the case.

Wilkinsons Swords in Italy is probably the easiest DE blade to find, I'd say the only brand pretty much any supermarket will carry, so it's useful to know that the most available option is definitely a viable one.

Let see how this is progressing in the next days on my other razors, I'm also interested to see how many shaves I can get from a blade.
 
Starting the last blade!

PURPOSE. The goal is to pick a winner! No ties allowed!!

This should be a classic match-up between two solid, heavy-weight contenders.

METHODS. No blinding. So this will be consistent with my daily shaves rather than the ’highest science’ or a ‘blind wine tasting.’ Top-tier hardware and software are designed to allow each blade to shine!

Prep. Hot shower, then CeraVe face wash.

Soap. MWF for blade one of each brand, then Haslinger schafmilch (‘tallow’) for blade two.

Brush. 2 or 3-band badger from my rotation.

Razor. Wolfman WR1/WRH2 handle

After shave. Fine splash (’4 simple indgredients’) contain alcohol but no soothing ingredients.

Each shave will be judged using the ’10 point must system’ (my usual 10 point grading for daily shaves).

RESULTS.

German one

Shave #1: 9
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1

British one
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.8

German two
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 10!!!
Shave #4: 9.5
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1

British two
Shave #1: 8.5
 
Shave 24 - UK Wilkinson, 12th Use
UK Shave #12 with an NDC SuperSpeed, Proraso Red Tub, Semogue SOC Boar, & Nivea Sensitive PSB.

Yet another great shave - BBS all the way. No nicks, no weepers, no irritation, NO DRAMA.

So after 12 shaves with each blade I'm feeling the urge to move on to something else. Both blades still have a lot of life left in them so I'll set these two blade/razor combos aside for a while and come back to them later in the year.

For the record, on my face the German WS edged out the UK WS by a very narrow margin. On a scale of 1 to 10, I don't believe in giving a 10 as a general rule, since that would imply perfection and no equipment is perfect. Both of these blades did an extremely good job, though. I'd score it as German WS 9.1, UK WS 9.05.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Brother, you know I live dangerously; I married a woman I'm afraid of. So I didn't follow your advice....



I started my epic quest last night. And to avoid ANY CHANCE of polluting ANY SOAP, here is what I did. Ingenious, for a simpleton like me:

I rub the stick of Arko on the right side of my face, and the puck of That Soap I CAN'T Pronounce on the left. Schalfmilch? Whatever. Here is the amazing part to me: the Arko barely colored my face, but the Sheepy one REALLY coated my face.

Then I wet my brush and went to town rubbing my face back and forth. Lather exploded! For any of you folks that love the smell of Arko, never fear: if anything, it smells even better! I know! Impossible you say!

The shave was honestly the best of my life it was the German Wilky, use number 4, in my 1962 Tech, and here I am probably 18 hours later and my ruggedly good looking face is still BBS! I think there are whiskers beneath the surface of my skin that are AFRAID to come out to face the English Wilky. True story.

Following the shave, I put some Dollar store hand cream on my face, and then some Dollar store version of Brut.

Bestest part: I made the War Department rub my face, and even though she's a hard headed German that only usually does as she's told at gun point, she did so. Her eyes actually lit up. True story. AND she liked the smell.

I'm not shaving again til Thursday, as I am expecting a one of a kind brush from a friend I like to call @Graydog. And honestly, I don't think I'll have any beard until then anyway!
Okay, I changed it up in this sense: I didn't get the Graydog brush on Thursday. Or Friday. Or Saturday. So I looked my age lol, and decided to use Palmolive stick on the LEFT side of my face, and that really nice puck I can't pronounce the name of on my RIGHT, just rubbed in. Wet brush rubbed it all together.

Wow. The English blade seemed to be...rougher feeling than the German. But the results were noticably better. I'll know tomorrow morning if it's as long lasting, but this shave is awesome.

I have to say, the Arko mixed better with the sheep soap, as far as during and after the shave, more slick I think. BUT: my lovely wife LOVED the smell of the Palmolive stick, better than the sheep soap. Go figure. She even said I could get some MORE Palmolive if I get rid of something else.

That my friends is true love!
 
Edge 1, shave 3, English blade: Wilkinson Sword Classic (plastic), Art of Shaving Lavender

This blade is not smoothing out. It's gone beyond an absence of comfort, to active discomfort. But the end result is still a DFS.

Part of me wants to push on with a fourth attempt for science, but I'm not sure I have such a wide masochistic streak. I'm more likely to turn the razor around to see if the other edge is finished any better. I'll keep you posted.
 
Starting the last blade!

PURPOSE. The goal is to pick a winner! No ties allowed!!

This should be a classic match-up between two solid, heavy-weight contenders.

METHODS. No blinding. So this will be consistent with my daily shaves rather than the ’highest science’ or a ‘blind wine tasting.’ Top-tier hardware and software are designed to allow each blade to shine!

Prep. Hot shower, then CeraVe face wash.

Soap. MWF for blade one of each brand, then Haslinger schafmilch (‘tallow’) for blade two.

Brush. 2 or 3-band badger from my rotation.

Razor. Wolfman WR1/WRH2 handle

After shave. Fine splash (’4 simple indgredients’) contain alcohol but no soothing ingredients.

Each shave will be judged using the ’10 point must system’ (my usual 10 point grading for daily shaves).

RESULTS.

German one

Shave #1: 9
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9.5
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1

British one
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
Shave #3: 9
Shave #4: 9
Shave #5: 8.5
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 8.8

German two
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9.5
Shave #3: 10!!!
Shave #4: 9.5
Shave #5: 9
Shave #6: 9
Shave #7: 8.5
average: 9.1

British two
Shave #1: 8.5
Shave #2: 9
 
Third shave for me on the german Wilkinson Sword, I moved the blade to Muhle R89 and this wonderful razor helped the blade perform better. Very comfortable shave this time, even my supersensitive "alarm zones" couldn't complain much, in terms of shave closeness it seems to be ok.

Other than the razor, same setup as yesterday: proraso white pre, proraso green soap, Omega badger brush.

I still have four razors I'd like to test this blade on.
 
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