TL;DR - noticeably thinner blade, ok for 2 shaves, quickly loses edge, made in China
Background:
This is the 2nd of 3 blades that was PIF'd to me by [MENTION=106524]riverstyxxx[/MENTION] (gracious thank you) and the worst of the lot. In his defense, he did warn us that these are not comparable to the other 2. I did get an opportunity to try an unknown razor blade from China and the 2 shaves were not a bad experience. I did take note of the comments of others who have tried this blade so I took extra care in my face preparation.
The Blade:
My initial reaction to The GFLV blade (no connection to nor as bad as the Graham-Field TBFH) was that it felt thinner in my hand than the Boyou DB100 blade that it was replacing. I don't have a micrometer, but I used the higly accurate bend-between-my-fingers test to confirm this. The blade comes double wrapped, nothing special about the outer layer, and the inner layer may be made of recycled material.
My Setup:
Razor: Merkur 20C (standard Merkur 3 piece - rated as mild, having a narrower blade gap)
Soaps: taking extra care, I used Cremo Shave Cream as a pre-shave for extra slickness for both shaves, didn't help
- Shave 1 - The Shave Shop's Lemomelon
- Shave 2 - Downeast Shaving Soap's Katahdin
The Results:
YMMV, but so far, most of us have only been able to squeek 2 shaves from this blade. The 1st shave wasn't bad. But on my 2nd, the blade quickly lost any smoothness it might have had, and by the end, have very little sharpness. I had some face irritation after the 2nd shave. I suspect that due to its thinness, the blade's edge is a bit brittle so it doesn't hold the sharpness.
Seems like a budget blade, good for 2 shaves.
Background:
This is the 2nd of 3 blades that was PIF'd to me by [MENTION=106524]riverstyxxx[/MENTION] (gracious thank you) and the worst of the lot. In his defense, he did warn us that these are not comparable to the other 2. I did get an opportunity to try an unknown razor blade from China and the 2 shaves were not a bad experience. I did take note of the comments of others who have tried this blade so I took extra care in my face preparation.
The Blade:
My initial reaction to The GFLV blade (no connection to nor as bad as the Graham-Field TBFH) was that it felt thinner in my hand than the Boyou DB100 blade that it was replacing. I don't have a micrometer, but I used the higly accurate bend-between-my-fingers test to confirm this. The blade comes double wrapped, nothing special about the outer layer, and the inner layer may be made of recycled material.
My Setup:
Razor: Merkur 20C (standard Merkur 3 piece - rated as mild, having a narrower blade gap)
Soaps: taking extra care, I used Cremo Shave Cream as a pre-shave for extra slickness for both shaves, didn't help
- Shave 1 - The Shave Shop's Lemomelon
- Shave 2 - Downeast Shaving Soap's Katahdin
The Results:
YMMV, but so far, most of us have only been able to squeek 2 shaves from this blade. The 1st shave wasn't bad. But on my 2nd, the blade quickly lost any smoothness it might have had, and by the end, have very little sharpness. I had some face irritation after the 2nd shave. I suspect that due to its thinness, the blade's edge is a bit brittle so it doesn't hold the sharpness.
Seems like a budget blade, good for 2 shaves.
