de89 blade preference

[vreddy2000]

Hi all,
i have been using the de89 for about a month now..
first couple of shaves felt very rough, read a bit..and changed my stance..(elbow higher) (moving the whole hand and keeping the wrist steady)
so..shave improved...got a smooth shave..but i could feel stubble a few hrs later...

so today...i went back to my parker shavette..put in a blade that had about 3 shaves on the de...and i got a bbs in two passes...
abt 10 hrs later..it still feels smooth..and i can feel some stubble but its fine stubble...with the de89 the stubble felt coarse...
as if the hair was cut wrong..or soemthing...


all this with derby blades... i know folks here say to try different blades...i have ordered some astras and will be trying that next...
also have ordered a R41 ..will try that as well...

why would a blade that works so amazingly well in a shavette perform so bad in a de ?

what am i missing?

i am hoping someone who did not have that great an experience with the de89 to start out with ..later got it to work for them, will chime in..

thanks..,
Veer

 

[fcdiscus]

I get great shaves with Derbys in my DE89-but even better with Astra SPs. My best guess is that you just need to work on your angle with this razor.

 

[vreddy2000]

@fcdiscus
how do you hold the razor?
I get my angle by holding the top plate of the razor flat on my cheek and then angling it down till i can feel the blade...i know some do it the other way...blade edge on cheek and then angle it up..

how do you find your angle ?

 

[vreddy2000]

i want to try the r41 as reviews here said the blade was almost straight..no bend..seemed to mimic my shavette the closest ..i thought i might have better luck with that.

and i had this crazy idea i was going to do with the de89..flip the bottom plate..put a spacer between the blade and the bottom plate
so i could take out the flex of the blade from the equation...

i know..it sounds carzy..but...i'll try it anyway while i am waiting for the R41..

fresh out of any other ideas to try..at this point.

 

[Mick]

Sounds like your angle is off a bit to me

 

[vreddy2000]

my first couple of shaves were rough..i was holding the blade edge on to the cheek..
folks here advised me that my angle was off...i adjusted accordingly..and angled it up..

i get smooth shaves in about 3 passes...if the angle was off...wouldn't i have stubble or razor burn immediately after the shave?
my problem is that the shave does not seem to last...hr..or two after..i have rough..spikey..sand papery.. stubble...

 

[vreddy2000]

the de89 has abt a 10 degree contact angle..and i think i have been at both ends of that spectrum...

how do i find the angle?

 

[Predict]

Try a feather. I get bbs with 3 passes and touch up. I couldn't get that with any other blade I tried in this razor. 7oclock black may work just as well.

 

[vreddy2000]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiXojYrLhVA

i know he is a pro..and he propably forgot more about shaving then i will ever know...
but the way he is holding the razor...
the number of times he is going over the same area..
he does a 3 pass shave here..but considering the number of times he goes over the same area..its more like a 6 pass shave for me...
the blade angle seems to be edge on cheek...

opposite of everthing i understand to be the right way of doing it.....

this was how i was holding it first couple of shaves and my skin was screaming after...
is this the only way to get a good shave with a de89 ?

 

[syngent]

i havent cared much for derbys since i started using better blades myself,... but different razors have different profiles to them so you will get different results in a minor sense with the blades, with a shavette you can see your angles much better so its possible you hit the mark just right with it

 

[vreddy2000]

i havent cared much for derbys since i started using better blades myself,... but different razors have different profiles to them so you will get different results in a minor sense with the blades, with a shavette you can see your angles much better so its possible you hit the mark just right with it

*sigh* i hope so...i hate giving up ...will try astra...and the R41
but first...will mod my ej89 with a spacer...will post back results on the mod shortly...if i am still in one piece...

 

[vreddy2000]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showth...de-angle-just-as-personal-as-blade-preference


i have been on both extremes of the angle of contact ...perhaps i should try in between...

 

[Larry J]

I couldn't get great shaves with Derby blades in my EJ, went with Astras which seem to perform much better, as did the various
Gillettes I have tried. The EJ89 has a rep as a mild razor. Perhaps the R41 will work better for you. Interested in hearing your mod results as well as your experience
with Astra blades.

 

[Doppelgaenger]

I just had an insight with my merkur 33C, I had been using Lord Big Ben blades in it and I thought my razor was to blame for eating my face off so I bought a slim adjustable and a superspeed and found that they weren't eating my face anymore (I use gillette blades in them) I went back to the merkur after about two weeks of not using it and it still was eating my face, I put a gillette blade in it and suddenly the razor was perfect and gave me a shave that my superspeed can't touch in so few passes. For some reason the blade was to blame for nicking me so damn much, and not the razor itself. Try using good quality blades and you might find it's a completely different animal.

 

[Alphonse]

The correct answer is: Edwin prefers to wear a Feather rather than a Derby on his head.

 

[Member357]

I've had good results with Feathers, Sharks, Astras, Personna 74s, and Derbies.

 

[eizan70]

The correct answer is: Edwin prefers to wear a Feather rather than a Derby on his head.

+1. I found my EJ prefers feathers as well. In fact when getting a new razor I often break out my old samplers as I find what works as my best blade in one razor is not in another.

 

[Champion of Capua]

Feather, Feather, Feather and Feather

 

[takeshi]

why would a blade that works so amazingly well in a shavette perform so bad in a de ?

what am i missing?

Why would you assume that a blade would perform the same in all razors? It's frequently stated that the razor and the blade both affect the shave. Some pairings will work better for some. Other pairings will work better for others. You seem to be missing the old YMMV.

i am hoping someone who did not have that great an experience with the de89 to start out with ..later got it to work for them, will chime in..

Again, don't forget YMMV. What works for one won't necessarily work for you. Feathers work extremely well in the DE89 for me. You'll have to try out the options and see what works best for you.

 

[attime6]

Astra SP however this may not work for you.