Discovering new DE blades

[Pudzee]

Good evening, I've only been DE shaving a few months and started off with a muhle R89 and a sample pack of blades. Used a few Astra SP to start and didn't find them particularly smooth. Moved onto GSB's and had much better shaves and then discovered Wizamet SI which seem to be perfect, smooth and sharp and give me a DFS bordering on BBS and purchased 250. My dilemma now is do I try my other blades or stick with the Wizamet SI that's giving me fantastic smooth shaves
Attached photo is the blades on the left I've used and on the right blades still to try.
I've also just ordered a Muhle Rocca R94 as I'm already double shimming the R89 every shave just to give it a tad more aggression.
Do you guys swap and experiment with different brands of blades often or stick to what you know gives you a DFS

 

[sarimento1]

Welcome to B&B, Sir Pudzee!
From the picture of your blade collection, all are great blades!
FWIW, I've had excellent shaves from my Astras!
But, with a little experience, you'll certainly get wonderful shaves from all!
Enjoy the journey!!

 

[gdawg55]

For me Astra Blue and Green work very well in the Rocca. The German Wilkinson is also a great blade. The Nacet should also work well.

 

[pow0622]

All are ymmv but my money would be on the Nacet. All the Gillettes are from PPI Russia and excellent blades. The Voskhod and Rapira platinum lux are the same factory as each other as well. One is platinum coated the other is teflon. I believe Lord also makes the Sharks. The fun is in the journey and I hope u enjoy.

 

[Tillerman]

Give it a year and blades you thought were only ok now do a great job.

 

[pow0622]

Give it a year and blades you thought were only ok now do a great job.

Haha very true!

 

[borwish]

Like you I'm not impressed with the Astra (although my wife is fond of them) and like the Wizzies. The Gillette Platinum is also good to me. I also like the Indian made Gillette Wilkinson Sword Saloon packs. The saloon blades are really smooth to me.

I constantly switch up my blades. I have about 2 dozen and randomly grab a blade to use. It helps make things interesting.

 

[La Malice]

Why stop to one blade ? where is the joy in that ? don't you like a crappy shave from time to time when you know you could get a great one ?

More seriously, I am trying a few razor blade/ razor combo lately and one thing I will tell is keep searching knowing you have a great fall back plan. In your search keep expanding in one direction, if sharpish blade did not cut it move away from it. Astra was not great, I doubt you will have joy with the lord, shark and voshkod. Sharper blade was great give the nacet and bic a go.

As for your next razor you might find that the opposite is true, do not disregard the Astra just because it was not great in one razor.

I got some amazing shave out of a nacet in a feather popular razor, the same blade was a total crap in a merkur 34 HD

 

[BobbyB]

Welcome to forum! Here your will meet members who share their critiques of blades, razors, soaps, creams, brushes, bowls, and techniques, and are willing to offer advice to others. Your picture shows some great blades to learn from. As time goes on, you find that you enjoy experimenting with a different setup for each day's, or each rotation's shave. Or, you might settle find that one razor, blade, soap/cream, brush provides a best shave. Keep enjoying each day's shave, and visit us often to share your experience(s).

 

[Pudzee]

Thanks everyone, I was going to switch to the Nacet today but thought I'd see if I still had a few more shaves left in the Wizamet SI . As I mentioned in another thread this morning I made a massive faux pas and had forgotten to fully tighten on the top plate after cleaning it last shave. I was having a great shave then felt the razor tugging and jerking. Nearly sliced off my top lip (luckily I was only using light pressure). A Small bit of claret appeared and I was thinking wow this blade dropped off rapidly........ It was then when I noticed the top plate had worked loose tightened her back down and preceded to manage another DFS once the alum block had worked...... I'll put that one down as a clear newbie error. One that hopefully I'll never make again. I think that could have ended badly with a brand new Nacet!!!!

 

[BigJ]

Welcome aboard!

Trying blades is fun and a great way to travel around the world!!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Part of DE shaving, maybe the best part, is that you have so many different options available to you.

If you shave with a Mach III, what you see is what you get. I have one and they don't shave that bad.

In the DE world, everything is interchangeable. I have the Amazon version of the DE89. I also have a Rocca. The ability to swap handles gives you essentially two more razors. I swap handles all of the time.

Now for only an investment of $25, you can buy a Mühle R41 head and use it with either of your handles.

I'll give you some of my blade impressions and you can compare them to your own.

The Astra is a good blade, like you, I never thought it was a particularly smooth blade.

My favorite all around smooth blade has been the GSB. I keep a major supply on hand!

I find the GSB to be very similar to the American Personna Lab Blue, both provide an excellent smooth shave.

The Gillette Platinum is similar to the GSB but a bit more old school. By this, I mean that it has a bit more blade feel to it.

The Wizamet's are almost as smooth as the GSB's and have a feel similar to the Gillette Platinum's. While they are a good blade, they are one of the more costly blades and I don't view them as a super blade as others are prone to proclaim.

The Nacet's are more of a favorite for me. Nacet and Gillette Russian made Perma-Sharp's are very similar. The Nacet costs slightly more. Sometimes as you venture into the extra sharp blades, you loose smoothness in a shave. Feather blades are a good example of this. Both the Nacet and the Perma-Sharp are very sharp but still retain their smoothness. Perhaps not quite the smoothness of the GSB, but still very smooth.

I would say the same for the BIC SP. It is a super sharp blade, perhaps right below the Feather in sharpness. But far more smooth. I rate the BIC just above the Nacet (a very tiny bit) in sharpness but just as smooth.

This year, I have been shaving with one blade each week. I just finished the week yesterday with a Voskhod. It is a beautifully shaving blade. It is like a GSB on the value menu. The GSB's are around $15/hundred, while the Voskhod's run around $10.

The Voskhod's are not as sharp as the GSB's but work for me. The only drawback that sometimes will occur, is the coating is a bit heavy on the first shave and needs to wear off a bit. Because of this the Voskhod can appear less sharp. That only lasts for the first shave. Hard to beat the smooth shave for blades that are only $10.

As member pow0622 points out:

The Voskhod and Rapira platinum lux are the same factory as each other as well.

This would be Moscow.

He also points out that:

All the Gillettes are from PPI Russia and excellent blades.

This is very true.

Gillette also makes the Rubie in their PPI plant. It rivals and possibly bests the GSB for smoothness.

I think the German made Wilkinson Sword's (in the black package) are a decent blade, but a bit overrated. They have come down in price a bit since last year, when they were going for $22. Now they are around $18, which is more reasonable.

As member borwish comments:

I also like the Indian made Gillette Wilkinson Sword Saloon packs. The saloon blades are really smooth to me.

I think the Gillette Wilkinson Sword, in the Saloon packs are a smoother shaving blade and are 1/3 the cost at $6, as the German made blades. The German variety does last longer though.

There are some very fine blades that are manufactured in India, including blades by Gillette.

The absolute smoothest blade I have ever shaved with are the Indian made Gillette 7 O'clock Super Platinum's (Gillette Black's). They are very pricy, as specially coming from India, which is known for their inexpensive blades.

DE shaving is one area that you can get some excellent shaves from blades that cost between 5-7 cents each.

Most of the Egyptian Lord blades are fine middle-of-the-road blades, which does include the Shark's. That is fine because the tend to sell in the $8-$10 price range.

 

[Pudzee]

Thankyou for the Excellent Breakdown ShavingPrimate. My 2nd purchase of blades after the sample pack was 100 NOS GSB's the tucks without the number of blades as seen in my photo. I purchased those as I read great things about those and the wizamets on here so I I got trigger happy and started buying some of the great blades I heard folk mention on here. My thinking was if I don't like them I'll sell them on but if I don't buy them i may miss the boat and not be able to purchase those great blades at a good price. I'm finding the Wizamet a bit better lasting longevity wise and a fraction smoother especially as I'm at shave 6, but I was getting some great shaves out of the GSB though. A lot of it could be down to my technique though as I improve. The 1st 3 weeks I used Astra's, then switched to GSB then 3 weeks later Wizamets. So I might well find now if I go back to GSB my shaves will have improved as my technique improves. I have the Muhle Rocca 94 coming next week. So that will have been over 3 months now learning with the R89 even though I have been wet shaving over 35 years. I am finding with the R89 I'm having to do 3 full passes WTG, XTG & ATG plus touch ups and within a few hours I'm already noticing quite strong growth. I come from a family of hairy Polish men, so I'm just finding I could do with something maybe a little bit more aggressive than the R89. Well that's my thought.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

I come from a family of hairy Polish men, so I'm just finding I could do with something maybe a little bit more aggressive than the R89. Well that's my thought.

Your most welcome!

I consider the "x89" razors/heads to be very average. The quality of shave one receives depends quite a bit on individual technique employed.

With the experience you have with the '89, I might suggest that you try the R41 head from Amazon at $25.

MÜHLE Traditional Replacement Safety Razor Head (Open Comb)​

This head gets so much bad undeserved press, frankly it's laughable!

I have no particular DE shaving technique or talent and I can shave with it every day! I mean with no cuts, irritation or any issues at all.

I have my core assortment of blades. I have these twenty five different DE blades that I have in quantities of a hundred or more.

Once you get to shaving with the blades you have, mostly you are going to find that to get different results, you have to use different razors.

I can shave with any of these different blades, in any if my razors on a daily shave basis, without experiencing any issues.

But it is the specific razor that ultimately determines the shave quality to me. Noting that these blades are all good blades, as yours are also. Not speaking about garbage blades here.

I have the stainless steel Rocca. It will give you an outstanding shave with any of your blades. The Rocca shaves really smooth and really close. It is a smoother shave than your '89 and a closer shave.

I'm sure you will find it an easy shave, easier than with the '89. You never feel you are going to tear up your face. With the '89, you could feel inclined to attack your face to get that close shave. Not with the Rocca.

The R41 will get you a bit closer than the Rocca. The shaving style will be more along the lines of the '89 though. The R41 is well designed and will give you a real lasting BBS shave.

Enjoy your Rocca!

 

[Pudzee]

Your most welcome!

I consider the "x89" razors/heads to be very average. The quality of shave one receives depends quite a bit on individual technique employed.

With the experience you have with the '89, I might suggest that you try the R41 head from Amazon at $25.

[URL='https://www.amazon.com/Muhle-R41TR-MUHLE-Head-Razor/dp/B075KL2G33/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=1GIEI4E00TWXL&keywords=muhle+r41+head&qid=1675611939&sprefix=muhle+r41+head%2Caps%2C629&sr=8-3#immers
I have the stainless steel Rocca. It will give you an outstanding shave with any of your blades. The Rocca shaves really smooth and really close. It is a smoother shave than your '89 and a closer shave.

I'm sure you will find it an easy shave, easier than with the '89. You never feel you are going to tear up your face. With the '89, you could feel inclined to attack your face to get that close shave. Not with the Rocca.

The R41 will get you a bit closer than the Rocca. The shaving style will be more along the lines of the '89 though. The R41 is well designed and will give you a real lasting BBS shave.

Enjoy your Rocca!
​

That's good to know I can buy the R41 head separately and it's a great cheap upgrade and fit straight onto my R89 or R94 handle, I'll see how the Rocca fares up when it arrives from Spain next week.​

 

[Berwick12]

To answer the original questions, if you do not want to have blade acquisition disorder, Just stick with the 250 that you bought.

After I throw a blade I use a new blade every time for variety.

If I were to rank the blades on the right pictured, my favorites from top to least favorites at the bottom in sharpness and smooth straight off the bat with no break in. *Bic CP, for me, get better after the 1st/2nd shave so I put wilkies above them.* The 2 at the bottom are "super smooth' but not sharp enough for me to use again

Nacet
Wilkies *
Bic. *
Gillette platinums
Lord platinums
7 o'clock
Shark
Voshkhod
Rapira platinum lux