Epiphany

[AJS]

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity to get my Feather Blades ( thankyou for the holdup HM Customs and Excise) they finally arrived this morning. After promising myself that I would stick to a more gentle setup with familiar products following yesterday's slice and dice, I quickly went back on my word and loaded my HD with a fresh feather (still not to confident with the Futur, you should see the size of the cut I opened up on my neck)
As many of you will know, I was having a lot of difficulty with the HD after starting out with the Futur; it seemed small, fiddly and too lightweight. Even when I really bore down on my skin with the HD I couldn't get it to shave as closely as the Futur. The Feathers have changed all that.
There is the epiphany that this post promised, it is the combination of a less aggressive razor (or razor setting) with the sharpest blade available that is one of those magic combination puzzle pieces I have been trying to find since I started out.
Now I am sure that the more knowledable/ experienced shavers here will be rolling their eyes as they applaud sarcastically and think "why has it taken you so long to reach such an obvious conclusion?" (I'm sure you wont mean that seriously but I am trying to set the scene here ) but I have only just received my Feathers, so once again you can blame Customs for the holdup.
For me, the fearsome reputation of the Feathers meant that I was much more careful and focused than usual, especially as I had to avoid reopening the Freddy Krueger style slice in my neck, but I actually found the Feathers to be much smoother than any other blade I had tried. It's good that the tales
of their sharpness increased my concentration, but I found them to be much less irritating than the Merkur Platinums I use and they have moved straight in to top position out of my selection of blades.
As we all know wetshaving is about self discovery, and having finally found a particular combination that suits me I am overjoyed (who knew it was possible to get this excited about shaving?)
For anyone who is holding off of purchasing Feather blades, my advice would be to go ahead and make the purchase; if I can shave with them and survive you shoudn't have any trouble either, and given their reputation you are bound to be more careful and more precise than usual.
Warm regards,
Alex

 

[guenron]

Good show Alex! The only thing lacking in your post was some tension-building music. I have a similar razor-blade combination that I also enjoy, the Merkur LH Classic and the Feather Hi Stainless. Quite often becoming a master of the obvious is not all that simple!

 

[DoubleE]

Alex:

From the "For what it's worth" department, I agree! I own Merkur, Astra, Euro Gillettes, Derbys, ASRs, and Feathers and about the only blade I reach for any more are the Feathers. Like Ron, I like them in my long-handle classic, and they're my blade of choice in my Vision and Futur as well. About the only time I use a different blade is in my Progress and I find a Merkur blade works well in it. Go figure. I can get ok shaves with some of the others but the Feathers are just so much smoother, I reach for them every time.

Anyone wanna buy any Euro Gillettes, Derbys, etc?

 

[Kyle]

Good for you, Alex. It is always a treat when you find the exact blade & razor combo that works the best for you.

 

[tribecom]

I had my own epiphany with the feathers in a 40's SuperSpeed. A combination made in heaven for my particular skin and shaving style.

 

[yasuo200365]

I find Feathers to be a good blade, but I probably favour the Swedish Gillettes more - ease of availability and their better price plays a part no doubt.

Walmart Personna's (excellent value), Israeli's & Derbys are IMV good blades at an excellent price. Merkurs are a good blade also, but expensive IMV when compared with those of the above. German Wilkinson Swords are OK, not that fussed on them but they are very over-priced here in the UK.

Those forum members who live in the UK - the blade to try is Tesco's (mystery) own label DE blades in packs of 10 for £2 ...., they may even pip Gillette's Swedes from top spot for me. BTW they're not repackaged personnas.

Regards
John

 

[AJS]

Thanks for the support everyone. John, I am in the UK as well, but I have never seen a DE blade in any Tesco store near me, whereabouts do you get yours? Also, do you know of a supplier for Feathers in the UK? I ordered my first batch from classicshaving.com but having been violated by Customs (what I have had to pay out over the last three days in import charges it feels like I've been violated) I would appreciate it if there was a source in the UK. For those who like Merkurs, I use to like them in my Futur, but lately they tend to irritate me more than any other blade.
Having read a number of reports in praise of razor fidelity I think that I will stick with the HD/ Feather combo for a while yet. Although I am on the lookout for a GEM or Ever Ready single blade razor, there seems to be a good choice of razors on ebay.co.uk but like I posted yesterday I am really not sure of what type of blade they need.
Warm regards,
Alex

 

[Sam]

Feathers are the only blades I have now. And using them in a Fatboy, well I sold my Vision.

Sam

 

[JakAHearts]

This may seem like an obvious thing, but where in walmart do you find the personnas?

 

[mrob]

Feathers are the only blades I have now. And using them in a Fatboy, well I sold my Vision.

Sam

I just tried this combo (Feather in a FatBoy) yesterday for the first time and was really shocked and surprised how smooth and effective it was. I dialed the FB down to 3/4 for most of the shave and got a really decent result--with none of the pulling or tugging I typically get with my Vision. Hmm. . .