That's awesome. I have Feathers, and I get in the mood to try one every now and then. They always leave me irritated, and with a few weepers. No problem for me, as Gillette has my shaving comfort dialed in with Astra SP's, or any other Gillette branded Blade from the modern plant in Russia. Interestingly enough, I bought a hundred pack of USA made Personna blades recently, and they are superb! Feather is for other folks, not for me. But I suppose that is why we have so many brands to choose from.
Feather Blades: Hype and Longevity
- Thread starter TheVez2
- Start date
I don't know about the blades, but I have a reasonable idea what your face would look like.
My beard is the same as yours, after three shaves with a blade I started to notice some tugging and pulling. By 5 with a cart they were totally trashed.
Feathers are my fave blade. By the 7th day they begin to pull noticeably so I got into the habit of changing blades after 6 days.
It is interesting how everybody has different perceptions about blades. I never had any of the usual list of problems with Feathers that many have then again some people swear by blades I can't even get one use out of ( e.g. Sharks and Derbys ).
It is interesting how everybody has different perceptions about blades. I never had any of the usual list of problems with Feathers that many have then again some people swear by blades I can't even get one use out of ( e.g. Sharks and Derbys ).
I love Feathers in all my razors although I admit that I'm trying a few different brands with equal success. I get roughly the same mileage with any blade that I've used. 3 - 5 three pass shaves. I have a very coarse beard that really tears up a blade after a few days. If you consider 3 passes plus touch-ups I'm getting up to 15 passes per blade. Not too shabby.
Same here. The initial shaves with a Feather blade are incredibly smooth. But they detoriate quickly, and last no more than three or four shaves for me.
A PPC blade lasts six or seven days for me.
I have only been at it for 5 weeks or so. But I figure it is time to try a feather. It will be my first shave of the new year.
I can agree with this. After the second shave with a Feather, it is time for a new blade. Maybe I have thick facial hair but I am only able to get 2-4 shaves from most blades. The furthest I have gone with a blade was 7 shaves with a 7 o'clock black and 6 shaves with a med prep.
Feathers have always trashed my face like no other blade. My dry skin weeps at the sight of a Feathers - literally. I do well with a Polsilver SI or PermaSharp blade.
That said, I have gotten the itch to try Feathers again. Santa got me an ATT M1 for XMAS and it is without a doubt the sweetest, smoothest razor I have used to date. Could it be that the M1 and Feathers will mate perfectly in the same way that the very mild Feathers D2 works best with a Feathers blade?
Stay tuned.
That said, I have gotten the itch to try Feathers again. Santa got me an ATT M1 for XMAS and it is without a doubt the sweetest, smoothest razor I have used to date. Could it be that the M1 and Feathers will mate perfectly in the same way that the very mild Feathers D2 works best with a Feathers blade?
Stay tuned.
I used to only get 3 shaves from Feathers, but as my prep improved and I dialed in the angle better the number of quality shaves has about doubled. Makes sense to me that if the blade edge is cutting hair and not raking flesh, it will stay sharper longer.
Guess it depends of coarseness of your hair and the like, for me I can make a feather last around 7 shaves about. For other could be more could be less, but I am a big fan of feather blades.
- Thread starter
- #51
Update:
So, I went away for the holidays and left my Merkur HD with the feather in it at home. While away I was shaving with a Fatboy with a Personna, that at the end of the holiday had 2 weeks on it. When I returned home, I shaved again with my feather and had shave #27 (with 3 days of growth), and it was more smooth and comfortable of a shave than the 2 week personna.
Today was shave #29 and it is still going strong.
So, I went away for the holidays and left my Merkur HD with the feather in it at home. While away I was shaving with a Fatboy with a Personna, that at the end of the holiday had 2 weeks on it. When I returned home, I shaved again with my feather and had shave #27 (with 3 days of growth), and it was more smooth and comfortable of a shave than the 2 week personna.
Today was shave #29 and it is still going strong.
I envy you.
+10
The first time I used a Feather blade was a revelation. So sharp and smooth! Unfortunately they detoriate quickly for me as well, and I can't get more than 4 shaves out of them.
I received a sample pack of Feathers recently and they provided me a extremely comfortable, frighteningly close shave. There's no questioning the quality of the product. And I agree with zygalski up at #17 when he said most who dislike Feathers probably tried them at the beginning vice waiting until their DE journey provided them with technique that was a match for the sharpness. I think that's right, and likely contributes much to their reputation as a mutilator.
But here's my problem with Feathers: Because of my mild beard type, the Lord Platinum does an equal job for about 40% less. Admittedly, I haven't stretched any of my Lords out to Day 21 (as Chris has skillfully done); however, using my $15/200ct Lord, I only have to go to Day 4 to get to where a $53/200ct Feather user would be on Day 18 (1.8 cents per shave).
Don't get me wrong; I base very few decisions regarding wet shaving on money and the value for it. In the main, it's just not an activity that lends itself to thriftiness, with its endless combinations of new and old devices and products designed to remove hair from the face. It's a hobby to enjoy, so there's no return on the investment other than pleasure. But in the case of Feathers, all things being equal, I do make the value-for-money calculation.
Cheers,
Rick
But here's my problem with Feathers: Because of my mild beard type, the Lord Platinum does an equal job for about 40% less. Admittedly, I haven't stretched any of my Lords out to Day 21 (as Chris has skillfully done); however, using my $15/200ct Lord, I only have to go to Day 4 to get to where a $53/200ct Feather user would be on Day 18 (1.8 cents per shave).
Don't get me wrong; I base very few decisions regarding wet shaving on money and the value for it. In the main, it's just not an activity that lends itself to thriftiness, with its endless combinations of new and old devices and products designed to remove hair from the face. It's a hobby to enjoy, so there's no return on the investment other than pleasure. But in the case of Feathers, all things being equal, I do make the value-for-money calculation.
Cheers,
Rick
- Thread starter
- #55
Today was Shave #32
- Thread starter
- #56
Shave #36 today.
That's incredible! Shall we start a pool? How long will it last?
When I first started DE shaving with my Merkur23C about a month ago, I tried the Merkur blade that came with the razor and a sampler pack of Derby, Wilkinson Sword, Astra SP, something else and 1 Feather blade. I ordered 5 Shark blades and was using those, but was never really happy with the way they tugged on my whiskers. I had also ordered a 5-pack of some more Feathers because out of all the blades I initially tried, it gave me the best shave.
I proposed on another thread that perhaps the tugging sensation and somewhat disappointing shaves I had experienced and disliked with all these other blades could have been due to my technique/razor angle. It was suggested that perhaps I simply needed to use a sharper blade.
So, I turned back to the Feathers. I just ordered 100 of them. At least for my face, razor and skill level, none of the other blades I tried even come close to the result I get with the Feathers: not only my best and smoothest shaves but also no irritation at all. I've never experienced any nicks, cuts or weepers from using the Feathers and they leave my face incredibly smooth.
This will be my first full week using one every day so I'll have to wait and see how long they last. I guess I could keep sampling blades, but I really see no point unless it's to try to find a blade that performs equally well for less money. This batch I ordered comes out to 0.26 a blade, so even if I change blades 2x a week/8 blades a month, that's about $2.08 a month for blades and this 100-pack will last me a year. I have no problem with that since I used to spend $8 a month on my old Fusion 5 cartridges.
I consider myself fortunate that it was pretty quick and easy for me to find a blade I was completely happy with within a relatively short period of time and am thankful that Feather blade was included in my first sampler pack.
I proposed on another thread that perhaps the tugging sensation and somewhat disappointing shaves I had experienced and disliked with all these other blades could have been due to my technique/razor angle. It was suggested that perhaps I simply needed to use a sharper blade.
So, I turned back to the Feathers. I just ordered 100 of them. At least for my face, razor and skill level, none of the other blades I tried even come close to the result I get with the Feathers: not only my best and smoothest shaves but also no irritation at all. I've never experienced any nicks, cuts or weepers from using the Feathers and they leave my face incredibly smooth.
This will be my first full week using one every day so I'll have to wait and see how long they last. I guess I could keep sampling blades, but I really see no point unless it's to try to find a blade that performs equally well for less money. This batch I ordered comes out to 0.26 a blade, so even if I change blades 2x a week/8 blades a month, that's about $2.08 a month for blades and this 100-pack will last me a year. I have no problem with that since I used to spend $8 a month on my old Fusion 5 cartridges.
I consider myself fortunate that it was pretty quick and easy for me to find a blade I was completely happy with within a relatively short period of time and am thankful that Feather blade was included in my first sampler pack.
- Thread starter
- #59
Guess What Day It Is?
No, Not Hump Day...
It's Shave Number...
No, Not Hump Day...
It's Shave Number...
Not surprised at all. I did a 30 day run on a Feather blade last year during a "use one thing" challenge. It was easy. I have a moderately heavy beard and very fast growth. I get 10-20 shaves out of a feather (the only blade I use) every single time. Now the shaves are not identical over that run... the blade does fall off in sharpness a bit and plateau there, but it's not enough to give me bad shaves. I think a lot of folks ditch the blade at that initial fall-off. If they kept shaving with it, they'd see that the blade can be used significantly longer. I usually change blades just because I'm moving on to some other razor, or the sharpness falls off enough that it's just not as fun to shave with anymore. My dad always gets around 40-45 shaves on a feather.
I think some factors that make a difference are keeping the blade dry (which for me, just means very hot water rinse, followed by blowing on the razor to get the water out), and shaving at a shallow angle. The steeper your blade angle of attack (i.e more of a scraping motion instead of a cutting one), the more damage to the blade. I use razors that are inherently low angle shavers - R41 2011, NEW, Fatip, etc. In addition, if you use a steep blade angle, the sharpness fall-off will be much more noticeable in your shaves, in the form of tugging and pulling. This would apply to the adjustables on high settings or any razor with a lot of blade exposure where the user chooses to use a steep blade angle.
This all said, I do recognize that it is pointless to try to get more shaves out of blades, given their low cost. But for me.. I'm still enjoying the shaves at 10 or even 20 or more shaves in, so why change blades?
I think some factors that make a difference are keeping the blade dry (which for me, just means very hot water rinse, followed by blowing on the razor to get the water out), and shaving at a shallow angle. The steeper your blade angle of attack (i.e more of a scraping motion instead of a cutting one), the more damage to the blade. I use razors that are inherently low angle shavers - R41 2011, NEW, Fatip, etc. In addition, if you use a steep blade angle, the sharpness fall-off will be much more noticeable in your shaves, in the form of tugging and pulling. This would apply to the adjustables on high settings or any razor with a lot of blade exposure where the user chooses to use a steep blade angle.
This all said, I do recognize that it is pointless to try to get more shaves out of blades, given their low cost. But for me.. I'm still enjoying the shaves at 10 or even 20 or more shaves in, so why change blades?
