the first time I used my feather portable I loaded it with the feather blade that came with it - my face looked and felt like it went through a cheese grater afterwards. I revisited my feather portable today and tried using a red pack personna since it's worked so well with my fat handle Tech - it still gave me a few nicks. so what gives? is it the angle of the head that makes it so aggressive or was my prep not good enough?
feather portable: why is it so aggressive?
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buyandhold2018
My every day razor is the Merkur HD and I find it more aggressive than the Feather Portable. You may just have to adjust your technique; any time I switch hardware I find there is a bit of an adjustment period. The Feather blades definitely will be less-forgiving during an adjustment period.
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I don't know what i'm doing differently with my technique though. when I use my Tech I almost never cut myself - but i've used the feather portable 3 times and I gave myself weepers each time. I guess I could be using more pressure than normal but it's just weird to me. guess i'm going back to my trusty Tech
If you have the milder tech (newer one with the slender, parallel ports as opposed to the older triangular shaped ports) then you have the mildest razor I have ever used. It's no surprise something else feels more aggressive.
That said, if a Feather Portable is eating you up, it might be defective, or you might need to r-evaluate your technique.
I had 2 Portable and both were screwing my face up, i think it's the blade gap.
I have 4 Feather portables in rotation - one at home, one in travel kit and two in my holiday houses. Plus two spares.
I can say that all of my Portables are consistent in what they are. Excellent razors that will punish any pressure against the skin.
I guess problems most people have with Portable is that they try to apply the same "technique" they use with milder razors. Portable asks for a "light touch" and results are wonderful once you get to appreciate this. Somewhat similar to open combs.
I hold Portable only by two fingers at the very end of the handle. This grip prevents excessive pressure against the skin and for me this works like charms.
I love Feather Portable more than other razors I have tried for the simple fact it was my first "serious" razor and it has helped me learn the proper technique.
If I had started with R89 that I use at home most of time these days, I would have never learned to be gentle while shaving - being very mild razor R89 allows for a frequent abuse of technique without major punishment.
Blade gap is directly proportional to aggressiveness and, certainly, Portable has bigger gap than mild razors (and smaller than open combs). But, reality is, this has much, much less to do with "screwing face up" than the proper prep and technique has.
First, it's a small light razor so there is a tendency to apply more pressure with it. Second, you have to experiment to find the right blade with it. Ironically, I found the Feather blade to be quite awful with it (of course I should point out I'm no fan of the Feather in any razor), and I suggest trying some Bluebirds, Iridiums, and Crystals with it and see which you prefer. These might work better than the Personna you tried. With all of these I experienced very nice shaves.
That's the secret !
I use the portable in the same way and its my go to razor. It is an awesome shaver with the feather yellow blade or the Indian 7OC Super Platinum blade.
Another interesting point I have noted in these forums is that most people who come to love it hoard a few more because of its price point. I suspect that there are lot many more NOS razors available in the wild that we can imagine !!
What's the blade gap like on these portables? I know that the first time I tried to shave with an Old Type it nearly took a layer of skin off my face as I wasn't quite ready for the zero gap. Might have to simply adjust blade angle.
In my opinion, it is more aggressive than the Merkur 34C. Just take a good look at the blade gap and you'll understand why. The difference to the HD is very small, but it sure looks like it's wider:
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Double-Edged_Safety_Razors_Ranked_by_Aggressiveness
Blade gap isn't everything when measuring how aggressive a razor is, but it sure does shave closer than the HD with the same blades.
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/index.php/Double-Edged_Safety_Razors_Ranked_by_Aggressiveness
Blade gap isn't everything when measuring how aggressive a razor is, but it sure does shave closer than the HD with the same blades.
I got one of these from a friend and one side is much more aggressive than the other side. I can even see the blade protrudes more on one side.
I used it this morning and one side was great, quite aggressive giving great results but then I would use the other side and I couldn't even feel it shaving anything.
Is it defective?
I used it this morning and one side was great, quite aggressive giving great results but then I would use the other side and I couldn't even feel it shaving anything.
Is it defective?
I loved the thought of it as a nice travel set up, but I also found it too aggressive. I opted to exchange the head with a Tech top calm it down.
In the end, I sold it and rotate my travel razor between a Tech, Krona, and Schick injector.
+1
The Portable is the second DE razor I've owned after the Tech, and it's just about right for me. The Tech was a little too mild. Interestingly, I got my brother into DE wet shaving shortly after I started, and this was his second razor, too, after a Tech. He picked up this "hold it by the very end of the handle" technique from "The Art of Manliness" site and reported that it transformed his results with the Portable. He had been getting irritation and nicks before.
By holding it at the very tip with two finger, you really can't put too much pressure on. When you get the correct angle, too, the Portable is a very fine shaver. He was getting low-to-irritation-free BBS shaves a couple of weeks after starting DE wet shaving using this technique with the Portable and Shark Stainless blades.
Of course, YMMV. There may be things like the angle your whiskers grow vs. the blade angle that make it impossible to say that the Portable will work for you, but give the end grip technique a try.
I get great results with a Shark Stainless blade. I found the Feather blades cut a little too close for me.
Good luck,
K.T.
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I tried one yesterday and this morning and I must say I am impressed. Great little razor 
Nice close shave with an Indian Wilkinson. Shaves like my oc.
Nice close shave with an Indian Wilkinson. Shaves like my oc.
The first time i inserted a blade, i thought i saw this too. I took it out and reinserted it and i didn't see it again, not to say it wasn't there, especially it doesn't look like there is much room for blade play. maybe it was the angle we were looking at it from? i didn't notice the drastic difference in shaving from either side though.
