FOURTEENTH ANNUAL One Blade in February Challenge 2023 Edition

[Mempho]

Whew! The King C Gillette blade I picked out already had a week's worth of shaves on it, but it made it through another four weeks easily. I ordered 50 more KCGs so I guess I'm done with blades for the next five years. A great, comfortable shave every day, although admittedly the last two weeks took more and more touch-up.

KCG

 

[Guido75]

My

Whew! The King C Gillette blade I picked out already had a week's worth of shaves on it, but it made it through another four weeks easily. I ordered 50 more KCGs so I guess I'm done with blades for the next five years. A great, comfortable shave every day, although admittedly the last two weeks took more and more touch-up.

KCG

My experience too. The KCG blade is an easy rider too at least 30 shaves and I bet beyond (but I ruined the edge on that last shave by trying to amateurly honing it).

Cheers,

Guido

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

Merkur Progress set to 1.5
Van Der Hagen Ice Tempered SS (23)
Gillette Pure shave cream
Vie Long horse, face lathered.

Two shaves in with the Merkur and I have observed that attaining a close, comfortable shave (with close being the subjective term) is now taking three passes. I don't mind that the shaves aren't as close as when I was at single digit numbers on the blade. Too close has been the culprit in many a bad shave.

The worst thing at this stage of the blade's ability to produce a desired or intended result is how long it takes. My usual routine--when I get up and drive to the office at the same time as my wife gets up--allows for twenty, twenty five minutes. With three passes, if I run late, I might try to hurry and run the risk of rushing and drawing blood.

Otherwise, the blade performs.

 

[ChriWilson]

17 shaves out of this single blade - OBiF has concluded for me

 

[InkStainedWretch]

OBiF shave #28

Unusually for me, a late afternoon shave. I paired the Gillette Goal Super Platinium (28) with a Gillette tech with its native base plate. Since I'm on vacation, I again used my Razorock synthetic brush to face lather Prorasso cream. This shave was somewhat smoother then last night's: same setup except a 3D printed base plate in the style of a Henson. I had to stop myself from applying too much pressure - not enough blade feel for me. In the end, a good enough shave.

I used a Shark Super Stainless for OBiF 2022. Overall, I'd say that the two blades performed about the same: good for the first half of the month; didn't cut cleanly on the second half.

I'm glad that this isn't a leap year.

 

[FoolishMortal]

Made it.

I lost track of some of the shaves on the Nacet, but it's 21 or better.

 

[Chef455]

I must admit I had my doubts. I use Feather blades almost every shave. I subscribe to the idea that DE blades are very inexpensive so I do not hesitate to toss one if my shave even starts to go sideways.

The idea of trying to stretch one blade for four weeks sounded like a dubious endeavor at best. Turns out it was fairly easy.

I'd like to thank @Mike M for helping me out with a blade trade allowing me to remain in the G.R.U.M.E. and G.R.U.Y.E.R.E. The Shark Super Platinum lasted the month and finished strong.

Also the kind soul that sold me the Slim Aristocrat for a song. It is my only adjustable and I believe it was crucial to succeeding in the OBiF.

Happy shaves!

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

My usual routine--when I get up and drive to the office at the same time as my wife gets up--allows for twenty, twenty five minutes. With three passes, if I run late, I might try to hurry and run the risk of rushing and drawing blood.

Clarification: My entire morning routine is 20-25 minutes, as we said in the Navy, to s---, shower, and shave. So, the time to perform three passes cuts into the other two priorities.

I forgot it was the last day. There was a time I was an every-day shaver. But my beard has greyed and growth has slowed... But I am going to keep using the Van Der Hagen Ice Tempered blade.

I consider this an okay blade for longevity. I would fully recommend it for those who use their blades for a week. However, as many of the reviews on B&B point out, the cost isn't competitive with even top-tier blades. You can only buy them in tucks in the store, I believe. Fine for an occasional purchase, like I did, to experiment. And this experiment is to get to 30.

 

[Mike M]

One Blade in February Challenge

Razor: RR Lupo 95
Blade: Personna Med-Prep(28)
Brush: Yaqi Moka-Express 2 band badger
Soap: MWF

Tonight for the last shave of the One Blade in February Challenge I decided to use MWF lathered with the Moka-Express, they have been a pretty good pairing now that I have the MWF dialled in. I think that bodes well for my future attempts to 3017 it although I really need to finish the EJ Limes and Pomegranate first. The Med-Prep blade has held up very well and now that I have paired it with the Lupo it still appears to have a good bit of life left in it.
The result was yet another near BBS, even a little closer than last night with the MdC. It seems that the results with the Lupo are getting better as I grow in confidence using it and I am happy to have it as part of the rotation even with the over heavy handle.

 

[Mike M]

I'd like to thank @Mike M for helping me out with a blade trade allowing me to remain in the G.R.U.M.E. and G.R.U.Y.E.R.E. The Shark Super Platinum lasted the month and finished strong.

Glad to hear the Shark blade lasted the month, but I have never managed to get a Shark to last that long, well done.

 

[Mike M]

Whew! The King C Gillette blade I picked out already had a week's worth of shaves on it, but it made it through another four weeks easily. I ordered 50 more KCGs so I guess I'm done with blades for the next five years. A great, comfortable shave every day, although admittedly the last two weeks took more and more touch-up.

KCG

The KCG blade is a truly great blade I always find them smooth and they last a long time. I chose the KCG for last year's OBIF and it didn't disappoint finally finished it up around 37 shaves.

 

[Mike M]

Congratulations to all those who successfully completed the OBIF challenge and thanks to all of you who took part, you are what makes this challenge so much fun. I hope to see you all next year for the 15th Annual One Blade in February Challenge but don't forget next year is a leap year so we have 29 days to enjoy

 

[Saxonbowman]

Final One Blade in February Shave:

Razor: Fatip Piccolo
Blade: Feather (27)
Brush: Semogue boar
Soap: Stirling Sheep
Cold water rinse

In summary here are the razors I used:

Shave 1-5 Ball-end Tech
Shave 2-10 Blue Tip Super Speed
Shave 11-15 NEW Long Comb
Shave 16-20 1906 Single Ring
Shave 21-27 Fatip Piccolo

I wanted to see if I could use a Feather HI Stainless blade for the full month. In the past these blades started out sharp but quickly deteriorated. I decided to try sticking to a shallow angle since I seem to wear a blade out more quickly by shaving with a steep angle. For whatever reason the Feather performed quite well. I noticed some progressive mild tugging during the last half of the month but nothing that would make me want to give up on the blade. I didn't always end up with a BBS but most days I came pretty close. I think using the more aggressive razors later in the month helped with the shave quality. Thanks to @Mike M for running the challenge this year and thanks to all who participated!

 

[LJBraaten]

I wondered if my old Feather Hi Stainless (going in with 201 shaves) would make through another month, and it did! This past week it has developed some not-so-mild tugging in the first pass. I’ve adopted @thombrogan ‘s “chipmunk bites” for the first pass to get through. After that first pass the shaves are fairly easy. My shaves were with my Gillette early PostWar Tech (my destiny) razor, except for one or two on my Gillette New LC.

 

[thombrogan]

Another Other Other One Blade In Fruity February

Last night’s luxury shave
GEM Micromatic Open Comb
Personna GEM PTFE (5)
Damp washcloth aka “shave binky”
Simpson Wee Scot 13mm badger brush
Pre-shave: Glycerin soap face wash with AP ShaveCo Cashmere and a dollop of aloe vera
Lather: Wickhams 1912 Club Cola Soap, palm-lathered
Aftershave: Ulm Nom
Post-shave: hot shower

Closing out Fruity February and One Blade in February with last night’s shave. Blade levitated around my skin chopping whiskers away from its surface. When the angle was wrong, there was a very light tugging and there was only sound when the angle was right. If I didn’t have the tiniest itch under the right side of my jawline, I would claim a DFS result was achieved.

Many thanks to @Time Bandit and @Mike M for the fun month!

 

[Aziraphale]

Well, that was fun. Shaved mostly every day save for maybe a few days when I was sick.
But, 20 days at least on my King Cobra and Kai Titan and it's still going strong.
My daily shaves consist of a shower and a quickie two pass face lather that yields a DFS and almost BBS.

Maybe I'll go back to DE shaving just to give myself the challenge.
Maybe use up some of my old blades while I'm at it.
Maybe.

 

[c__port]

Nacet (1)

DSCosmetic DS-D8-T
Cremo, pea-sized, used as pre-shave oil
Arko-Lavender
Cerave

A sharp blade in my mildest razor. What a difference! Effortless shave, zero irritation.

Maybe the best thing about OBIF is how the first shave on the next blade feels in comparison!

 

[KQY61]

Hi,

So, yesterday saw the last shave in February with the blade I started out with. I do this every year, but with the Fasan Double Slant that isn't much of an issue. I usually change on the 1st and 16th of each month. And the blade shows it is about ready for a change after 25 days. It isn't much of a stretch to drag it (get it?) out to the 28th.

Fasan Metal Top Cap

• KQY61
• Aug 27, 2015

With shot loaded Bar handle to balance the metal top cap

I didn't sign up at the beginning, I just did what I've been doing for years. I had to go looking for the thread this morning so I could report my success once more.

Oh, and the blade was a Accu-Tech Med Prep from Verona, Virginia as usual for me.

Stan

 

[RayClem]

I did not begin my one-blade journey at the beginning of February, but I did finish out the month. Since my typical shave involves the use of 4 different razors, one for each pass, I decided to load Dorco Prime Platinum STP301 blades into 5 of my razors. I do not always use the same 4 razors for every shave.

I had some difficulty with the Dorco blades in my Parker 24C open comb as it has a lot of blade feel. On a few shaves, I had some weepers on my chin. That rarely occurs if I use a slightly less sharp blade in the 24C.

The blades worked quite well in my Parker Variant, Karve D plate SB and Karve C plate SB razors.

I did not feel that the Dorco blades were quite sharp enough for my VDH/Weishi TTO razor. It is very mild and I normally use super sharp blades like a BIC Chrome Platinum, Gillette Permasharp Super, Gillette Nacet, or 7 O'Clock Super Platinum (black) in that razor for my clean-up pass. The Dorco Prime blades are very sharp, but not super-sharp, so I never felt that I got a BBS shave.

Thus, this experiment confirmed that every razor works best when paired with the right blade. There is no one ideal razor and there is no one ideal blade. I could have taken one of the three middle razors and the Dorco Prime blades and gotten a perfectly acceptable shave; but by using a variety of razors equipped with the right blade for each razor, I can achieve an even closer, more comfortable shave.

As the blade in the Parker 24C OC has started to wear out, I am no longer getting weepers, so I should be able to use it for another few shaves. Since the Dorco Prime blades were never quite sharp enough for the mild TTO, I will change its blade for my first shave in March. I might save the used blade to be used in done of the other razors. I do like the Dorco Prime blades, just not in the OC and TTO razors.

 

[Actor07]

Finally after over 30 shaves, I put my Personna 74 "on the bench" for a bit. These blades are the longest lasting blades of all time and still stayed sharp after a full month. I'll probably retire it for good soon. Luckily, I have enough Personna 74s to last several lifetimes.

Today was a good shave with my LASSC BBS-1.