Looking for a sampler

[robertc]

I've been using the blades from the Fry's grocery store in town since I started shaving with my DE back in May. I'm looking to sample some other brands of blades and see if I find any that I like better or that last more than the 2 shaves I get out of the Fry's brand.

Do any of you have any suggestions on either a place online I can pick up a sampler pack, or good brands to get if I'm putting together my own sampler pack? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[BladeDE40]

Check out West Coast Shaving or Bullgoose Shaving....they both have a good selection of sample packs...As far as brands go, everyone like different blades for different reasons...I would recommend getting a large pack as this will include many of the popular brands and allow you to experience many different blades. As you are sampling blades, make sure to give each blade a fair shake and shave with it a few times, up to a week if possible, before moving on.

http://www.westcoastshaving.com

http://www.bullgooseshaving.net

 

[CaptainK]

Here are a couple inexpensive samplers that give you one or two blades each of 20 different brands.

 

[americanarmsdealer]

You might check for sampler packs on Amazon, as well. I've found some really reasonable deals there as well as extremely wide variety. Happy hunting!

 

[engdom]

Check out West Coast Shaving or Bullgoose Shaving....they both have a good selection of sample packs...As far as brands go, everyone like different blades for different reasons...I would recommend getting a large pack as this will include many of the popular brands and allow you to experience many different blades. As you are sampling blades, make sure to give each blade a fair shake and shave with it a few times, up to a week if possible, before moving on.

http://www.westcoastshaving.com

http://www.bullgooseshaving.net

My fiance and I are just getting into traditional shaving and I was wondering if these sample packs would be good enough for the two of them to split-- with his bristly face and my legs.

 

[BladeDE40]

My fiance and I are just getting into traditional shaving and I was wondering if these sample packs would be good enough for the two of them to split-- with his bristly face and my legs.

The sample packs usually come with 1 packs of blades for each brand included in the pack. Most brands pack their blades 5 blades per pack and there are a few that do 10 blades. Regardless, you should each be able to get a couple blades per brand to try. The trouble will come if you both decide on liking the same blade...

BTW...welcome to B&B!

 

[robertc]

Ended up buying the 2 blade pack that CaptainK linked. When it gets here I think I'm going to nerd out a bit and have SWMBO help me go through them. Going to have her randomize them without telling me what I'm getting on any given blade change to make sure I'm not introducing a bias, then they'll get ratings based on perceived shave quality by both myself and her, a rating for number of times I cut myself, and how many shaves I get out of it before it needs to be changed. I'm probably just a tad bit insane. Although, while I'm at it, any other variables you think I should track, or other recommendations on methodology for testing blades to determine which blade is the best?

 

[CaptainK]

I'm probably just a tad bit insane.

Welcome! Actually, your plan sounds great. I wish I had done something like that! (Or, at least, kept a journal!)

And, judging by what I've seen, if you want to fit it among this group, you'll have to be more than just a tad bit insane!

 

[jd428jd]

+1 on west coast shaving, good folks over there!

 

[robertc]

Pack showed up in the mail earlier this week. Waiting now on my third-party to have some spare time to assign the numbers to the blades to make sure that neither the wife nor I have any idea which blade I'm shaving with on any given shave. I'm thinking the best bet is going to be 2 shaves with each blade, the same number I've been getting out of the blades I've been using currently. That way I get the same amount of testing and the same amount of wear as with my control group.

When I'm done with the 40 blades I'm running the test for and the controls I'm throwing in to keep tabs on things I'll figure out the winners and run another set of tests on those to see how many good quality shaves I can get out of a blade and a few other factors that will help me narrow down which blade I want to switch to using as my default. Also may throw in a set of Persona to that round of testing, as I've heard good things about them and don't have them in my sampler set.

After that I think I'm going to experiment some with the winning blade and see what I can do to increase the number of shaves I get out of an average blade and increase the quality. But that is a ways down the road, since I can't manage to reasonably shave more than every other day the test battery I'm planning is going to take around 170-180 days, depending on how many control blades I insert into the testing.

When I'm done with that I will probably move to testing shaving creams and soap to find the best fit. Then, who knows but I'm sure I'll think of something.

 

[mdevine]

This sounds great. I would be very interested in seeing how this turns out. Please post your notes when you finish this as blinded comparisons are very useful. I often wonder how much bias creeps into my subjective opinion of how any blade performs. When I've read reviews of a blade before trying it, how much inflence have on my opinion of performance. I used "horizontal" Derbys and didn't even notice that the packs had switched to a different front panel. I continued to find them to be excellent blades and couldn't notice any difference. If I had read that some had questioned the quality of the "new" blades, would it have negatively impacted how I felt about them? I like to think not but who really knows? Thanks again and I'll continue to watch for your comments on the blades you try. BTW, that looks like a great sample pack. All you need are a couple of Iridiums and Gillette Yellow packs and You'll have just about all the favorites that get raved about here.

 

[robertc]

Maybe I'll keep the table I'm using for my data on googledocs so those interested could keep up with my testing, but I'm not sure how much the data will be at all useful until the blind gets broken. At the very least when the testing is over and I post the reveal of the brand pairings and what not the results might be useful to people. And I suppose my notes might be handy. So up it goes.

Great Razor Test, Data Chart

 

[mdevine]

That looks great with a little summary at the end.

 

[M. Diego]

Details for men

http://www.detailsformen.com/derasapa.html

I got Pack #4 and found Shark (not Sharp) are the best for me. Before I was shaving with Derbys.