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Participation PIF - A Very Mysteree-X Shave

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Fourteenth shave with the Personna X-Series (Platinum Coated) blade #1

Razor
: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Simpson Special S1 (18mm Best Badger)
Soap: Pré De Provence Bergamot and Thyme

Another fine outing from the X-series blade.

Today, I switched the order of my passes to see if that would reduce or eliminate the minor tugging that I've been experiencing on the WTG pass. I thought perhaps that it was caused by puffiness or some other skin ailment at the beginning of my shave that disappeared by the time I got to the ATG and XTG passes.

Well, I performed the ATG pass first, followed by the WTG pass, then rounded out by the XTG pass and guess what? (Chicken butt) There was no difference. The ATG pass was smooth and comfy, the WTG pass felt slightly tuggy, and the XTG pass was smooth and comfy like the ATG pass.

So, the only thing that I can think of is that my WTG beard growth pattern somehow interacts negatively with this blade. That seems kind of weird, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.

Anyway, once my usual passes were done, I only needed a few buffing strokes to achieve BBS. The end result was another close, comfortable shave. And, judging by the overall performance, so far, there's still lots of life left in this blade.
 
Personna X-series edge 4 shave 3 YaQi DOC cap,VigShaving hybrid base, RazoRock bamboo SS handle. Sterling frankincense and myrrh soap, VigShaving silvertip 24mm brush.

FrankenDOC's second outing was a shave too far for this blade. There were other issues like needing a second stir of the soap for the second pass, and a cut on my lower lip, but I can't pin any of this on the blade.

Nevertheless, I can't avoid the fact that the results do not lie, and these blades remain mediocre. I remain grateful to @Grundi and @mikey for the opportunity to try them anyway.

Things are about to get complicated with work and travel for the first time for a couple of years, so I'm about to dip out of the X-series part of this PIF, but when travelling next week I may swap my usual crappy SuperMax Platinums for those lovely GSBs I was gifted for the mystery section.
 
Mysteerree personna 'X' Series Blade Shave 9

Razor: Edwin Jagger DES89K Kelvin
Brush: Unbranded Ever-Ready or Rubberset 'tribute'. China, probably boar.
Soap: Arko! Shaving Stick
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Just enough growth after 26 hours to justify a shave.

Bought out the Edwin Jagger Kelvin which I have been neglecting lately. In fact the above setup was identical to my first ever shaves, except I was using one of the lousy 'bad' Derby Extras that so many razors were cursed by being sent out with. Lord knows how many new DE shavers were lost to the hobby by manufacturer's crappy blade choices.

The EJ Kelvin is a great razor, and a great tool for all skill levels. A perfect handle length for me. To add to it's joy it was only £14 on a big river website. Paired with the right blade and a decent technique, it will beat many razors four times the price.

Again, the blade worked perfectly with the Kelvin. The edge is steady and smoothness is improving ever so slightly. I do expect a drop off in edge at around shave 15. It reminds me of a less sharp Crystal a bit.

Managed a sub 15 minute 3 passer - blowing the myth that DE shaves take longer - effortlessly.

Actually a slightly better result than with the Slim. BB with a couple of DFS+ patches. Nice.
 
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Personna X-Series #2, shave #3
1.5 days growth
Preshave: warm shower
Brush: Maggard Timberwolf travel (18mm synthetic)
Soap: Mama Bear dragon's blood stick
Razor: Henson Al-13+++
Aftershave: alum, Proraso gel ripatore, Blade sensitive balm

Another late night shave, this my second shave with a limited-release Henson Al-13 aggressive. My first shave yesterday morning (not part of this PIF), I learned that this is not nearly as forgiving a razor as the mild or medium versions, but it is very efficient.

So with less than a day and a half of growth, I started ATG on my face, but very carefully and deliberately. On my neck, XTG (more or less). So far, so good. ATG on my chin was difficult, the blade didn't so much tug, more like it dragged, having a hard time cutting through my wiry salt-and-pepper chin hairs at all. (Who am I kidding, at 50 years old, it's much more salt than pepper these days...) But it eventually cut through. I started XTG on my mustache and had the same issue, so I tried WTG to reduce the stubble first, and nicked that same bump under my right nostril that I caught the other day. And this one was a bleeder! Flustered, I picked up 2 smaller weepers finishing my mustache XTG. 1 cleanup pass (and 1 more weeper) on my neck, and I called it a night. Skin was quite irritated initially, but now an hour later it's calmed down quite a bit.

Nearly a full half-hour to do 1 1/2 passes, DFS result, with 1 nick and 3 weepers. I'm gonna give this combo another go though, need some consistency if I'm going to improve with these new razors.

4.40/10
 
Wed 11 Mysteree-X Blade#1 Shave#7
Soap
Colonel Conk Amber
Brush Yaqi 24mm Sagrada Familia
Razor Karve Brass OC-D
Blade Persona X Series 7th
Aftershaves Stirling Witchhazel Orange Chill + Clubman Brandy Spice
Just excellent, the CC soaps! This soap produces a superbly rich, creamy, and very slick lather so easily...with a light scent...
Today's pairing with the razor & the surprisingly lasting blade gives a surprisingly smooth, crisp, and enjoyable shave. Efficiency dropped some. 3passes for a dfs++ finish without any issues. The aftershave was just terrific!
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Mysteree Blade 2 Shave 4
Final Mysteree PIF Shave

Razor:
Karve CB safety bar D plate
Blade: GSB (4)
Brush: Parker Badger
Soap: Arko

This is my last shave with the final blade of this PIF. The Silver Blue delivered another effortless 3-pass shave with no irritation. I did get a couple weepers on my cheek from the ATG pass and I’m not sure why. They were tiny and disappeared with a cold water rinse.

Here’s my overall opinions on the three blades I tested:

Personna X-Series: not sharp enough for my beard, but it performs surprisingly well in my Gillette Tech. Even then it was only good for the first shave and started to degrade after that. It’s a nice blade for head shaving because I don’t need as sharp a blade there. It’s only good for two head shaves and by the third it starts to have trouble getting through my hair. Whether for face or head shaving, it’s a really smooth blade despite its dullness. If it was only a little sharper it would be a fantastic blade, but Personna already makes that and calls it Platinum Chrome.

Bic Chrome Platinum: the exact opposite of the X-series. It’s so sharp you have to really pay attention and be careful with your pressure against the skin. Big time irritation is guaranteed if I use too much pressure or start buffing in search of a BBS. I really like super sharp blades like these for 1 or 2 shaves before they start to irritate my skin. It’s the same as a Feather: it is a fantastic once in a while blade but could never be a daily driver.

Gillette Silver Blue: I was never a big fan of GSB but this PIF really changed my mind. It’s smooth, sharp but not too sharp, and easy to use. I can pretty much go on autopilot the whole time. I see why it gets so much love around here, and I don’t know why I didn’t like it earlier in my shaving career. Maybe it just works better in my Karve than my Rockwell.

Thank you @Grundi and @mikey for the PIF!! I found that X-Series that doesn’t work well for me, reconfirmed what I thought about Bic Chrome Plats, and discovered that I love GSB. Fantastic!!
 
Mysteree-X shave April 11

Razor: Slim (set at 8-8-8 for three passes)
Blade: X series, blade 2 (Fourth use)
Aftershave: Barrister and Man Bay Rum

Dammit, Personna. That was a terrible shave that gave me a great shave. Explain yourself!

Tugged everywhere my hair is extra thick, required multiple extra passes. I even got a weeper, for which I'll blame the blade and a nick, for which I blame myself, but both closed instantly. I did so much cleanup, going over the sides of my chin especially, that my wife came into the bathroom to tell me I was running late.

I sprayed on the Barrister and Mann bay rum, which has a pleasant fruitiness and a bit of a useful tackiness to it (it leaves my skin with a sort of wet-smooth rather than dry-silky finish). It burned like crazy, of course, as the X blade always gives me a good scraping. I put the blade into the metal scrap tin.

But! But! Here I am with a delightful shave. BBS or very near it everywhere. Some irritation, but not as much as I expected given the signs during the third shave that the blade was slowing down. I don't give most blades four shaves, and I didn't for the previous X blade, but this one seized its opportunity.

I don't think its enough for me to pick the blade out of the recycling for another shave, but we'll see if this post-shave continues to impress.
 
Personna Mysteree blade two, Shave #2

Razor:
Wolfman WR1
Brush: Rudy Vey B&B 2-band
Soap: Fine santal absolut
Splash: Proraso red

Comment: Nice shave (9.5/10) as this blade smooths out! To me, so far, these blades are very reminiscent of my experience with Personna Crystals. :thumbup1::thumbup1:
 
Mysteree Blade #2, Side #1, Shave #6

Razor: Twig
Blade: Personna X-Series (6)
Brush: Yaqi Sagrada Familia
Soap: Col. Conk Bay Rum
Balm: Proraso White
Aftershave: Bootleggers Perfecto Maduro

Too much dragging and tugging for my preference. Last shave with this one.
But now I realize that since I am using a half blade, this shave is equivalent to a 12th shave in a DE. So not too bad. The shave is okay for hair removal, but I needed to add the balm to deal with some irritation from the tugging.
 
I've yet to venture into the Indian blades. I see the razorbladesclub site doesn't carry the Super-Max super platinums but it does have the Zorrik super platinums. Are these similar? I see they cost more than the Super-Maxes.
Your friendly Indian blade evangelist here(now that I got the anger out of my system) :biggrin:

The Zorrik usually are the domestic brand for Vidyut so sometimes the QC rejects get in there. The ones in the blue box without Hindi lettering are packaged for the UK market and should be double wrapped. Those are good. The ones you want to try are the Super-Max diamond edge and super stainless in the green box. Those are the top of the current range. A lot of their blades are old stock that is not produced now and causes confusion.
 
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Fifteenth shave with the Personna X-Series (Platinum Coated) blade #1

Razor
: Fatip Lo Storto Originale (aka FOCS)
Brush: Yaqi Moka Express (26mm Two-Band Badger)
Soap: RazoRock Santa Maria del Fiore

Another fine shave despite some early morning antics.

I had to shave in a hurry, this morning, for an emergency meeting, so my effort was somewhat slapdash. I performed my three usual passes very quickly and buffed only lightly along my jawline, but didn't check to see if I'd gotten everything. Then I was out the door.

A couple of hours later, I ran my hand over my face and neck and noted that I had probably achieved only a DFS. But that's fine. As I've mentioned before, nobody can see what's going on under a mask and getting a real close shave is mostly a matter of vanity for me.

Anyway, the FOCS/X-Series duo delivered another smooth, comfy shave with no post-shave irritation. At this point, I think that this blade has proved that it can provide decent performance over an extended number of shaves, so I can check off the last item on my list: longevity.


p.s. As some may have noticed, I always mark the tabs of my blades with a permanent marker. I place a dot and a dash on one side of the blade so that I can orient it the same way in my razor, every time. On some blades, the marks remain strongly visible for months (like one of my Kai blades in the Mysterious Kai Participation PIF that lasted for 63 uses). Then, there's blades like this X-Series where the marks wear away quickly. This seems to be a function of the quality of the blade's top coating (usually some fluoropolymer like Teflon). The Kai is supposedly uncoated, so that may explain why the ink "sticks" to it so well. It also explains why its appearance deteriorates so quickly (see my last post in that thread to see a really ugly blade).

However, this X-Series seems to have a rather thick coating if the initial glossiness/polish of the blade and its ability to stay extremely clean-looking after extended usage mean anything. Actually, I don't know if what I've just written means anything. 😁 But, I do wonder if the quality of a blade's coating has a lasting effect other than preserving its appearance.
 
Mysteree blade #1, Shave #4

Blade: Treet Durasharp (yellow wrapper)
Razor: Henson AL13 Mild
Cream: Proraso Green
Brush: Cheap no-name off of Amazon
Aftershave: AV Ice Blue

Had to work at it today. End result was not perfect, but acceptable. I like the Treet blade (a lot), but it might be a better blade in the Gillette Tech than in the Henson. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy with the shave, and it was bloodless with zero irritation, but the end result wasn't as close as I have been getting from the Treet. I wonder if the Treet is a 3-shave and bin it blade.

Next time I'll go to the 3rd Personna-X blade, and I'll get 4 shaves out of it going Henson, Tech, Tech, Henson (probably). I remember on the 1st 2 X-blades that it smoothed out after the first shave so I'll give the Henson the first crack at it and then try to get close with my Tech.
 
Mystery X 4th shave
This time face.
I used an Arko stick (not used in 3+yrs) that was in a plastic bag w a Derby stick, and then in an aluminium tin.
First smell out of the box: good, not much...... once wet.... that thing came to life....OMG the smell. I closed my eyes fearing a corneal burn if any of the lather would land there.
Brush: Omega boar (still rough, despite multiple methods of splitting tips tried). I have given up on it.
RR German Slant (I really like this razor, consider it probably the best slant I have).
Oh, by the way I tend to shave after showering, today I did it before, just to make sure I rinse all the soap off.
2+ pass shave, no drama, close shave BUT I did have some residual burning and redness (I could blame the soap or brush for that)
Aftershave: bootlegers (burnt)
Balm Nivea.

As mentioned I cannot blame the blade for the irritation.

Might try a head shave later.....after the shower..... (with a different soap as I want to sleep).... will use the same razor and blade.
 
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