Quest for a better shave

[GBerry]

20211102
Razor: Edwin Jagger 3ONE6 Knurled Handle
Blade: Shark Super Chrome (2)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-shave: Hot shower
Lather: StIrling Soap Co Naked & Smooth
Aftershave: Cold water rinse; Alum

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 4.5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 9.75/10

The combo produced a good shave. No irritation, no nicks, close and smooth. A DFS result.

Test Summary 20211027

YMMV

 

[GBerry]

20211103
Razor: Edwin Jagger 3ONE6 Knurled Handle
Blade: Shark Super Chrome (3)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-shave: Hot shower
Lather: StIrling Soap Co Naked & Smooth
Aftershave: Cold water rinse; Alum; Dickinson’s Witch Hazel Astringent

No irritation: 4.5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 4.5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 9.5/10

The combo produced a good shave. Mild irritation, no nicks, close and smooth. A DFS result.

Alum sting: mild to moderate

Test Summary 20211027

YMMV

 

[GBerry]

20211104
Razor: Edwin Jagger 3ONE6 Knurled Handle
Blade: Shark Super Chrome (4)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-shave: Hot shower
Lather: StIrling Soap Co Vanilla Sandalwood
Aftershave: Cold water rinse; Alum; Dickinson’s witch Hazel astringent

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 4.5
Closeness: 4.5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 9.5/10

The combo produced a good shave. No irritation, one nick, close and smooth. A DFS result.

Alum sting: mild to moderate

Test Summary 20211027

YMMV

 

[thombrogan]

Those Shark Super Chrome blades are seeming gooder with each reported excursion, @GBerry

Though, I’m guessing getting the Shark Platinum on sale would still be the way to go.

Thank you for your continued reporting!

 

[GBerry]

Testing Summary 20211104 (a work in progress)

Derby Extra
3 blades 6 shaves
average score 0.983
Excellent first shave and then dulls fast resulting in a nick or not a close shave.

Derby Premium
3 blades 6 shaves
Average score 0.9875
This blade makes a very good first shave.
Second shaves yield either irritation, nicks or not close enough. An average shave.

Parker Premium Platinum
3 blades 6 shaves
Average score: 0.950
1/6 shaves had irritation
5/6 shaves had nicks or cuts
2/6 shaves were not close
2/6 shaves were not smooth
There is no reason to continue struggling with this blade.

Astra Superior Platinum
2 blades 8 shaves
Average score: 0.996875
This combo produces excellent shaves with few issues. No irritation, 1 nick in 8 shaves, very close and very smooth. The 1 nick was probably technique related. The shaves are near BBS.

Shark Super Stainless
2 blades 8 shaves
Average score 0.975
No nicks or cuts, no irritation, very smooth blade. Closeness was DFS or DFS+.

Shark Super Chrome (first set)
3 blades 8 shaves
Average score 0.981
Some nicks & cuts and closeness issues

Shark Super Chrome (second set)
2 blades 8 shaves
Average score 0.972
1 shave with irritation
2 shaves with nicks
6 shaves not very close. DFS or DFS+ results.
The blades stayed smooth 4 shaves each. It would be nice if I could consistently make DFS+.

Shark Platinum
3 blades 8 shaves
Average score 1.000
IMO the best of the Sharks

Silver Star Super Stainless
3 blades 8 shaves
Average score 0.997
A very good blade that retains smoothness and sufficient sharpness through 3 shaves in the EJ 3ONE6.

Egyptian Bolzano Superinox
3 blades 10 shaves
Average score: 0.9925
This blade produced excellent shaves. Most were BBS or near BBS. Nicks or cuts were produced on 3 of the 10 shaves.

YMMV

 

[GBerry]

Those Shark Super Chrome blades are seeming gooder with each reported excursion, @GBerry

Though, I’m guessing getting the Shark Platinum on sale would still be the way to go.

Thank you for your continued reporting!

@thombrogan thanks for the kind words.

If I go by the numbers the first round of Shark SC did better than the second round. First round was 3 shaves per blade max and second round was 4 shaves per blade.

There is no question my technique is changing and mostly for the gooder as you said.

I have 2 Shark Platinums left so I may give those another spin. I’m thinking the Shark Platinums are the best Sharks for me.

I will shave with the Merkur 34c for a few days to let my lower left neck recover from the irritation first.

Finally, you are welcome.

 

[GBerry]

20211105
Razor: Merkur HD 34C
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (4)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-shave: Hot Shower
Lather: StIrling Soap Co Barbershop
Aftershave: Cold water rinse

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 10/10

The combo produced a good shave. No irritation, no cuts or nicks, very close and smooth. The blade feel is very smooth. Pleasant shave.
YMMV

 

[GBerry]

20211106
Razor: Merkur HD 34C
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (1)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-shave: Hot Shower
Lather: StIrling Soap Co Barbershop
Aftershave: Cold water rinse

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 4.5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 9.75/10

The combo produced a very good shave. No irritation, no cuts or nicks, very close and smooth. About a DFS+. The blade feel is very smooth. Pleasant shave.

Test summary 20211104

YMMV

 

[GBerry]

20211106
Razor: Merkur HD 34C
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (2)
Brush: None
Pre-shave: Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser
Lather: Barbasol Soothing Aloe
Aftershave: Cold water rinse

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 4.5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 9.75/10

This light evening shave was a very good shave. No irritation, no cuts or nicks, very close and smooth. About a DFS+. The blade feel is very smooth. Pleasant shave.

YMMV

 

[GBerry]

20211107
Razor: Merkur HD 34C
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (3)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-Shave: Hot shower
Lather: Stirling Soap Co Naked & Smooth
Aftershave: Cold water rinse; Alum

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 4.5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 9.75/10

This early morning shave was a good shave. No irritation, no cuts or nicks, close and smooth. About a DFS. Not as close as I think, in 12 hours it will need a tune up. The blade feel is very smooth. Pleasant shave.

Alum sting: mild

Test summary 20211104

YMMV

 

[GBerry]

20211108
Razor: Merkur HD 34C
Blade: Personna Lab Blue (4)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-Shave: Hot shower
Lather: Stirling Soap Co Naked & Smooth
Aftershave: Cold water rinse; Alum

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 4.5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 9.75/10

This early morning shave was a good shave. No irritation, no cuts or nicks, close and smooth. About a DFS+. Not as close as I think, in 12 hours it will need a tune up. The blade feel is very smooth. Pleasant shave.

Test summary 20211104

YMMV

 

[GBerry]

20211109
Razor: Edwin Jagger 3ONE6 Knurled Handle
Blade: ASCO Super Stainless (1)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-shave: Hot shower
Lather: StIrling Soap Co Naked & Smooth
Aftershave: Cold water rinse

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 10/10

The combo produced a fantastic shave. No irritation, no nicks, very close and very smooth. A BBS result.

Test summary 20211104

YMMV

 

[thombrogan]

The return of the 3ONE6 and the furthering of The Quest! Nice!

Are those the Asco blades in the red or orange tucks?

 

[GBerry]

ASCO Orange. Thanks for the tip. I will fix that moving forward.

 

[thombrogan]

It wasn’t a tip. I’ve been looking at DE blades like gamblers stare at greyhounds and saw there were two different Asco stainless blades sold on that river-themed marketplace.

 

[GBerry]

And yes, I purchased both ASCO Orange and ASCO Red/Blue to test. But I did make a mistake by leaving out "Orange". Therefore, your feedback is welcomed and needed.

It will be interesting to see where this winds up.

 

[thombrogan]

It will be interesting to see where this winds up.

I tune in every day — though I consider the 34C episodes to be non-canonical to the main storyline.

 

[GBerry]

You are correct, the 34C episodes are non-canonical to the main story line but, I needed a break and the 34C was handy. The 34C is absolutely safe to use just not terribly close with a Personna Lab Blue. This gives the skin a chance to build up.

For certain, the 3ONE6 can easily trump the 34C + Personna Lab Blue.

The main objective was to see if medium sharp blades would swamp some of the efficiency of the 3ONE6 and make it useful for an easily offended face like mine. The answer is definitely yes and there are several examples that do very well: Astra SP, Shark Platinum and Silver Star Super Stainless.

I was super impressed with the ASCO Super Stainless Orange from this morning. It is almost as if ASCO made the blade just for the 3ONE6.

 

[GBerry]

20211110
Razor: Edwin Jagger 3ONE6 Knurled Handle
Blade: ASCO Super Stainless Orange (2)
Brush: Razorock Monster Synthetic Shaving Brush - 26mm
Pre-shave: Hot shower
Lather: StIrling Soap Co Naked & Smooth
Aftershave: Cold water rinse

No irritation: 5
No nicks or cuts: 5
Closeness: 5
Smoothness: 5

Rating: 10/10

The combo produced a great shave. No irritation, no nicks, very close and very smooth. A DFS+ result.

The blade seems to be dulling to the point some clean up was needed. Definitely a pleasant shave.

Test summary 20211104

YMMV

 

[Cafebarian]

Your tests have inspired my own Shark blade testing in SoS. Including most of your methodology! Truly great work!