Question about regrowth

[80blades]

I had an interesting experience as part of my blade journey and I wanted to see if others had experienced anything similar.

As part of the strange experiment I'm conducting (over here), I tried a Tatra carbon-steel blade (made in the Czech Republic). It was terrible. Truly, truly awful in every way.

Now I'm on a Polsilver Super Iridium. It is every bit as wonderful as the Tatra was terrible. Fabulous blade!

However, I've noticed that not only was there a massive difference (obviously) in the shaving experience and results, the feeling of my face as the beard grew back in was also palpably different.

To whit: As the Tatra shave grew back in, it felt rough, sharp, jagged, and unpleasant, as if the hair tips had been shredded rather than sheared clean; whereas the SI shave has grown in comfortably, almost soft. I don't shave every day (every other day on average) and it's nice if my face on the day in between is, while obviously not clean-shaven, also not like having particularly nasty bit of sandpaper glued on.

I'm not sure to what extent it was a real thing, versus how much my perception might have been coloured by the ghastly experience of shaving with the Tatra versus the joyous glide of the Polsilver, but I really noticed it and wondered if others, who might have for whatever reason tried a blade that they really didn't get along with, might also have noticed this?

 

[BigJ]

Blades are likely the most YMMV aspect of traditional wet shaving. That said, I really enjoy Polsilver SI! For me they provide everything a ‘top-tier’ blade should; sharp, smooth, comfortable, and long-lasting.

TATRAs are solid for me, just not up to Polsilver standards. You might check the blade forum where a bunch of us evaluated TATRAS and Tiger blades.

Trying blades is instructive, fun and a great part of this hobby!

 

[ShavingPanda]

Interesting observation with the blade influencing the feel of the stubble. One probably cuts the whisker cleanly and that results in a nicer feeling whisker upon regrowth, and the other tugs and roughly cuts it.

I noticed a few razors give a slightly different regrowth feeling but attributed that to actual closeness of the shave at the time.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

I mostly shave with straight razors, but occasionally use a Feather DX clone with Feather Pro blades. What I have noticed, is the stubble growing back from the AC shaves is noticeably sharp. With the straights that I maintain with diamond paste on balsa the stubble is somewhere in the middle, and with the straights with edges off an arkansas stone, it's the softest. All are in the same ballpark of closeness. So I'm not surprised that you've noticed a difference.

 

[Walleyeb]

I had a fantastic experience with my first Tatra blade, however it was Tatra Platinum Premium Stainless blade. Result was a damn fine shave, BBS no nicks or weepers no tugging or pulling. Minimal feed back from the alum block. However I haven’t gotten a bad shave out of the Henson AL13 yet. This shave was a wee bit better than the shave I got with the AL13 and a Feather blade.

I didn’t need to shave for two days. Actually waited four days, used the same blade in my Edwin Jagger DE89, very good shave cutting through my steel wool easily. Looked on Amazon and picked up a hundred Tatra Platinum Premium Stainless blades for $10.

I suspect if you tried a Tatra Platinum Premium Stainless blade instead of the Tatra carbon-steel blade you’d have a much different experience.

 

[80blades]

I have a 100 pack of Tiger Platinums, which are identical to the Tatra Platinums (I've seen this confirmed by the company), and I like them quite a lot (not quite so much as Polsilvers though!). This was a Tatra carbon-steel, which seems to be a horse of a different colour so to speak, though it's entirely possible that I just got a very very bad blade. I cannot imagine anyone enjoying the experience it gave me, in any case.

 

[80blades]

I mostly shave with straight razors, but occasionally use a Feather DX clone with Feather Pro blades. What I have noticed, is the stubble growing back from the AC shaves is noticeably sharp. With the straights that I maintain with diamond paste on balsa the stubble is somewhere in the middle, and with the straights with edges off an arkansas stone, it's the softest. All are in the same ballpark of closeness. So I'm not surprised that you've noticed a difference.

Very interesting - you've taken my vague intuition to a more nuanced level for sure!

I have an old H. Böker & Son (Solingen) straight that I bought some years ago and wasn't ready to learn how to use properly so I'm afraid it's been on the shelf unused for a long time and probably needs refurbishing, but since I'm on this DE blade journey I expect it will be a while before I get back to trying that... but, you never know!

 

[Artlogon]

I noticed a few razors give a slightly different regrowth feeling but attributed that to actual closeness of the shave at the time.

Same here. On some milder razors, the regrowth is pricklier and uncomfortable compared to my R41