Sensitive Skin, Coarse Beard and a Parker 86r walk into a bar.

[davidrachlin]

Hope the headline caught some attention.

I have a coarse beard that is more sparse than heavy, and I love my Parker 86r razor.
I'm having a hard time with blades though. I used to use Sharps, and I liked them well enough, but I did get a little irritation.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the best DE blade for someone with sensitive skin?

What have you all tried and liked?

I have read that the Gillette Silver Blues are very very sharp, but that they can cause a lot of nicks and cuts on sensitive skin.

I'm out of razor blades, and thinking that for no shave November, it would be a good time to spend the month finding out what blades to try!

I would greatly appreciate any help,

Dave

 

[Stampede]

Now that I have my technique improved some what, I have re-visited the Astra SP's, and they seem pretty smooth to me mounted up in my LC New, SC New & British #77. I do prefer the sharper Feathers in my milder razors, i.e. Tech, Old Type, ASD2.

 

[Sled_Dog]

I'd consider my skin fairly sensitive and I use personna blues with minimal irritation, no scrapes. I use a little Nivea AS for sensitive skin with it.

 

[Copierguy]

Welcome to B&B.

I have very sensitive skin and a medium beard. I enjoy a lot of different razors but if my skin gets worked up, the best combo for me is a mild razor / Feather blade. The AS-D1, Gillette Tech or 50s Flare Tip Super Speed are great paired with a Feather blade. I lather up my beard with a hydrating soap in the shower and do not rinse till the end of the shower. Feels like I have twice the beard getting out of the shower. Shave right away and with the prep described I get a great shave that lasts 12 hrs. If the air is dry (late fall or winter) then I'll use a something like Gold Bond skin therapy cream. This usually turns things around in a day or two.

 

[Triad]

Perssona Reds, Ladas and Voshkods seem to be smooth for me

 

[Jeff_H]

Astra SP, Gillette Silver Blues, Voshkod, Polisilver SI, Bic Chrome Platinum have all been very good performers for me. The GSB's are the sharpest and if I am not careful they will give me some weepers, but they are exceedingly smooth, so for me this offsets the sharpness. Astra's are probably the smoothest of the bunch, with the Voshkods right after that. Bic's are a lot like the Astra's...good combo of sharp and smooth. The Poli SI's are sharp like the GSB, but may be smoother. I don't have enough shaves under my belt with them to be sure, but I am sure enough that I like them immensely that I just bought my 2nd order of 200 blade flats, so I will have 400 PSI's in a week or so.

If I had to pick one for you, Astra would be my suggestion. However, with places like West Coast Customs and other places having pick your own blade samplers, gather all of the suggestions from this thread that see right to you and get all of them in a sample pack.

The one thing I will tell you I found is that my skin does not tolerate just stainless steel blades. Too much irritation for me. The blades need to be coated with chrome platinum, super iridium, teflon or something for my skin to agree with it. I wouldn't say I have sensitive skin and I have a very coarse beard.