Sensitive to feathers touch?

[Jamolay]

I have been head shaving a while (4 years) with DE safety razors and with a familiar razor and blade I do fine. However, as soon as I try a feather blade in my DE razor, I get a ton of irritation and redness. Cuts, scrapes and nicks I can attribute to technique, but this is different. It isn’t even exfoliation, more just irritation with a general burning feeling and spotty erythema that doesn’t last all day.

I am starting to use a Feather Artist Club and currently only have feather AC blades. I notice a little of a similar feeling, although it isn’t as bad at all (except for the expected operator error and nicks).

I have tried the feather DE several times and am really starting to feel it isn’t simply the sharpness. I could be wrong and it really is just taking a layer too much off, but I wanted to hear other thoughts and if anyone has comparisons between the experience with the feather DE and the feather AC blades.

I don’t have any non-feather ac blades to try yet. They are in transit.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I have used a Feather Artist Club DX with Feather blades many times and as long as I paid attention and avoided nicks, I suffered no irritation. For me, the whole Feather AC blade range is excellent with the Professional being my favourite. I do not like very sharp DE blades and when using a Feather blade in any DE razor I invariably get weepers and irritation. More importantly I simply do not enjoy shaving with Feather DE blades so I do not use them. I favour Voskhod, Rapira, and Ladas, as well as a few vintage Gillette blades.

 

[Quaznoid]

Feathers are too sharp. I’ve used them a few times and found them harsh and unforgiving. I’d recommend Personna Lab Blues or the myriad of blades in the Lord family.

 

[sidpost]

Feather DE blades need a good razor and a steady hand. They don't do well to rushed use or a sloppy hand.

 

[Jamolay]

Feather DE blades need a good razor and a steady hand. They don't do well to rushed use or a sloppy hand.

So, what are you saying…

 

[sidpost]

Feather DE blades need a good razor and a steady hand. They don't do well to rushed use or a sloppy hand.

So, what are you saying…

If I am alert and paying attention, the Feathers work well for me. If I let my attention wander for whatever reason, have a shakey hand for whatever reason, and similar things, the Feather blade bites harder than other DE blades I normally use like Nacets as one example.

In super aggressive razors, using a Feather to me seems like a Medieval blood bath. In average or mild razors, it seems to make them work even better but, a careless move on my part will still bring blood into the picture.

In a few razor, the Feather takes them from mediocre at best to steller! The Lambda Ares is one razor that for me was a real eye opener with a Feather blade. It was good with others but, WOW what a razor with a Feather in it!

All this being said, I would NOT recommend Feather blades to a new Safety Razor user. That is a bit like trying to teach someone to ride a motorcycle using a 1,000cc Superbike or to drive in a One-Ton Dually SuperDuty Crewcab pickup! Simply not the best option to start with.

 

[dmshaver]

I haven't used a Feather DX, so no comment. Feather de blades, however, are my #1 blade.

 

[NorthernSoul]

Feathers are ground a bit differently than most DE blades. They are among the sharpest, but can be unforgiving in some razors. IMHO, best used in milder razors such as Gillette Techs.

I think the American Personna blades like the Comfort Coated (aka Lab Blue) are an example of a sharp blade that is a bit more forgiving.

 

[bartje-p]

I never really liked Feather DE blades. But now that my technique improved over the years, my beard as even gone greyer (50+ years old) and my razor collection is on the milder side, they are one of my favorites, next to Dorco Prime Platinum and Personna comfort coated.

 

[Jamolay]

Thanks for the Feather DE input. There are lots of threads with thoughts about these controversial blades.

What I would be interested in is if anyone has similar experiences with the Feather AC blades. Are they also a love or hate blade? Does any feel that they are more difficult than non-feather AC blades?

 

[sidpost]

Thanks for the Feather DE input. There are lots of threads with thoughts about these controversial blades.

What I would be interested in is if anyone has similar experiences with the Feather AC blades. Are they also a love or hate blade? Does any feel that they are more difficult than non-feather AC blades?

Is Feathers almost exclusively in the AC format. Chinese Schicks are pretty good too. In my Yaqi Romulus, the Feathers are super nice. My initial experience with KAI was mediocre but, I need to use them more to form a good opinion, whether good or bad, about them.

 

[DesertIguana]

My limited experience with a Feather Blade was in Vintage Pre War Tech.

Very sharp blade, first pass was awesome, second pass produced great overall shave.

Blade finally got retired after 7th day.

Typical Japanese quality product,

 

[Jamolay]

I just shaved with the feather AC DX Kamisori and the Schick ProLine blade.

I posted my shave in another thread, but I really liked the blade and did very well with the shave, better with it than the guarded feather. Fewer nicks too, interestingly.
Most of all, I didn’t feel the diffuse irritation or have the diffuse redness as I had after the feather blade. The degree of exfoliation seemed similar.

I will eventually rotate back to trying feather blades, so I will compare in that direction, too. I don’t think I have enough information to determine much beyond my current gut feeling and bias.

 

[Pacman225]

They don't agree with me. Neck looks like a cheese grater. Redness, irritation and swelling afterwards. However, while shaving sometimes it feels like I'm getting a dfs. No nicks or weepers then it all falls apart at the end. Just redness and swelling. Overall irritation. I get a better shave with a Sharp 7 am Plus. Lol.

 

[Robertlee3rd]

I've been shaving with Astra Super Platinum and Gillette Silver Blue in my Vintage Gillette razors. I've some Feather HS on the way and you guys are scaring me just a bit!