The 2023: 1-Blade, 1-Week, Daily Shaving Adventure

[ShavingPrimate]

First shave in the Green Permasharp is a nice blade. Shaved with the India made Parker version of the DE89 and had a close but smooth shave.

If this continues for the week, we have a definite winner!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 42 Ends: Blade is the Gillette 7-O'clock Permasharp "Green". The blade made in India.

Have to say, I had a full week of shaves with the 7-O'clock "Green" from India.

It is a good blade, easily cut through cleanly every day and shave was close and smooth.

Could the blade go longer? Possibly? The blade preformed what I asked of it and it's time to soldier on...

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 43 Begins: Blade is the Dorco Prime.

Dorco had the honor of kicking off week #1 of this great shaving adventure.

Here we are 43-weeks later and we are checking out a more premium blade from Dorco, Made in Vietnam.

Visually the blade itself stands out a bit because it is not laser etched or painted with a black logo.

Instead, it has a green painted logo. Different? Also unusual since the packaging is all in blue?

Currently only $9.55 on Amazon, making them a fairly good value (if they hold up).

 

[psfred]

Dorco Prime is better than the 301. Haven't tried a 300 yet.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Dorco Prime is better than the 301. Haven't tried a 300 yet.

So I have been given to understand. Though it should, being a more expensive blade. The 300's and the 301's are the same blade, just different boxes (if the preceeding letters are the same). The 301's are a penny more each, owing to the plastic box. These are around 6¢ per hundred. Where the prime is running about 10¢. The Titan's run 9¢.

 

[psfred]

I got 89 shaves on a Prime, one of the first double edge blades I used. Probably get more than that now. Someday I will get a chance to use another one, lol.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

I got 89 shaves on a Prime, one of the first double edge blades I used. Probably get more than that now. Someday I will get a chance to use another one, lol.

I don't know how you "Excalibur" folk get these incredible number of shaves? I find that typical modern DE blades, being very thin and very sharp, fail before they become dull enough to discard.

I would venture to guess that most members who only shave a few times with a DE blade, do so because of the edge damage reducing the quality of the shave. As opposed to the blade becoming too dull.

I have "counted" shaves in the past. This year, my quest was to see if I could use a specific blade for a minimum of seven daily shaves. So far, so good...

In the past, I found that stretching modern blade use, resulted in razor burn. So far this year, zero irritation!

 

[psfred]

Some of it is my beard I'm sure since it's not heavy, but a lot of it is prep, soap, and blade angle. I only get razor burn with new blades and using too much pressure.

I have found that one must either match a blade brand to a razor or use an adjustable, there seems to be just enough variation in edge width to result in either irritation or pulling because the edge isn't in proper contact with the skin if the blade is too wide or too narrow for a particular razor. I heavily favor a Slim or Fatboy for that reason. In the set of blades I'm currently using, I have a Slim set for 2 with an Indian Gillette Wilkinson Sword and one set for 6 with a Ladas -- wasn't getting close enough with the Ladas at 5 and at 5 the Wilkie was peeling my face.

Another very important thing is to keep the blade angle close to the ideal cutting angle of the hair -- not the angle of the razor handle, the angle of the bevel on the edge to the hairs being cut. My beard grows out almost parallel to the skin on my cheeks, I'm pretty much forced to shave against the grain to do more than cut sharp points on it. The closer you get the bevel to the angle that cuts perpendicular to the hair shaft plus a few degrees to clear the "stump", the less stress you put on the edge and the longer it will last, more so if you have coarse, stiff beard hair.

The other key is keeping the edge on your skin with nice, slick soap. The soap lubricates your skin so the sharp edge slides over it without "peeling" it, and if the edge is "flying" over the skin, you will be splitting the hair in a longer slanting cut than if you slice it off at skin level perpendicular to the hair shaft. More friction and more pulling, which I dislike intensely.

My brother doesn't get anywhere near as many shaves on a blade as I do, his beard is very wiry and coarse, plus denser.
I have also found that concentrating on those items gives me more comfortable shaves as well as longer blade life. You may not get more shaves, but more comfortable shaves no one is gonna disagree with!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 43 Ends: Blade is the Dorco Prime.

Completed the full week with flying colors...

I finished this week with the Rocca R94 earlier this morning. I deliberately wanted to use a razor with the maximum blade feel.

I knew that the blade was sharp but could I shave ultra close without irritation? Yes.

Could go another shave or two.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 44 Begins: Blade is the Gillette 7-O'clock Sharpedge "Yellow".

This will be my first encounter with this blade. It has been noted to me as a very sharp blade. It is made in the Russian PPI factory. To me, all the blades from the PPI factory are sharp!

As we get into this week, we enter the final two months of the Shaving Adventure...

As a note, these blades are still available on Amazon. They are $14.60 from this link. Other searches will turn up higher prices.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 44 Ends: Blade is the Gillette 7-O'clock Sharpedge "Yellow".

Truly a superior ultra top tier blade! Sharpest and smoothest blade I have shaved with in a while! Still good for another shave or two.

Certainly worth snapping up from Amazon at $15, while you still can.

Compared it to the Treet King, which is also a excellent blade. This one required less buffing.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 45 Begins: Blade is the Sputnik, made at the PPI factory.

Really curious? Been wanting to try this blade for a long time..

 

[lasta]

Week 44 Ends: Blade is the Gillette 7-O'clock Sharpedge "Yellow".

Truly a superior ultra top tier blade! Sharpest and smoothest blade I have shaved with in a while! Still good for another shave or two.

Certainly worth snapping up from Amazon at $15, while you still can.

Compared it to the Treet King, which is also a excellent blade. This one required less buffing.

I'll have to try these out again!

I remember they were on the sharp end, but not quite as smooth sailing as some of my favourites from Gillette.

Our skin can be fickle at times and I am quite often skeptical of my judgement!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

I don't know why the KCG razor gave me such a hard time. I do not remember it being that mild. I will have to revisit it here and there and maybe because I had not used it for quite some time I had forgotten how to shave with it properly. I will try it again when I dig into the next tuck to use up.

I noticed that I had not commented on this post of yours from a few months back.

I don't consider the K.C.G. razor to be mild. I consider it to be average. To me, this means, on a scale of 1-9, I would rate it a "5".

This would be the same for the R89/DE89 heads or clones.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

I'm living in Thailand where the available range of DE blades is quite small... but Feathers are one of those easy to get hold of and around $10ish to $15 per 100 - so I did start DE shaving with those & a mild Henson. 3 or 4 days seemed enough for them... but then I found the great & wonderful

I had meant to say "sawadee khrup" to you after your thoughtful post. Realizing that I had not, I wanted to take this opportunity.

I thoroughly enjoy Thailand. It is so different than the United States, but so familiar and comfortable at the same time.

It has been awhile since my last visit in 1991, I imagine that a lot has changed. I have traveled from Fang to Phuket, enjoying everything along the way. The Thai people are remarkable.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

I'll have to try these out again!

I remember they were on the sharp end, but not quite as smooth sailing as some of my favourites from Gillette.

Really sharp and really smooth. Definitely worth picking up while the picking is good. At $15/100, these represent a very good price for a top quality PPI made blade on today's market.

Planning on this for my next purchase. I noticed that the minimum order for free shipping on Amazon has increased $10 and is now $35.

I about never order products from Amazon that I have to pay shipping for. I dumped Prime some years back after it increased to over $100/yr.

I don't particularly care for this new free shipping deal. It will definitely result in less Amazon purchases for me.

Another problem is that most of my $25 orders will fit inside of my condo's mailbox. Some just barely. If I increase my order size, that means that I will need to make additional trips to the post office, which is annoying and time consuming. I understand and deal with this when I know that the nature of my order will involve a larger package. Not at all happy anout this change though!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 45 Ends: Blade is the Sputnik, made at the PPI factory.

Good week, decent shaves all the way. I did start with the R41 head on the first day. Not the best decision. Left my face with a slightly cloth-like texture instead of glass-like smoothness.

I have been using my Parker, which is basically a R89 type clone. I like it because it is a bit more efficient than the Regular DE89. Close to the Rocca R94.

Could possibly go a day or so longer?

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 46 Begins: Blade is the Personna Platinum Chrome. This is the real Israeli Red's.

Interesting to see if it lives up to it's reputation? They come packaged in the red cardboard tucks and in red wrappers.

I shaved with the Personna Platunum Chrome back in week 39. I believe they were the "Super", the "Crystal's"? Not sure, they were in a white plastic tuck with a blue cardboard insert.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 46 Ends: Blade is the Personna Platinum Chrome. These are the real Israeli Red's.

Excellent shaves for the entire week. No complaints, clearly a superior blade.

I can understand their fan base and disappointment when they were discontinued.

Since they had been a long time DE fixture, I can well understand why DE shavers stuck with these blades.

However, there are many other high quality blades that are currently available. Life goes on...

I suppose that I will order some of the new German production blades and compare them next year?

Meanwhile, the US made Personna Lab Blues are still excellent and still available at less than $20/hundred.

The Israeli Red is still up for another shave or two.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 47 Begins: Blade is the Gillette Platinum. The ones in the dark blue box with white lettering.

I only have the individual tuck which was acquired in a blade exchange. Not sure about their outside packaging or origin?

First time shaving with these.