Razor Blade Experiment

Daily Shaver

Daily Shaver

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Hello,

I'm doing a razor blade experiment.

It goes like this. I use the same razor, brush, shave soap each day and ONLY change the blade to find out and determine which razor blade gives the best shave for my beard. My beard is coarse. Very coarse and I've got a five o'clock shadow by 12 o'clock. Also, certain parts of my beard are dense (e.g. the chin and upper lip) and also, my whiskers are thick. When used a cartridge razor (many many years ago) it would be dull and rubbish within four or five shaves.

So, for this experiment, I'm using my Edwin Jager DE89L razor with Taylors of Old Bond Street sensitive skin shave soap/cream and the Vulfix Super Badger brush. I want to ensure that all of the preshave variables remain the consistent so that I can get a very good gauge of the shave from the BLADE only.

I have twelve blades to test/trial so not every blade available to mankind will be tested, and I'll add my opinion and results to this post each day.

I hope that this can help other DE shaves both experienced and Newbie, and I also hope that others will post or add their comments to this so that we can all learn about which blades may be the most suitable ones for the various beard types.

Cheers,
 
there was an "industry" paper a few years ago that supposedly claimed everyone over states the toughness of facial hair and the sensitivity of their facial skin.

As a result if "harry" in Essex claims to have super coarse hair and super sensitive skin, and claims to use a derby blade in a maxed out merkur vision, but in reality has peach fuzz and orange peel skin.... anyone following his lead will have much problems.
 
DAY ONE:

Blade:
Merkur Super - Platinum Coated.

The Shave:
This was a triple pass post shower shave. I used the TOBS Sensitive Skin shave soap and did a bowl lather with the Vulfix Super Badger.

The Results:
The blade was noticeably "grabby" and had a feeling of being a very sharp blade. To my surprise and disappointment, I managed to get two small nicks on the first pass, then a couple more on the second and then even more on the third. It was a bit of a blood bath :eek: and required the use of an alum block straight after the shave. I started off with long smooth strokes and then shortened them up with additional passes. And very little pressure was applied.

I need to check my technique I reckon; or something else as I've not had so many weepers for years. Weird!

Overall, I was disappointed with this shave. :(
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Daily Shaver said:
DAY ONE:

Blade:
Merkur Super - Platinum Coated.

The Shave:
This was a triple pass post shower shave. I used the TOBS Sensitive Skin shave soap and did a bowl lather with the Vulfix Super Badger.

The Results:
The blade was noticeably "grabby" and had a feeling of being a very sharp blade. To my surprise and disappointment, I managed to get two small nicks on the first pass, then a couple more on the second and then even more on the third. It was a bit of a blood bath :eek: and required the use of an alum block straight after the shave. I started off with long smooth strokes and then shortened them up with additional passes. And very little pressure was applied.

I need to check my technique I reckon; or something else as I've not had so many weepers for years. Weird!

Overall, I was disappointed with this shave. :(
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The Merkur blade was never one of my favourite blades and I found much the same as you did. You live and learn! :)
 
Blademonkey said:
The Merkur blade was never one of my favourite blades and I found much the same as you did. You live and learn! :)
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What a short memory I have. When I got my Merkur Futur a couple of years ago, it came with these blades and I said something like this "Oh, Solingen. They make good razors they should be a beautiful blade. I'll use them." and then popped it into the Futur and shaved. ARGHH!
 
shevsky said:
Could you please give us a list of blades you're going to use in this experiment?
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Hi, absolutely. The list of blades:
  • Merkur Super
  • Astra Superior Stainless (Blue)
  • Astra superior Platinum (Green)
  • Gillette 7 o'clock sharp edge
  • Gillette 7 o'clock super stainless
  • Feather Hi-Stainless
  • Persona Red
  • Persona Blue
  • Wilkinson Sword (from the UK)
  • Wilkinson Swoard (from Aus)
  • Derby Extra
  • Dorco
My biggest fear is that with a reasonable collection of shave soaps and creams, razors and brushes I'm going to get a little bored using the same razor and shave cream each day.
 
DAY TWO:

The Blade: ASTRA Superior Stainless (blue)

The Shave: Once again, this was a triple pass post shower shave using the TOBS Sensitive Skin shave cream. The initial stroke of the first pass was noticeably smoother than yesterday and I was suddenly hoping for good things from this shave. It was not to be. Again this turned into a blood bath with about a dozen weepers some of which were reopened from yesterday's shave. :eek: The face is left feeling a little on the sore side and the aftershave stung like a bugger!

The ASTRA Blue is better than the Merkur Super in terms of smoothness, but still way too many weepers for my liking.

I have a sneaky suspicion that the weepers could be due to the shave cream so I'm going to change shave creams to the Taylor of Old Bond Street, Mr. Taylors shave cream.

Here's today's shave :)

20170115_175425.jpg
 
always use the "standard" shave cream or soap that you have found to be best for you overall. When you start testing blades, its best to stay with your daily driver soap or cream, and not change anything.

Had the worst shave in some time, all I did was use derby extra, proraso red, and my Korean war tech. 3 pass shave, irritation from blade(chatter), and post shave was bad burn once I rinsed the soap off.
 
Bezoar said:
always use the "standard" shave cream or soap that you have found to be best for you overall. When you start testing blades, its best to stay with your daily driver soap or cream, and not change anything.

Had the worst shave in some time, all I did was use derby extra, proraso red, and my Korean war tech. 3 pass shave, irritation from blade(chatter), and post shave was bad burn once I rinsed the soap off.
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Cheers Bezoar! Top tip. Thanks heaps.

Tell me - what's your daily driver?

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
 
Bezoar said:
Cella, I have been using it heavily. I would estimate in the last 2 months I have used about 25% of the Red tubs contents. putting it in a larger bowl is wonderful for loading.
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Thanks heaps for the tip Bezoar. I've got some Cella and have used is a heap and really like it. What I will do, is use the Cella and go and test the first two blades again using it. Cheers.
 
DAY THREE:

The Blade: ASTRA Superior Platinum (Green)
The Soap: TOBS Mr. Taylors

This was a triple pass post shower shave and a superb bowl lather. The first pass was quite smooth as was the second. with a lot less tugging and dragging compared to what I experienced using the other two blades (see Day One and Day Two above). However, I did get a few minor weepers but these stopped bleeding quickly and NO styptic pencil was required and I suspect that they were reopened from yesterday

The blade performed a lot better for me compared to the previous two, but I think that the change in shave cream has gone some way to enabling that. It felt like a mild blade was quite smooth and performed well overall.

upload_2017-1-23_21-4-49.png
 
DAY FOUR:

The Blade: Gillette 7 o'clock Sharp Edge
The Soap: TOBS Mr. Taylors
The Shave: This was a triple pass shave with a bowl lather which was very rich, thick and voluminous. The first pass was very smooth and soft and is the best of the blades so far in this experiment. Nice medium to long stokes on the first pass, as usual, and then shortening them up by the final pass. I got one weeper on the right side of the chin which was the very last/final stroke and I knew as soon as I did it. User error not the blade.
The Conclusion: In terms of feel, it is a comfortable and smooth blade. For performance I thought it was a mild blade for me, and left the hint of a few whiskers in the more dense places (side of the chin). However, I didn't suffer any soreness or rash.
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you should try the blade more then once before changing to a different one. I am currently doing a review of a whole crap load of blades I purchased this month. And am working one blade to end of useful shaving life before using a new blade of that brand in one of my other razors.
 
Bezoar said:
you should try the blade more then once before changing to a different one. I am currently doing a review of a whole crap load of blades I purchased this month. And am working one blade to end of useful shaving life before using a new blade of that brand in one of my other razors.
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You make a good and valid point. Once I've been through all twelve of the blades I listed in #7 above, I'm going to go back and revisit some of them. And I'll take on board your advice about using a different soap. In fact, I'm going to use Cella and then see how they go the second and/or third use.

Cheers.
 
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