A Blade Safari - 15 enter how many leave?

The Voskhod had a really good run. Today was not much different. I didn't get to BBS, but I also didn't go for the ATG pass. I did get some irritation today, in fact my face still feels a little chapped. I'm starting to thing the Voskhod isn't a 4 day blade.

After 4 days with the Voskhod I managed to get 3 DFS and 1 BBS. Other then today no real irritation, cuts, nicks or weepers.

I would be surprised if the Voskhod did not make it into my normal rotation.

 

53 shaves later and I arrive at the Rapira. This is the last blade in this safari I have never used before. So far it was worth the wait. The Rapira seems to be slightly more aggressive then the Voskhod yet still tame. My angle must have been a little off as I have a touch more stubble on the right side of my neck, but otherwise the Rapira was bale to provide a nice DFS with no nicks, cut, weepers or irritation.

 

Not a bad shave from the Rapira today. Being the weekend I change my post shave up to include alum. I'm pleased to say that the Rapira passed the alum test well, minor stinging but nothing unpleasant.

 

I seem to have cut myself with the Rapira again. I don't feel the cuts but the pink lather is a dead give away.

I can get a decent shave out of the Rapira, but I just don't seem to enjoy them that much. I think I might have gotten spoiled from the Voskhod....

 

Last day with the Rapira. The shave could have been better if I didn't rush my prep. Despite the bad prep, the Rapira was able to give a nice close, smooth shave with no cuts or irritation.

 

The Astra SP is the only blade I received in this PIF that I had used before.

It made short work of today's shave, but with a little too much irritation.

 

Another rushed shave with less then ideal results... you get back what you put in.

Thankfully I've used the Astra before and know what it is capable of. Even with the fast shave, I was able to get a relatively close shave. The alum did bring out the worst in this shave though.

 

These are bar far the worst shaves I've gotten from an Astra SP, not what I was expecting at all. The shaves are close, but way too much irritation and a few nicks today as well.

I took my time with my prep today but it did not seem to help much... I know the Astra is better then this

 

This may have been the best shave from this Astra yet, to bad the first three shaves were sub-par. I still got irritation with the alum and some razor burn on my neck too.

 

Well, 60 shaves later I've gone through all 15 blades. Who won? who lost? what's my favorite?

They might not be the answers you'd expect, but I'd have to say I won and my wallet may have lost. With the exception of one shave, I only used my WW2 Gillette Tech with these blades, as I didn't want the razor to be a variable. The problem with that is I have 4 other DE razors that love to send on a blade safari! Razor blades are an extremely "YMMV" piece of the traditional wet shave. Being able to sample 15 well know blades was a great opportunity. Some blades performed better then others and have a higher chance of finding there way into my den. But I'm pretty sure that at some point I will re-evaluate each and every one of these blades again.

I finished this blade safari off with the Astra SP, the only one of these blades I've used before. I did not get the shave I expected from the Astra, and I've gone through a few so I think my expectations were not out of line. This just reaffirms that a "bad blade" is not always the blade.

I still have a fair stock of Merkur's, Feather's and Astra SP's before I need to order blades, but when I do I might review this thread and cherry pick some of the better performers, or just buy the exact same set and simply change out the razor.