A disquisition on blade sampler packs

Great insight for someone who doesn't quite know what they are looking for.

 

Hello Michael,

Thank you for taking the time to give us this great information. This will actually help newcomers understand the sampler packs better.

Very insightful and well put!

Have a great day,

Dark

 

Thank you for the nice write up on how to differentiate when deternining "best blade"
I will be asking Santa for stocking stuffers this year, and hopefully he will drop one of those samplers in the sock for me.

Rob

 

blades

Does this help anyonel?


There are two basic ways that a shaver can irritate himself, with nicks and cuts that are usually caused by excessive pulling and dragging, or with abrasion that comes from scraping away excessive amounts of skin. A sharper blade will cut easily with minimal drag but with increased risk of abrasion, particularly when trying to get skin close such as you would on the final pass. A blade with less sharpness will experience more drag on the longer hairs but will finish smoother and be less likely to abrade. Keep in mind that this only takes the blade into account and not other factors such as products used, wetness of the beard, or razor technique

With that said, here is how I rank the most commonly used DE blades. All blades, except those that gave only (0) or (1) shaves, I rate as at least satisfactory in quality. The number of shaves per blade are noted following the (.
Schick (25,
Gillette Star/Euro/Swedish (39, 54, 31,
Feather (21,
Gillette Polisilver (20,
Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Platinum (13,
Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (10,7,
Gillette 7 O’Clock Permasharp Stainless (9,
Lord (14, 7,
Wilkerson/Schick (12,
Derby (10,
Dorco Stainless ST 301 (7,
Crown Super Stainless (3,
Treet Blue Special (Carbon Steel) (1)
Merkur (1)


Gillette Trac II-Very nice shave, but not many of them. Tends to leave ingrown hair (5 or so

 

HOW many?

 

21 shaves with a single Feather blade? I call shenanigans there.

 

very good guidelines thank you

Regards.

 

Please note that Razor and Brush is temporarily out of business as of March 17, 2009.

 

Great advice for a Newbie like myself. I had no idea where I should be starting as far as blade selection goes.

Much appreciated for your effort in writing this post.

Thanks,

Mike

 

Michael,

Glad to see you are still around. I haven't seen you on the other forums in quite some time. As usual and always, a very good and informative post. I always find your posts informative and usefull no matter the experience of the shaver. Keep up the good work.

And as always...

Enjoy your shave...

 

Thank you.

 

Blade Sampler

I think Razor and Brush closed. I hope he can reopen his web site store I saw some things I liked, and one of them was some good samples of blades.​

 

Razor and Brush is closed for good. All of his business has been sent to shoebox shaving.

 

Hiya,

Yeah, it was too bad when Gio closed up shop. Got to the point where his normal job required more time and overseas travel, and he just couldn't devote enough time to the forum as a result. He's a nice man.

I did maybe 3-4 deals with him, and he always tossed in some various little known samples. My brain is a little fuzzy(this was a few years ago), but I think he was the guy who suggested trying blades other than the most common 5-6 brands. Yeah, back then there were Derby, Feather, Crystal, Red Personna, various Wlkinson(some were NOS back then), and of course the 'Swedes'(Swedish Gillette). No one was trying anything new, weird as that sounds now.

He was an enthusiastic 'hobbyist' as well as a site owner, and he enjoyed spreading his knowledge to others. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure he was the first person to even mention the Iridium Super blades. Yeah, no one had ever heard of those and I'm forever grateful to him for doing that. He may have even sent me a sample with a bunch of others, but I never tried it until he talked about how those worked for him. Smart guy........heh.

Well, he had a good forum member following, and hopefully he'll open the store again. I could probably find him online in a pen forum maybe, since that's another of his interests.

Martin

 

Before Giovanni it was MIDGE
Merkur, Israelis Personnas, Derbys, Gillette Swedes, and Feathers (E, sharpness of Feathers made the E to an F). His store was the catalyst for folks to seek and try new blades. The Treets, Polsilvers. Irridium, etc.

 

I just bought a sampler. I am pretty excited since I have been using the Merkur blades for about a month now. They do not seem to bother me. They did when I first started wet shaving with a DE but I thought that was just because of learning curve. I have gotten better and seldomly get weepers and am able to get between 5-7 shaves. I have to shave every-single-day. Who knows, they may be my fall back blade. Anyway, I ordered the everything pack that has 95 blades. It looks like I have a lot of time to try some blades.

 

with some more time

I haven't been shaving with a safety razor long enough yet to determine the best or worst blade for me. My razor came with blades made in Israel included, but I had previously bought replacement blades at the supermarket (store brand) and am currently on day 5, using that one.

I have read several reviews by others and the Feather brand seems to be the sharpest by far. One would think that sharpest is best, but after reading reviews it mostly means more aggressive.

I am becoming more accustomed to my razor as far as technique goes, so when I get a little more confident with my skill, I may take a leap and try the Feather brand. I like the idea of a sampler pack too. I guess its mostly about what's good for you.

 

Yet another reason to say thanks in this forum!

Even if one of the sites closed, this is still useful in technique so far as testing blades.

 

Thats the best guide to samplers ever.... easier to pick out what works for you for the value

 

Good

It's a good think to point this out for newbies.
I ordered a sample pack and it is great. I did not expect blades to be so different.