I would think “smooth” stems from technique. I have a good array of vintage DE and SE blade holders that all have the potential of being smooth if used well. A good lather sure helps as well .
The Gillette Twinjector & Schick Twin II blades. Extremely smooth and comfortable. Not the most efficient razor but, that’s not a requirement for this list. Edit: Noticed that it has to be a DE. Missed that. In that case, I’d say the RR Mamba .70.
Good evening Jim, Seems like you use Bolzano blades a fair bit. Have a question for you. Have you ever received a bad batch? Reason for me asking, bought a pack of 5 blades to try out and simply fell in love with them . So I decided to spring for a 100 pack after finding a good deal on eBay. I received them , loaded my trusted DE ( same DE I tested the Bolzano with the first time) and my face is getting destroyed. Face is irritated , blade feels rough. First time I tried them they were smooth as butter and got a really close shave with 3 passes. I did notice that the printing on the blades was different on the 100 pack I received . The font on the blade is smaller than in the original pack I first ordered. Could these be knock-off blades? If such a thing exists. All the packaging looks the same. Your thoughts or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Anthony Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Honestly, I really don't know why they wouldn't shave good. Maybe a bad blade, it does happen. I'd suggest trying another one to compare it with. I've never heard of knock off Bolzanos, but I guess it could happen. From posts I've seen, @Morman Bridge probably uses them more than anyone on here, he's the one who got me hooked on them. I haven't seen him on here lately, but maybe he'll chime in on here and can answer better than I can. The following pic are the blades I have..........
Well now this is a truly difficult one for me to answer. An autopilot shave? Merkur 34G/C with a Personna Lab Blue. Gillette Blue Tip SS with a Kai SS. Gillette New SC/LC with a Voskhod. Timeless SS OC .95 with a Polsilver IR. Gillette Red Tip SS with a GSB. Have many more...LOL
At this point in my shaving experience, there are four razors that are daily drivers for me. These razors all deliver effortless Dome and Face shaves. One is vintage, and the other three are modern artisan razors. My preferred DE blades are Suneko, Feather, Kai and Voskhod. My preferred SE blade is a Schick Proline. The preferred razors are: 1. Jones Shake Sharp Model 1.0 2. RazoRock SS Lupo 3. Colonial Silversmith 4. Blackland Vector
I've only ever used two DE razors that had absolutely no blade feel at all. I'm really surprised that one has not been mentioned yet. The PAA double open comb is the smoothest razor I've ever used. I usually pair it with Astra SP's. The other is a Gillette Blue Tip paired with Feather blades.
I have not used the PAA but I will agree that a Gillette Blue Tip with a super sharp blade is a thing of beauty. I love Kai blades in a lot of razors not so much the Feather.
Those two razors I mentioned are the only ones I will use a Feather in, and I rarely use those razors. My wife is the Feather user, in a Gillette lady's razor. Edit: I associate smoothness by a variety of factors, but I figured the OP was looking for a 'least blade feel' razor. I'd recommend the Feather AS-D1 based on that alone, though I've never used that razor. I've read many, many reviews on it, some by people I trust. It's hard to recommend a razor based on smoothness, aggression, mildness, or any other 'subjective' factor.
So obviously this is highly subjective and technique makes the biggest difference. Once you have your skills down you can get a smooth comfortable shave with most any razor. For me my top two DE would have to go to Rockwell 6S #6 and RazoRock SLOC with either Voshkod or Nacet blades. My vintage Gillette New SC with a Voskhod is a close runner-up.