Okay, so I have been shaving for the past few weeks with the Van Der Hagen safety razor and some Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Stainless green blades, and they have been the very best I have found thus far. Smooth, no drag, basically no nicks … and a TON of confidence that it works great. Tonight it was past it’s prime and started tugging, and I felt I wanted something very sharp. Having read reviews a Gillette Platinum is 4.5/5 on sharpness and I had no problem with that, but I decided to try a Feather. WOW. I thought it might be sharp, but I had no idea the Japanese idea of sharp! It’s out of this world and could probably split hairs in half lenghwise. I have never been so gentle and had a blade sharp enough to remove hair it was scary almost. Despite tons of care I still had maybe 5 or 6 tiny weepers even places that have never blead shaving. My face feels smooth to my hands, but it almost feels a bit raw. I put some aftershave on, but just thought I would report. I bet the blade gets smoother and better in the next few shaves..,
Feathers dull very quickly. Most shavers get 2 to 3 shaves at best. Also, your skin may not be able to handle Feathers.
A lot of the fun of wet shaving is all of the different products you can experiment with and finding out what works best for your skin and beard type. I started with Feathers and they are still in my top five of blade choices. I get four to five shaves with most blades but I get six or seven from Feathers. Since you mentioned Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless (green) let me give a shout out for Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum (Black) as one for you to try sometime.
I'm glad you're making progress and having fun. It's fun to try different DE blades. Feathers are some of my favorites. In fact, I used them exclusively for the first few years. I most often change my blade after 3 shaves. Blades are inexpensive, and I never have to worry with a dull edge. That's just me. If you ask 5 other guys, you'll get 6 different opinions. I enjoy the best, most consistent shaves when I stick primarily with one brand of blade (and everything else for that matter) and adjust my technique accordingly. Keep learning and having fun.
There are hacks to "smooth" out the initial Feather shave, but I eschew them. Your second and third shaves will be the smoothest and the fourth shave will show degradation of the edge.
This. Exactly how i find feathers. They are one of my top 4 or 5 blades. And the 7 oclock black us right up there too.
It is fun to compare blades, no question. Feathers are a sharp blade for sure. Personally, I avoided them unnecessarily for too long. Experience and technique will handle them with no issue. Imho, some blades are just smoother than others. You may find that they (Feathers) don’t ever really seem all that smooth for you, especially in a razor with a large blade gap and blade exposure. I have a large # of blades I like now (mainly Russian Gillettes) and find them interchangeable. It did take me quite some time to get there, fwiw.
I love Feathers and they're my second favorite behind Astra's. I've found the Feathers work well with mild razors like a vintage Gillette Tech or, this week's setup", the Grand Shave King. Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
I use Astra SP's mostly and they work pretty good for me, but hearing how sharp Feathers are, it makes me a little nervous to try them out.
No reason to be nervous. All blades are sharp, that's why we buy them. I don't buy into the talk of a blade being mild or aggressive, they will all cut you if your technique is off or if you fail to pay attention to what you're doing. All that said, I will agree some blades are ground smoother than others. Perhaps that's what gives people the misnomer of calling a blade aggressive or mild.
Old thread, but what the heck. Feather blades have been to sharp for me, at least so far. I might need more practice, but they're kind of overkill for me. Maybe I'm wrong, and feel free to point that out, but I have found good luck with milder blades that are just enough to cut my beard. Anything that does more than that is to much and just adds irritation and the possibility of cuts. So I've been using Treets and Trig's with good results. They are not overly sharp, and are just enough to cut my whiskers, so irritation and cuts are minimal.
