Well, now that I've gone several weeks without a single nick, I convinced myself I was ready to try the (in)famous feathers. I've got really high expectations for them. So far, I've tried derby, Bangladeshi 7am, Rapira, and Shark. The sharks are the only ones that impress me, but only on the first half or so of the first shave. After that, they seem to peter out. It's weird because I never thought of myself as having an especially coarse or thick beard. When I got into this, I thought I'd be one of those guys that gets an easy 10 uses or more out of a blade. I like to imagine that with the feathers, each pass will just glide along, cutting every whisker in its path with no resistance. At the same time, I feel like I'm setting myself up for disappointment. Guess I'll know in a couple of days...
They are definitely sharp blades. I don't find them to be the smoothest but they do work well for me. Give them a shot and see what you think. If they don't work for you, don't toss them. Put them away for a few months and then revisit them. It's amazing what a few months will do to technique and preferences.
for me feathers are a great blade in my ej de89l.i can get a solid dfs 3x i havent tried them in anything else though. i just recently...like this afternoon ordered 200 derbys...just because i can get 3 dang good shaves outta 1 derby...& they were 19.95 shipped for all 200...
If you like the Sharks, then you might love the Personna Red Pack, Astra SP and Bic CP blades. The Feathers aren't smooth after the first shave, at least that's been my experience.
To this newbie, it seems like if a blade is sharp, then it will also be smooth, since it's able to cleanly cut through whatever is in it's way (hopefully hair, and not flesh). What do folks mean by "sharp" vs. "smooth"?
This is my experience of Feathers. I use them exclusively in my 39C Slant. I find them both sharp and smooth. I get a good 5 shaves per blade.
Not the case, the sharper the blade the easier it is for chips to come off and it dulls quicker because there isn't as much metal to support the cutting edge right behind it, to get a smooth shave you need a blade that cuts through your beard while not tugging while being dull enough that it doesn't go blunt after just a few shaves Take me for example, I have thick beard hair but thin beard growth, in my 2 SS's I can get 2 good shaves from a derby and 3 or 4 good shaves from wilkinsons (4 if use my 54 SS only) while feathers tend to not make it halfway through my third shave But YMMV
I tend to get 3 good shaves from a Feather blade. The upside for me is that they tend to not cause any irritation, which I so easily get. They are the smoothest blade for me and I will probably invest in some when my Red Israeli count gets a bit lower. The one thing I learned with Feather blades, I don't know if anyone else agrees or not, but once it starts to feel rough I toss it and finish up with something else. If I don't then I find myself with lots of little knicks and lots of irritation (this is why i don't go past 3 shaves/blade). Fortunately everyone's experience is different though!
That, my friends, is advice that can and should be applied to almost all shaving gear. Nicely put, Dale. happy088
I tried Feather blades and hated them. I want to get one of the cheap Feather Des and give it a go, though.
