I did agree with posters above that there may be such a thing as a "poor" blade, but everyone would find it poor. If it's just not made well there would be universal complaint about it.

I have never tried Derby blades, but have heard many people complain about them. Similar story with Merkur blades.

I find that some blades pull and tug for me..One tug will send the blade flying into the closest blade bank!. I'm talking about you Dorco!

But, almost all quality blades I get along with fine...Especially GEM and Personna SE & Injector blades, and the Russian DE blades.BUT some cheap, especially made in Korea, DE blades, no so much. }8^(

I have some Astras, Green and Blue boxes (prefer Blue), and Rapiras, but it's the Perma Sharp Supers from St. Petersburg that are the real stand out. They are so outstanding,
.....well...they might be....no, forget "might be...they 'ARE' the only reason I still even use a DE razor at all. They are that good!!

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Wrong all accounts because the idea is to push the razor to it's functional limits regardless of technique. Technique will not overcome a razor that shaves like a dull because it is too mild for example. It won't change the feel and pressure and that has to be learned by doing. This is not rocket science, if it was these things would have never prospered in a mass produced setting because the users all would have to be highly skilled blade wielders to get a satisfactory result.

You are getting bad shaves because your tools are not meant for a beginner depending the razor. That is why Slims and Techs are recommended and not face skinners that require learning skill.

I hear ya.
But my take is this:
If a blade is used or defectively dull...it will tug and pull. And I will toss it immediately.

I started on a Gillette Slim...I learned to get great BBS type shaves on every setting. #1 & #2 were the hardest. But with skin stretching, j-hooking and a little razor buffing I learned to get great shaves on #1 and have a fun time in the process...And on #9 I learned to us negative pressure and ride the cap..Same results.

After that, I could get shaves with nearly any really quality razor and blade combo. Of course none of this applys with defective equipment.

Of course, we all will gravatate to certsin set-ups and combos which we will enjoy the most...Thats what makes this so hip...The hunt for our prrfect combo...}8^)).

But I do believe, with all things of quality and being equal..."Technique does trump tools"

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@Kevinwine85 - Are you getting a sense that each person has their own favorite(s) blade? One man's cheese is anothers rotten milk. Somewhere deep in the archives is a thread about folks and their choices when purchasing 100 packs of blades. I data mined the thread and collected numbers & opinions. There were winners and losers but no consensus on The Perfect Blade.

That point I'll agree. The idea of getting a tuck of five blades makes sense. If the first blade used doesn't feel good, put them aside. Try others until the right feel is found. Later try that "bad" blade again. If it was technique the blades might be better now, or they just might not agree with you.

Kind of a sliding scale with Smooth at one end & Sharp at the other. I like Feather & Kai - both sharp. I get along fine with Personna Blue, Lab, & Med Prep. Astra Superior Platinum are great. Many Teflon coated Russian blades serve well. Really there's only one blade I've avoided; VanDerHagen Ice Tempered. They might be spectacular, but I've been prejudiced by too many bad reviews.

I quit counting blade uses. When I feel tugging, I swap in a fresh blade. Sometimes with a different maker rather than the one being binned. I haven't been at this so long that I've locked in on my ultimate set up. When I do it won't be the same for everyone or even someone else.

Yup. No one wants to admit User Error, easier to blame the tool. It does take time to get good at handling a DE. Along the way you develop preferences. Not just for blades, but the different types of DE razors and techniques using them. Wet Shaving forums wouldn't need B/S/T forums if reading reviews gave The Answer.

Dull blade will most certainly tug and pull so will a dull razor like a blue tip with a sharp or dull blade. Aggressive razors are a lot more forgiving with a dull blade on the tug issue. If the blade for example almost doesn't break the shave plane at any angle then no amount of technique will change that limitation. If you can't get enough blade or angle of attack the sharpness or dullness is irrelevant of the blade at the same time. If you have to fine tune technique just to meet some minimal standards then the problem is you not the tool if it performs up to those expectations with others.

Refining prep is more important than technique. The 2 biggest adjustments I've made that help during the shave is going to cold water and saving the ATG passes for last 1 or 2 passes. I do 5 pass shaves with 2 ATG passes every single day. In the beginning I certainly couldn't shave like this daily partially due to poor prep, skin wasn't used to shaving this way, not knowing how to apply minimal pressure which I will concede is a technique issue when the safety razor isn't nick free safe. Straights or shavettes require skill a DE or SE with a safety bar shouldn't require that level of skill or technique to get some sort of minimally acceptable level of shave.

Technique comes into play between the boundaries of functional limitations of your tools in this case the blade and razor.

How would you know if it is user error or not if you don't know if you hit the limits or where they are of your tool(s)? You don't simple as that. Until the limitation goal posts are set everything else is horse patties and speculation.

I do the same. The blade that tugged was a brand new blade and I binned it half way through the first pass.

some tools mask or hide bad technique..good technique will weed out the bad tools..and make the good tools great...

i think prep is part of technique..

And so will a sharp blade at too steep of an angle.

That's backwards. The limitations of the tool are meaningless until you learn to use the tool.

*scratches his growing Vincent Price-style jawline beard, quietly slips out of thread*

Yes! There's that point in time where you desire irritation free shaves. So you try a number of hardware and software options. Those of us that stick around and talk about it have discovered a combo that works. Early on "mild" razors, later more aggressive. Some folks get the mild, tight tolerance, low exposure DE right the first time.

There is no Blades Forum.

Personally in my experience I find this not true. In my opinion you always need a blade sharp enough to not tug and especially in aggressive razors you need the extra precision. With tugging you force the blade with strength and not with precision. Of my razors, Mühle R41 requires the most sharp blade because there I really need the extra precision. Even with milder razors I benefit from having a really sharp blade but I find them also working OK with slightly less sharp blades.

If you don't know what blades you like and want to try a bunch of different ones, try TryABlade.com. I did that and bought several. The beauty of this is that you will likely find several that you like. Then you'll end up buying lots of 100 of each at a time. Such a fun hobby. And you thought you were going to save money.

As you can see @Kevinwine85, many different opinions on this.

As stated above, I'd get packs of 5 of blades which are mostly known to be good. All the conversation above about blaming tools probably isn't relevant to you anyway as you've been here for a year, just about. You'll know your razors and be able to tell if it's the blade causing you issues.

For a beginner, a months shaving with a decent blade is essential with any razor. Aggressive or mild, in that time frame you can figure it out.

Unless it's a poor razor by design or is been damaged. Same for blades.

How is a razor dull? I get just as good a shave from a Blue Tip as I do from a Floating Head as I do from a MMOC. The razor is just a blade holder. It is neither sharp nor dull.

Technique is very important to the quality of a shave. Riding the cap will make most razors shave very nicely and efficiently.

Yes, at one point I did....
Oh gosh!
Yesterday, I ordered 100 Polsilver Super Iridium blades.
Why? I dont no?

tp

Your journey has just begun, only you can find the right blade or blades for your razor or razors. Just enjoy the ride.
Let us know how it's going, every once in a while, if you don't mind.
Thanks
tp