I'm finally getting around to posting about some product impressions I should have posted earlier if life hadn't been so crazy. Here's one to show why I still try new products. I've been very happy with the blades I've settle into: Astra SP as my overall favorite with Persona blades for more aggressive razors. Then I found Supermax Stainless about 6 months ago and they're the equal of the Astra IMHO. I found all these blade by sampling dozens of brands and trying them in a few different razors each. I figured at best I'd find something that equaled my current favorites. I picked up a package of Voshkod blades in my last TSD order and I can say they are better for me than anything I've tried before. I have tried them in every DE razor I own (my collection isn't as big as many here) and they are as good or better than my previous favorite blade in any of my DE razors. Then, to top it off they last 6 shave compared to 4 I get with my current blades. The only other blades that have gone past 4 shaves for me were vintage. Blades are definitely a YMMV item. But I've found a new personal favorite. I'm not at risk of running out of blades anytime soon and I'm in nor hurry to order more, but when I order more I know what brand I'll be purchasing.
Voskhods are my go to blades for now. Just ordered some super Iridiums and some Permasharps to compare with but for now i love my voskhods. I can only get 2 shaves out of these blades though i keep trying for 3 but i get pulling and irritation on the 3rd shave. I do shave every 18-24 hours though and have a full coarse beard. these blades provide me a very comfortable shave though.
This is why we've been able to sell 50,000+ Voskhod blades in the 2 group buys we've done here on them. They just work. Some people don't like them but the overwhelming majority find they are a very fine blade. Welcome to the Voskhod club Erik!
I still love 'em. I've had some fantastic other blades as samplers from PIFs, but I do love my Voskhods!
I like Volkshod blades as well, very reliable and very sharp. not Feather sharp, but nonetheless, a very smooth shaving blade.
Hmm, I can't decide if I'm willing to peek out from my hiding place long enough to try another new blade (I ran here following my bluebird debacle). You guys are awfully complimentary, though, and in a public forum no less, assailing the poor, defenseless recent wet-shave adopters with exciting prospects. I've even seen them in our friendly TSD store. Ah, decisions, decisions.
I keep a pointy-nosed spread sheet to track all my shaves, mostly to allow me to rate each shave's performance so I can objectively evaluate them. I have a 15 point maximum, with 5 points each going to comfort while shaving (tugging, smoothness), post shave comfort (lack of burn or irritation), and closeness of the shave. With that system, I've determined my top 5 blades: Total points (shave comfort/post shave comfort/closeness) 12.3 - Voskhod Teflon (4.0/4.2/4.2) 11.9 - Personna Super "Labs" (4.3/3.3/4.3) 11.9 - PolSilver (4.1/4.0/3.8) - Yielded 8 great shaves 11.8 - Sputnik (3.9/3.9/4.1) 11.5 - Super Iridium (3.8/3.5/4.1) - 11 excellent shaves from one blade!
Careful, next Steve will ask you which razors were used with which blades, He'll ask you to donate this information "for Science." Refer to this thread if you have any questions: http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/confidence-in-shaving-is-a-fickle-little-monkey.29093/
Haha, you're secretly gunning for me to do it, and you know it! We like to think we're all subjective in the wet-shaving world, but look at all the advice offered: map your beard, check your control groups for 30 days and only change one thing at a time, log your blades, watch your blade angle to ensure it's 30°—in short, go about this thing scientifically so you know what works. Arko's the one confounding variable that seems to say, "Science be darned" since logically, no man would put something that smelled like that on their face. hehe
I can get about 3 shaves out of Voskhod with only 1 of them having any kinda comfort, they fall short of my favorite Astra sp, YMMV
Pat was kind enough to send me some of these blades, and they've worked well for me! They're on my short list of good blades and have been very forgiving when my angle slips on my upper lip or on my chin. I would not hesitate to recommend them, though the Law of YMMV prevents me from trying to convince anyone else that they're effective. So far, my three best blades have been Astras, Singapore Thins, and Voskhods.
LOL! before this thread I thought I was crazy. Voskhod is an awesome blade. I fell bad that I missed the group buy. I'm with u guys
Yup, me too. So far, while I've had some closer shaves from other blades Voskhods have been by far the most comfortable and consistent blades for me, so to me that = the best blades I've used. I tried feathers and Personna 'lab' blues which both felt like they were just itching to burn/cut me. I got some quite close shaves from them, but the just weren't as comfortable to use for me. I tried 3 Personnas, and 2 of the 3 felt like they just WANTED to burn me, but the other one (the middle one of the 3) actually gave a nice, comfortable shave that was quite close. For me though, that's just a lot of variability and I've used a dozen or more Voskhods so far and they've all seemed almost exactly the same.
