Shave 6 with the Rapira was better than the last 5. Full 3 pass shave with fantastic results. Sharpness 4 Still only a tiny bit of tugging Smoothness 5 Super smooth again and a BBS Closeness 5 this is a fantastic blade and only $15 for 100 blades on Italian barber. This is top of my list right now... but I still have 26 blades to go.
You have a lot of very good blades. It will be interesting to see how they all sort out for you personally.
They certainly are very good. I can't thank you enough for the great blades Bob. I have tried 2 of the blades you gave me both of which were the best I had ever used (when I tried them.) Gillette Silver Blue is on deck for Monday's shave. I hope it will be the best blade I have ever used yet again and move the others down on my list one more time.
I have 14 blades in stock right now. After my next blade purchase I will be Starting a Blade Safari PIF.
Today I retired the Rapira not because it could no longer give a close comfortable shave but because I want to finish this blade safari before next Christmas. I liked it so much I almost wrapped it back up and saved it for later. Then I decided I could just buy more instead.
Shave one with the Gillette Silver Blue was amazing. I only did a 2 pass and it was almost BBS so I called it good. Sharpness 5 Smoothness 5 Super smooth and near BBS in 2 passes no ATG Closeness 5 this is a fantastic blade possibly the best yet... time will tell
Shave two and three were just as good as the first with the GSB. I think I may have found a winner, but there are a lot more to try. Due to a time crunch today I decided to skip my shave to make more time to prep for a valentines day surprise. Shave 2 Sharpness 5 still perfect Smoothness 5 Super smooth BBS in 2 passes with touch up Closeness 5 Feeling at 9:00 4 Shave 3 Sharpness 4 Smoothness 5 BBS 3 in three passes smooth as butter Closeness 5 Feeling at 9:00 4 This is my favorite blade so far. Looks like I am going to order my fist 100 blade purchase this weekend.
Shave 4 was another great shave from the GSB. I just ordered a 100 pack of these so that I could get enough blades to start my PIF. Sharpness 4 Smoothness 4 DFS in 3 comfortable passes Closeness 4 Not quite as close as I thought it would be but still great Feeling at 9:00 3 I think this blade has more shaves in it but I will be tossing it after shave 5.
Shave 5 with GSB is it's last. I don't know If it was wet when I put it away or what but the quality vastly dropped between my last shave and this morning. Sharpness 4 Smoothness 2 it was not a comfortable shave but it was super close Closeness 4 I only did 2 passes because of how rough the blade felt but it gave me a super close shave with some irritation I think I may have not dried it yesterday because it was great yesterday and I noticed right away today something wasn't right. Either way I got 4 great shaves out of it. That makes it under $0.06 a shave. To get that return on investment out of my old mach3 blades I would have to get 38 shaves per cartridge.
I took a week off to use the Stirling Ozark Mountain and MWF. This week it was back to the routine. I have been using the Perma Sharp Super stainless. The first shave was not as good as I was hoping for. It was a little rough but the blade was plenty sharp. I almost threw it out thinking it was a dud. Day two the blade was much smoother and by the third shave this blade was smooth as butter. I haven't had this happen with a blade before but I'm glad I kept with this blade. I am quite impressed with the longevity of this blade I just did my sixth shave with this blade and I think I could get a few more. I have not noticed any decrease in quality yet. But tomorrow is no shave day and Monday will be a new blade.
So the Super-Max Titanium was not for me. I feel I gave it a fair try but it just wasn't on the same level as the other blades I have used recently. First shave was an uncomfortable 2 pass with a few little nicks. Shave 2 was worse I felt like it was pulling and tugging. I did try one more time and after day three I tossed it and loaded a drug store blade to finish out the week. I don't know if it was a dud blade or if this blade just doesn't like my face, but this is the first time a blade has given me a handful of nicks every shave. This week went with the Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless (Green) and it is one of the best blades I have ever used. First 2 days I went with a quick 2 pass and I got a DFS shave. Both shaves were perfect other than my jawline which always needs extra attention. Day 3 I went for BBS I did 2 full passes with a tiny bit of touch up and got a perfect BBS. Today was my sixth shave with this blade and though I can tell it is near the end of it's life it still produced a DFS in 2 passes. Looks like I have another favorite. I will be trying another Gillette tomorrow morning.
The Gillette 7'O Clock black was not quite as good as the Green IMO. It is certainly a great blade but it seemed to dull and start to pull on my third shave. I got no nicks all week but some minor irritation buy shave 4 and 5. I didn't think it was up to par by the end of the week so I didn't even use it on Saturday.
I'll be watching when you test those Polsilver Super Iridiums. I too tested many blades and The Gillette Silver Blues were my clear number one for weeks. Then I tried the Polsilvers......
Sorry I have been seriously slacking on this thread. I have another three or four blades to update more to come later today.
The Gillette sharp edge Yellow is an impressive blade. I got great shaves for 6 days before I decided it was time to bin it. I found it to be smooth yet quite sharp. Certainly worth another shot when I get my top contenders narrowed down.
Personna super blue was a bit of a disappointment. I felt like I had to concentrate on going over the top with my prep time to get a shave like I got with the gillette blades. It did a fine job but it didn't feel nearly as smooth and I noticed it tugged even on the first shave. Not one of my favorites but I managed to get great shaves with it just not as enjoyable .