An Engineer's Blade Sharpness Study...

Problem is, I don't think there can be an informed decision.

Take blades X, Y, and Z and give them to persons 1, 2, 3 and 4
Person 1 will like X and Y, hate Z.
Person 2 will like Y and Z, hate X.
Person 3 will like all three.
Person 4 wil hate all three.
Who you gonna believe? Your face. The face never lies.

 

There you go trying to insert logic in a blade sharpness thread again...

 

I found this blade study to be most useful in my early purchases...

Squire's Blade Reviews

 

Exactly why individual reviews are useless. Objective tests are not. Yeah'lll believe my face but I won't try 100 blades to see what my face likes. I'll use the info from the refinedshave test along with user reports to narrow the field as to what x, y, and z is, then see which I prefer.

I have coarse hair on my head (head shaver) and skin like a rhino, irritation is a non issue. I want a blade that is both initially sharp and will retain sharpness through 2-3 head and beard shaves. I can pretty easily use refinedshave info to narrow to the sharpest blades with decent durability.

Thus 7 o'clock black will be my next purchase, then perhaps GSB (or Nacet) . Maybe I'll hate them but I kinda doubt it. Feather I know sucks in durability, I've used them, testing confirms. Personna are a tad lacking in initial sharpness. Permasharp has been a goto blade , I already know it works for my needs. This kind of objective test is more useful for me than user reports from people who don't shave their head and/or have sensitive skin. That filter renders most user reviews irrelevant.

I'm not interested in taking the time to test myriad nunber of blades in some random fashion, I already have two blades that work just fine and I'd rather play with razors then blades.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

Blades are nowhere nearly as important as people like to pretend that they are with regards to results.

People are nowhere near as unique as they like to think they are.

Half of all shavers have below average skills.

This is an indisputable mathematical reality.

All newbies fall in this group when they convert.

Newbies write more reviews than more experienced guys.

Everyone understands blade reviews now, right?

They're pointless.

What was attempted in the study has value, but only if one has the techniques to optimize the gear.

 

Said it before and I'll say it again...

 

Start a thread about which brush type is best. I'll be right over with some more sticks.

 

Half ? It's that high ?

 

Thinking about it, I've been here around 8 years, that probably being conservative.

 

If either of you want to postulate about the actual curve distribution around the median....I won't stop you.

 

I need that machine so I can test my straights.

 

Schick Injector Blades FTW

 

I have to disagree. In my humble opinion, one need a blade sharp enough to not tug. When my cousin went to a professional barber shaving him with a shavette, the barber complained that he had to change blade 3 times during that shave because his beard made the blade dull. Normally he would not need to change even once during a shave. I have even more coarse beard than my cousin and those blades he is able to shave with tugs terrible for me (I have red beard of the worst kind). There are blades that will tug up by root my whiskers rather than slicing through. That is painful. Other blades leave the face unshaven after one stroke (all whiskers still there, almost unharmed). With a good sharp blade, I get a good shave from only one pass, and a second pass added gives me a shave that borders to BBS.

Yes, some of us have bad luck and we really do have coarse beard. For us, some dull brands are really a torture.

 

Every other Barber you meet is below average. Bad angle on a shavette will pull far worse than DE, and will also roll the blade edge.

Thought exercise:

DE blades are sharper and thinner than straights. How are coarse bearded men able to use them comfortably? Many do, and even stuff like Derby is sharper than traditional SR.

 

I think that depends on the experience of the barber. The issue is they'll select one blade for everyone. Prep plays a huge role in a proper shave. I could cold shave my mug if I wanted to, but I love my beard. I tried cws on my noggin, and it was a no go.

 

Here, here, good Sir! Mind your tongue! Swarden43 postulates for no man!

 

So we are to believe the Feather is not the sharpest blade? Right...

 

When it comes to blades, we are to believe what we want to believe.