Never thought it would happen to me but I'm preferring the shave results from less aggressive blades. Preferring to do more passes in varying directions. Finding that I'm achieving similar results in the end but with little to no skin aggravation. Moving away from Russian and Japanese produced blades to India and Egypt produced blades. With previous cartridge shaving I only did two passes WTG \ ATG and did not enjoy the process. I was continuing the same process when I moved onto traditional wet shaving and felt that only the more aggressive blades were able to duplicate previous cartridge results with two passes. As succesfull as my results were it came with some marked irritation depending on razor used. I've since added 2 passes XTG (Across the Grain) ear to ear both directions resulting in a DFS and better yet a CCS. For those who are finding traditional wet shaving irritating I would encourage them to not only practice technique but also try different razors with different blades. Try a less aggresive blade and do more directional varying passes. N.B. - I'm mostly referring to DE blades here due to the variability and current market offerings. I'm directing this at the daily or every other day shavers with lower beard growth. More aggressive blades that take bigger singular bites would be ideal for growths past 3 days or those with fast growing dense and coarse beard hair. Enjoy your shaves.
+1 ! I have whiskers that are thick and a beard that is dense, so I usually like sharp blades, like Astra SP; but I keep a supply of Dorco ST-301 for days when my face needs a "day off." This morning, I had a very mild shave with a EJ DE89 and a new Dorco blade. Three passes, no irritation. Not necessarily BBS result, but pretty close.
I found a nice middle of the road blade that keeps it's edge longer than the Russian varities but it's milder and smoother. The Gillette 7 o'clock Permasharp. My new goto blade.
My go to razor is the non aggressive Merkur Classic 33C, so I like to use sharp blades. For the money it's hard to beat Astra SS and Astra SP. In fact Astra SS is my overall favorite blade !!!
I generally use Astra SP but, truth be told, my skin feels healthier when I shave with a Derby for a week.
Definitely like mild blades. In fact, carbon blades are my go to choice. In an adjustable on a low setting I get serviceable shaves with zero irritation.
Rob, you have given me another thing to think about. You don't have my category: Blades matter, but I don't think about it.
For my beard, less sharp is still plenty sharp enough. So if by milder you mean relatively less sharp (b/c it's still a razor blade), I'll take less sharp but smoother and more forgiving over sharper with risk of harshness, any day. Something like the humble Big Ben is just right for me. I might need an extra pass to get really clean but the comfort is worth it.
For my easily irritable neck and face, I'll take the sharpest blade you have! In my experience, less sharp blades skip and jump around on my beard, tearing my skin, and leaving behind razor bumps and irritation. The sharp blade, like a Feather, requires far fewer passes to get the job done.
Blades are varying degrees of sharp versus smooth. Most irritation is caused by poor angle of attack and not the blade choice. Razors are mild or aggressive. This is determined by the gap, curve, tension and exposure of the blade. What you are experiencing, is generally, the sharper a blade is, the less smooth it will feel on the skin. I would encourage those who are new to wet shaving to pick one blade and one razor, or and master it for a month. Too many newbies sentence themselves to a never ending rotation of mediocre shaves because they fail to master any particular razor. Technique is far more important than tool.
So far the blades I have used are Lab Blues, Sputnik, Various types of Rapiras and Voskhods and Ladas in my DE razors. They all pretty much shave the same with the Lab Blues, I think, the sharpest of the group. But the smoothest for me are the Ladas blades. It's one blade that has never caused me to have any type of irritation or weepers when I first started wet shaving. I usually don't get them any more, unless I rush the shave or I get a bit of redness on my skin, like from high temperature and humidity. As I have sensitive skin and a tough beard I try not to hurry up my shave any more. Just my thoughts............
