Three weeks ago I gave my barber a 10 pack of Feather blades to use on his customers. Today I went in for my usual cut and asked him what he thought of the supposedly extra sharp blades. His response surprised me. He didn't think they were any different that any blade he had used before. He even brought some home to shave with. He wasn't impressed. He did say that there's a lot of of BS in this business. I'm not surprised.
Sounds like there is a lot of BS in the barbershop business :happy102 Doesnt make sense to me. Feathers are leaps and bounds sharper and nicer than the other blades I have tried. Not sure what type you gave him (DE, SE, etc) but from a DE standpoint, my personal experience is that feathers are in fact a superior blade from a sharpness standpoint.
I soon discovered that like most other things in the world......you don't always get what you pay for. Tossing in the YMMV factor, I decided to find what works for ME, 50 bucks or 50 cents, as long as I like it and it works. I just ordered a shave cream to try for 1.49 and I'm sure it's horrid stuff in someone's opinion. It'll go nicely with the horrid wally world personna blades in my rotation, or the Astras, or maybe work even better with that SE Gem paint scraper razor, or one of the other razors I like that someone said was horrid. YES , YMMV! :happy005
Hard to believe isn't it, but I've heard it more than once. Astra Superior is a good blade for me. The wally world personnas are the ones I use on those days when I'm inna dang hurry. Luckily, I don't have to hurry often
Well I'll tell ya, ya got give a little credence to a guy who shaves the necks of 30 folks a day, as opposed to someone who shaves once a day.
I'm still confused as to what your talking about. DE? But if your shaving necks than are you talking about the shavettes? Or ones that take half DE blades? Either way, feathers ARE sharper than whatever he was using prior. He cant deny it. Neck shaving is also a lot different than shaving a face. He also wouldnt want to spend the extra money.
Not when the someone shaving once a day is me shaving my face. From his point of view, shaving someone else's neck, no, he probably doesn't notice a difference. Neck hair is quite a bit different from beard stubble, and would be much easier to cut. Has he asked his customers if they notice a difference? Any more or less irritation? I agree though, we need more information.....what is he shaving, what type of razor, what type of blade, etc...
Mileage may vary, but differences in blades are things that are empirically provable. That's why there are sharpness tests and whatnot. Skill & technique make a difference. Some blades may be better suited for certain shave methods or hair and skin types, or any combination of the above. I notice marked differences between blades, like say a Derby and a Trash-Mart Personna blade.
Not so fast. Different blades do better on different people so a barber needs to be careful that a feather that works ok on one customer may not work at all on a second customer so the barber needs to be careful.
I know that I have had lots of reasonable, comfortable, and effective shaves from several other different brands of blades. If I use a Feather, my face is ANGRY RED and burning. I assume that's an indicator of how very sharp they are.
I'm going to have to go along w/ the crowd that says they are indeed sharper then many other blades. That does not however, make them the best by any means. I get one or two acceptable shaves out of Feathers but it's not my best shave. Also agreed: there is a big difference between shaving the fuzz on the back of the neck compared to coarse whiskers. This barber had to be talking about shaving necks because I see no way he was shaving customers faces w/ a DE!
He does shave customers with a D/E, but not too many at $25 a pop. Whether he was shaving necks or faces is not the point, although he did shave his own face with them. Too him, they didn't seem any sharper than the Derbys he normally uses. He's a damned good barber and a second generation one at that. I value his opinion. I have no opinion, because I've never used anything else since I gave DE shaving up in 1973 and restarted 6 weeks ago. Doc.
Hiya, I read your first post about the barber not noticing a difference with the feather blade, and I admit to being a bit surprised by his opinion. At first I thought the guy was odd, or maybe just jerking your chain. His comment about lots of bs in this business was weird also. The only thing I could think of him meaning was that he thought many products were similar, but the marketing helped some command higher prices or made em more popular. Otherwise, I have no clue what he was referring to. I've seen a few other veteran members who have posted about finding no difference in blades used. To them, they're all pretty much the same. Heh, yeah, I find that hard to understand, but I don't doubt it's true.........for them. That sneaky YMMV thingy is what this is all about I think. Crazy eh? Here's something you can try...................give your barber a Merkur blade. Don't tip him off........just ask him to try it and see what he thinks. If he says there's no difference shaving with that blade, you'll realize the barber is just one of those people who can't feel what most all of us can. As far as valuing his or anyone's opinion when it comes to shaving.........opinions are only guidlines. They have nothing to do with how smart someone is, but they do have to be experienced for it to matter. Even then, it's a crapshoot if you'll find the same things to be true about whatever. Heh, Michael (Leisureguy) was like that for me. Yep, he'd post about certain blades or soaps or scents working great for him........and he got me to try a bunch of things. Now THAT man is the ultimate enabler, and I'm sorry he doesn't post here anymore. I do still read his blog sometimes, but no more ordering things based on his opinions.........heh. Turns out the products I'd tried in the past were less than wonderful for me. For example, those Treet 'Black Beauties' Michael liked so much were extremely gruesome on my face. I still respect his opinion on many things, but not when it comes to certain shaving products. So, I dont think your barber is an insensitive lout with no clue about the subtleties of shaving. I don't think he was teasing you either. I'd guess using different blades is just not important for his shave. Yep, although it's difficult for me to fathom, there are some people like that. Just the way things are. Anyway, just being a bit verbose (for a change), Martin
