I don't care for them, but some people on here LOVE them. I find them a little rough and "WAY" to expensive. Have you ever tried Astra SP's?
Lot's of people here do. I'm sure one guy ::cough::::Smoothy::::chough:: will be chiming in sometime. The blades are expensive to get, but nothing rivals their sharpness (IMO). Some people can can get several shaves from them, but I can only manage 2-3 (3-pass) shaves out of a blade, before it starts ripping me up. I tend to use them in my Muhle, where I know a wrong angle isn't going to do too much harm.
I can't say that I have all that much experience but so far I like the Feathers very much. Of the blades I tried I would have to say that for me they rank: Feather, Astra SP, Wilkerson and way last Derby.
I don't care for 'em. But that's me. To be honest, it has been a while since I've used them. Considering the cost, and the fact I've found an outstanding blade in the Astra SP, I doubt I'll ever try 'em again.
Me, chime in? Now, why would I do that? Am I that predictable? Oh boy, I better start using other blades... Yes, Feathers are liked by some and not so much by others. I personally really like them. A lot. But that's just me. Mind you, in my own limited experience, they don't work well with all razors. Just recently, I had one loaded in the Cadet open comb and it was the most unpleasant shave I have had in a very long time, talk about tenderizing one's face and neck.... As Luke mentioned in his post above, they seem to get along well in particular with the Mühle / Edwin Jagger razor heads as well as, I find, with vintage Gillettes such as the Red Tip. I also use it with the Merkur open combs but would load a different blade in, say, a Gillette NEW, a Cadet (definitely and I am sure Arley will agree with this) and others. And there are plenty of excellent other blades at different price segments out there. Particularly the ASPs and some of the Gillettes come to mind, and everybody here will be happy to point you in the right direction of a huge variety of blades. Generally, I get 5 days' worth of shaving out of a Feather blade, and the Friday shave is still without any pulling or tugging. I could definitely use them longer I guess but I like to start a new week on a fresh blade. There is also often the question of "Are all Feather blades the same?" as they come in different packaging, in particular the yellow-label and black-label (and no, we are not talking Johnny Walker here... ) boxes. Usually, from all the ones I have had, the yellow-label ones are 10-packs and the black ones are 5-packs and they are for the Export market. And then there is the 'Japanese local market' equivalent, which has a black+silver label (as in my avatar) and they are called the "FH-10". Apparently those different boxes all have the same blades inside, but I personally find the Japanese-market ones to be less rough / smoother right out of the box. These are the ones I have been using for the longest time now. @ Monty Craig: I don't have any of the export version left but I can send you a pack of the FH-10 for trying if you wish, just send me a PM with your postal address.
I love them. Straight up. Yes, they are more expensive than 95% of the DE blades out there, but that still amounts to about $35 a year only (they would probably last longer, but I end up PIF'ing a pack here and a pack there...). I'm content with Astra and Volkshod blades (anything out of the Gillette St. Petersburg plant is a good blade IMO), but Feathers are a special niche blade for me. They tend to perform best in mild razors, but YMMV. Take up Jeff's offer for sure.
Feathers are one of my favorite blades, although not in every razor. I love them in my Techs, most TTO's, R89/DE89 and the 1904 OC. There are many other great blades that cost much less, but it is really hard to beat the sharoness of a Feather. For most open combs I prefer a more forgiving blade, with the expection being the 1904 mentioned above. I am a strong believer in trying many blades in every razor. Instead of buying 100's of anything, start of getting a few tucks of various blades. Send me a PM and I will be more than glad to send you some of my personal favorites.
My husband & I both love them. They are more expensive, but we haven't gotten an equal result from anything else and "expensive" amounts to 40 cents a blade. I can live with that.
I can only make one pass with a Feather if I don't want irritation. So, they are definitely not for me.
I've tried them before. I don't dislike them, but once I got done with the 5 pack I had; I don't want anymore. I only needed one pass and then my face was real smooth. They gave me some irritation on my neck, but some witch hazel took care of that. My blade of choice is either the Personna Med Prep or Lab blade. I also like Blue Birds and have many blades I have not tried yet.
I find the Feathers to be great. Very sharp and smooth. One of the few blades that can cut down my three day stubble without tugging.
You will see my results in the first link in the following thread. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/de-blade-challenge-ii.28223/ ... and an addendum in the following thread. http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/testing-a-darwin-standard.30454/#post-533930
Feathers are my favorite. I use one a week with no problem and a fine shave. Fortunately for me my Secret Santa for this year happens to be the "biggest" Feather fan on the TSD forum it seems.
I use them almost exclusively. Since my skin is very sensitive and my hair very coarse, these blades combined with a mild razor like a Tech or Superspeed works great for me. I do a LOT of prep, though, to keep my skin from getting torn up. As long as prep is good, they do well. Like everyone says, YMMV, but if you have the same sort of skin/hair combo I do, give them a whirl and prep, prep, prep.
I have used Feather Blades in my Early Gillette OC with fantastic results. I don't like the Feather in my Merkur 12C which is what I use the most. As most others have said, try them in a couple of your Razors & see what you like. (After reading what I have just written I could not be more securley fastened to the fence.)
What Jag said: is exactly why the Feather work so well for me. Because of this reason, I also select my preferred razors on the basis of how well they work with this blade, not first the razor and then try and find a blade for it.
Well, since asking the initial question, I too have tried a few different blades. I have a Mercur 34c, and I have used a Feather, a Pol Silver, an Astra, and now back to a Feather. I wanted to see how the other blades worked in my razor, with my skin type, and hair type. So far, I like the Feather a lot, it gives me the closest shave, but as others have said... Use No Pressure! I also really liked the Astra as it was more like the blades I have always been using. (Pressure allowed) A little more forgiving if I may. The Pol Silver at first tore me up, but after studying the boards here, I started doing a lot of prep work, and they came right into it. I think it was a combination of using E.V. Olive oil before on my beard, and I started using Bigalow's menthol shave cream to lather with. More creamy and more glide. Better cushion too... All in all, I am a happy camper. I am also almost as fast at using this DE razor with three passes as I was using my Mach 3. I don't think the Mach 3 or the 5 bladed wonder will be seeing much action any time soon...
