The slim was giving great shaves with the 30 year old NOS Spoiler. The C&E soap contributed to one of my best shaves ever. Combine the two and put a Derby in, and the result was crap. My prep was almost the same as previous, except I used the Nivea wash at the beginning instead of the end of my shower (I still rinsed my face well just before shutting off the shower). A lot of dragging and skipping. At the end of three passes, WTG/XTG/ATG, I was nowhere near the results I'd gotten with other blades, like the Spoiler or the Astra. I'm going to try the blade in a Red Tip tomorrow, but what could have happened here? A bad blade? A bad me?
Perhaps just a bad razor and blade combo for you. Trying a different razor, as you already stated you are going to do, is a good idea.
Could be a blade that doesn't get a long with your face. Try it in the red tip and maybe some other razors but it may just not be the blade for you. Psstgo with a feather
I also have a couple of extra blades that just arrived via PIF, so I have more than that one blade to go by.
I've been amazed at how much the blade + razor combination can matter. As I've moaned about elsewhere, Derbys were the blade I just could not get to work for me in my HD. Fast-forward to using a Superspeed with Derbys and my shave are stunningly good. So, don't write of [any blade] completely until you've tried it in all your razors (which might be one razor, and then if you buy more, you can circle back around and try different blades in it).
There's a thread across the street suggesting that dialing up the agressiveness in an adjustable gives less irritation. I'm thinking that if I give the Derby another go in the slim, I'd want to try a 6 or 7 instead of 4 or 5. I've also got enough of a variety of razors and blades that I'm tempted to break out the Excel and make a good shave/bad shave chart for each combination
Tried again with the red tip instead of the slim. Still skipped and dragged. Did an extra ATG pass at the end, so I got a definite improvement over yesterday, but still not overly impressed.
Must just be a bad combo for you. A derby in my red tip give really great, no irritation shaves for me.
I haven't been getting irritation, but the skipping and dragging is annoying. The 4-pass plus touchup was just short of DFS, but something was missing.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....Derbys and Feathers for me. I've not noticed a quality issue with the Derbs but maybe ya got a bad batch. Slim + Derby = Good shaves for me.......but I always Dialed "9" BAbAy !!! Red Tip SS + Feather is good, as well Try your favorite blade in the Slim at a higher setting and see how it goes for you.
Got a couple more Derbies PIF'd from a second source, so I'll have a better sampling when I get to them again. Got a Wilkinson, red IP and Crystal on the roster for the nest week or two.
Same slim at 4, but with a Wilkinson (Blade just has a Wilkinson Sword logo, nothing else. Is this a UK or German blade?), and a vast improvement. Three-pass and touchup was better than the 4-pass with the Derby + red tip from yesterday. Still a bit of dragging around the chin, but nowhere near as much as I had with the Derby.
Maybe, with our powers combined.... No not captain planet. But, we could make a chart of generally suggested blade and razor combos. That would be pretty helpful. On the other hand it might also be impossible since it would have to account for everyone's opinions.
Some kind of form + sql system? Like on the first page you select razors, second page you select blades for said razor, and then you can check the most voted for combos per blade or per razor.
Are there any chains that sell Derby's? I want to try some, but it just feels silly paying double in shipping what it costs for the pack.
Granted it was just one blade, but the one Red IP I had was as meh as I've ever seen. The Derby was bad. The Red IP was nearly so. I ended up going back Tuesday morning after a 2nd day with the IP and shaving with a Crystal 2 hours later. Much more satisfying.
