YMMV is true, of course, but it doesn't give a newbie much to go on. I got a couple of big variety packs three weeks ago, read a few rankings, tried to guess what I'd like most, and guessed wrong. I started with Derbies just to be safe, moved up to a Merkur because Mike Sandoval at Shaving 101 gave it a 2 in sharpness on a five-star scale, then moved to Wilkinson Sword and Israeli Personnas, supposedly as a next step up in sharpness. I was pretty happy with Wilkinson Sword but not with any of the others. Derby and Merkur seemed dull, ineffective, and the Israeli Personnas seemed harsh. Then I tried a 7 O'clock sharp edge (yellow box). I liked that. But it wasn't until I got to the Personna Med Preps that my eyes were opened, or I fell in love, or something.
So, yesterday, I settled down and started studying blades more systematically and thoroughly. The B&B blade reviews were tremendously helpful, and I also found some rankings on the Shavenook that correlated pretty closely with what I was seeing on B&B. And there were various other sources scattered across the web. My current impression is that after all due concessions are made to differing beard and skin types, a rough consensus has actually formed over which blades are of the highest quality, which ones are middling, and which ones are not very good. By "consensus," I mean that experienced shavers seem to have very similar experiences of pleasure and satisfaction with some blades, and very similar experiences of dissatisfaction with other blades. They seem to agree very often on which blades give them satisfaction, and which blades do not.
In sorting these blades into provisional categories according to what looks like consensus on quality, I won't consider either price or longevity; I'll consider only sharpness and smoothness, the two criteria that seem to be most important in determining the effectiveness of a blade, and the enjoyment it provides for any given shave (even if used only once, as some people speak of Feather).
Everybody seems to agree, more or less, that Feather is the sharpest, but many people feel it's a little too harsh or aggressive for their own needs. (That's where I am too--second day on a Feather, having no serious trouble, but feeling just a slight after-effect of discomfort, irritation; and thus looking forward to returning to the Med Preps.)
Below the Feather in sharpness, there seems to be a rough consensus that a group of four blades are closely comparable in being both sharp and smooth--really high quality blades. Here's the list I've come up with (I'm listing only blades currently in production). I'd be curious to see how others would modify or qualify this list:
Polsilver Super Iridium
Gillette Silver Blue
Personna Medical Prep
Gillette Super Platinum (black box)
Below this set, the consensus starts getting weaker; individual judgments vary more. Some blades (Bic, for instance) get wildly divergent ratings. Mike Sandoval says Bic is his favorite blade; other people say they tried it once and trash-canned it. Still, there is a reasonable amount of agreement about what constitutes pretty decent blades in this middling range. Here are some blades that seem to fit into that middling group (I'll put a question mark after the ones that seem most doubtful or problematic).
Gillette Sharp Edge (yellow box)
Perma Sharp Super
Astra Superior Platinum
Gillette 7 O'clock (green box)
Israeli Personna (?)
Wilkinson Sword (?)
Bic (?)
Blue Bird (?)
Gillette Goal (?)
This middling group could be expanded, no doubt, but then, there seems to be a lot of agreement about blades that probably don't fit into that middling group, that fall below it. Here are some blades that seem to get little respect or affection:
Lord
Big Ben
7 a.m.
Sharp
Shark
Merkur
Arco
Crown
Treet
Trig
**************
The largest factor confounding consensus is sharpness, I think. A fair number of shavers aren't comfortable with the blades in that top group--too sharp. But for people who can tolerate the sharpness, there seems to be a lot of agreement about relative smoothness. If one's face can take it without discomfort, a smooth, sharp shave seems to be what many shavers are aiming for. (Again, price, and longevity as a factor of price, are left out of this account.)
***************
Having some provisional sense of what the consensus is like gives me more to go on in exploring and comparing blades--cutting through the blur of varying individual impressions about dozens of different blades. (Reading Amazon reviews just adds to the confusion. People who don't know what they are talking about tend to speak up at random. Sometimes one gets what looks like a judicious judgment, but often not.)
I came across a method for comparing blades that I've decided to adopt for myself. This is from ShaveMyFace:
http://forum.shavemyface.com/viewtopic.php?t=21061
Along with giving his own personal rankings of blades, Leisureguy recommends this method:
1. Shave a week with the “best blade.” This sets a baseline for comparison.
2. Shave a week with a new brand (unless it fails the test of two terrible shaves).
3. If the new brand is better, it becomes your new “best blade”: go to 2.
4. If the new brand is not better, go to 1.
By using this approach you’re always comparing just two brands: your best so far and a new brand. That makes the comparison easy, and by always starting the comparison with a week shaving with the “best,” you not only get a break from testing, you get a fresh reminder of what a blade that’s good for you feels like before you try the next new brand.
One experienced shaver discovered that sometimes two different brands are almost equal in quality, and that for those, using each brand on alternate days allows for a closer comparison.
Adopting this method, I'm starting with Personna Med Preps as my Best Blade. Since longevity in a blade isn't a big concern for me, I'm going to give each new blade just three or at most four days for trial, rather than a whole week. That way, I can work through the comparisons more quickly and still get a good feel for each of the blades. (I'm using only one razor, the Merkur 34C. That will help reduce confounding factors. I will vary the soaps some, probably, though. Using the Mergress and looking toward a slant or even a Vision can wait a while.)
I'll take notes on each blade.
Also, I've sorted the blades into a couple of plastic trays with dividing partitions (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQPZDK/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Now I'm making up notes on bits of index cards, recording how some experienced shavers have rated them. Leisureguy's ratings are noted, and the ratings from a thread at Shavenook, especially the ratings by EHV, which accord closely with the evaluations given by some of the more experienced shavers on B&B:
http://shavenook.com/thread-the-cutting-edge-one-line-reviews-of-blades. I also note Squire's grades (on a scale of 7). That way, I can gradually get a feel for the criteria that go into any given rater's evaluations of various blades.
I'll work through the comparisons starting at the top, with the group of five blades that seem most widely prized by aficionados (Feather, Polsilver Super Iridium, Gillette Silver Blue, Gillette Super Platinum, and Personna Med Prep). Then I'll keep going with the next group. I suppose I'll stop once I'm satisfied that I have a good feel for, say, a dozen blades.
I would be glad to get impressions from others about these blades and the possibility of grouping blades in such a way that a newbie can get oriented to the array of options and find what works best for him. Starting with relatively "forgiving" blades is surely a good idea, as one learns to handle the razor. But pretty quickly just using a safe and uninteresting blade becomes not very satisfying. One wants to find out where the good stuff is.
Joe
So, yesterday, I settled down and started studying blades more systematically and thoroughly. The B&B blade reviews were tremendously helpful, and I also found some rankings on the Shavenook that correlated pretty closely with what I was seeing on B&B. And there were various other sources scattered across the web. My current impression is that after all due concessions are made to differing beard and skin types, a rough consensus has actually formed over which blades are of the highest quality, which ones are middling, and which ones are not very good. By "consensus," I mean that experienced shavers seem to have very similar experiences of pleasure and satisfaction with some blades, and very similar experiences of dissatisfaction with other blades. They seem to agree very often on which blades give them satisfaction, and which blades do not.
In sorting these blades into provisional categories according to what looks like consensus on quality, I won't consider either price or longevity; I'll consider only sharpness and smoothness, the two criteria that seem to be most important in determining the effectiveness of a blade, and the enjoyment it provides for any given shave (even if used only once, as some people speak of Feather).
Everybody seems to agree, more or less, that Feather is the sharpest, but many people feel it's a little too harsh or aggressive for their own needs. (That's where I am too--second day on a Feather, having no serious trouble, but feeling just a slight after-effect of discomfort, irritation; and thus looking forward to returning to the Med Preps.)
Below the Feather in sharpness, there seems to be a rough consensus that a group of four blades are closely comparable in being both sharp and smooth--really high quality blades. Here's the list I've come up with (I'm listing only blades currently in production). I'd be curious to see how others would modify or qualify this list:
Polsilver Super Iridium
Gillette Silver Blue
Personna Medical Prep
Gillette Super Platinum (black box)
Below this set, the consensus starts getting weaker; individual judgments vary more. Some blades (Bic, for instance) get wildly divergent ratings. Mike Sandoval says Bic is his favorite blade; other people say they tried it once and trash-canned it. Still, there is a reasonable amount of agreement about what constitutes pretty decent blades in this middling range. Here are some blades that seem to fit into that middling group (I'll put a question mark after the ones that seem most doubtful or problematic).
Gillette Sharp Edge (yellow box)
Perma Sharp Super
Astra Superior Platinum
Gillette 7 O'clock (green box)
Israeli Personna (?)
Wilkinson Sword (?)
Bic (?)
Blue Bird (?)
Gillette Goal (?)
This middling group could be expanded, no doubt, but then, there seems to be a lot of agreement about blades that probably don't fit into that middling group, that fall below it. Here are some blades that seem to get little respect or affection:
Lord
Big Ben
7 a.m.
Sharp
Shark
Merkur
Arco
Crown
Treet
Trig
**************
The largest factor confounding consensus is sharpness, I think. A fair number of shavers aren't comfortable with the blades in that top group--too sharp. But for people who can tolerate the sharpness, there seems to be a lot of agreement about relative smoothness. If one's face can take it without discomfort, a smooth, sharp shave seems to be what many shavers are aiming for. (Again, price, and longevity as a factor of price, are left out of this account.)
***************
Having some provisional sense of what the consensus is like gives me more to go on in exploring and comparing blades--cutting through the blur of varying individual impressions about dozens of different blades. (Reading Amazon reviews just adds to the confusion. People who don't know what they are talking about tend to speak up at random. Sometimes one gets what looks like a judicious judgment, but often not.)
I came across a method for comparing blades that I've decided to adopt for myself. This is from ShaveMyFace:
http://forum.shavemyface.com/viewtopic.php?t=21061
Along with giving his own personal rankings of blades, Leisureguy recommends this method:
1. Shave a week with the “best blade.” This sets a baseline for comparison.
2. Shave a week with a new brand (unless it fails the test of two terrible shaves).
3. If the new brand is better, it becomes your new “best blade”: go to 2.
4. If the new brand is not better, go to 1.
By using this approach you’re always comparing just two brands: your best so far and a new brand. That makes the comparison easy, and by always starting the comparison with a week shaving with the “best,” you not only get a break from testing, you get a fresh reminder of what a blade that’s good for you feels like before you try the next new brand.
One experienced shaver discovered that sometimes two different brands are almost equal in quality, and that for those, using each brand on alternate days allows for a closer comparison.
Adopting this method, I'm starting with Personna Med Preps as my Best Blade. Since longevity in a blade isn't a big concern for me, I'm going to give each new blade just three or at most four days for trial, rather than a whole week. That way, I can work through the comparisons more quickly and still get a good feel for each of the blades. (I'm using only one razor, the Merkur 34C. That will help reduce confounding factors. I will vary the soaps some, probably, though. Using the Mergress and looking toward a slant or even a Vision can wait a while.)
I'll take notes on each blade.
Also, I've sorted the blades into a couple of plastic trays with dividing partitions (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQPZDK/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Now I'm making up notes on bits of index cards, recording how some experienced shavers have rated them. Leisureguy's ratings are noted, and the ratings from a thread at Shavenook, especially the ratings by EHV, which accord closely with the evaluations given by some of the more experienced shavers on B&B:
http://shavenook.com/thread-the-cutting-edge-one-line-reviews-of-blades. I also note Squire's grades (on a scale of 7). That way, I can gradually get a feel for the criteria that go into any given rater's evaluations of various blades.
I'll work through the comparisons starting at the top, with the group of five blades that seem most widely prized by aficionados (Feather, Polsilver Super Iridium, Gillette Silver Blue, Gillette Super Platinum, and Personna Med Prep). Then I'll keep going with the next group. I suppose I'll stop once I'm satisfied that I have a good feel for, say, a dozen blades.
I would be glad to get impressions from others about these blades and the possibility of grouping blades in such a way that a newbie can get oriented to the array of options and find what works best for him. Starting with relatively "forgiving" blades is surely a good idea, as one learns to handle the razor. But pretty quickly just using a safe and uninteresting blade becomes not very satisfying. One wants to find out where the good stuff is.
Joe
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). I started on Astra SP's and so far have only decided that they are pretty good and better than Wilkinson Swords for me. I have about 2 weeks supply remaining, and am currently leaning towards buying another 20 of these and maybe a couple of well chosen samples rather than a big sample selection.
.
