Blade Sample Update

[cmyoung19]

Rapira Platinum Lux, Round 1, Shave 2 - Another good shave from Siberia today. The hallmark of all of these Russian blades seems to be smoothness - I've had little to no irritation out of any of these blades, regardless of whatever soap or cream I've used. As far as sharpness (my measurement being how long before stubbly shadow returns), I'd put them in Voskhod, Platinum Lux, Swedish Supersteel order.

As a bonus, I was perusing Italian Barber last night, and I see that they now carry all of these Russian Blades! I'm preparing an order for them now that will include (among other things) 100 Personna Labs, and 100 Rapira Swedish Supersteels. I haven't tried the Ladas blades, so I may grab a small pack of them as well.

 

[cmyoung19]

Rapira Platinum Lux, Round 1, Shave 3 - I feel like I'm getting a bit repetitive talking about the smoothness of all these Russian blades. Did I mention that they are smooth? I did get a little irritation today, but that's because I attempted a bold ATG third pass on the sensitive part of my neck. Resolved: If I do an ATG pass, I will only do true ATG on my cheeks and chin, and I will leave my neck in peace.

 

[cmyoung19]

Bic Platinum Chrome, Round 1, Shave 1 - I had reasonably high hopes for the Bics based on other B&B commentary, but from the instant the blade touched my face I could tell we were not going to be friends. I had good prep this morning and (as ever) a spectacular lather from my Stirling Scots Pine, but... from the very first stroke I was getting minor pulling and tugging. This was on my cheek, mind you, which isn't at all sensitive and can take loads of abuse.

Based on that, I had a feeling my neck was not going to be pleasant. I managed to avoid too much irritation by focusing carefully on blade angle, grain direction and light pressure. I'll give this blade another try tomorrow, but for now I am not a fan.

 

[cmyoung19]

No more Bics today. Life's too short to shave with blades I don't like, so I tossed the Bic and loaded up an Astra for today. The Astras never seem to let me down, and today was no exception. Two passes plus touch-up left me with a silky DFS.

I've been through all the blades in my possession at least once, so now it's time to start summarizing my findings. I'll do that on my wiki page and add a link to it here.