blade brand vs razor brand

so I guess its safe to assume everyone has their own favorite brand based on price, availability, and what they have used.
but, for those who have a varied collection of razors and have used them with a wide variety of blades- do you find certain brands only work well with certain razors?
I started with a cheap wei shi (I think?) and Derby blades. switched to Merkur and found they worked better. then I switched to a Feather razor and tried it with Feather blades and they worked a little TOO well. after switching back to the Merkur ones though I feel like I am working too hard and pulling more hairs. haven't tried it with Derby yet though.
is this all in my head or have other more experienced folks find this is the case? for all I know this could just be me adjust more and more to different razors and finding a preference in that alone.

cantillon said:

so I guess its safe to assume everyone has their own favorite brand based on price, availability, and what they have used.
but, for those who have a varied collection of razors and have used them with a wide variety of blades- do you find certain brands only work well with certain razors?
I started with a cheap wei shi (I think?) and Derby blades. switched to Merkur and found they worked better. then I switched to a Feather razor and tried it with Feather blades and they worked a little TOO well. after switching back to the Merkur ones though I feel like I am working too hard and pulling more hairs. haven't tried it with Derby yet though.
is this all in my head or have other more experienced folks find this is the case? for all I know this could just be me adjust more and more to different razors and finding a preference in that alone.

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I don't think i have enough experience to make a definitive conclusion. This is my experience so fat. I purchased the WCS big sample pack and i have used many of the blades in the following razors.

• Merkur Vision
• Merkur Futur
• Merkur Progress
• Goodfella
• Gillette Lady Gillette

I have used these razors with the following creams with and without pre-shave oil

• Art of Shaving - uncented
• Gentlemens Refinery - Standard

Given the above options i have had 3 blades stand out.

Derby & Persona red or blue. The shave may not be the "closest" but definitely the most comfortable. I may be unskilled but i cant use the feathers. Maybe it's my skill or my technique. The Merkurs left me feeling bruised. I may revisit these as i have acquired more skill since then. So far the other blades are unremarkable... not bad but not worth raving about.

Once you become a master shaver, any razor/blade combination works fine.

My Merkur Progress works great with my Shark blades.
My Merkur Vision works great with my BlueBird blades.

Just my 2 cents, but I find that technique, specifically the angle that the razor is to your face, makes a big difference on how the blade performs.

rainman said:

Once you become a master shaver, any razor/blade combination works fine.

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I have to disagree.

With great experience you can get ok shaves but I don't think you could get the best out of everything. I'm not sure that a Shogun blade works fine in a Weishi...