Noob's blade comparison journal - first entry

[JCinPA]

Well, I have been DE shaving for a week (brush & mug guy for decades, though). Because I don't have a lot of experience with different blades I will refrain from using numerical grading because I have no base of reference to compare my blades to. So I will limit my comments to my impressions.

My intention is to add each new blade summary to this OP so you don't have to hunt for it on page 6. I started with an Edwin Jagger DE 86, which I love, and VDH Select soap with a Tweezerman brush. I have some Gillette adjustable razors, some Mama Bear soap and a custom made brush from King1976 on the way, and I have since purchased some Kiss My Face cool mint. In the interest of comparing things on a level playing field I will do the first few shaves for each new blade with the VDH and Tweezerman brush, and play with different stuff on the last shaves.

Obligatory photo ...




========== NOS Schick Plus Platinum ==========

I read here that these were one of a handful of blades throughout history that all other blades are compared to. It is also the blade I started shaving with in high school, albeit in injector format. I scored about a 5-year supply on the Bay, so I started with these.

1st shave: (5/13/2011) BBS smooth, no nick, weepers or irritation! Yaaaayyyy! Four pass with touch up. I was probably being very careful since it was my first time 'on the road' and I was lacking in confidence. Awesome shave! Very sharp, can hear the shearing of the whiskers, but no pulling, scraping or grabbing at all. You know it's sharp, but it is really smooth.

2nd shave: (5/14/2011) DFS in a three pass with touch up. One very tiny nick on chin, no irritation at all. Not aware of feeling it is sharp, just smooth sailing all the way.

3rd & 4th shave: (5/15&16/2011) DFS in a three pass with touch up. No nicks, weepers or irritation.

5th shave: (5/17/2011) Just as smooth as 2 through 4, no nicks, weepers or irritation, DFS, but I had to do a four pass to equal yesterday's three pass results. Used Kiss My Face cool mint cream this time, too. No pulling or discomfort, but clearly the efficiency of the blade is on the downhill slope.

Summary: I think I could get more shaves out of this, but why do it? Even at 50 cents per blade this is a heck of a lot more economical than $2.50 cartridges. Besides, we're kidding ourselves if we think we are saving money eeeking another shave out of a blade. The money goes down the drain on extra razors, brushes, creams and soaps and accessories ... not blades! This is a good 3 or 4 pass, five-shave blade for me. Then toss it! I will never push blades, it's pointless and kind of defeats the whole purpose of going old school. Comfort!

This was my first week of shaving DE and I had one very minor nick, no irritation at all, and got the closest, most comfortable shaves of my 37 years of shaving! This blade must be all it's cracked up to be.

========== Derby Extras ==========

1st shave: (5/18/2011) A bit of a disappointment, actually. Of course starting with the vintage Schicks is going to prejudice me, but I guess that was part of what I wanted to know. The Derby was OK, I only have one other blade to compare it to, of course, but I probably won't finish 5 shaves with this one. I tried to do what I did with the Schick, a four-pass BBS, but alas, it was not to be. You could definitely feel this blade scraping a bit. I did four passes plus touch up, but the touch up was for all intents and purposes, a fifth pass. I got a DFS with it, but not BBS. No nicks or weepers, both smoothness of shave and level of irritation are about exactly the same as I got with my Gillette Fusion with a two-pass shave in the shower using a brush and VDH soap. That's not horrible, but what's the point? I don't consider the Derby in the EJ 86 to be an improvement over the Gillette Fusion cartridge.

I will give this a second try tomorrow because I have read that blades sometimes smooth up after the first shave, but I won't go the full test cycle, I have already decided this is not going to be a top contender for me.

Update later that day: Derby's are toast. I'm not gonna even bother with shave #2. It's not very hot today, about 70, mildly humid, and my face is a little irritated 6-7 hours or so after the shave. I should not let others opinions sway me, but I see it is, along with the Merkur, one of the most disrespected blades around. See this thread.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...=198176&page=3

But some folks love them! Feathers get raves from many, but they show up in that thread, too, as hated. Feel free to try them yourself, I shouldn't prejudice you, either, but since this is my review and my subjective observations ...

Summary: They SUCK! are not for me in this razor.

Next up are the Barber Personnas, Dave from Razor Blades and More recommended to me. I'll be giving the other four Derby's away when I'm done with this thread.


========== Barber Personnas ==========

1st shave: (5/19/2011) Much better than yesterday, thankfully! Because of the irritation/burn I felt yesterday, I did not attempt my 4-pass BBS first shave but simply did a 3-pass utility shave and got the same results I had yesterday with the Derby, with 2 less passes and no irritation. I'd call this a DFS, but I am back to being comfortable. No nicks, weepers or irritation, I'm still slow, but that's fine. I'm learning without any injuries, yaaayy!

I am glad I started with the Schicks, since I had nothing to compare them to, they set a standard for me to gauge future shaves. I'll never use another Derby, but I am looking forward to the second shave on these Barbers, and will try a 4-pass BBS tomorrow. Oh, I got my Mama Bear soap and chucked the VDH. I will make that the standard from now on out.

2nd shave: (5/20/2011) Not bad! I did get a BBS today, 3 passes plus touch-up, no nicks or weepers. These are much better than the Derby blade for me, but not as smooth to use as the Schicks. I used Aqua Velva today and boy, did I feel it before the cool set in! That did not happen with the Schicks. An hour later, I feel great, though! These are definitely decent blades.

3rd shave: (5/21/2011) I was thinking of taking a day off, just to let my face rest, it was getting a little red. But I have to shave for work every day, sometimes you can't just "take a day off". So I changed it up a bit and tried my Gillette Slim Adjustable. I know it kinda blows the whole blade comparison thing but I didn't want to chafe my face too much. I also tried "SuperLather" using unscented Kiss My Face and my Mam Bear soap. I put the razor on #2 and did a 2-pass SAS. Not too close but I could put on a shirt and tie and go to work. Finished with Thayer's Witch hazel and some old Gillette Wild Rain balm. It was a not too close but comfortable 'utility shave'. No nicks or trouble at all.

Two things I learned from this. A Gillette adjustable on #2 is tough to get a good shave with. And though some have called the Edwin Jagger a 'mild' razor, it definitely is not. It can be called mild in comparison to a Red Tip I suppose, but on an absolute scale it is not 'mild'. It's clearly a medium on the aggressiveness scale. It is still perfect for me at my stage of experience, I think.

[Jim Raynor]

I started with the Derbies and I think they are excellent for newbies, they are quite gentle but still punish you when ur technique is off. My shaves aren't as close as for example the Merkur's in my sample pack though. Good luck and happy shaves!

[JCinPA]

Thanks for the reply, Jim. What's your current favorite and why?

John

[Jim Raynor]

Tried 2 blades. Derby's and Merkurs. Although the Merkur's were more agressive they were tugging and pulling so stopped using them after 2 blades. Figured I got ahead of myself and they were punishing me. So ordered more Derbys and decided to keep some variables constant to improve my lathering skills and razor technique. The Derby's work excellent and are my current favorite but don't give me a very close shave, which isnt the main target for me atm. anyway. But as with everything, ymmv, good luck! Oh by the way, I use CWS and I can only get 2 shaves out of a Derby. Maybe because CWS makes your whiskers a little tougher..

[Eric V]

Hey John,

Great detailed report! I'm looking forward to a similar comparison of blades in about three months, when you have worked through your current blades and have more experience with DE shaving.

Because Feathers are my blade of choice, I'd love to see your review of them, both now in your current rotation, and after 90 or so shaves.

By keeping such detailed thoughts about each shave, you will have a valuable reference of what works for you!

Bravo!

[JCinPA]

Eric, I don't have any Feathers, unfortunately. Lemme look up what I have ...



I have those shown here, plus my Schicks, plus some Barber Personnas, and some NOS Gillette Platinum Pluses, so I have about 6 more to try. I will get some Feathers, though to try after these. Rather than bounce around, I'm going to use them until they feel like they are losing effectiveness, like I did with my first five shaves.

I've read that some folks who have the Edwin Jagger razors love Feathers in them. This crowd appears to be split over beginners NOT using Feathers and RECOMMENDING beginners use Feathers because they are unforgiving teachers. Anyway, I'll plow through my current collection first but will get them right after.

John

[Eric V]

John,

Yes, the crowd does seem to be split between using Feathers early on and waiting until later. Feathers are both sharp and unforgiving. Some people don't like them at all, finding them too harsh. For me they offer the perfect shave. I used a new Feather today, when I was in a hurry for a shave. WOW! In my EJ barley, it was remarkably smooth and remarkably close. Now if I can get my STR8's to be so smooth and close, I will have reached another level of fun!

[Gired]

I love this concept. I am hopefully going to be jumping into the DE shaver category soon and this will definitely improve my game. Thank you!

[Jim Raynor]

Just got a 3 pas BBS shave on my cheeks. With cold water ofcourse, which is good to try if you think the heat of the water (and maybe even lather) will irritate your skin. 3 passes + touchups, Derby's can provide me with a BBS, a few minor nicks and weepers but no cuts at all. Good luck with the Derby's! Hope you'll get good results.

[JCinPA]

I love this concept. I am hopefully going to be jumping into the DE shaver category soon and this will definitely improve my game. Thank you!

Take your time! And don't use this as any sort of definitive guide. And if you use a razor other than the Edwin Jaggers, all bets are off. (Any EJ, they all use the same head).

I'm learning (from reading) that there are a ton of variables in razor heads that make razor comparisons between different razors problematic at best. Plus, this is a very subjective area to say the least. But I'm having fun!

[ACESFULL]

Eric, I don't have any Feathers, unfortunately. Lemme look up what I have ...



I have those shown here, plus my Schicks, plus some Barber Personnas, and some NOS Gillette Platinum Pluses, so I have about 6 more to try. I will get some Feathers, though to try after these. Rather than bounce around, I'm going to use them until they feel like they are losing effectiveness, like I did with my first five shaves.

I've read that some folks who have the Edwin Jagger razors love Feathers in them. This crowd appears to be split over beginners NOT using Feathers and RECOMMENDING beginners use Feathers because they are unforgiving teachers. Anyway, I'll plow through my current collection first but will get them right after.

John

Come on JC... Persona Reds FTW!! I didnt care much for Feathers. I had way more razor burn with those... Love the red packs. They are the best!!

My wifey likes the Derby's for her legs.

[ackvil]

Great post and pics!

[JCinPA]

Dagnabbit! I went to update the OP with today's shave and the edit button is gone. Does it time out after a while?

I wanted to post the entire, weeks-long, blade comparison and shaving journal in one post. It's so hard to run through page after page of, "Nice review!", or "Great pics!" although those are nice.

It the edit times out, can a mod turn it on just for that post? If not, I'll copy it out to Word and just post the whole thing in several weeks. I'm not going to keep coming back and replying.

Thanks!

[taimur.shah]

Come on JC... Persona Reds FTW!! I didnt care much for Feathers. I had way more razor burn with those... Love the red packs. They are the best!!

My wifey likes the Derby's for her legs.

I'm with you. My go to blade is a gillette yellow but so far out of Gillette, Feathers and Personna reds the Personna's have given me the smoothest and closest shave out of my EJ.

Still have Merkur, Astra, Shark, Wilkinson and some random other blade to go through in my sample pack. So far though very little to choose between the 3 I've tested.

[plpenn]

Thanks for the info im in the "searching for a blade" stage of my adventure

[JCinPA]

OK, Aces, I'll go to the Personna reds next. Seems to make sense after the Barbers. Had my 4th shave on the Barbers today and it was a comfy, 3-pass DFS. Put it back in the EJ, my face is fine. Good little experiment, going to the adjustable on a low setting for a 'utility shave'. It works for letting your face come back when you just can't take a day off.

I am keeping my notes in a Word doc now, I guess I cannot go on updating the OP . So no more notes for a bit.

I will do the Personna Reds next and I'm gonna try to trade some Shicks for Feathers. I want to try those.

[Jim Raynor]

Just tried Sharks, with great results. Far less irritation on my neck with the Derbies. Maybe I was a little more careful though, after butchering my face a few times. And as always, YMMV, good luck!

[tkto13]

Add Astra Platinum to your list. I find them great, just the right amount of aggression and longevity .. they seem to really cut whereas I find the others (except Feathers) scrape the skin more.

Astra Plat.jpg

[mdevine]

John, I'm enjoying your post and think it will be helpful for others new to DE shaving. My one bit of advice is to avoid giving up completely on any one product (blades in this instance) early in your DE journey. In my experience, I came to like some products which I hated initially. For that reason, I wouldn't throw the Derby blades out. Instead, revisit them in six months or so and repost your thoughts at that time. Many of us use Feather, Merkur and Derby as our first DE blades, and the poor results are partially related to technique (they were the only three sold by the vendor I bought my first shaving supplies from, ergo the ones I started with). I suspect that contributes some to the polarizing reviews. At first, all three tore my face up. On revisiting them after months of using other blades, I found the Derby blades gave a close and comfortable shave, particularly in a Superspeed, Senator or Tuckaway. Merkurs, on the other hand, still gave me a rough shave. The Feathers were sharper than needed for me, and a little less smooth than some others I prefer. I've tried at least 15 different blades and enjoy variety, mixing things up frequently. That said, I've bought four blades in bulk, two "premium" and two "bargain" blades that I get consistently good shaves with; Iridium (my absolute favorite but now out of production), Medical Prep Personna (a close second), Derby and Astra SP. In all honesty, there are half a dozen other inexpensive blades that perform similarly, for me, to Derby and Astra (including Shark SS and SC, Red Pack Personna, Crystal, Gillette Yellow and Feather), but I've found both the Derby and Astra for under $10/100 shipped.

Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading of your experience. I haven't tried the Schicks but will certainly try them now if the opportunity presents itself.

[JCinPA]

Just so you know, I've abandoned this thread because I can no longer update the OP. Last blade review is here.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=209693


And I was convinced to try the Derby again in a month or so and see if I have better luck with it. I will. Could have been a funky blade, too. I will give them another chance.

This thread is


DEAD


[/thread]