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Blind test #1 - Feather vs 7 O'clock Yellow

Welcome to the new folks, and thanks for your comments.

Pre-shave, I had just about enough stubble for today's shave - suggesting the last one was actually pretty close. Very even on both sides, so equal scores on the +1 day stubble.

As an aside, I have 10 Med Prep blades on order for a future test - they're blades I just have to include.

Anyway, on to the shave report...
 
Shave #4

Test set up as described here. Red on the left, Black on the right.

Brush = Frank Shaving Finest Badger
Soap = Palmolive cream
Bowl lathered as usual, and got great lather from my granddad's favourite cream.

I'll simplify my report today, as the same trend was apparent in all three passes...

Pass 1, 2, 3: It was clear in all three passes, WTG, XTG and ATG, that the Red blade is edging ahead in sharpness - there was definitely more resistance from the Black blade in all three directions. In terms of smoothness, though, it's hard to tell - though there was actually more resistance on the Black, neither actually felt rough on my skin. I got a tiny weeper in the corner of my mouth from the Red, which stopped almost as soon as it started.

Closeness: Equally close on both sides today - really nothing between them.

Comfort: It's about 20 minutes since I shaved today, and Red is ahead here. Just like yesterday, there's a mild bit of irritation across the Black side of my face. It's interesting the way it's turning out like this, as during the shave both felt smooth, and immediately after pass 3 and rinse I felt no irritation.

AS: I have a sample of Speick AS splash, so let's see how that goes... Ah, lovely. Irritation immediately gone, and no real sting at all - just more of a mild glow. Again, if I'd gone straight to AS from the shave as I usually do, I wouldn't have been able to detect the comfort difference described above. (And Speick is good stuff - I think I'm going to have to splash out on a full bottle :001_smile).

At this stage, the blades are effectively on 2 shaves each (4 half-shaves), so we're getting close to the point where some blades start to lose their edge. I might leave it until Saturday for the next shave, so the blades are dealing with varying amounts of stubble. Back soon :001_smile
 
My guess is that the Black is the Feather EXCEPT that my experience with a Feather vs Yellow is that while it is more forgiving on it's second shave it's very noticiably more effective (gets more stubble with less effort) that the Yellow on both the first and second shave. Even though the first shave can be rougher than the second with the Feather, it has out performed the Yellow on shaves 1, 2, & 3. I can take a Feather comfortably to (3) shaves and have gone (4) at least once but its a duller blade by shave 4. I don't remember how long I went with the Yellow but probably not past (4). I actually hope the Yellow wins this blindfold test so I have a reason to evaluate again.
 
I've been "done" on the Astra SP at 3 shaves, but my last shave on the Yellow was #4 and it was just as smooth and irritation-free as #2. I suspect it would still be good for one or two more had I not switched to Straight.
 
Interesting thoughts folks. I'm trying to avoid guessing which is which myself - but that's not hard, because it's really not apparent at all. I've shaved with Yellows a lot, but I've only used a Feather a couple of times before - and the results so far are within the range of experiences I've had with them.

But it is still very early - there are only 2 full shaves on each blade yet.

Anyway, today my stubble is even across my whole face, so both blades were still equally close last time.

And I've got a present from my mum - a very nice extending, wall-mounted, shaving mirror. So I'll put that up this morning and then get on with the next shave.
 
Shave #5

Test set up as described here. Red on the right, Black on the left.

Brush = Semogue SOC boar
Soap = Arko stick (mashed into a bowl)
Arko sticks are one of the best bargains out there - if you're OK with the scent.

Pass 1, WTG: More resistance from black, and even starting to get a bit of tugging once or twice. Red was noticeably sharper. Skin didn't really feel much from either blade, so other than the couple of tugs, smoothness was good from both.

Pass 2, XTG: No tugging, but a bit more resistance from Black. I also felt the blade on the skin more with Black.

Pass 3, XTG: More noticeable difference here - Red still slicing through the whiskers pretty well, but clearly more resistance from Black and it's not getting quite as close. Bit of tugging on the upper lip with Black. But really still pretty good in absolute terms. Tiny weeper from Black, stopped quickly.

Closeness: Looking closely with my new mirror (which magnifies better), and feeling ATG with my fingertips, two close shaves again - but Red is a bit closer around the chin and along the jawline (which are the two areas I'd usually do some buffing on). Edit: Red was closer at the end of the mouth/upper lip area too - somewhere else I generally do some buffing.

Comfort: About 15 minutes on, and feeling fine - no irritation on either side today.

AS: To complete an Arko day, today's AS was Arko Aqua splash, which is high in alcohol. And no real sting at all, just a warm glow - which shows just how good both these blades actually are, despite small differences showing up head-to-head.

This was a 2-day shave, so I'm not surprised the differences showed up a bit more than last time with more hair to deal with - next will be a 1-day shave tomorrow, to even out the tasks the blades have to face.
 
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Hmm this is very interesting as I have yet to try either although I have both waiting for me:w00t: and although this is shave #5 he is only using one razor on half of his face so its like 2.5
 
Shave #6

Test set up as described here. Red on the left, Black on the right.

Brush = Omega 10005 boar
Soap = Proraso white ("sensitive")
Proraso White doesn't seem to attract the same following as its menthol sibling, but it's a great soap - whether you have sensitive skin or, like me, you don't.

Pass 1, WTG: A little more resistance from Black, but no tugging and the difference was less marked than on Shave 5. I'd thought Red had been pulling ahead, but this time things were definitely more even.

Pass 2, XTG: I'm surprised, but I couldn't really tell any difference between the two blades. Yesterday Red was clearly ahead - now this!

Pass 3, ATG: A little bit more resistance from Black, but a pretty smooth ATG pass from both.

Closeness: Overall shave was closer than #5, but careful inspection with mirror and fingertips showed up no clear difference - small areas on both sides could have done with a bit of buffing, but that was clearly me and not the blades to blame. This was a very good shave - effectively shave #3 from each blade!

Comfort: Very comfortable, and no discernible differences between sides.

AS:In reality, just the final cold water rinse was all the AS treatment I needed, so nice does it feel. But I do like a splash, and it's part of the test, so a nice helping of 4711... ah, a nice tingling sensation all over, but the perky refreshing kind, not the "ouch" variety.

This one did surprise me. Just as I thought one blade was clearly starting to lose it and the other was edging ahead, they pull closer together again. Some of the credit must surely go to the Proraso White soap, which has always given me excellent results - though the other soaps and creams I've been using are certainly no slouches.

At this stage, if I was offered money to guess which blade was which, I really couldn't do better than tossing a coin.
 
It's interesting to see the comparisons changing over shaves - for the same set of blades. Just goes to show that what is a great blade for 1-2 shaves can be average for shave 3 or 4 (or vice versa!).

Great thread.
 
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