Feather Blade - Item of the Week 4/1/13

Hello to all.

This will be the sixth of a series of "Item of the Week" threads that I am promoting in the General Shave Discussion forum.

The Rules:

1. It is very simple. Use the item of the week for the week that it is scheduled and post your thoughts on that item in its thread.
2. Everything else in your shave line-up may be rotated at will, but keep the featured item of the week as part of each shave.
3. The weeks will start on Monday and end on Saturday. Sunday could be a free day, or an overlap day for the next week or whatever.

The sixth featured Item of the Week will be Feather Blades (one blade all week or as many as you like). Starting Monday, 4/1/13.

I'm in! I've been saving my first pack of Feathers for just this occasion. I'm excited to see how they compare to my 7OC yellows and blacks.

Feather is the ONLY blade I use. I started using them in late summer 2008 (the last blades from my WCS sampler pack) and have not looked back!

I prefer Astras, but I've got this Feather sample pack I need to finish i'm in!

I'm in. It's not that I dislike feathers, but I just think astras and red IPs give me a smoother shave. For the purposes of this thread though, I'll pop a feather in my Vision.

Penn

ok. I have some Feathers. Let's play.

It's interesting to me that astras have been mentioned so often in this thread already, I was under the impression that they did not have a reputation as being in the same league as feathers in the sharpness category as feathers. I have a 100 pack of them and they are a wonderful blade, smooth and forgiving, but nowhere near as sharp as other blades no my den.

We, who are about to die, salute you!

I haven't hit the feathers yet in my sampler pack because I am stuck on the great shaves of the Astra's and the GSB's. But no time like the present. I am in! Will report my results.

Porp said:

It's interesting to me that astras have been mentioned so often in this thread already, I was under the impression that they did not have a reputation as being in the same league as feathers in the sharpness category as feathers. I have a 100 pack of them and they are a wonderful blade, smooth and forgiving, but nowhere near as sharp as other blades no my den.

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The whole Astra fixation is very intriguing. I think it is price driven, as they were very good for their price point, as are Red IP's. However, for me, Feathers are far and away a better blade in all the categories that are important to me: Sharpness, Smoothness and Longevity. At about 27 cents a blade they are still a much better deal.

Shaved with a Feather blade after a long break last night. Will save my observations for 4/1.

Now this is an Item of the Week I can really get behind. I will be able to use a different soap/cream, razor and aftershave every day if I want. Also, I can continue to use one of my replaceable blade straights on the weekend either with half a blade in my shavette or Feather Pro in my CJB.

Plus I will be celebrating the end of mentholated hell week!

I'm out. I have used feathers quite a bit and just don't like them. I went ahead and tried them again today and I couldn't even finish my shave. Mind you, I shave my head and face. On the face they work fine, but on my head, no way! It's actually quite odd, I get a closer shave with other blades then I do with Feathers. I end up using more passes with them and just not cleaning all that well. I'll stick with my low budget blades, either Astra or Derby blades for me.

I have my feathers ready to go.

I think I still have a couple from a sampler pack, so I'll give them another shot...

Put me in coach, I know all the plays.....and still have 90 plus feathers in the house

Col Wilburforce Buckshot said:

We, who are about to die, salute you!

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Awesome blades, especially when paired with a mild or moderate razor.

OldSaw said:

The whole Astra fixation is very intriguing. I think it is price driven, as they were very good for their price point, as are Red IP's. However, for me, Feathers are far and away a better blade in all the categories that are important to me: Sharpness, Smoothness and Longevity. At about 27 cents a blade they are still a much better deal.

Click to expand...

I use both Feathers and Astra's, but generally prefer Astras. Definitely not a cost thing for me, I just find the Feathers too rough to use as an everyday blade, where as Astras are really smooth. Astras are my everyday blade, and I only use Feathers now If I've not shaved in a while and have more of a beard to cut through. For me, the Feathers are seriously lacking in smoothness

I'm in! Feather was the last blade I tried in my sampler pack. My first shave with them was a rough experience. Luckily I went back after several weeks of improving my technique. The sharpness of these blades and the length of time that they last are what I love about them. They easily cut through my coursest stubble areas with ease.
Both Astras and Gillette 7 O'Clock Black blades also work well for me. I find the Gillettes slighly edge out the Astras due to consistency (quality) from blade-to-blade. The major difference for me between Gillette / Astra vs. a Feather is the number of smooth shaves I can get. With a Feather, I can get 6 excellent shaves and a 7th that is good. With either the Astra or Gillette, I get 3 excellent shaves, a good 4th, and a 5th which I can tollerate. If I do the math where I calculate shaves per year from each of these blades in a 100 pk, Feather is actually cheaper by a couple of cents per blade since I can get more shaves per blade / per pack / year.