I am just not that observant on blades. I really can't tell any meaningful difference in them. I prefer Gillette Silver Blues and Astra SP's, but I just load up and shave away without noticing differences in shaves from #1 to #x.
IMO, the first shave is rough due to microscopic burrs left on the blade after grinding. Those blades that have "coatings" seem to be smoother since the coating covers the burrs.
There has been some talk here about stropping the blades but there is no proof that this action will knock off the burrs before shaving that first time. All I can say is try stropping then shaving to see if that smooths out your first shave.
+1 ... I have always preferred coated blades for this reason. When it comes to Derby ... they use 5 different coating material on their blades, which might explain their extraordinary smoothness.
I've noticed that in the last couple years, drugstore blades have gone to mostly stainless steel, whereas they were almost always Platinum-Chrome before that for as long as I can remember. Most drugstore blades are made my ASR, regardless of what house-brand appears on the package. I'm assuming that ASR dropped the coatings as a cost-saving measure, and assumed that most people wouldn't notice. Well, *I* noticed, and I definitely wish that they'd bring the Plat-Chrom blades back.
Gents, I have reason to doubt both of these points. Regarding the "first shave" effect, Gillette patent US5985459 discussed it and claimed to demonstrate that it is due to excess PTFE coating. This makes sense because the PTFE coating goes on last, above any other coatings. We have also seen some SEM images of Feather blades showing this excess coating material.
Regarding coatings or lack thereof, all DE blades intended for shaving seem to be coated. Labels that merely says "stainless" appear to be market segmentation: they want you to buy the more expensive label. I base this on three points. First, history: stainless blades were available as early as 1929 but were never more than a bit-player until the early 1960s, when they gained PTFE coatings and became an overnight success. Second, I have shaved with 1950s stainless blades, which appear to be uncoated under a scope. Those blades cut hair, but they feel terrible, worse than carbon steel, and I blame the lack of PTFE coating. Finally I have looked at Personna plain old "stainless" blades under a scope, before and after corking. Corking appears to disturb a visible band of dark material, which I take to be PTFE coating. I conclude that corking can remove some of the excess PTFE coating described by Gillette patent US5985459 as the source of the "first shave" effect.
Great! You don't happen to know which blades get the solvent wash after the PTFE coating, do you?
Very coolI am not sure any do: that Gillette patent US5985459 makes interesting reading but I have never seen it on a blade pack or cartridge. I think it is still in force, and should expire late next year, so I would expect to see it if it were being used. However the treatment sounds fairly exotic and may have been shelved as too dangerous or expensive.
But the Personna hospital blades (medical, meds) are supposed to go through an extra cleaning process. Maybe that helps?
I get a slight bit of roughness on the first few strokes of any Personna, but other than that, their all pretty well ok.
If you like Derby, then stick with them. Just try the palm-stropping or corking if you think they need to be treated before the first shave.
Ok. Now don't knock this ok? I'm gonna pull something out of thin air. I have about 12 different blades I rotate. I have a problem. Anyway, the smoothest, and I mean S M O O T H from jump for me are the TREET CARBONS. I have feathers, Kai, PolSilver s, all the big boys, but this blade is so smooth. I have it in my rotation. Just really pleasant. There is one bad thing. Just use a blade for one shave. Carbon steel is sharpest because it's soft and pliable and able to get a fine edge. I would not risk a 2ns shave, BUT these blades are so dang cheap. I bought 200 for like 10$ so it's not s big deal. To me these are what your describing.
Others you may consider Astra is Smooth, as well as Ladas. Both of these are nice as well. Also super cheap. I really like the Ladas.