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How many blades do you try . ?

Adam18

Adam18

My sample pack from WCS has five blades --- Derby, Crystal, Israeli Red Personna, Astra SP, and Feather.
So far, I tried the Derby (not impressed, although I used them with my first ever DE razor shaves), the Crystal (very nice), and the Israeli Red Personna (my favorite so far.) I'll be trying the Astra SP tomorrow, and will probably save the Feather for a later date. So here's my question ..... How many blades should I try before deciding on which one to choose as my "favorite" ? Should I decide based upon these five in my sample pack, or would I add to the confusion by trying a few more ? if I should try some more, which ones do you recommend for my Merkur 34C ? Thanks a lot.
 
Adam18

Adam18

Thanks for the quick reply Floyd. I'm not in a hurry, just confused about how many blades to try. Your advice is to "try them all." How many different blades are you suggesting I try ? ---- "them all" is a vague suggestion. Can you please be more specific.
 
eastomjac

eastomjac

All you can stand.it's an adventure.amazon, razors direct, wcs ,and many others have sample packs with the 5 blade packs in them.and once you find your favorite try some more.after i found B&B i ended up with over 900 blades in my stash 6 different brands and i still try out different blades
 
TexLaw

TexLaw

Fussy Evil Genius
You try as many as it takes until the angels sing. Then, you try some more and see what other tunes those angels know. It's a kind of fun! Plus, you may very well find that some blades do better in certain razors.

Defintely check out tryablade.com and make your own sampler.
 
Floyd Eye

Floyd Eye

Adam18 said:
Thanks for the quick reply Floyd. I'm not in a hurry, just confused about how many blades to try. Your advice is to "try them all." How many different blades are you suggesting I try ? ---- "them all" is a vague suggestion. Can you please be more specific.
Click to expand...

I probably tried about 30 before I settled on my 2 favorites. ( Feather, Gillette Platinum)
 
xxvaleria

xxvaleria

Try as many or as few as you want. Quit when you find a blade that works for you. In my case, I tried two, and wound up liking both.
 
Djwyman

Djwyman

Like Pokemon gotta catch them all lol. No really I plan to try every blade I can get my hands on. It's not like blades are expensive. $0.25 or so (some more some less) what's to loose you may find another blade you like.
 
DCRIII

DCRIII

Djwyman said:
Like Pokemon gotta catch them all lol. No really I plan to try every blade I can get my hands on. It's not like blades are expensive. $0.25 or so (some more some less) what's to loose you may find another blade you like.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with this! So far I believe I now have almost 20 varieties of blades that I enjoy using. The more the merrier!
 
Acmemfg

Acmemfg

After a while you will probably find most are somewhat similar but have subtle characteristics that rank one over another.
Example:
Feathers are scary sharp but can be a tad "too keen"
Rockwells are fine but short lived
Personnas seem to tug more than they should
Super Max are the quintessence of Ho hum
Astras are the finest all around blade I know
Gillette Silver Blue are what Feathers should be but again, don't last but 2-3 shaves
Dorcos stink
Trigs are God's way of punishing you
Merkurs are the Germans way of punishing you

See?? You can kind of have fun with this. After a while you'll get bored though and get into straight razors. Then the REAL fun begins!!
 
1

12345Michael54321

If you enjoy trying blades, then I agree that there's no harm in doing what some others have suggested and trying them all. Hey, it's a hobby. Back in the days when "digital" still had to do with fingers, I knew photography hobbyists who enjoyed trying all the different high speed black and white 35mm film they could get their hands on, in combination with all the different developers they could come across. I have been to the range with people who derived great enjoyment from trying all the different types of .22lr ammo they could find. I even know of people who have dozens and dozens of yo-yo's, and who enjoy posting about the subtle difference in perceived vibe between a Czech Point and a YYF Shutter. So I have no problem with the notion that some people may find it satisfying, somehow, to know that they sampled a hundred different types of double edged razor blades.

But if, for some reason, you don't derive any special pleasure from trying every razor blade you can find, and you simply want to zero in on one blade which will work well for you, you could probably look at the various lists of the 20 most well regarded blades, figure out which 10 or 12 are generally agreed to possess those particular qualities which you most value, then try them. Out of those 10 or 12, likely at least 2 or 3 will impress you as being truly great choices.

Buy a few hundred of the least expensive of those 2 or 3, and call it a day.

Warning: Until your technique is solid, there's little point in trying to find your ideal blade. Sort of how until your driving abilities reach a certain level, it's pointless to test drive Porsche vs. Ferrari, in an effort to find the best performing sports car.
 
Floyd Eye

Floyd Eye

12345Michael54321 said:
If you enjoy trying blades, then I agree that there's no harm in doing what some others have suggested and trying them all. Hey, it's a hobby. Back in the days when "digital" still had to do with fingers, I knew photography hobbyists who enjoyed trying all the different high speed black and white 35mm film they could get their hands on, in combination with all the different developers they could come across. I have been to the range with people who derived great enjoyment from trying all the different types of .22lr ammo they could find. I even know of people who have dozens and dozens of yo-yo's, and who enjoy posting about the subtle difference in perceived vibe between a Czech Point and a YYF Shutter. So I have no problem with the notion that some people may find it satisfying, somehow, to know that they sampled a hundred different types of double edged razor blades.

But if, for some reason, you don't derive any special pleasure from trying every razor blade you can find, and you simply want to zero in on one blade which will work well for you, you could probably look at the various lists of the 20 most well regarded blades, figure out which 10 or 12 are generally agreed to possess those particular qualities which you most value, then try them. Out of those 10 or 12, likely at least 2 or 3 will impress you as being truly great choices.

Buy a few hundred of the least expensive of those 2 or 3, and call it a day.

Warning: Until your technique is solid, there's little point in trying to find your ideal blade. Sort of how until your driving abilities reach a certain level, it's pointless to test drive Porsche vs. Ferrari, in an effort to find the best performing sports car.
Click to expand...


What he said.
 
StillShaving

StillShaving

IMO it is too early to choose a favorite, or at least a long lived favorite until you have 6 months or more of shaving with a number of different razors. As you switch between different razors and your technique develops you may find your preferences change. But of course there is no harm in choosing an favorite blade early on and shaving with it exclusively, then years later try a bunch of different blades to see what changes.
 
G-Dogg

G-Dogg

When I re-started, I tried 13 tucks of blades and kept a shave log over the months it took to work though them all. This was important in keeping track as I would use only one blade from a tuck before moving on to another brand, allowing me to rotate through the lot and re-evaluate the same blade some time later as my technique improved.

It was fun, and some blades I would have written off on my first outing became keepers as I learned to appreciate their qualities by virtue of my getting better at using them. FWIW, I now have four blades in my rotation: Gillette 7 O'Clock Yellows; Personna Red; PolSilver SI; and Astra SP.

As others have said, take your time and try a lot of blades before settling down.
 
adamchur

adamchur

Once you've developed your technique, it doesn't hurt to try out different blades to find out which ones you like
Eventually you'll find your favourites
After that you'll be able to decide which ones you want to buy in bulk
The trick is to find the best value blades that are the smoothest, sharpest and last the longest

I''ve got 24 different blades to choose from, from 9 different countries, which will easily last me for at least 18 months
I'll decide which ones to restock when the time comes, but Zaza from Turkey are my current favourites
 
ackvil

ackvil

As your technique develops most likely your favorite blades will change. There is nothing wrong with sticking with your current favorites for a while and revisit the issue in a few months.
 
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