Worst shave I've had in years, courtesy of a Derby.

Just got my WCS sampler pack in, and drew a pack at random to start with. Derbys. Okay, I thought, let's get scientific. Same razor, same soap, same mug, brush and prep each time.

Pull that blade out, do my usual hot cloth and Williams lather, and set to it.

OW.

It burns, it burns! I bleed! Make it stop!

I dropped that blade out like a hot potato, and finished up with an old Gillette Spoiler that was on its fifth shave. Night and day.

Guess I learned to avoid Derbys. Any ideas, or should I save those for a craft project and move to my next random draw?

Casey said:

Just got my WCS sampler pack in, and drew a pack at random to start with. Derbys. Okay, I thought, let's get scientific. Same razor, same soap, same mug, brush and prep each time.

Pull that blade out, do my usual hot cloth and Williams lather, and set to it.

OW.

It burns, it burns! I bleed! Make it stop!

I dropped that blade out like a hot potato, and finished up with an old Gillette Spoiler that was on its fifth shave. Night and day.

Guess I learned to avoid Derbys. Any ideas, or should I save those for a craft project and move to my next random draw?

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Lots of people on the boards say that corking them helps get rid of burs for that first shave.

I haven't had any really bad experiences with Derby blades, but I used to get skin irritation that seemed to correlate with the first shave on each blade. I find that palm-stropping before the first shave works wonders. In fact I now perform that ritual with every new blade I use.

I'll give it a try, but damn. A 5-shave old Gillette Spoiler absolutely crushes this thing.

I've heard a buzz recently about Derby's with the lettering on the blade being horizontal vs. vertical, and there being a difference in shave quality. I agree with the above - I would try hand stropping 1st, then corking if necessary...if neither work, move on the another brand.

I've used probably about 30 derby's (derbies?), out of a pack of 100 I bought when I very first started with a DE. And now that I've tried a few other blades, I don't think I can ever touch one again. I think if you have a tougher beard, a derby blade just can't handle it. They pull horribly on my skin before they actually cut into any hair.

Feathers however....

Razorburne said:

I've heard a buzz recently about Derby's with the lettering on the blade being horizontal vs. vertical, and there being a difference in shave quality.

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One doesn't use the blade to tell the difference between a horizontal vs. vertical Derby. The blades would look identical. The difference lies with the orientation of the printing on the cardboard in the plastic blade box.

Horizontal Derby:



vs.

Vertical Derby:

Razorburne said:

I've heard a buzz recently about Derby's with the lettering on the blade being horizontal vs. vertical, and there being a difference in shave quality. I agree with the above - I would try hand stropping 1st, then corking if necessary...if neither work, move on the another brand.

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So which ones are the "bad" ones? I have an unopened pack of 5 from WCS to try.

From what I've read the vertical derbys are the bad ones. My experience kind of supports that. I've never used the horizontal ones, but the vertical ones that came with my sampler pack were not very good.

wlminter said:

From what I've read the vertical derbys are the bad ones. My experience kind of supports that. I've never used the horizontal ones, but the vertical ones that came with my sampler pack were not very good.

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My sample pack are those, as well. This thing was worse than a no-name Walgreens blade.

No corking or hand stropping for me. I won't shave with a blade that isn't ready to go right out of the box.

Jim B. said:

No corking or hand stropping for me. I won't shave with a blade that isn't ready to go right out of the box.

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I agree. A razor blade should be ready to use right out of the box. Mind you, I never (knock on wood) had a problem with the Derby Extra blades and had nothing but good shaves with them.

Been using Derbys since I started with the occasional different blade seems derbys are either you have good experiances or quite bad ones and I've been lucky so far and I'd hope so cause I have 12 packs left.

I used a vertical Derby today in my Muhle R-89, and got horrific results. I cut my face quite nicely in about four spots (not weepers, but actual inch long slash marks).

The Muhle R-89 has been performing wonderfully with everything else I have put in it, so I have no choice but to blame the blade. (I have previously had Russian Greens, Astra, Shark, Gillette Blue, Personna medicals, and some onthers in the razor). I have also been using the same cream all month (Proraso), and the same brush for the last two weeks (a Muhle/HJM boar brush).

Too bad I have about 90 of these vertical Derbies left in my collection.

I will try corking one, when I feel adventurous, and see if that makes any improvement.

I seriously do not understand why people have this big of a problem with these blades. I bought 100 on a whim, after reading so many great reviews followed by several bad ones later.

They work fine for me--they seem very sharp. I did not nick myself at all using these blades and got a close shave. They're not as sharp as my Kai or Feather Blades, but they're definitely sharper than Dorco blades. That said, I get fine shaves with all the blades. The sharper the better. I love feather blades and kai blades are great as well.

I shave with a Merkur 38c. I find the blade exposure on Superspeeds to be so mild that I tend to get careless while shaving.

On a whim, I decided to cork the next Derby. Pull out of wrapper, and slice across cork.

Odd... that side barely sank in at all. Okay, flip over.

That side sank right in.

On the paper slicing test, neither did well, but the dull side was embarassing.

I'm thinking Derbys aren't going to be the ones to keep.

I had a LOT of trouble with the Derby's too. And now that I think back on it, it was the Vertical Derby's I got in a sampler pack. The Wal-Mart personna's performed much better. I tried three then pitched the rest.

Through the graciousness of a member here I now have a 5 pack of the Horizontal Derby's to try. I'll let you know what I think. I'll be shaving tomorrow night next.

I have shelved the Derbys for now- when seeing patients I can't be red as a lobster.

The Super Iridiums, though... that's the stuff! Much better, and I haven't even gotten to the famed Feathers yet.

I had a similar experience to many on this thread. I thought that the Derby was working fine for me until I began to use other blades (especially the Astra SP and Feather). Once I realized what a better shave I was getting from these other blades, I decided that the Derby was not for me. I am glad that I took the advice that so many on B&B give of trying a sample pack b/c now I am only leaving a few Derby blades unused rather than an entire box full of them!!!

*Moves unopened pack of virticle derbys to the back of the drawer*

Casey said:

On a whim, I decided to cork the next Derby. Pull out of wrapper, and slice across cork.

Odd... that side barely sank in at all. Okay, flip over.

That side sank right in.

On the paper slicing test, neither did well, but the dull side was embarassing.

I'm thinking Derbys aren't going to be the ones to keep.

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Judging by your results, I don't think corking will help these if different sides aren't even the same sharpness. I am willing to give horizontal Derbys a try, but now I need to find a use for these blades. Perhaps I could give them to some small children to play with... or mabey the dog... Hrmm, naaa, Ill just use them as bookmarks for my library books. Yeah, thats it!!