IMO, starting with sampler packs of blades is the best way to discover what works best for you.
is it worth buying the grab bag of random blades from Amazon?
- Thread starter Blade_Runner37C
- Start date
What about a ten dollar sample pack with 18 blades, thirteen of which are made by Samah and Sotraco? Because that is what everyone goes and buys when someone tells them what you are recommending.
Don't you think it would be better to try a bunch of blades people like to shave with, rather than a bunch of blades that were mostly selected because they provided the most cool labels at the lowest price possible, mostly from the same two facilities?
Lockback
Dull yet interesting
Here's a sample pack I picked up a couple years ago.
I think it's a great way to learn which blades you'll like ... and those you won't. Little invested, much gained.
I think it's a great way to learn which blades you'll like ... and those you won't. Little invested, much gained.
I think that’s perfect. My best blades are the ones that no one else recommended.
This is much better than the RBC one. You have six manufacturers there in nine blades compared to five in the eighteen for the RBC Amazon one. You have three good blades, compared to two. You have three blades that are filler compared to thirteen in the RBC pack.Here's a sample pack I picked up a couple years ago.
I think it's a great way to learn which blades you'll like ... and those you won't. Little invested, much gained.
Which ones are your favorites?
GE wilki’s
Gillette 365
India wilki’s
KAI
Mühle
Personna CC
RK Stainless
Tiger Plat’s
Not necessarily in any order but, these are the ones that I get the most efficiency from.
I can only say that when I came into DE shaving, there were no samplers. There were the Merkur blades that came with the razor or $11 for a pack of Gillette stainless...which someone on B&B surmised were made so bad to get people to switch to a Mach 3 razor.
Blades are so much more accessible and cheap now. I've found that different blades perform differently in different razors and I would encourage anyone new to the hobby to explore the variety for the $20 entry.
Interesting. Several of these I would consider better choices for OP than what is in the RBC sampler.
You include Personna Comfort Coated and the German Wilkinson Sword, which are blades everyone should try. I would probably recommend people try these two first, before anything else, if they want something they might like. Feather, probably third. The thing about Feather is nothing else is like it. It won't be a favorite for most people, but if it is your favorite, you can stop searching.
After these three, I think it is essential to try some Procert and Gamble blades. The Indian Wilkinson Sword and 365 are quite similar, both from the same plant, but one of those would be a good choice to try, Astra SP is another good one.
Muehle is an excellent blade. It is expensive, so maybe not the best thing to try first with a limited budget, but definitely a good blade.
I think it is probably worth trying a Czech blade like Tiger Platinum, but it is important to know that many European branded blades are just private label Tatras and Tigers. There is no need to try them all, and no point is spending more than the OEM branded blades for something like Rex, Razolution, Merkur, Boker, Fatip, Bambaw, or anyhting else marked "Made in EU," "Made in Czech Republic," or "Made in Cz."
RK and Kai are not blades I would have recommended to try right away, but I wouldn't advise people to stear clear of them.
None of the blades you like are made by Treet, Sotraco, or Samah, while 16 of 18 blades in the popular RBC sampler are made by those companies.
I agree that people exploring the hobby should try several blades, and if they find it is fun, to try a bunch of different ones. I certainly have tried a ton of different ones.
What I am saying, is that if you are just starting out with this process, the best approach is not to blindly buy a sample pack assembled by a retailer for a price point on Amazon. You will be way better off starting with some blades of good quality.
Those sample packs don't even have much variety. They are mostly cheap blades made from cheap steel with cheap coarse abrasives in the same 2 factories that can't even make the sharpness of the two edges similar on the same individual blade.
I’ve done the prepackaged samplers, and then a couple of make your own from razorbladeclub. I still have a few left over, and some I donated, along with some other blades, to the blade exchange.
Found a few I thought I’d hate, and were ok.
building a sampler pack after reading some of the “what are your favorite blades” topics around here helped to narrow that down a good bit. Then randomly picked a few just because.
Found a few I thought I’d hate, and were ok.
building a sampler pack after reading some of the “what are your favorite blades” topics around here helped to narrow that down a good bit. Then randomly picked a few just because.
For sure. I haven't used a Samah blade in 15 years because the first "Sharp" blades I got on ebay were really bad. I hear they are better now. As far as Lord/Sotraco, I have not been disappointed.
However, since I have been in a situation in which I could afford an expensive cup of coffee every couple of weeks, I have just decided to buy a 100 pack of whatever blades I feel like on AZ or eBay and try them out as I please.
Yeah, Lord/Shark/Sotraco makes some good blades and some bad ones. They are like a grab bag. Quantities of 100 are the best bet because you want more than 5 if it turns out to be a great batch, and you don't want to throw away more than ten dollars on several hundred from a bad batch.
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