Thanks to all here who contributed advice and recommendations on safety razors, blades, shave cream, and all things shaving related. I got my new safety razor earlier this week and have shaved with it twice so far. I know everyone told me how much blades differ, but wow, do they ever. My first attempt was with an Astra Platimun and lets just say my face looked a bit like I'd tangled with a Honey Badger. Some of that I'm sure was due to user error, but I still thought I'd try another blade for my next shave just to experiment. Tonight I tried a Voskhod Teflon and boy what a difference. Very smooth and only two/three nicks around my mouth where I generally nick myself with every razor I've ever used. And almost zero razor burn. Very cool!

So my question for tonight is this. Given what I shared above, and that my skin is rather sensitive, what blade would you recommend I try next?

I started with Lord Platinums, very mild. Been wet shaving for years now, prefer Feathers as I can get most everything in one pass.

Personna blades are pretty forgiving too. Another thing that helped me a lot was going with a longer handle on my DE razor. Love shaving now, it is routine for me to even shave on my days off.

Pay attention to your angle, short strokes, switching sides, cleaning the blades off. Warning the razor with your shaving brush works wonders too.

Here is a good DIY Post Shave Splash:

Sounds like your face likes a more efficient (i.e. sharper) blade.

Try Feathers next. If you like those, they come in 200 count bulk packs on Amazon for $39.

I would focus on one blade, at least three shaves w/ the same blade. The second and third uses can be better than the first. It's as if your face is stropping the blade the first use and the edge is better after that until it dulls.
And yeah, your first few shaves are going to be a bit rough, finding the correct angle, light pressure, etc.

Personna (Israeli) are probably the best bang for the buck. Very forgiving, good edge, decent price.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W4BNBE


PolSilver Iridiums are one of the best blades out there, but a price premium and limited availability

https://www.polsilver-blades.com/


If you are sensitive, I would hesitate to recommend Feathers they are VERY sharp and not for beginners. They were also one of the more expensive blades out there.

If you have a heavy, thick beard they are good. I am more on the sensitive side with light beard (only really need to shave 2x week) so they are really overkill for me and the added risk of blood loss combined with cost, they aren’t for me.


Voshkod are good blades, I would put them better than Personna if you can get them at the same price, but not as good as the PolSilver. Of course I was able to get a about 500 PolSilvers before they became hard to come by and prices went up.

Longer heavy handle is a good thing, let the weight do the work, don’t put pressure on it.

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Personna (Israeli) are probably the best bang for the buck. Very forgiving, good edge, decent price.

The red Personnas are the Israeli. Blues are made by American Safety Razor.

Lately, I have really been liking Treet blades.

I came across this article a while ago:

https://sharpologist.com/2019/...blade-sharpness.html

The basic idea in the article is that they measure the grams of force required to cut a piece of paper with a razor blade when it's new, after one shave, and after two shaves.

The opinion stated in the article is that blades requiring more than 50 grams of force (less sharp) don't cut as cleanly and pull/tug hairs. Blades requiring less than 30 grams of force (super duper sharp) can often cause skin irritation.

So ideally, you want a blade that is in the 35-45 grams of cutting force range, and that maintains a consistent sharpness over a few shaves (if it's really sharp one day and dull the next, it will shave differently, and you can't get used to how it shaves).

This is complicated by the fact that some blades dull faster than others, and some coated blades actually start out dull (because of the coating on the edge) and get sharper as the coating wears off.

Based on the information in the article and the fact that I'm pretty susceptible to razor burn, I decided to give Treet Platinum Super Stainless Blades a try (very consistent sharpness around 45 grams cutting force). I like them a lot.

I'm using them in a Feather AS-D2 razor that I previously used Feather blades in. In the AS-D2, the Feather blades worked pretty well. In any other razor, Feather blades felt like I was shaving my face with a cheese grater.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: maladat,

quote:

PolSilver Iridiums

I find PolSilver Iridiums are the best unless you are using a Feather razor - then Feathers.

I like the red Personnas the most. Feather are sharper, but I get a more comfortable shave from the Personnas.

But you could be totally different.

The yellow box Gillettes are my favorite. I bought two years worth for under $25.

My process was to get a sample pack which was fairly cheap. I then tried them all and made notes of what I liked and disliked. Gave them a numerical rating. When I got low I went on Amazon and looked for the best deal.
Initial batch was some Feathers. Then a deal came up on Astra Superior Platinums that I got 200 for less than $30. They generally last me about a week each so I only have about a 3 year supply right now.

Feathers are ninja sharp
Blue Med-Prep Personna
Astra
Red persona
Shark (tied with red above)
Gillette silver blue
Polsilver
Derby


If you want the least sharp I know of start with derby

These are in order of how sharp I perceive them.

quote:

Originally posted by Rosahane:

quote:

PolSilver Iridiums

I find PolSilver Iridiums are the best unless you are using a Feather razor - then Feathers.

Dang, I tried one of these PolSilver's tonight and it delivered by far the closest shave I've ever gotten. Best of all, it seemed to require fewer strokes on my face to gt the result I wanted resulting in virtually zero razor burn. This is my favorite blade so far. Going to try a Personna next.

quote:

Originally posted by houndawg:

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
Personna (Israeli) are probably the best bang for the buck. Very forgiving, good edge, decent price.

The red Personnas are the Israeli. Blues are made by American Safety Razor.

Yes and no..."Personna Platinum" are the Israeli manufactured ones. The link I posted are in fact "reds", but they use a few different packaging styles, some with blue color that lends to confusion. My link is the same blade as in the red 10 packs.

Will also see them as "Israeli Blues"...

https://www.amazon.com/30-Pers...Double/dp/B01JAGZWWA



Actual markings on the razor differ based on where made. The ASR ones say "Made in USA" on the blade, the Israeli ones are the "Personna Platinum" and say "Personna Platinum Chrome" on the blade.

To further confuse things, there is yet another Personna "Blue", that ALSO say Platinum Chrome on the blade, but not the packaging. Packaging says "Personna Double Edge Comfort Coated". They are also made in US.

https://www.amazon.com/Personn...uality/dp/B07BQZJV18


You can also find Personna double edge "Prep Blades". These are also the ASR ones but marketed towards hospitals and I believed are sanitized/sterilized.

https://www.amazon.com/Personn...Blades/dp/B002MC0RXE


Confused yet???