My personal blade assessment....

Thoughts and input on anything related to wet shaving or men's grooming.
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MikekiM
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Joined: Tue May 10, 2011 6:37 am
Location: Long Island, NY

My personal blade assessment....

Post by MikekiM »

- I've been keeping track of my shaves in an app I made on the iPhone.. I have 165 shaves logged with details and an overall rating of each.

With the understanding that the overall rating takes into account a whole load of factors, consider that I have never aborted a shave because of a bad lather and only once for dislike for the razor or software. I have bailed due to a bad blade though. With that in mind..

Of a total of 165 shaves...

Astra Super Platinum - 19 or 11.5% of total shaves (89% four stars or better)

* Five Diamond = 1
* Five Star = 9
* Four Star = 8
* Three Star = 1
* Two Star = 0
* One Star = 0
* Aborted = 0


Isreali Personna (Reds) - 48 or 29% of the total shaves (88% four stars or better)

* Five Diamond = 1
* Five Star = 22
* Four Star = 19
* Three Star = 6
* Two Star = 0
* One Star = 0
* Unrated = 1
* Aborted = 0


Feather Blacks - 31 or 12.7% of the total shaves (61% four stars or better)

* Five Diamond = 1
* Five Star = 5
* Four Star = 14
* Three Star = 7
* Two Star = 4
* One Star =0
* Aborted = 0


Derby - 8 or 4.8% of total shaves (25% four stars or better)

* Five Diamond = 0
* Five Star = 0
* Four Star = 2
* Three Star = 5
* Two Star = 1
* One Star = 0
* Aborted = 0


BlueBird - 22 or 36% of total shaves (55% four stars or better)

* Five Diamond = 0
* Five Star = 7
* Four Star = 5
* Three Star = 10
* Two Star = 0
* One Star = 0
* Aborted = 0

Wilkenson - 13 or 7.9% of total shaves (62% four stars or better)

* Five Diamond = 0
* Five Star = 6
* Four Star = 2
* Three Star = 2
* Two Star = 0
* One Star = 0
* Unrated = 3
* Aborted = 0

Various other blades have been rated, but they were typically one-off's or a small representation. The Rolls Razor had two shaves both aborted as did the Straight.

Razors vary a lot... from Superspeeds to Slants.

It's hard to be definitive because of the number of variables and the fact that ratings are completely subjective, but Astra Platinum & Personna Red's are winners by a pretty decent margin. Though I've used Personna's twice as often as I have used Astra, so a greater Astra sampling would be useful. Wilkenson might be in the mix considering I have three unrated shaves that could easily push the ratings up, but if I didn't rate it, the likelihood of them having been four stars or better is slim. Really surprised at the Feathers. The shaves that got low scores were with the Gillette New Long Comb razor which garnered great scores when paired with the Astra or Personna, so it isn't likely the razor.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming...
scruffy
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Location: New York, NY

Post by scruffy »

Those are mighty impressive statistics. I am surprised that the Derbys did as well as they did. I have enough trouble trying to figure out how many shaves I have on each blade.
Ed
MikekiM
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Joined: Tue May 10, 2011 6:37 am
Location: Long Island, NY

Post by MikekiM »

Collecting the data was pretty easy..

To be fair, the Derby's were the first blades I used.. just a few shaves with very little experience. The other Derby shaves were while traveling since I had just thrown a pack in my travel bag. Mated with a BRW TTO Twist with a Bull Mastiff handle.. the shave was just barely a DFS.

What Derby's I have left get thrown in with items I sell or PiF.. I won't load another one of those blades as long as there are other alternatives.
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Ouchmychin
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Post by Ouchmychin »

I have never used a black Feather. The ones I use are the Hi-stainless platinum coated version. They come in a yellow and black pack with some red and white too. I thought they were the ones everyone calls Feather.
Ouchmychin (Pete)
brothers
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Post by brothers »

Do your statistics result from blades with varying numbers of shaves per blade? Did you use each blade for the same number of shaves before discarding them and moving to the next, or did you use them randomly? Just wondering. Interesting statistics and results.
Gary

SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
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KAV
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Post by KAV »

My assessment of shaving kit now mirrors the old adage of pilots " If you can walk away, it's a good landing."
:lol:
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Racso_MS
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Post by Racso_MS »

Ummmmmmmmm!!! OK. Beyond my miniscule level of understanding. I prefer: Really Bad, Bad, Ok, Better, Best. But I'm old and never did like my statistics class in college. (Plus blades are always a YMMV).

As long as you enjoy your shave, it's all good.
Best Regards From the Deep South...
Remember; It's Not A Race, It's Your Face...
And As Always, Enjoy Your Shave...
(Racso) Oscar...
MikekiM
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Joined: Tue May 10, 2011 6:37 am
Location: Long Island, NY

Post by MikekiM »

brothers wrote:Do your statistics result from blades with varying numbers of shaves per blade? Did you use each blade for the same number of shaves before discarding them and moving to the next, or did you use them randomly? Just wondering. Interesting statistics and results.
No way near that scientific.. it was never meant to be. There are so many variables that go in any one shave that it would be a PITA to do any kind of testing. I selected blades randomly, or based on the razor.

I used the blade until it was done and rated each shave. If I posted the full review of each shave it would show more details and comments.

The ratings of the shaves were completely subjective, but at pretty consistent.
KAV wrote:My assessment of shaving kit now mirrors the old adage of pilots " If you can walk away, it's a good landing."
:lol:
I agree with you on this.. The shave log started more for fun but since the data was there I figured why not compile it.
Racso_MS wrote:Ummmmmmmmm!!! OK. Beyond my miniscule level of understanding. I prefer: Really Bad, Bad, Ok, Better, Best. But I'm old and never did like my statistics class in college. (Plus blades are always a YMMV).

As long as you enjoy your shave, it's all good.
So I guess five or more starts would be Best of the Best and Aborted would be "Oh many that sucks" Every thing in between would fit your preferred ratings.. ;-)
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