Shave'n Blind Blade Test

I have found that I'm REALLY struggling with batch two. I think it would have been wise to take a week or two off before starting again. I'm not as clued into what's going on, and have even started skipping days. Didn't shave this morning. If you were keeping track, I missed one day, finishing in 40 days instead of 39 for the first twelve plus blade 00. With batch two I've skipped like five days already.

I'm calling it tester fatigue! I am totally guilty, not Alex, I was totally ready to do another batch, but now I'm finding I'm just shaving and not getting quite as good of results as I'm used to.

Back to the first batch, how many people had to suffer through my blade 04? I think I can reveal, in your own words, what blade four is: "something I picked up on the cheap in Bangladesh. Sorry."

LOL

I can also say with almost 100% certainty that this is not the regular blade of anyone who would take the time to read a shaving forum....

Joel
 
@Joel

Nope, that blade I stole from a Somali pirate. There's one guy who hasn't shaved with it yet and another guy who dropped out (maybe because the blade won). I didn't find it as badly as you; My comments were:

"Blade felt thick, simply didn't cut... Unwilling to go ATG, .. remarkably dull... smooth like a library card and just as sharp.... smooth as an ice cream spoon."

You've got a bunch of GSB's, right? If you'd like to take a break, perhaps you could stop with three shaves and comparisons against a GSB, report it as blade 00b. Then start up again whenever with GSB 00c.
 
alexface said:
@Joel

Nope, that blade I stole from a Somali pirate. There's one guy who hasn't shaved with it yet and another guy who dropped out (maybe because the blade won). I didn't find it as badly as you; My comments were:

"Blade felt thick, simply didn't cut... Unwilling to go ATG, .. remarkably dull... smooth like a library card and just as sharp.... smooth as an ice cream spoon."

You've got a bunch of GSB's, right? If you'd like to take a break, perhaps you could stop with three shaves and comparisons against a GSB, report it as blade 00b. Then start up again whenever with GSB 00c.
Click to expand...

I launched into a new blade today. Yes, I have hundreds of GSB's, so putting another batch in would be easy. I'll be ok, I think I hit a low point.

Weirdly, today being the first bad blade in a long time helped. For a while the differences were minor, and now I have something that stands out.

Joel
 
Hey Alex,

Can we consider the end of the March fair game to talk about our results? We can avoid using codes and just talk about the blades we shaved with. I'm really looking forward to seeing my chart with all of the names filled in, and seeing how others compared results.

Joel
 
Most of the blades from my pack were ones I'd tried before, and there were some that appeared more than once. There were no surprises for me when I looked at the results but it was gratifying that my opinions from the blind test were the same as when I'd just tried the blades normally.

None of them were better than the Personna med prep.
 
I had mixed results. I generally preferred Feather and AstraSP in the blind test (expected). HOWEVER, I did not expect the reveal for the most despised, rough, dull blade of my pack: Personna Labs! I have since traded all my labs (180) for a variety of Astra and Feather. Another grood performer was Shark Stainless (previously unknown to me). If I didn't have so many other good blades, I'd probably pick up some Sharks! As Hale stated, I have some repeats as well. We probably all has different sets, so hopefully I didn't go we too much away!
 
Here's what I found:

Blades I really liked: Astra SP, Wilkinson Sword, Wilkinson Sword, Shark Super Chrome, Gillette 7 o'clock Yellow, Astra SP, GSB

Blades I didn't care for: Feather, Platinum Super+, Astra Superior Stainless

Blades that no one should ever use. Ever. : Super-Li Bang Super Stainless Blue

I think my first GSB test is an outlier, I was just starting and was trying to be super discerning and critical. I didn't care for the second AstraSP but got decent results, my opinion on the second one fit my pre-test opinion on AstraSP's. I have tried the yellows head to head with the GSB's before, and preferred the GSB so I don't need to order another batch of yellows.

So… after looking at this chart (and seeing that I cannot guess which blade i was shaving with at all) I ordered a 100 pack of AstraSP blades to try further, and I will order 100 Sharks to test further. I _really_ didn't like the wilkinson swords I bought locally, so I'm guessing they are a different blade made somewhere other than what Alex shipped to us. If I can find the same blade I used in the blind trial, I'd love 100 of those as well. I want to do a blind trial with blades I like: GSB, Astra, Derby, Wilk, and Shark and see if the results are meaningful. I am planning to do this when I am done with batch two for Alex. I'm going to have my wife mix in three of each blade so that I have a larger sample to work with.

One thing I really enjoyed about this test was finding that I don't like feathers when I didn't know what I was shaving with. The first time I used one I was intimidated by it, and then later I've found I just couldn't get good results. I always wondered if it was just the intimidation factor still being there somewhere. This test showed me, nope, I just don't like them...

The other thing that keeps it interesting is that other razors affect the test as well. The Derby is fine in the Adjustable Slim but not as good in the Fat Boy. So maybe I'll have my wife load both razors with the same blade and work my way through the five blade test set.. Of course then there is the super speed, the flare tip, the tech…

Joel
 
NavyShave said:
I had mixed results. I generally preferred Feather and AstraSP in the blind test (expected). HOWEVER, I did not expect the reveal for the most despised, rough, dull blade of my pack: Personna Labs! I have since traded all my labs (180) for a variety of Astra and Feather. Another grood performer was Shark Stainless (previously unknown to me). If I didn't have so many other good blades, I'd probably pick up some Sharks! As Hale stated, I have some repeats as well. We probably all has different sets, so hopefully I didn't go we too much away!
Click to expand...
Yes, I had repeats as well. But Personna Blue Labs were my best. Just goes to show you . . something or other.
 
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