Feathers revisited

[Zorro]

I have been back into DE shaving since 2016 and in recent years have predominantly used Astra SP blades as they just seem to work well for me. Rooting through my stash box recently I found I've still got over 50 feather blades from the 100 I bought back then.

Thought i would put one in my Merkur 20C, which is my regular "safe" razor.

Two shaves later its interesting that i still find the Feathers noticeably sharper than the Astras, but a little "nippy" and i have had a few tiny nicks with each shave, even though i am sure my technique is pretty decent these days. I also noted that the Feather blade had lost some of its initial super sharpness by the second shave.

The reason i settled on the Astras back then is that, although not quite as sharp as the Feathers, they are plenty sharp enough and much smoother for me. I find they hold their sharpness reliably for 2 shaves, then start to go off on the third shave a little.

I was expecting to have different results, as i haven't used a Feather for a year or so i think, but surprisingly it felt the same.

 

[Mike Smart]

I have been back into DE shaving since 2016 and in recent years have predominantly used Astra SP blades as they just seem to work well for me. Rooting through my stash box recently I found I've still got over 50 feather blades from the 100 I bought back then.

Thought i would put one in my Merkur 20C, which is my regular "safe" razor.

Two shaves later its interesting that i still find the Feathers noticeably sharper than the Astras, but a little "nippy" and i have had a few tiny nicks with each shave, even though i am sure my technique is pretty decent these days. I also noted that the Feather blade had lost some of its initial super sharpness by the second shave.

The reason i settled on the Astras back then is that, although not quite as sharp as the Feathers, they are plenty sharp enough and much smoother for me. I find they hold their sharpness reliably for 2 shaves, then start to go off on the third shave a little.

I was expecting to have different results, as i haven't used a Feather for a year or so i think, but surprisingly it felt the same.

I was the same until recently
i hadn’t used a Feather for months on end,
Not that i didn’t like them,
i just had to many to choose from.
For me the feather was always better on its 2nd & 3rd shaves and i agree with the first being a bit nippy.
Paired with the AS-D2 the feather was always a cracking blade.
For me the Astra was a blade i could never get on with.
it just seemed pretty dull & boring for me the same as i felt with the Personna,
Having said all that a few years down the line i now like the Astra & Personna.
Just goes to show we’re all different.

 

[huck1680]

Glad they're working out for you. I could never get past 4 shaves with Feathers and didn't really like using them at the best of times. So I traded a bunch of them for a bunch of Nacets...we're now both happy.