Thanks for the Feathers

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Saturday November 21, 2009
I must start off by saying thanks to Fido for sending me a couple of Feathers to try out. Thanks Fido. To tell you the truth I've never had such a comfortable shave ever. I don't know if it was just the blade that made the difference or the combination of the Feather and Floris Elite shaving cream that did it. I loaded the Feather into a Merkur HD and whipped up some Floris Elite with very little water, just lots of elbow grease. It ended up very thick . This was applied to nearly three days of growth that was well soaked with a hot flannel for about two minutes. Nothing else was added other than swilling the blade in hot water after every stroke and leaving as much water on the razor as possible for the next stroke. finished off with D R Harris aftershave milk. Very pleased indeed. Though I'm yet to see how the Feather will performe on day two and three. I wouldn't hold out any hope of shaving beyond three with it as my beard will usually blunt a blade at that.
 
Just finished my 1st pack of 10 Feathers this morning.

I posted a review on another forum after 3 blades (I think) and was highly critical, bemoaning the roughness and the return of razor burn.

I bought the Feather blades because I had just come to the end of a batch of 100 Derby blades and was looking for a change. It's safe to say that after shaving my way through 100 Derby blades that I was accustomed to the Derby.

I think that the mantra of ' no pressure ' was invented with the Feather in mind. For this reason these blades perform for me better in my Merkur 38C than in my Futur, which has a larger, heavier head. So a little re-training, dialing down the Futur a noch and being extra careful not to put any pressure on the blade helped a lot. The Feather cannot be matched for closeness, but am still getting the weepers. These blades have brought me back down to earth with a bump (a razor bump :roll: ), and I have come to accept that the DE learning curve continues. But hey, it's a fun ride.

I have another 20 blades to go before I will make my decision to re-buy or not.


For the record, here is my original review:

Price: £8.99 for 30. I can get 100 Derby blades for one pound more. They are still cheaper than a cartridge, however that should be a given.

Quality: The biggest dissapointment. Yes they are sharp. But poorly finished, giving a rough shave. (see below)

Sharpness: Yes they are sharp, slicing through hair with ease. A 2 pass shave can achieve BBS on my face and chin.

longevity: I normally only get two shaves out of a blade. One each side and then I toss them. With the Feather I can flip it over and go for shaves 3 and 4. These are smoother than shaves 1 and 2.

Smoothness of Shave: Poor. It was a return to the bad old days of irritation on my neck and under my chin. I would normally associate this with any combination of:

-A dull blade
-Too much pressure/ over shaving
-A poor quality blade

I will discount the 1st two, as these blades are famed for their sharpness and I am an experienced shaver.

I tried every trick in the book regarding prep, used my best soaps and creams, and have tested the blade on different razors. But still get weepers and bumps and redness. Shaves 3 and 4 are a little better and I suppose that these blades would benefit from corking. That would be one solution. Another would be just to not bother buying these blades again.

Packaging: Bog standard with the little used blade slot. My gripe with the packaging is that they are a little heavy on the gum that sticks the waxed paper onto the blade. Meaning that the paper has to be picked off. I try to handle razor blades as little as possible and the excess glue puts me at increased risk of cutting myself. I prefer to save that for the shave!
 
Put them away for a while and go back to them in a month or two.

My first experience with Feathers I didn't even get to blade number two, they were way too raw for me. I then worked through the rest of my sampler pack and went back to them a few months later. Perhaps it was my technique or preparation skills that had improved (or both, but I had a different opinion of them after that second try. This has happened to me with a few blades.

I still think they are fierce on that first shave and I don't use them all the time but now and again I like to put one in a mild razor (eg Tech), this combination of sharp blade mild razor works very well.
 
So it's not just me who gets irritated by these blades then. One day isn't enough recovery time for my face after a Feather shave, so I just treat myself once in a while. If I feel I've had a mediocre shave with another blade, I often zip around with a Feather in the Fatboy set to 4, and that generally sorts things out nicely. In general, for some reason I seem to get less irritation from any blade with an aggressive razor (seems perverse - maybe I just concentrate more), so the FB generally stays on 7-9; the above is the exception.
 
Today found a pack of Derbys in the bathroom cabinet. I thought that I had shaved my way through the whole 100. So after 95 Derbys and nothing else, the Feathers took a bit of getting used to.

As I'm well into my 2nd pack of feathers, I thought I would load up with a Derby to see how it compared.

It felt blunt. I was pulling the razor through my 2 day stubble and it felt like I was pulling the hairs out rather than cutting them. I got there in the end, but it wasn't much fun.

Bearing in mind my original review I'm not quite sure what the moral of this story is. Maybe it doesn't matter which blade you use. If you stick with it for long enough, you will get used to it and get good shaves eventually.

Me? Think I'll stick with the Feather.
 
I think the moral of the story is that some blades are much better suited to certain razors, but I think you are right eventually you will get to grips with most combinations just not always with immediate results.
 
Feathers are my favourite blade by quite some margin. I don't use them every shave, but only when I have a few days' growth.

They make every other blade feel dull in comparison! My beard isn't particularly dense but it is course. I get closer shaves with fewer passes with the Feather.

If I'm careless and do get the odd nick - which happens very very rarely - the cut is so neat and clean that it's barely visible after the cold rinse.

If you feel pulling and tugging with your current blade, and haven't try Feathers yet, do it! They'll slice through your stubble effortlessly and you won't go back.

Some people's faces can't take them but I believe that is more to do with razor technique and inadequate prep than the blade itself. Treat with respect and you will be rewarded with BBS shaves every time, with not a hint of discomfort.

John
 
antdad said:
I think the moral of the story is that some blades are much better suited to certain razors, but I think you are right eventually you will get to grips with most combinations just not always with immediate results.
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I think your right. I tried feathers in my futur and Mühle R89, it wasn't a pretty sight. I purchased a slant 37C, After many suggesting the slant/feather combo I tried that, using a few I had left from a sample pack. Perfect. In anything else other than the slant (for me at least at the moment) feathers are a no go and a perfect way to generate pink lather.
 
I am new to the shaving room and also new to shaving with anything but the mach III. I have purchased the Merkur 34C and was wondering if anyone had any input on a good razor for it. Thanks,
 
Turk said:
I am new to the shaving room and also new to shaving with anything but the mach III. I have purchased the Merkur 34C and was wondering if anyone had any input on a good razor for it. Thanks,
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Hello T,

Its not so much the blade for the razor as more the blade for you. Get yourself a blade sampler pack from here (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.connaughtshaving.com/samplepack.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.connaughtshaving.com/samplepack.html</a><!-- m -->). If you can let go of £20 id go for the Popular 55 and Lord 45 packs, if not go with the first.

Have a good look on the blade threads and here (<!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://theshavingroom.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4871" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4871</a><!-- l -->).

Enjoy the hunt fella, let us know how you get on. :)
 
well my journey with feathers was interesting. Found them a little aggressive at first, but in my very light, nimble and manouverable merkur 1904, the feathers work well, and its my go-to razor for these blades. That said, i now have a gillette superspeed which seems amazingly mild with gillettes own bleue blades, so i may try a feather in this and see how i get on.

my EJ DE87 i find feathers too harsh, preferring the middle ground of the gillette and iridium blades.
 
Hiya,

I like using the combo of a mild razor with a sharp blade, and the Iridium is my normal blade of choice in most razors. The Feather is just too sharp in almost all my rotation razors, but they do work extremely well in a few types.

The fatboy on a low setting (#4) can tame that blade and turn it into something magical, but the same can't be said for the slim or supers. It's the head design on the fatboy that does the trick.

The other razor that pairs up great with the Feather blade is an extremely mild one called the Feather 'Popular" model. In that case even a sharp Iridium isn't enough to whack them whiskers effectively, but the Feather blade is excellent and even somewhat forgiving when paired with the Popular. Nice combo actually.

Martin
 
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