Thread: Feather - probably not a great starter...

The "no pressure" thing works better if you have a normal-to-light beard, those of us with heavy beards have to use some pressure. I found the feather to pull somewhat on my beard, and I also found that I had to use some pressure to get a good shave from it, though this causes other problems. I suspect that the blade mounting system which relies on simple spring pressure to hold the blade in place is probably not secure enough when the blade hits serious resistance which also leads to nicks and scrapes. The light weight of the feather also means there's not much momentum to help keep the razor from bogging down in the tough patches. Many of us here with tough beards lean towards heavier razors which seems to help with this.

I use more pressure with the straight than with the feather, and also use stiff razors to minimize blade flex, and get better results than I did with the feather. Some of the guys here love the feather though, different strokes for different folks and all that.

How much of a difference is there between a feather and a shavette?

Randy, I speed read through a lot of the posts between here and the start. Remembering your question about nicks and cuts with a straight came back in mind. I shave with mostly a straight razor and about once or twice a week with a DE. For some strange reason I nick or cut myself more with the DE than with the straight. It might be because I am in more of a hurry and think I can whiz through the shave process. Either way I still think the straight razor gives you the best shave.

Glen

hello joe,

i will have to respectfully disagree with you on this. i have tried most commercially available DE blades (personna, schick, wilkinson, merkur and feather) with my merkur HD and found that for my tough-as-nails beard the feather blades work the best. they give me the smoothest nick-free irritation-free shaves by virtue of gliding through the tough stubble with no flexing, skipping or stuttering. another advantage of the feather DE blades is that they last for 2 weeks instead of just 1 week for every other brand and style of blades.

thanks,
mike

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

...I wouldn't recommend a DE for a guy like you and definitely not a Feather blade, because the blades are so thin and tend to flex with a heavy beard. That's been know to cause irritation issues...

Originally Posted by Billy

How much of a difference is there between a feather and a shavette?

I was wondering the same thing. I bought a feather AC in my mad RAD phase, but not a shavette.

I'm guessing a shavette with a feather DE blade comparable to a feather AC. The difference (I'm still guessing/infering) being a shavette is less balanced in the hand and has a shorter blade. They do have those longer DE type blades that go in shavettes. I'm unclear if the Feather company makes them, or if they can be boughten cheaply like DE Feathers can be boughten on cottonblossem.

If anyone has some comments to fill in the gaps or debunk anything I might have said, I'd like to hear it.

Hello mikey,

If you backtrack through this thread you'll discover that we're going around in circles here, but I would respectfully have to disagree with you. I've used many of the DE blades and have found the Feathers to be one of the worst options for my tough beard. The fine edge is too delicate and skips and chatters on my beard, dulling to uselessness after only 2-3 shaves, whereas the coarser edge on the american personna and merkurs is stronger and chugs through my beard much better, holding up for around 4 shaves. Not to be snarky about it, but if you get a week out of a DE blade then you've got a pretty average beard, that seems to be about the median over at B&B and SMF.

hello entropy (name???),

like i mentioned to you during last sunday's chat, it is not a rookie mistake to start with a feather AC. just like learning to ride a bike, it will take time and practice to get used to a feather AC. for me the learning curve was shorter when switching from a DE to the AC than when i switched from gillette cartridges to a DE.

as for the "scary sharp" feather blades, they do dull down the more shaves you rack up on them. feather blades lasted me 2 weeks. i would descibe the first shave on a blade as scary sharp (someone recommended running the blade through a cork to take the edge off). by the third or fourth shave, it is equivalent to using a feather DE blade. finally, by the second week and for the remainder of the blade's useful life, the shave is similar to a traditional straight razor.

with regards to whether a traditional straight razor will give you a better shave, less nicks or irritation, etc., only you can answer that by trying a traditional straight. stropping technique for me was easily learned. honing is a more difficult task that i have not endeavored yet. when i started with straight razor shaving, i chose the feather because the cost of the razor ($100) plus the cost of the blades ($14) was the cheapest way into the club. i liked it enough to try a traditional straight and have learned that with my tough beard i need a super sharp heavier blade. full hollow grind blades just dance on top of my stubble. ben posted photos of feather's japanese handled AC and it is just screaming at me right now <grin>.

as for blade size, if you do go the traditional straight razor route, for your average beard and goatee to trim around, 5/8 would be an excellent size to start with. my favorite dovo razor, if my beard would accept a full hollow blade, is the 5/8 ebony handled silver steel.

so maybe the answer is both a feather AND a traditional straight <grin>.

long-winded, yes, but hope this helps.

thanks,
mike

Originally Posted by entropy

Howdy to all… I’ve recently decided to take the plunge from a safety razor (a Merkur Futur) to a straight rig. I figured since, based on all the research I had done, honing and stropping were the most time-consuming and difficult to master aspects of the straight razor experience, I’d try a Feather (one of the “Artist Club” series). I guess the idea of the precision interchangeable blade appealed to me from both a convenience and shave quality standpoint. Well, going on week # 3 with it, I’m sort of finding it to be very much as someone else in here described – “unforgiving”!

I mean, I haven’t taken an ear off or anything, in fact I’ve actually had relatively few minor nicks and cuts. It’s just that when you’re coming from the incident-free, relatively “boring” world of a safety razor shave, any amount of nicking, cutting or razor burn are kind of a drag… (Yeah, I know – quit whining and get to the point!) So here’s my point – while I feel like I’m getting the hang of the Feather, and there’s no question that it provides an amazingly close shave, I don’t really find my shaving experience as relaxing as it had been. I actually find myself kind of involuntarily tensing up a bit as I’m shaving now. Sort of defeats the purpose…

So my basic question is – if I were to try a traditional straight razor, and take the time to learn proper stropping (and eventually honing) technique, will it reduce the chance of minor cuts/irritation by virtue of its perhaps less than scary sharp blade? I find myself totally hooked on the closeness of shave that I get from the Feather, but I feel like – even if it’s mostly a psychological effect – using a blade maybe just a tad bit less sharp might help me get over the hump. Am I totally over-analyzing this or what?? ? My last question is – what’s a good “starter razor” for someone with an average beard, and probably slightly above average skin sensitivity? I’m looking at a couple Dovo set-ups on ClassicShaving.com. Is 5/8 a good size to start with (I have a goatee to trim around)?

Thanks for already being a great resource for this newbie!

hello mparker,

wow, you're right, this thread has been going in circles. for me, the feathers are great, the merkurs nick me way to much and the american personnas are way too rough. only the wilkinson's come close to the feather in terms of shave quality but not even in the ballpark.

no offense taken, but i DO NOT have an average beard. any DE blade, schick injector and gillette cartridge lasts me only one week with the exception of the feathers. i have heard that some guys are able to use a gillette cartridge for 4 to 6 weeks <OUCH>.

the again remember "to each, his own", "different strokes for different folks", "your mileage may vary", yadda, yadda yadda...

thanks,
mike

Originally Posted by mparker762

Hello mikey,

If you backtrack through this thread you'll discover that we're going around in circles here, but I would respectfully have to disagree with you. I've used many of the DE blades and have found the Feathers to be one of the worst options for my tough beard. The fine edge is too delicate and skips and chatters on my beard, dulling to uselessness after only 2-3 shaves, whereas the coarser edge on the american personna and merkurs is stronger and chugs through my beard much better, holding up for around 4 shaves. Not to be snarky about it, but if you get a week out of a DE blade then you've got a pretty average beard, that seems to be about the median over at B&B and SMF.

Originally Posted by mikey

hello mparker,

wow, you're right, this thread has been going in circles. for me, the feathers are great, the merkurs nick me way to much and the american personnas are way too rough. only the wilkinson's come close to the feather in terms of shave quality but not even in the ballpark.

no offense taken, but i DO NOT have an average beard. any DE blade, schick injector and gillette cartridge lasts me only one week with the exception of the feathers. i have heard that some guys are able to use a gillette cartridge for 4 to 6 weeks <OUCH>.

the again remember "to each, his own", "different strokes for different folks", "your mileage may vary", yadda, yadda yadda...

thanks,
mike

Mparker and I have had many discussions on different boards, and I have to say I'm still not sure why he seems to have such an anamolous situation. A heavy, tough beard doesn't account for it. Also, keep in mind that the Feather supers last the average guy 10-14 days without stropping! It's no ordinary, just sharp blade. When I looked at it under a microscope the edge looked like a microscopic carbide tipped blade. There's something on there besides steel. So, I'm kind of puzzled that an ordinary steel blade would outlast it for Mparker while others can use it for two weeks without even stropping, but do have to strop a steel blade daily and touch it up regularly. Something is at work here that hasn't been accounted for.

I don't think a Personna blade outlasts a Feather DE for anyone else. To me the Feathers feel thinner and more flexible. Others say ther're the same thickness. But even the increased flexibility could cause them to vibrate against a heavy beard. That usually presents a comfort issue, not a cutting issue. If we were talking about str8s, the sharper edge would be less durable, but the Feathers vae some kind of edge treatment which changes the equation and is known to make the edge more durable.

Whatever the reason, Mparker's experiences don't seem to correspond to what's typical or what most of us could expect.

One week on a DE blade is average. A cartridge that lasts a month is an urban legend. we also need to know how often the person shaved, how many passes, and whether he had leather-like skiin and peach fuzz.

...UPDATE…

Well, going on my third day with the new Dovo, I have a few experiences that I wanted to share and maybe get some more feedback from the vets…

My experience thus far with the Dovo has been pretty lousy, I’m sorry to say. What I’m finding is that the blade is just not “gliding” on my skin like the Feather. It seems to be really sticking, jumping, and just otherwise proving very ornery. I’m trying to gradually moderate the amount of pressure I’m applying (from almost none to just a little), make slight adjustments in the angle hunting for that perfect 25-35 degrees, re-lathering repeatedly… I’m exhausted after shaving with it! OK, that’s probably a little bit over-blown… But anyway, I’m really struggling with it. I have a few theories about why this might be happening, but I’d welcome any input because I’m a little baffled at this point.

1) The Dovo might not be sharp enough? This is obviously a relative term, given that it was honed before being sent to me, but I think we’d all agree that even fully honed it’s not as sharp as the Feather – which to date is my only reference point. Which brings me to theory 2…

2) Maybe my beard is tougher than I thought. I always considered my beard to be pretty average, but then I recalled two things – that I tend to go through blades (either high-tech multi-blade jobs or more recently DEs) relatively quickly, and my hair has always been both very thick and grown in quickly between cuts. I know that I get 5 o’clock shadow around noon many days… So, maybe given that, the Feather is just better equipped to shave my particular beard (as others in here have suggested).

3) And finally, I’m wondering if maybe I need to use a different lathering/prep technique. I’ve tried the Dovo with both Trumpers Sandalwood and Classic’s menthol cake soap with a couple extra drops of glycerin applied before lathering, and in each case I just couldn’t get the right “glide”. Although, again curiously, the Feather responds pretty well with either...

This morning, I actually started my first pass with the Dovo, gave up on it, finished with the Feather, and then did the whole second pass/touch up with the Dovo. It was a fun experiment and all (and I did get a very close shave), but it also took a rather long time… not that that is necessarily a problem, especially on a Saturday morning! It was kind of a frustrating experience though...

So, sorry to be so damn long-winded, but I find that it helps to journal my experiences for my benefit and hopefully the benefit of others.

OK, so… where was I? Oh yeah – that Feather AC... what a great starter!

(P.S. BTW, name's Randy...)