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

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

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 get exactly one shave out of the Gillette Fusion, so it's not just a DE thing.

One other aspect to this is I have very acidic skin, anything except very high grade stainless corrodes very quickly against my skin. I was disassembling my Vision this morning for a thread on SMF and noticed the feather blade in it had a surprising amount of corrosion, maybe it's just not quite as corrosion resistant as the personnas?

hello joe,

i agree with you about the blade life of cartridges. however, we had a discussion a few weeks ago over at SMF regarding the annual cost of shaving:

http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/vie...0358448#124941

please note that the original statistics quoted came from gillette themselves...

thanks,
mike

Originally Posted by Joe Lerch

...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...

Originally Posted by mikey

hello joe,

i agree with you about the blade life of cartridges. however, we had a discussion a few weeks ago over at SMF regarding the annual cost of shaving:

http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/vie...0358448#124941

please note that the original statistics quoted came from gillette themselves...

thanks,
mike

I looked at all that now, and I have to say that the original way of arriving at the 4 weeks was, to say the least strange. But the fact that all these guys said they get 4 weeks is mind numbing. Besides, I wouldn't trust anything Gillette says without a detailed look at how thet arrived at it.

I have tried every cartridge that Gillette has ever sol in this country. Never has one lasted more than a week. I have very sensitive skin, s it limits my use, but I can't imagine getting that much longer use unless my skin was like leather. And that aside, it just doesn't cut, and my hair is fair, fine and soft.

The only way I could see it happening is if these guys were taking one pass shaves.

Originally Posted by entropy

I have a few theories about why this might be happening

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.

that Feather AC... what a great starter!

I use str8s, Feather DEs and Feather AC (super) in my regular rotation, and I'm not surprized.

When I got the Fetaher AC, I already had afew str8s (shave ready), and I started honing after I had the Feather.

No str8 sharpened by a human will ever be as sharp as a Feather. Mine include ones from Lynn, John Crowley, David Uthe, Robert Williams, and Bill Ellis. None come close to the Feather.

Because of its sharpness, the Feather shaves like a DE. With a light touch, no pull and without the use of pressure. The sharpest Str8 will require some pressure and have a slight pull in comparison. So, questioning the sharpness of the Dovo was a good point, but don't expect anything to make it as sharp or smooth as a Feather. The Dovo needs to be a little sharper, because the difference shouldn't be that great, but it will never disappear.

You just documented the difference. Enjoy and respect that sharpness, and learn to use it.