Been shaving with a DE safety razor for a few months now. Working through a sampler bag of blades. Knowing how sharp the feathers are, and after reading many comments about how aggressive they are I decided to save the feathers for last in order to gain more experience and courage before trying them out. First shave with the feather turned out to be the best shave I have ever gotten, took it easy, only using weight of the razor for pressure. No discomfort at all, just a really great smooth shave. Second shave completely different story. Felt like I was shaving with barber wire, still a good shave, just rough, no real razor burn or nicks or anything. Third shave tried hand stropping, result was much better than second but still not as good as the first. Fourth and fith shaves, after hand stropping, about the same as the third. Going to continue using this blade to see how long it will last but thinking that after that first shave this blade is no better than some of the other blades I have tried. Just wondering if anyone else has had similar results. Not sure this blade is worth the extra money for just one good shave. Yes, I know that tossing these blades after one shave are still way cheaper than than the mach 3 junkers I had been using, just thinking that any decent blade should give consistent results for at least a few shaves.