in which Nick Experiments: Razor Blades: THE GRAND FINALE
So, it's over. Now, who wins my absolutely insane, 5+ MONTH-long OCD endurance test?
5 some odd months ago, I developed a complex - I wanted to test double-edged razor blades just to say that I DID, and so that I could find the best possible blade for my own personal use while still offering advice/recommendations to those considering the jump to real, manly shaving. Now, I'm finally done - 18 double-edged blades were tested as well as one standard Mach3 for comparisons sake. I went through 2 full tubes of my shave gel, and despite risks to health and sanity largely ignored my snooze button for 6 months so I could consistently hold my pattern true - wake, shower, shave - in a controlled manner. I also woke a girl up every morning so she could grope my face and mutter "8?" into a pillow each and every day, so make of that what you will.
Now, of course, comes the discussion - which blade is the best? Which blade is worthless? Rather than go into a long-winded, academic-style thesis, I've just made a table of all the averaged results so folks could see everything in one place. All of the previous reviews can be found by clicking on the Razorblade Review tag at the top (or, y'know, here) and just scrolling back.
NOTES ON THE TABLE:
- Highest scores in any given Column/Metric are in Red, low scores are in Blue. Obviously, for Price the lowest price IS the best score. Technically.
- I weighted all of the scores to give a final Weighted Overall that's on a 100 point scale. How, you ask? Simple - I gave each "feel" value (Feel of Face, Feel of Shave, and The Ladies Critique) an overall weight of 10 - just like it was measured. For the other 3 values - Lethality, Effectiveness, and Wear and Tear - I doubled their scores, given them an overall value of 20. In theory, these values are more precise in that they're not based on flat opinion ("feel"), but rather on observables - I was cut, I had stubble, the blade has dings, etc. There's an obvious bias here in that I'm still the ONLY person grading anything other than the Ladies value, but given that I've been doing this for 6 months at this point and no one's pointed that out yet you can all just take that particular complaint and eat it.
- For prices, I set the scale of 10-to-1 (see next point as to why I didn't go 10-to-0) from lowest (Dorco's $0.09/blade) to highest (Feather's $0.49/blade). I left the Gillette Platinum's value alone, even though it's out-of-print and likely to have gone way up in price if it hasn't' been rendered unobtainable altogether. I also didn't update any of the other prices, though I know due to the economy many of the blades ARE cheaper now - some significantly so. I don't expect it'll move the overall rankings about too much, but I have to hold the values I measured at time of test constant for all blades if I do so for one.
- I ignored the Gillette Mach3 altogether on the pricing normalization distribution, though I did add it back in at a "0" overall. Had I included it in the normalization, it would've offset the curve badly - no other blade would've done worse than a 7.5 out of 10. Had I just put it in this scale without putting it in the normalization value first, it would've gotten a -28 or so out of 10 on a 0-to-10 scale. As it is, it still has the lowest overall score - it's just no longer sub-30.
It's worth noting a few things here, now that we've seen the data:
- If these were letter grades (which they could be, given that it's a 100-point scale), no blade did better than a solid B. The Mach3 just BARELY stayed above an F, but that's largely because we ignored the pricepoint issue discussed above.
- We're going to ignore the Mach 3 altogether in this discussion, as other than the Overall Score it didn't score any of the lowest values. If anything, it was just steadily a D- blade throughout. So, really - FUCK THE MACH3. That is all.
- The most low scores were taken by Crystal (Effectiveness, Feel of Shave, Feel of Face) and Dorco (Effectiveness, Wear/Tear, and Ladies).
- The Feather blades had the worst overall price. No surprise there, as their quality control must be epic.
- The most high scores were taken by the Merkur (Wear/Tear, Ladies, Overall (pre-weighted) Score). Feather (Effectiveness and Feel of Face), Dorco (Lethality and Price), and the Gillette Platinum (Feel of Shave, Weighted Overall) taking 2 each to place 2nd. Ironically, the Dorco did well here due to my perhaps ill-concieved Lethality measurement, as this blade did well because it didn't cut ANYTHING well. A Feather, on the other hand, could take you out with just a flick of my wrist.
- WORST OVERALL BLADE was the Wilkinson Swords. If you recall, these are the blades that just hurt overall when they were used - and that was on Day 1. I sort of expected this to be the Dorco's or Iridium's, actually - surprise!?
- BEST OVERALL BLADE was the now out-of-print Gillette Platinum. I can't say I'm hugely surprised, there - the feel of the shave was nigh perfect, and more than half of their scores were above 9.
CONCLUSIONS:
Unsurprisingly, there are a number of blades to outright avoid - Crystal, Dorco, Sword, and Iridium blades are all TERRIBLE. I'm also not a big fan of BIC's or Personna's, though I've heard from 2 other shavers that Personna's are great. I don't believe them with regards to MY face, but to each his own I guess.
There are a fair number of blades that are solid, middle-of-the-road blades - workhorses, if you will. Derby's are my personal favorite of these, but Lord's, Shark's, Gillette SuperStainless', Astra's and Sharp's are all pretty solid here too. My preference for the Derby is because the Feel of the Face AND Shave is highest of these B-listers, and the price is hard to beat for the score it gets.
In terms of the "best" blade, there are several strong contenders - Merkur's, Feather's, and both Gillette Platinum's (which - I would remind you again - are out of print, goddamnit) and Gillette SharpEdge's. The SharpEdge's are the cheapest of the 4 and are a worthy sequel to their superior predecessor, and both the Merkur's and Feather's are the priciest of the blades I reviewed. That said, the Feather's are by FAR the sharpest blades I tested, and thus they are the most effective at overall hair removal. They also got the best "Feel of Face" score. The Merkur's, on the other hand, gave a solid performance - they scored the best with The Ladies, had the best Wear/Tear rating (easily 4++ shaves), and the highest overall score before the prices were added into the mix - even after the re-weighting.
In the end, your choice is really this:
- Buy some Gillette Platinum's if you can. Then, SEND THEM TO ME.
- If you want the most effective overall shave, go with the Feather blades - they're sharp as hell, and it shows.
- If you want a blade that can take a beating and still give a great shave a week later, get a Merkur.
- If you want the best value for your dollar while still getting an amazing shave, go with the Gillette SharpEdge.
- If you just want a solid shave but want to pay 50% of the A-lister values, get a Derby blade.
- If you hate yourself, get a Sword or an Iridium.
Personally, I think I'm gonna go with Merkur's - they make my Lady happy, they last a long-ass time, and overall they're pretty great. I'd love to use Feather's, but I think I still need significant practice before I can use them without becoming anemic. That there's a Gillette blade I wouldn't mind using, though - and especially since this whole thing started due to my frustration with the Gillette Mach3!, - amuses me to no end.
And, as always - my face is MY face. My beard isn't like your beard, so maybe Personna's really are what's best for you. You've seen my results over the past 5 months - now, I'd love to see YOURS.
A NOTE ON COSTS FOR NONBELIEVERS:
In terms of overall cost, I've spent the following:
- $5 for a cup to spin my lather in each morning.
- $35 for the Merkur #180
- $0 for the initial 8 blades (gift!)
- ~$22 for the next 8 blades, over several shipments and from different stores
- $10/tube on the Proraso Shave Gel. Turns out the same stuff you can get on Amazon is repackaged and sold at Bath and Bodyworks as C.O Bigelow for HALF PRICE. Nice. I've gone through 4 tubes since I started shaving like this a year ago, and 2 during this test.
- $6 for my shave balm, which is just about ready to die 13 months after I bought it.
- ~$32 for my brush.
In total, I've thus spent $86 on non-blade equipment. Once you're in the groove and have the initial setup, though, you're looking at $10 for gel every 3 months or so (assuming you don't go with a soap, which is longer-lasting and thus cheaper anyway), $6 for balm/aftershave annually, and (assuming $0.50/blade and an average of 50 blades a year) $25 in blades per year AT MOST - many are less than that, as you can see above. That's $71. 16 Mach3's from Costco cost almost $44, and you'd need 3+ packages of those just to get to 50 blades/year. And that's not including shave gel, either.
What's that mean, exactly? If you don't believe me, try it for a year - it won't cost you any more than the regular Mach3 for some decent quality gear like I use, and if you DO like it you'll thank me. If not, in 365.25 days you can go back to your Mach3's and at least say you tried and that I'm wrong. And then we'll have cake.
Now? Now, I think I'm done shaving for a bit. I'll probably do so before I get on an airplane on Sunday (Lindsay and Sarah, you're welcome to offer critique when you see me 6ish hours later), but otherwise I think I'm gonna beard it up for awhile.
Part of me sort of wants to do a double-blind test on the top 4 blades, see which one I pick when I only get one shave with each and Laurel loads the blade in for me each time so I don't know what I'm using. Part of me wants to try shaving my head with one of these, or several. Eh. The future, she is a mystery.
5 some odd months ago, I developed a complex - I wanted to test double-edged razor blades just to say that I DID, and so that I could find the best possible blade for my own personal use while still offering advice/recommendations to those considering the jump to real, manly shaving. Now, I'm finally done - 18 double-edged blades were tested as well as one standard Mach3 for comparisons sake. I went through 2 full tubes of my shave gel, and despite risks to health and sanity largely ignored my snooze button for 6 months so I could consistently hold my pattern true - wake, shower, shave - in a controlled manner. I also woke a girl up every morning so she could grope my face and mutter "8?" into a pillow each and every day, so make of that what you will.
Now, of course, comes the discussion - which blade is the best? Which blade is worthless? Rather than go into a long-winded, academic-style thesis, I've just made a table of all the averaged results so folks could see everything in one place. All of the previous reviews can be found by clicking on the Razorblade Review tag at the top (or, y'know, here) and just scrolling back.
NOTES ON THE TABLE:
- Highest scores in any given Column/Metric are in Red, low scores are in Blue. Obviously, for Price the lowest price IS the best score. Technically.
- I weighted all of the scores to give a final Weighted Overall that's on a 100 point scale. How, you ask? Simple - I gave each "feel" value (Feel of Face, Feel of Shave, and The Ladies Critique) an overall weight of 10 - just like it was measured. For the other 3 values - Lethality, Effectiveness, and Wear and Tear - I doubled their scores, given them an overall value of 20. In theory, these values are more precise in that they're not based on flat opinion ("feel"), but rather on observables - I was cut, I had stubble, the blade has dings, etc. There's an obvious bias here in that I'm still the ONLY person grading anything other than the Ladies value, but given that I've been doing this for 6 months at this point and no one's pointed that out yet you can all just take that particular complaint and eat it.
- For prices, I set the scale of 10-to-1 (see next point as to why I didn't go 10-to-0) from lowest (Dorco's $0.09/blade) to highest (Feather's $0.49/blade). I left the Gillette Platinum's value alone, even though it's out-of-print and likely to have gone way up in price if it hasn't' been rendered unobtainable altogether. I also didn't update any of the other prices, though I know due to the economy many of the blades ARE cheaper now - some significantly so. I don't expect it'll move the overall rankings about too much, but I have to hold the values I measured at time of test constant for all blades if I do so for one.
- I ignored the Gillette Mach3 altogether on the pricing normalization distribution, though I did add it back in at a "0" overall. Had I included it in the normalization, it would've offset the curve badly - no other blade would've done worse than a 7.5 out of 10. Had I just put it in this scale without putting it in the normalization value first, it would've gotten a -28 or so out of 10 on a 0-to-10 scale. As it is, it still has the lowest overall score - it's just no longer sub-30.
It's worth noting a few things here, now that we've seen the data:
- If these were letter grades (which they could be, given that it's a 100-point scale), no blade did better than a solid B. The Mach3 just BARELY stayed above an F, but that's largely because we ignored the pricepoint issue discussed above.
- We're going to ignore the Mach 3 altogether in this discussion, as other than the Overall Score it didn't score any of the lowest values. If anything, it was just steadily a D- blade throughout. So, really - FUCK THE MACH3. That is all.
- The most low scores were taken by Crystal (Effectiveness, Feel of Shave, Feel of Face) and Dorco (Effectiveness, Wear/Tear, and Ladies).
- The Feather blades had the worst overall price. No surprise there, as their quality control must be epic.
- The most high scores were taken by the Merkur (Wear/Tear, Ladies, Overall (pre-weighted) Score). Feather (Effectiveness and Feel of Face), Dorco (Lethality and Price), and the Gillette Platinum (Feel of Shave, Weighted Overall) taking 2 each to place 2nd. Ironically, the Dorco did well here due to my perhaps ill-concieved Lethality measurement, as this blade did well because it didn't cut ANYTHING well. A Feather, on the other hand, could take you out with just a flick of my wrist.
- WORST OVERALL BLADE was the Wilkinson Swords. If you recall, these are the blades that just hurt overall when they were used - and that was on Day 1. I sort of expected this to be the Dorco's or Iridium's, actually - surprise!?
- BEST OVERALL BLADE was the now out-of-print Gillette Platinum. I can't say I'm hugely surprised, there - the feel of the shave was nigh perfect, and more than half of their scores were above 9.
CONCLUSIONS:
Unsurprisingly, there are a number of blades to outright avoid - Crystal, Dorco, Sword, and Iridium blades are all TERRIBLE. I'm also not a big fan of BIC's or Personna's, though I've heard from 2 other shavers that Personna's are great. I don't believe them with regards to MY face, but to each his own I guess.
There are a fair number of blades that are solid, middle-of-the-road blades - workhorses, if you will. Derby's are my personal favorite of these, but Lord's, Shark's, Gillette SuperStainless', Astra's and Sharp's are all pretty solid here too. My preference for the Derby is because the Feel of the Face AND Shave is highest of these B-listers, and the price is hard to beat for the score it gets.
In terms of the "best" blade, there are several strong contenders - Merkur's, Feather's, and both Gillette Platinum's (which - I would remind you again - are out of print, goddamnit) and Gillette SharpEdge's. The SharpEdge's are the cheapest of the 4 and are a worthy sequel to their superior predecessor, and both the Merkur's and Feather's are the priciest of the blades I reviewed. That said, the Feather's are by FAR the sharpest blades I tested, and thus they are the most effective at overall hair removal. They also got the best "Feel of Face" score. The Merkur's, on the other hand, gave a solid performance - they scored the best with The Ladies, had the best Wear/Tear rating (easily 4++ shaves), and the highest overall score before the prices were added into the mix - even after the re-weighting.
In the end, your choice is really this:
- Buy some Gillette Platinum's if you can. Then, SEND THEM TO ME.
- If you want the most effective overall shave, go with the Feather blades - they're sharp as hell, and it shows.
- If you want a blade that can take a beating and still give a great shave a week later, get a Merkur.
- If you want the best value for your dollar while still getting an amazing shave, go with the Gillette SharpEdge.
- If you just want a solid shave but want to pay 50% of the A-lister values, get a Derby blade.
- If you hate yourself, get a Sword or an Iridium.
Personally, I think I'm gonna go with Merkur's - they make my Lady happy, they last a long-ass time, and overall they're pretty great. I'd love to use Feather's, but I think I still need significant practice before I can use them without becoming anemic. That there's a Gillette blade I wouldn't mind using, though - and especially since this whole thing started due to my frustration with the Gillette Mach3!, - amuses me to no end.
And, as always - my face is MY face. My beard isn't like your beard, so maybe Personna's really are what's best for you. You've seen my results over the past 5 months - now, I'd love to see YOURS.
A NOTE ON COSTS FOR NONBELIEVERS:
In terms of overall cost, I've spent the following:
- $5 for a cup to spin my lather in each morning.
- $35 for the Merkur #180
- $0 for the initial 8 blades (gift!)
- ~$22 for the next 8 blades, over several shipments and from different stores
- $10/tube on the Proraso Shave Gel. Turns out the same stuff you can get on Amazon is repackaged and sold at Bath and Bodyworks as C.O Bigelow for HALF PRICE. Nice. I've gone through 4 tubes since I started shaving like this a year ago, and 2 during this test.
- $6 for my shave balm, which is just about ready to die 13 months after I bought it.
- ~$32 for my brush.
In total, I've thus spent $86 on non-blade equipment. Once you're in the groove and have the initial setup, though, you're looking at $10 for gel every 3 months or so (assuming you don't go with a soap, which is longer-lasting and thus cheaper anyway), $6 for balm/aftershave annually, and (assuming $0.50/blade and an average of 50 blades a year) $25 in blades per year AT MOST - many are less than that, as you can see above. That's $71. 16 Mach3's from Costco cost almost $44, and you'd need 3+ packages of those just to get to 50 blades/year. And that's not including shave gel, either.
What's that mean, exactly? If you don't believe me, try it for a year - it won't cost you any more than the regular Mach3 for some decent quality gear like I use, and if you DO like it you'll thank me. If not, in 365.25 days you can go back to your Mach3's and at least say you tried and that I'm wrong. And then we'll have cake.
Now? Now, I think I'm done shaving for a bit. I'll probably do so before I get on an airplane on Sunday (Lindsay and Sarah, you're welcome to offer critique when you see me 6ish hours later), but otherwise I think I'm gonna beard it up for awhile.
Part of me sort of wants to do a double-blind test on the top 4 blades, see which one I pick when I only get one shave with each and Laurel loads the blade in for me each time so I don't know what I'm using. Part of me wants to try shaving my head with one of these, or several. Eh. The future, she is a mystery.