Blade recommendation for standard razors de

• Blade recommendation for standard razors de by SlyCatCrossing on 15 Aug, 2016 13:36
• Recently acquired a standard razors brand safety razor through a pif from one of our coolest and most knowledgeable resident sly guys Mel aka Warhawk.  I'm still taking some time to work with it before posting an actual review so I can be as informed and honest as possible.  In the mean time, boy am I having a heck of a time dialing in this razor to give me consistent shaves.  I typically use a merkur 37c slant bar and it works great.  I seem to prefer gillette silver blue, 7oclock black, or feather in this razor and they also all work great with the silver blue being a typical go to for me.  Loaded up a fresh gsb into my fresh standard razors de and with a huge smile on my face and excitement in my heart I dove head first into.... The worst shave of my life haha. I'm really thinking it was a combo of blade choice and technique/angle.  I really love this razor... It looks and feels so nice in the hand, the grip is awesome, I like how light weight it is, but I want to feel the same about the final result.  I have many different blades at my disposal and am not afraid to order more so I figured I'd reach out to the forum and see if anyone has any experience with this razor and/or any suggestions.  The reviews and talks about these all around the internet make them sound pretty universally loved.  I'll play with the angle part on my end but could anyone make any suggestions out of the blades I list?
  
  I currently have on hand: feather, gillette 7oc black, gillette silver blue, gillette nacet, voskhod, crystal, merkur, dorco 301, and personna lab blue.
  
  Before getting my 37c slant I pretty much couldn't ever really get good shaves.  With the 37c I get great shaves as long as I use silver blue, 7oc black, or feather but nothing else.  I literally could not shave my neck at all prior to getting a slant razor.  I'm starting to think (but severely hoping not, because I want to love this standard razors de) that maybe slants are the only thing for me. 
  
  I won't give up on this standard razors though because I think the great shaves are in there, somewhere, and I just need more time.
• #1 by Cobranet on 15 Aug, 2016 16:21
• I wish I could help you out, but you already have the blades I use in every razor....the Personna Lab Blue. I never thought that the razor/blade combo would be such a big factor in a good shave. I realize that some blades are sharper than others and the quality of them does matter but I always thought adjusting to different razors was more about your technique and handling a different ....and in some cases VERY different razor. The handle and the head, especially coming from a slant and the weight of different razors can be a little awkward at first. I was lucky, the first blades that I purchased for my 34c are the same blades that I use with my 37c. I actually got the blades a few days before my razor arrived so I got a chance to use them with my old crappy plastic handled Gillette first. They were/are so much better than the crappy blades that I got from Walgreens and when I put one in my Merkur....best shave ever up to that point. I use my 37c for every shave now and love it just like you love yours.....best shaves I have ever had in my life. I also have/had problems with my neck area but that slant as made those problems a thing of the past for me. So to end this long winded ,long ass post....I think that there is a huge difference in the quality of blades and the shaves you can get with them but if you can't get a decent shave with your favorite blade in whichever razor you are using aside from your #1 razor (37c) maybe it's not your technique or the quality of the razor but just the plain fact that the slant is a much more efficient razor than most others. At least you have already found what sounds like the perfect razor for you, and your posts about your 37c actually convinced me to get one for myself, and I absolutely love mine...so thanks for that. Best of luck with that new razor.....if you still can't get a good shave with it you can always just have it in your shave den as part of your collection .
• #2 by SlyCatCrossing on 23 Aug, 2016 18:23
• Ran my standard razors with a feather yesterday and had one of the closest shaves I've ever had and in half the passes! But I had a wicked case of hot face after and it lasted almost an hour.  Once that calmed down I got to spend the rest of my night impressed by the closeness of the shave.  I consider this proof that I can get great shaves out of this guy if I keep working with it.  Not saying that this was a great shave but it certainly wasn't bad and considering my prior attempts with this razor I'll consider this shave a drastic improvement.
• #3 by Cobranet on 28 Aug, 2016 18:36
• Are you using more pressure when you shave with that razor? For some reason you are getting irritation from it and if you don't get any when you use a Feather in your slant it sounds like you are doing something different when you use that razor. Does this razor give you trouble on your neck area too? Is there a difference in the gap on one side versus the other? I can understand if you get a total bad shave with it but if half of the shave is good most of the time but the other half of the same shave is bad...hmmmm.Maybe try using no pressure when you use this razor if you are not already doing that. Treat it like the most aggressive razor on the market.....let the razor do all the work for you. If that doesn't work maybe you just need to retire it to your shave den as part of your collection. Good luck.
• #4 by SlyCatCrossing on 29 Aug, 2016 04:38
• I do think I am guilty of inconsistent pressure with this razor.  Between it being so lightweight and being so used to the slicing of my slant vs this straight bar chopping motion that I try to make up for it with pressure which is never the way to go. I am atleast having fun figuring out a new razor and am finally starting to learn some of the tricks for this particular one.