Derby Extra Double Edged Blades

I was really looking forward to trying a derby blade as they're what my dad uses daily and has done for many years. He loves that he can get 100 of them for £6.73 on eBay (a figure he quotes every time we talk about shaving) and that he gets a week out of each blade. Using his figures, that works out at a phenomenal 6.7p per blade and less than 1p per shave. Ideal! You know how much I love a bargain and that's the sort of price I can get behind. Along with my trusty Palmolive stick, I could be shaving as much as I like for £3.50 per year!

A Derby Extra (before the bloodshed)

So It was with delight that I unwrapped the fresh Derby blade and inserted it into my R89, all the while inspecting the odd markings. It has some Turkish writing and each face and edge is numbered. Is this usual? Have I been missing something up until now? I can kind of understand both edges of the Double Edged blade being numbered, but each face too? Are you expected to flip this bugger over halfway through the week and keep going with the other side? If that's what you do then please let me know in the comments. The fit in the razor was great mind you. The blade centred easily and the short edges overhung by a little more than I was used to but not too far by any means.

All that proved to be academic once I started my shave. The tugging, pulling, and overall roughness of this first pass completely shocked me. I persevered and carried out pass two and three which were slightly better. I nicked myself twice on my right cheek in the process though and could feel stinging when rinsing my face with water between passes. It was awful. This was confirmed when I passed my alum block over my face and felt like I had been slapped with 1000 pins and dowsed in chilli powder. Not very nice. Over the course of the next few hours in noticed a huge patch of razor burn just below my chin, worse than I ever had even with the dullest of cartridge razors. It was truly a woeful shave, and had I not had plenty of successful, smooth shaves with the Muhle blades previously, I would have thrown my whole kit in the cupboard and gone back to carts.
Given the nod of approval from my dad for these blades I thought I should give them the benefit of the doubt and have another go. Maybe that was just a dud. Maybe my Derby had come from a bad batch or had been dropped in the factory or something. My next shave was two days later and I nervously opened a fresh Derby blade and started my first pass with great trepidation. It was exactly the same. Draggy, tuggy, rough, miserable. The only blades in my cabinet at this point were more bloody Derby efforts so I grudgingly finished my shave and made a note to order some different blades. Any blades. Except Derby ones. Because no amount of pain is worth saving a few pence each week.

So there you go. One man's meat is another man's poison. The blades my old man has sworn by for years and years managed to maul my face to bits with minimal effort. I couldn't quite believe the difference between the Muhle blades I'd learnt with and these ones. The skeptic in me had always believed that "all blades must be the same, they're just sharp bits of steel" while the engineer in me thought about material properties and machining tolerances affecting performance. Just shows you, you must always, and without question, trust the engineer.

• Blade: Derby Extra Super Stainless Double Edge Safety Blade
• Cost per blade: 6p
• Cost per shave: <1p
• Place of manufacture: Turkey
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Average Shaves/Blade: 0
• Aggressiveness: Not aggressive, just uncomfortable for me. 

• Safety Razor Used: Muhle R89 Closed Comb
• Soap Used: Palmolive Classic Shave Stick. 

Chris

Muhle Double Edged Blades

This blade was the one which came with my Muhle R89 safety razor and was the first blade I used. Ever. That may sound odd in a review as I have nothing to compare it to, but hear me out. Maybe this blade is harsh? Maybe it works out too expensive per blade? At the point of testing I had zero frame of reference. Unperturbed, I jumped right in.

A Muhle "RASURKULTUR" DE Blade

My single blade didn't come in such a nice little plastic box as shown above. Mine was in a plain little wrapper, in amongst the instruction book for the R89. It would actually have been very easy to throw away with the bumf.

The blade itself centres very well in the holder and seems of decent enough quality. Edge exposure is good and even on both sides and the short edges protrude enough on the R89 to make any minor centring adjustments easy during tightening. The markings on the blade are subtle with just the Muhle branding and "Shaving Culture" written on it in native German.

With hindsight I can look back on the shave experience of this blade and comment a little better than I may have done first hand. At the time, especially on shave #1, I was extremely nervous of cutting myself with all the new apparatus laid out in front of me. I took it slow and easy over the course of my first ever three pass shave and walked out the other side intact with no nicks, cuts, or weepers. Success!!
The shave was good. No WOW! moments yet, but that would come. There was minimal drag and no real tugging even after 3 full days of growth. The blade was smooth and not the slightest bit aggressive. I found the finish on my neck and cheeks to be excellent, and around the goatee area to be good, but not "Baby Butt Smooth" as the septics like to say. This was normal for me, I assumed this was how close a shave you could ever hope to achieve. Afterwards I observed no razor burn or irritation - overall a glowing report!

I managed 4 full shaves (12 passes) before I noticed the edge to be dulling. Hell, I was happy with this after my years on cartridge razors: getting around 6-7 shaves but for a considerably higher price per shave. I would certainly be interested in buying another pack of these blades given my current experience level and confidence in DE shaving. I do believe that Muhle made an excellent decision to bundle this blade with their entry level razor. It certainly didn't put me off DE shaving which happened to one of my close friends, prompting him to give away the remainder of his blade stash.

So the facts:

• Blade: Muhle Double Edge Safety Blade
• Cost per blade: Unknown - bundled with safety razor
• Cost per shave: Unknown - see above
• Place of manufacture: Germany (I think)
• Material: Stainless Steel
• Average Shaves/Blade: 4
• Aggressiveness: Not even remotely aggressive.

Smooth Operator - Team Muhle

• Safety Razor Used: Muhle R89 Closed Comb
• Soap Used: Palmolive Classic Shave Stick. 

Thanks for reading if you made it this far down. Next time I'll be reviewing a blade which splits popular opinion online but which Auld Bob deems "awright" - the Derby Extra Super Stainless.

Chris
 

Consistency in testing - my gear.

I suppose if I'm going to review different blades and compare one to another, the razor and soap should really be the same throughout. I may well over the course of the coming months and years decide to review a soap on its own, but I'll always make it clear if I'm ever using any other eqiuipment.

The Test Razor

The lovely Muhle R89. 

The thing with a lot of razors out there is that they are very similar and can be very confusing for the newcomer. Not only to look at, but some are actually identical. The head of the Muhle shown above is actually the very same as the head on the Edwin Jagger DE89. They just have different handles. Now I, like a lot of people I suppose, do a lot of research before I buy a new consumer item. This wasn't possible for me in this instance because I got the Muhle as a gift. As luck would have it though, this is the one I would have boight for myself anyway. It's widely regarded as a good beginner razor because it's not too aggressive and isn't a huge investment really. One can be had from Amazon for around £25.

My R89 is my daily shaver and will be used as the datum for all of my tests. If I buy or receive any other razors in future I will be sure to mention them here, but they won't be used for blade testing. 

The Test Soap

Cheap and cheerful - in a good way

Again, I'm sure I will come to test and love some other soaps or creams, but for testing purposes the Palmolive Classic Shave Stick will be the go to guy. It's cheap (49p from Asda, 50p from Tesco if you're feeling flush), lathers well, smells nice, and is generally just a lovely thing to use. I settled onto this over my previous Arran Arromatics Bay Citrus soap (£15 I might add...) because it's just nice. 

It quickly works up a lovely lather and without much work at all will give great slickness and protection. This alone would be a good enough reason to purchase, but given the phenomenal value for money, it's a no brainer. I mean... if one stick lasts me two years (more than likely given my usage), I could buy SIXTY YEARS worth of sticks for the same price as ONE Arran Arromatics soap. Aye, exactly. I don't mean to appear to be a tight Scotsman, but come on...

So these will be the standard issue blade blog test equipments... I hope to use them for many a review to come,

Cheers. 

An Introduction

Hi. I'm Chris, and I like razor blades. "What a riveting hobby" you might think! Well, I know it's kinda boring but if you've found this blog then you must have Googled a review of a certain blade. So there....you're just as sad as I am. Get over it.

What I'm planning to do with this blog is simply log and review double sided razor blades, comparing one brand to another, and trying them all out. There are hundreds of different kinds out there, including vintage ones produced decades ago which survive wrapped in their little paper cocoons, ready to be used and enjoyed.

At 32 years of age I discovered the wonders of shaving with an old fashioned safety razor. The kind my dad shaved with, the kind his dad probably shaved with...and so on. I find it quite nice to think of that tradition going back, and to think that apart from the iPad streaming my music from the internet... much of the morning routine hasn't changed at all for over years and years.

Shaving used to be a huge chore to me. Something I did as little as often because it hurt, irritated my face, and was generally not a very nice experience. I started off shaving nearly 20 years ago with a Gillette Sensor Excel, before moving on to a Mach3 and then numerous iterations of the Fusion range. They were all much the same really: expensive, plastic, cheaply made. Some of them vibrated. All of them were pish.

I received a lovely Muhle R89 closed comb safety razor as a gift and I haven't looked back. I have discovered the incredibly therapeutic nature of a proper wet shave, and relish the half hour I can spend in the bathroom, away from wives, children, and the general hustle & bustle of family life. I love the ritual of the whole thing.

So there you go, now you know my shaving history and I can get on with the important task of buying and reviewing blades! I'll probably review the odd soap or cream too, but not razors themselves due to the fact that I only have one (so far!) and I have nothing to compare it against!

Cheers,

Chris