Leaf Razor Blade Choices:

The U.S. Postal tracker has been updated and I could not be more excited and happier than I am now. My Leaf razor is scheduled to arrive this coming Thursday as you can see below:

Unfortunately the blades that I want to try first before won't be here until this coming Friday as you can also see below:

Here's a list of the blades that I ordered from Maggard Razors. I spent a grand total of $10.25 U.S. Dollars for 27 blades. This does not include shipping costs because that rate varies based upon location. So I will leave that part out from now on. So lets do some math here. $10.25 divided by 27 total blades = .3796. I'll go ahead and round that up to $.40 cents per blade which is 10 times cheaper than cartridge razor blades:

The reason that specific cost is high is because of the $5 U.S. Dollars price tag on these Feather DE blades which can be seen below:

^ Feather DE blades are the sharpest DE blades you can get in my humble opinion and there are several people out there who would agree with me on this specific statement. They also tend to have an extremely harsh post shave feel afterward. The post shave kindly reminds me of a sun burn with most of my DE safety razors. I have no clue what they will be like in the Leaf razor at all which is why I ordered them. I will do a write up on each and every blade that I use in the Leaf razor. My next blade choice I have been hearing and seeing in a lot of shave of day posts and that would be the Gillette Wilkinson Sword DE blades:

^These were extremely inexpensive at only $1 U.S. Dollar for 5 blades which puts the costs at $.20 cents per blade. I've spent more than that on a cup of coffee so that is definitely a plus. I never got around to trying these blades in a DE safety razor so I will give them a go in the Leaf. Up next is an old favorite amongst many wet shavers and it's the ONLY DE blade that's still being manufactured here in the United States of America and that is the Personna Lab Blue blades:

^ These are made in my home state of Virginia near the Richmond area. I did try the Medical Prep blades which is used to prep a patient for surgery which were only good for 2 multi pass shaves in a DE safety razor and I really loved the Personna Reds which were also good for 2 shaves in the 37C slant. So these will be very interesting. The costs of these blades is $2.00 U.S. Dollars for 5 blades which puts the costs at $.40 cents per blade for this specific go around but you can buy 100 of these blades for around $13 dollars which brings the costs down. My next blade of choice to try out I have tried before and they're crazy sharp. Especially in slants, and that would be the Gillette 7 "o" Clock blacks :

^In your standard DE safety razors, the Feather DE blades are the Ninja Grandmaster when it comes to sharpness while these Gillette blacks are its Master student. These are $2.75 for 7 blades which would be $.40 cents per blade. These will be very interesting in the Leaf. And of course, I will also be trying the blades shown below with the penguins checking things out:

^ The Perma-Sharps I've used repeatedly and are an extremely comfortable blade. The only difference between them and Feather blades is that the Perma-Sharps were extremely comfortable afterward. The Gillette Silver Blues are slightly sharper than Personna but not quite as smooth. The big surprise for me was the Parker Blades which was sent to me by Dr. Mike's Emporium and they are a very comfortable and a solid middle of the road DE blade. I was told by several people that the Leaf razor is what they call a "sleeper" type of razor which means that it might look evil but is comfortable and enjoyable to use in addition to removing the toughest stubble very efficiently. I will find out when it arrives this coming Thursday. So new guys, I strongly suggest and recommend that you make a similar purchase with each and every DE safety razor you buy. The reason behind this is because you can and will get different results with each and every razor even if you stick with the same brand of blades. I'm also wanting to try blades in the Leaf that I did not enjoy in previous shaves. That for sure is going to be interesting.

Bye Bye Reef Point Soaps:

Not a good night at all for the wet shaving community. First we lose Google Plus and now Reef Point Soaps is permanently closing up shop. So once their stock is gone, they are calling quits. I wish them all the best because I had a couple of their soaps sent to me and they were amazing. Below is a photo of a tweet that I took a picture from the How To Grow A Moustache Google Plus community:

R.I.P. Google Plus:

It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that over the next 10 months, Google Plus will be no more if not sooner. That means that the 4 communities that I am a member of, will no longer exist. A Google Plus community is like Google's version of a Face Book group. Over the weekend, a bug infected Google's server and exposed 500K members to being hacked. So in order to contain the security breach, they have decided to put an end to Google Plus permanently. Here's the link to the article that was posted on Fox News: https://www.foxnews.com/tech/google-to-shut-down-following-bug-that-exposed-500k-profiles .

The first step has already taken place and that was to disconnect YouTube from Google Plus. What that means is that when you posts a video, it will NOT show up on Google Plus. I will miss the 4 amazing Google Plus communities that I am a proud member of especially Wet Shavers United which I had the pleasure of being a moderator of. I will stay with these communities until they are gone. Google talked like it would not take that long before G+ was shut down. I think the only reason they are going to stick around that long is to give people a chance to find other options. My blog is NOT effected or going anywhere as far as I know. So if any news says other wise, I will let you all know first thing. There's also another developing story in the wet shaving world as we speak which I will write about tomorrow.

Leaf Razor Ordered!

Finally, I have ordered the Leaf razor. As many of you know, I have been wanting this razor for quite a while now and a few friends did mention me in some YouTube videos that I should really look into investing in one of these razors and I did. Unfortunately I was not able to get the exact finish I wanted which was the new Matte Silver finish they have recently added so I had to go with my second choice which was black. Right now that's the only finish they have in stock:

The cost was pretty expensive being $82 U.S. Dollars shipped but considering the design and the great reviews it gets, I think it's totally worth the investment. And unlike the One Blade and One Blade Core, I have numerous blade choices available:

I can use just one half of a DE blade and move it from one slot to another to change my shaving experience or go ahead and load three halves for an even closer shave. You can also purchase factory split DE blades for as low as $6.00 U.S. Dollars for 100 blades which is almost nothing. So I am totally excited about this and it's been in the works for a while now. I will do a detailed YouTube video on it and don't be surprised if you see it in every shave video that do once it arrives. Now I am off to purchase a DE blade sampler pack as do I do with ANY DE razor.

Blade Longevity?

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It's still coffee time for me here in Southwest Virginia and I have switched to decaf for the night. So while I'm enjoying some decaf coffee, I thought I would take the time to address something that I get asked about a lot and that's DE blade longevity. That's one of the two questions I get asked a lot with the other being about costs. This question along with various versions about costs usually gets asked by cartridge users more than anyone else and it's usually from someone who got that eye opening moment when they go to spend all of that money on cartridge refills. They are often quite shocked when I tell them that I average between 3 to 5 multi pass shaves per blade and that I can get 100+ blades for what they are about to spend on that cartridge refill pack. They then start to do the math in their head and end up having that "ah ha" moment. I usually tell them to go online and check it out and then I don't see them again:

I pretty much tell them to go online and search because there are much better choices out there compared to what you find in various big box stores. And if you don't want to use a soap and brush, you don't have to. I've got friends that still use the canned shave foam but use double edge and straight razors instead of the cartridges. I've touched on this a little bit in the past but not a lot mainly because not every one's longevity will be the same. It depends on the razor, how much beard growth you have, what type of skin and hair do you have along with the blade that your are using at that specific moment. So longevity is really subjective. But my answer is usually 3 to 5 shaves per DE blade give or take a little.

Costs: Leaf Razor Vs Cartridges:

It's been a while since I have done a blog post and it has also been a while since I have done a cost versus cost type of blog post as well. So I figured why not do this in a blog post. I will be doing a YouTube video about this on a later date after I purchase the Leaf razor which shaves like a cartridge but uses half DE blades. Sadly, I can no longer use straight razors due to the lingering side effects from a medically induced coma I was put in nearly 7 years ago. I also get cut way too easy with DE safety razors and I'm a free bleeder so as a result of these factors combined with sensitive skin, I am forced to purchase the Leaf razor So with that being said, lets get started:

First I must say that I'm totally disappointed and shocked at how high priced the Gillette Fusion cartridges are. This photograph was taken at my local Wal-Mart and there are other places that charge even more for them which is past being ridiculous:

Sam's Club isn't any better in fact they are worse. So don't be surprised if you walk in there and see a $55 U.S. Dollar or more price tag. Here's what the bulk pack costs you:

^ By the time you add sales taxes, you are looking at a $33 U.S. Dollar price tag for 8 blades that may or may not shave. So lets do some math here. $33 dollars divided by 8 blades = $4.13 per blade (rounded up from $4.125). That my friends is retarded. Being on disability benefits means that you are now on a fixed income and from experience, I can tell you that no one can afford these prices especially us that are on a fixed income. The last package of these that I bought went directly into the trash because every single one of them was a dud blade. In nearly 5 years of wet shaving, I've gotten maybe 3 or 4 DE blades that were duds. Schick was a little better in the price tag but the shave quality was far worse than Gillette hands down:

^ That was for a pack of 4 blades. The bulk pack is roughly about $3 U.S. Dollars less than Gillette's blades. These break down to $2.97 per blade before taxes are calculated in. No wonder the DE safety razor market is taking off like a rocket. These cartridge blades are just too expensive. Now lets take a look at the costs of Harry's cartridges:

^ These were the lowest priced cartridges outside of getting the dirt cheap disposable razors. These break down to about $2.00 U.S. Dollars per blade. I have never shaved with Harry's blades or products before so I can't comment on the shave quality or longevity of these specific blades. Their bulk pack wasn't too bad but they are still too expensive:

^ Once again it's about the same in the price give or take a little. Now let me explain how the Leaf razor works and what exactly it uses. The Leaf razor uses Half of a DE or double edge blade as seen below and the costs of the blades are dirt cheap as well:

You can also customize your shave as well. For example lets say you just want to use just 1 half of a blade instead of 3 and you want it to be mild. You can do that with the Leaf razor as seen below:

Just simply choose how many half blades you want to use and if you just want to use 1, simply decide which slot to install the half blade in. The bottom slot is the most aggressive while the top slot is the mildest. You can even take it further by choosing either a mild, medium or aggressive blade to split in half. So the combinations alone destroy the cartridge razors. Now here's the final nail in the coffin for cartridge razors. The costs of DE blades are almost nothing:

^ This is just one brand of many and the costs of these Personna Lab Blue blades which is an extremely popular blade starts at $13 U.S. Dollars for 100 blades depending on where you go online to purchase them. This specific website is Maggard Razors and right now they are out of these specific blades and they have other brands that priced lower than these and are equally as popular. So lets do some more math here. $13 dollars divided by 100 blades = $.13 cents per blade. I'll take that price over the $5 dollar per cartridge price tag any day. And since you split these in half for the Leaf razor, that's really 200 blades if you just use 1 half of a blade per shave. Now this is where things get even better. The factory split blades are even cheaper as seen below:

^ $6 U.S. Dollars for 100 half blades. There are some that's about the same price maybe a shade higher. So let's do some more math ladies and gentlemen. $6 dollars divided by 100 blades = $.06 cents per blade. It's been a really long time since I've used a Shark blade but some people do like them and this will be a completely different shaving experience because the Leaf razor has NO LEARNING CURVE. So if you have been using a Gillette Fusion, then this is your razor minus the extremely expensive blades. Here's the blades that got my attention just recently:

^ These are just $6.50 per 100 half blades. I recently just used one of these in my Doc razor and it was extremely comfortable in that razor. They do have a premium version which costs $8 dollars for 100 half DE blades:

Plus there are some other extremely popular blades out there as well:

I see the Rapira Platinum Lux and Voskhod blades in a ton of shave of the day photos and videos. In addition to the Astra green labeled blades. I also see these Gillette Wilkinson Sword blades a lot as well. The Gillette Silver Blue DE blades have been a personal favorite of mine:

I've not tried the Parker blades yet but someone is sending me some to try out. All in all, the double edge or DE blades wins hands down. Even the vintage cartridges are too expensive and to be honest, they aren't very good in terms of shave quality. That is one of the reasons why I no longer use my Col. Conk Track 2 razor, poor shave quality during and afterward. So once I purchase the Leaf razor and it arrives, I will be doing blade reviews left and right and the ONLY razor you will be seeing in these reviews it indeed the Leaf razor.

Mile High Menthol & The 207: Cold Water

Tonight's shave felt extremely good, especially since I used cold water to shave with. Sorry no shave video tonight ladies and gentlemen. My sinuses are messed up and I really didn't have a lot of time. After a nice, hot, and relaxing shower, I grabbed Catie's Bubbles and their fantastic Mile High Menthol scented soap which is their take on Proraso green. The menthol and eucalyptus combined with the aftershave splash, Osage Rub was perfect for clearing up the old sinuses and since it was 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the menthol chill was much appreciated today:

The 207 has got to be one of my best razors of all time. It was perfect tonight. Between that and using cold water, I was slick as black ice after 2.5 passes. It was also my most comfortable shave. Cold water shaving wins hands down. It's a lot more comfortable shave in my humble opinion which is all that I am after.