I don't usually read or post outside of work hours, but I had to this time.
I just used those new blades for the first time. For background, I went longer without shaving this time, so it had been a full week between shaves, and I always do my face and my head in the shower. My face doesn't grow very thick or long relatively speaking, but by the end of the week it is a pretty solid growth. My head, at least what I have left (my forehead goes about halfway to the crown of my head, if that helps) isn't coarse or thick, but solid enough where there is hair, particularly the back. Normally when I shave I use the razor like I linked above in the shower, then since I always miss a spot or another area just isn't getting it all and I don't want razor burn I touch up with an electric razor after my shower.
That being said, I barely had to do any touch up with this razor. I'm not kidding, holy shit, this is the best razor blade I have ever used. By a lot. The thickest area is the back of my head, and one swipe was all it took to completely shave each area. I even purposely did more before rinsing than I usually do, and even "clogged" it was clearing areas easily. When I am done shaving I then stick my head under the water and swipe off all the shaving cream with my hands, and I can feel the areas I missed, slightly rough areas, etc. This time, my hand was actually sort of sticking to my head and face because it was so smooth. Like some sort of hydrostatic force or some shit was making my hand want to suck down to my skin because there was no deviations in the surface area. You'll think I'm joking, but I'm really not. It was fucking amazing. The touch up was more an exercise in hunting for an area that needed touching up than actually doing anything.
Now, is this the typical "put the awesome blade in the free handle and then all the refills are worse" tactic? Maybe. I won't know until I use this one up and try another one. And the longevity of the blades, no clue yet because I only used it once. But there was a noticeable difference in the shaving feel as it sliced through the hair compared to anything else I've used. It felt like it just went straight through with no pulling, but it still pulled it up enough for the following blade to slice it off below the surface. I'm fucking amazed, seriously. This one is 5 blades, and the Jeremy's that I've been using is also 5 blades, so same comparison there, and this is light years better than Jeremy's.
Full transparency, the handle is nothing special, but works fine and I never thought about it after I started using it. It angles all over as needed ("floating ball" technology they call it), is sturdy enough, and for $20 you can get a new one for virtually nothing every 13 blades. The handle is made in China, and the materials for the blades are "imported" but assembled in the USA. So, not entirely "Made in USA" as I first thought, but still better than nothing, and for that price and quality, unless the other 12 blades are absolute shit, I don't foresee ever needing to find someone else ever again. Hell, they are cheaper than Dollar Shave Club I'm pretty sure, and vastly cheaper than just about anyone else. The only area it lacks is the handle, and Jeremy's has a fucking great handle, I'll give them that, but this one works perfectly well, for now at least.
tl;dr these are the best fucking blades I've ever used, for pretty much the lowest price too, and if you are even slightly considering a change, you should try them.
