How to Evaluate and Compare Safety Razor Blades

Double edge razor blades may all look really similar, but I can assure you they definitely do not all shave the same. Some are sharp and aggressive. Some are smooth, mild and comforting. And it's really important that you find the right blades for your features if you want to get the best shave possible. So what all do you need to take into consideration when evaluating safety razor blades? Let's find out. 

When shopping for double edge razor blades, there’s really only 3 factors we think you should take into consideration:

Do we give each factor equal weight in the decision-making process? Heck no!

In fact, we think 2 of those factors should play no role in your decision. For 2 of the factors, as long as they pass a basic minimum threshold, we forgot about them and focus on the 1 factor that is most important. Think of them as prerequisites and once they are met, move on. Can you guess which factor is the most important to us? Let's find out...

Price Per Blade

If you’ve ready any of our product review articles, you are probably well aware that we are incredibly budget-focused. Some people might even call us cheap… So price must be the most important factor, right? Nope.

Double-edge razor blades are incredibly affordable. You probably already knew that though as that is certainly one of the top reasons why many men switch to safety razors.

We are going to talk about sampler packs for beginners later, and they are typically a bit more expensive because they offer a variety. But after you’ve done some experimentation with several different brands and have settled on the one you want to use regularly, we recommend buying your blades in a pack of 100, which is really the standard anyway.

Why a pack of 100? You can typically find blades in packs of 10, 25, 50 or 100; but just like anything else, there are cost-savings on price/blade when you purchase in bulk. So what price range do we think is reasonable for a pack of 100?

Most reputable, high quality razor blades are in the price range between $10 and $30 for a pack of 100. You might find some packs of 100 slightly cheaper or a little more expensive, but for the most part this is the price range you want to be looking in to find good, solid, dependable double-edge blades.

And as long as the DE blades you are evaluating fall within (or very close) to this range, price shouldn't be much a factor in your decision.

If cost savings is important to you though, there’s another factor you need to take into consideration, which happens to be the next factor we evaluate: durability.

Durability

Alright so let’s say saving money is your top criteria in selecting a DE blade. Which would you rather have?

• Blade A: costs $10 for a pack of 100, each blade lasts 1 shave
• Blade B: costs $20 for a pack of 100, each blade lasts 5 shaves

Blade B might cost more money upfront, but is is more economical on a cost/shave basis. Blade A costs $0.10/shave ($10/100 shaves) while Blade B costs $0.04/shave ($20/500 shaves).

Guess what though? Even for the most frugal DE blade shoppers out there, we don’t think durability should play much of a factor in your buying decision. Why?

First of all, we have found that durability is typically directly related to the quality of the manufacturing. In other words, all reputable DE blades last around the same amount of time. And how long have we found most blades last? 5 shaves plus or minus a few.

The one exception being cheap, knock-off blades. They typically use cheaper materials and the quality of construction is not as good so they fall apart much quicker. But if you stick to brands like Feather, Astra, Personna, Gillette or any other brand that is highly recommend, you should be in good hands when it comes to durability.

Through all our research though, we have not been able to find the ‘golden gun’ blade yet. There’s just no blade out there that is significantly much more durable than the rest. So if you’re thinking you can save money by buying blades that will last significantly longer than any others, it’s just not going to happen.

Secondly, let’s do some worst case scenario calculations and try to ease your worries a little on how much your annual costs for blades might be.

Let’s assume that you need to change your blade once every 4 shaves. So this means you would need to use 91.25 blades/year if you shaved everyday.

Now, let’s assume that you buy a pack of 100 blades for $25. Even if you use the full pack of 100 blades, that’s only $25 for blades for the entire year which comes out to less than $0.07/day! Do you think you can budget aside $0.07 /day for blades? We certainly hope so.

Performance

For us, the overall performance of a razor blade is easily the #1 deciding factor when buying a DE blade. Assuming the price is reasonable (less than $30 for a pack of 100) and we haven’t heard any serious complaints about the durability from other wet shavers, all of our focus goes to evaluate which will provide the best performance.

So how do we evaluate the “performance” of a blade? Just like you should shave your face: very carefully.

We’re joking. But it actually is kind of difficult to compare performance. Why? Because “performance” is totally subjective.

Unfortunately, there are no dimensions, measurements or numbers available to support evidence whether a blade has good or bad performance. There is no scale that can measure the sharpness, smoothness or coating on a blade. It’s all based on feel.

That said, there really are only two performance attributes you can/need to evaluate: sharpness and comfort. And typically, comfort is closely linked with whether or not you picked a blade with the right amount of sharpness for your face. How so? If you get a blade too sharp, it won’t be comforting because it will just cause skin irritation. If you get a blade too dull though, it won’t be comforting either because it will cause you to use improper technique.

Sharpness

• Judging the sharpness of a blade is like guessing the aggressiveness of a safety razor. There is no scale so it is entirely subjective, but you can still typically get a relatively good estimate by reading other wet shavers reviews and opinions.
• Unfortunately, there's no other way you can judge sharpness. You can’t differentiate based on the angle of the edges or how thick the edge is. You either try it out for yourself or you get someone else's opinion and hope their “sharpness scale” is similar to yours.
• Luckily, there are great reviews and resources available online. Hair Free Life has a great chart that shows a scale of mild to sharp and where each razor blade falls on the scale. It is really helpful for new wet shavers to be able to get a good gauge on where the double-edge blades they are looking at fall on the sharpness spectrum.
• Don’t confuse the sharpest blades with getting a good shave. You want to get just the right amount of sharpness; no more and no less. Most men are more than capable of getting a great barber-quality shave without having to use the sharpest blade available. In fact, most men get better shaves by using a slightly less sharp blade.

Comfort

• Comfort is probably even more subjective than sharpness. What do we even mean by “comfort”? How well does your face respond to the razor blade? Does your face feel refreshed, clean and soothed afterwards? Or is it burning, nicked up and raw afterwards? We all want the closest shave but a close shaves sucks if your face feels like you just walked through a sandstorm later.
• Some coatings or blade finishes just work better with your face. Maybe it's your hair texture, face texture, the oiliness of your skin or the soap/cream you use. We don't know why.

Quality Control: Consistent and Reliable

The last area we research is quality control. Are we going to get the same experience every time with this brand? Or is it going to be a crapshoot where sometimes it performs like we expect and other times it's terribly unpredictable?

• Have reviewers said anything about the product being inconsistent?
• Are the edges nice and smooth on the first shave every time? You should expect the edges to get slightly chipped and worn down after each use, but good quality control should ensure that they are as smooth as they are sharp when first taken out of the package.
• Quality blades by reputable companies seem to just glide over your face better. Stick with reputable, well-respected companies and you shouldn’t have any issues with the quality control.

Finding the Right DE Blade is
Like a Middle School Science Experiment

In order to find the best safety razor blades for your face, it's probably going to take some trial and error. Some men get lucky and only have to try 1 or 2. Other guys struggle and it might take experimenting with 5 or 6 different brands. Why?

Because there are so many factors that affect how your face and neck will respond to the blade. Like we discussed earlier, what works for another guy might not work for you. So the best way to find what does work for you is trial and error.

If you like your safety razor and soap/cream, keep them as the constants in your experiment. Make the blade your independent variable. As long as your other variables are kept constant, you know that it is only the blade that is affecting your performance and it will be easier for you to nail down what works best for you.