Weekly Shave Review: The Rapira Blade

This is the fifteenth of my weekly shave summaries. This week, I'm using a Russian-made Rapira Platinum Lux blade. This blade is coated with platinum.

They come single wrapped and in cardboard boxes of five individually-wrapped blades.

My primary shave soap again this week is the first pre-production run of Grandad's Slick 'n Creamy Shave Soap for Sensitive Skin (formerly called SS#11P1).

Now called Grandad's Shave Soap
-- slick 'n creamy, for sensitive skin.

[Reminder about my skin type: I have very sensitive, thin skin, somewhat loose (on the neck when shaving horizontally), with lots of angles and dips -- paired with a moderately tough beard. It's challenging to get a close, comfortable shave. Shaving gear must be chosen with care.]

Unless otherwise specified, all shaves this week were with my minimalist beard preparation.

What I Learned this Week:
.The Rapira Platinum Lux blade is a good blade. It is very sharp, durable, and coated for smoothness. This Rapira is within the performance envelope that I require and prefer, though my sense is that it's just a touch more sharp than I need (or something -- it's difficult to pin down exactly what is not quite right for my face; perhaps I need the plainum coating along with something additional). At the right price, however, I would be okay to regularly use this blade if I had no other choices, though it tends to create more weepers than others. The Merkur 33C Classic razor remains my go-to instrument, offering a comfortable shave that is close enough to satisfy.

Merkur 33C Classic

Sunday:

Simple shave today with the 33 Classic razor, and three passes: with grain, against grain, and across grain. Not any fussing and still got a reasonably close, very comfortable shave. The shave finished with a water rinse, followed by a Noxzema wash, and finally some Gillette after-shave lotion supplemented with vitamin-E oil.

Monday:

With the Rapira blade again in the 33, I did a two-pass shave (with grain, then against grain) with some fussy touch up during the Noxzema wash. A few pin-point weepers. Close, comfortable shave with no styptic, alum, or after-shave balm.

The Lord L.6 razor head on the Maggard
MR3B handle for Tuesday's shave.

Tuesday:
Using the Lord L.6 razor head on a heavy, fat handle, I took a two-pass shave this morning on the third-use Rapira blade. I got a little careless and cut myself under my chin. Also had four weepers. I guess the Rapira blade is a little sharp for the L.6 razor head if I'm not going to be careful. A fairly close shave with little irritation, but the weepers and the cut were especially annoying this moring. The cut needed styptic. I rubbed a little alum on the weepers. Then after cleaning up my razor for storage, I took a Noxzema wash.

The Chinese trash-or-treasure razor,
branded Ri,Mei.

Wednesday:
Using my original Ri,Mei razor, the trash-or-treasure razor that has been adjusted to a mild blade angle and a slightly-negative blade exposure, I took a two-pass shave (with grain, against grain) and minor touch ups to get a very comfortable, close-enough shave. The fourth-use blade remains smooth and sharp -- shaving fairly well despite the extremely mild razor. The shave looks good but is not near baby smooth. Completely adequate, though. Cool-water rinse was followed by a Noxzema wash, and then some Neutrogena after-shave balm supplemented by vitamin-E oil to moisturize, protect, and smell good.

Thursday:
With the Rapira back in the 33, I took a 2-1/2-pass shave with a twist: full pass with grain, half-pass (along jaw line, under jaw and upper neck) cross grain, and a final full pass against grain. Very close shave, with two small weepers that disappeared after the water rinse and Noxzema wash. No balms or lotions today. Really good shave.

Friday:

Another "standard" shave today: using the Merkur 33 razor, minimalist beard prep, my Grandad shave soap, my Omega Syntex brush, and the sixth shave with the Rapira blade. With a 2-1/2-pass shave like yesterday, but more aggressive and cavalier technique left some significant weepers that needed a touch of styptic. These weepers marred an otherwise good shave, which was finished with water rinse, styptic pencil, Noxzema wash, and some after-shave balm supplemented with vitamin-E oil.

Saturday:
Ending, as usual, with the 33 razor, I did a full two-pass shave (with grain, against grain) plus some fussing. A water rinse eliminated for the most part the couple of weepers, and a Noxzema wash finished the shave, which was close and irritation free.

For next week I'm returning to the Israeli Personna red-label blade.

Happy shaving!