Tatara Blades Arrived

Many thanks to DanLaw for sending me a couple Tatara blades to try! I loaded one in my favorite razor, the titanium Yates 921-EH, and shaved my head and face with it. I had two days' worth of growth. For reference, I've been using Personna comfort coated (lab blue) blades for most of my shaves lately. 

The head shave felt great. The blade was very smooth/comfortable and easily cleared the stubble in two passes (WTG and ATG). Next, I moved to my face. After my first pass (WTG), it felt like there might have been less stubble remaining than there typically is after a WTG pass with the Personna lab blues. After the next two passes (XTG and ATG), the closeness of the end result felt pretty similar to what I get with Personnas. I did end up with a few small weepers during this shave, which typically doesn't happen with the Yates + Personna combo. I can't say for sure it was due to the blade since this was only one use (could have been prep, lather, etc.). 

Overall, this was a very nice shave, and I would consider buying these blades. They had a nice balance of sharpness, smoothness, and comfort. 

Update on Tatara Platinum

After a very successful 1st shave with the Tatara Platinum blade, I had high expectations for the 2nd shave. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. I still got some blade resistance, but no tugging during the 1st pass. On subsequent passes, the blade no longer felt as smooth as it did on the 1st shave. I was able to achieve a DFS, but came short of a near-BBS shave as I had hoped. Furthermore, when I applied witch hazel after the shave, I got significant feedback indicating there was some irritation.

Since the 2nd shave did not live up to the 1st shave with the Tatara blade, I am decreasing the overall performance rating to 4.25 sharpness and 4.25 smoothness. After the 1st shave, I was ready to order a 100 pack of Tatara blades, but now have second thoughts. Bummer!

You do have a second Tatara blade

You do have a second Tatara blade

Yes I do and I plan to try it later. I have 12 other blades I need to evaluate between now and the end of the year and I only shave every other day. Since I have not used the Tatra blades, I will do two shaves with them as I did with the Tatara. I have previous experience with the other blades  and plan to do only one shave with each blade. 

With many blades, I find the 2nd shave to be better than the first, but that did not happen with the Tatara. I can easily use Tatara blades, I just was hoping the 2nd shave would be better. Perhaps if I had a Tatara razor it would have done a splendid job. 

There are only a few blades that will give me a near-BBS shave. That is why my normal shave procedure is to use very sharp blades for my initial passes and then finish off the shave with super sharp blades. I need super sharp blades in a mild razor to pick up the stray stubble that prevents me from achieving a near-BBS shave. However, when evaluating blades I do not have that luxury. I use the same blade and razor for all passes.

Just received an envelope from DanLaw with two Tatara blades. Thank you Dan!

I've likely got 1-2 more shaves left on my Personna then I'm going to give these a shot. Should hopefully be either Sunday or Tuesday. I'll be sure to post my thoughts as I go through each shave.

I very much appreciate your generosity Dan. Have a good evening folks.

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I just completed my 2nd shave with a Tatra Platinum blade. I found the blade seemed to be slightly sharper and slightly smoother on the 2nd shave. As a result of the evaluation of that blade over two shaves, I am rating it 4.5 on sharpness and 4.25 on smoothness out of 5. This result is slightly better than the 4.25 sharpness 4.25 smoothness on the Tatara blade, which was surprising. The difference seemed to be that the Tatra Platinum got slightly sharper on the 2nd shave while the Tatara Platinum blade seemed to deteriorate. Although there are a few blades like Feather that deteriorate after the 1st shave, they are is the exception. While I would expect the 3rd shave with the Tatra blade to be good; the Tatara blade has deteriorated to the point I would not enjoy the 3rd shave, at least not with two days of beard growth.

As DanLaw noted, he generously gifted me two blades of both the Tatra and Tatara platinum blades. Although I have some other blades to evaluate first, I do want to revisit both of these blades later in the month and try them again. I am hoping the Tatara blade I tested is no representative of the brand.

First use of the Tatara blade this evening. As usual, I used it in the Overlander (aluminum). I used Zingari Man Unscented (also as usual. Lol).

The packaging of this blade is rather classy looking, to my eye. It was double wrapped, which I see from time to time.

The blade did appear to have some glue spots, but it seemed minimal compared to others.

The shave was smooth, which is good. I can't help but feel it was reminiscent to the Tatra blue... which is to say smooth, but not super sharp. I feel like some extra work was needed to get to the near BBS I like to land.

Still, one shave does not make a review. I will be using it again on Tuesday and we'll see how #2 compares.

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Today I finished six uses on a Tatara blade from DanLaw (Thanks again!) As Paul mentioned, above, very stylish packaging and minimal glue spots. I thought all shaves (mostly 3 passes but there may have been a 4-pass shave or two) were very comfortable with no irritation noted. I used the blade in a Tatara razor, the Masamune. After 3 shaves (around Thanksgiving) I liked it enough to purchase a 100 pack on a Black Friday sale! I liked this blade as much as the Personna Platinum Chromes. In fact, the blades that work best for me all seem to be platinum coated. And like the Personna PtCr, the Tatara Platinum was great on its first shave. There are some Gillette blades (Silver Blue for me) that need a shave or two before they "settle down." It is a comfortable shave that I shoot for, over BBS, and these Tatara blades delivered that for me.

First use of the Tatara blade this evening. As usual, I used it in the Overlander (aluminum). I used Zingari Man Unscented (also as usual. Lol).

The packaging of this blade is rather classy looking, to my eye. It was double wrapped, which I see from time to time.

The blade did appear to have some glue spots, but it seemed minimal compared to others.

The shave was smooth, which is good. I can't help but feel it was reminiscent to the Tatra blue... which is to say smooth, but not super sharp. I feel like some extra work was needed to get to the near BBS I like to land.

Still, one shave does not make a review. I will be using it again on Tuesday and we'll see how #2 compares.

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I just wanted to post a quick follow-up, as I can't be the only one who noticed the disparity...

Fwiw, I have VERY coarse, wiry red hair. Many blades struggle. My unusual and differing opinion shouldn't alarm anyone looking at these blades. My hair is certainly not the 'usual' and shouldn't be counted on as a baseline for anyone other than folks just like me. Lol.

Nonetheless, for your entertainment (if nothing else) I'll continue to post my experiences. Just wanted to follow-up, as my opinion seemed rather contradictory. Happy Monday folks!

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Shave#2 last night. Definitely not as comfortable, with some irritation, especially finishing up. To me, this is a sign it's fine to switch out the blade.

I'll be trying the second test soon. Again, thanks Dan for your generosity.

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