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.