harsh first shave with Gem blades

[Flintstone]

I agree with Fuzzy that the Treet blades are smooth from the get-go; but I can only get about 5 shaves with them -- and I do dry them immediately after every shave.   I found them on Amazon a while back, but they show up as "unavailable" at the moment, so that source may have dried up for the foreseeable future.

My preference is still the GEM SS PTFE blades.   They are harsh for the first shave (and sometimes second), but the remaining 10 to 13 shaves are really nice; so the longevity overshadows the initial harshness.  I'm one of those guys that will spend a fair amount of coin on a razor, but then tries to eek out one more shave from a blade so the cost per shave goes to down by a penny or two   .

When I remember , I do use one of my mild razors for the first shave and that tames the blade; or many times I just go VERY carefully and with extra light pressure on the first shave with one of my less milder razors.  I haven't tried palm stropping or corking the blades, but I will one of these days....if I can remember. 

[joelkerr]

I don’t mind spending money on something that I know will be considerably better, but not when I just want to try something out. But hopefully a cheaper source will pop up one day, and I’ll give the Treets a try. For now, the Gem PTFE blades are easily available and cheap for how many shaves I can get out of them, so I’ll keep using them and experimenting on mellowing the first couple of shaves.

[Wchnu]

The only place I can find those Treet carbon blades is eBay, and they cost $2 per blade, a little too expensive in my opinion. But I’ll keep my eyes open for them.

Might be time to move. Lol. I can get them local. Much prefer them. If you want to try some send me a PM. It might take me a week or so but I will hook you up with some to try.