Blade recommendation please help

Before you get all invested in DE gear I'm going to suggest something else for you to try. (I can hear all the moaning coming from the gallery!)

Lots of folks who have already loaded up on DE gear have later found that they actually prefer SE (single edge) safety razors. Many have found that the shave is far more comfortable. That is my suggestion.

If I wanted to try SE I would find a GEM Featherweight, G-Bar, or Clik (I think that's what it's called) and just ask for blades. The best of the bunch in lots of folks minds are the GEM SS ptfe blades. There isn't the assortment of blades as there is with DE, but the blades that do exist are extremely good. A GEM FW might cost as much as $10, but I've gotten most of mine for under $5. If I had any I'd send you one. I have never seen a FW that didn't clean up nicely no matter the price. Their plating is very heavy.

If you like the mild SE razors that I suggested above there are quite a few others that you can branch out to if you wish. Bear in mind that a mild SE razor would be low mid aggressive to mid aggressive if it was a DE razor.

If you do try this let me know and I'll send you some blades if you can wait for the mail to deliver them, or you can buy some locally. Rite-Aid has the GEM SS ptfe blades, but that's not the place to buy them if you plan to use a SE razor every day. You get there and we'll clue you in to the best places to buy. Rite-Aid is just the easiest for one pack. The cheapest is to wait for the mail to deliver a few.

Pm coming your way Brian. This is something I am interested in.

This thread has been a huge help for me, so thank to everyone, and a shout to Dslack3 for the huge amount of time you have put into sharing your experience thus far

I have been using Shark Super Chrome now for, well, pretty much the whole 2.5 years I have been DE shaving.  And, while I enjoy them, my stock of 100 is running low, so, I decided to branch out and try more finally!  This is a long time coming for me, so I took the time to search through this thread and watch some vids, I know I know, it's all subjective and such, but it gave me an idea.  So, just before posting this thread, I made an order of a sample from Tryablade; 

ASTRA - Superior Platinum
Personna - Lab Blue
Polsilver - Super Iridium
Personna - Med Prep
Gillette - Super Platinum
Rapira - Platinum Lux
Treet - Platinum
Kai - Stainless Steel
Laser - Ultra
Personna - Platinum (Israeli Reds)
Voskhod - Teflon Coated
Gillette - 7 0'Clock - SharpEdge
Derby - Extra (want to try these again now that I have experience)
Feather - New Hi-Stainless (same as the Derby)
X 2 of everything
and
Super Single Edge Sampler - 4 Blades

I'm hoping this will give me a wide enough range to test with and see what I like.  Now, depending on how things go with these, I might not bulk purchase any more, at least 100 like I did with the Sharks.  That got boring, and while I could have bought other blades sooner, I wanted to burn through my stock first, I have about 20 Sharks left.  The SE blade sample is for the GEM I just purchased on Ebay, so I'll have blades for when that gets here

One thing I do know, is that a Feather blade is going NOWHERE near my Ikon Slant!     Been there, done that, happily didn't bleed out, so, ya, I know that won't happen again

Shawn, you're starting out with a wonderful sampler.  It's varied so you should definitely find some that work for you (and some that may not).  The fun is in the discovery so go for it.

Thanks for the kind words Shawn. I just received a gem in the mail too, and I will be trying those blades out as well. Your sampler looks great. Enjoy the experience of exploring the blades. It's a blast

Shawn, you're starting out with a wonderful sampler.  It's varied so you should definitely find some that work for you (and some that may not).  The fun is in the discovery so go for it.

Thanks for the kind words Shawn. I just received a gem in the mail too, and I will be trying those blades out as well. Your sampler looks great. Enjoy the experience of exploring the blades. It's a blast

Thanks, guys