@MaineYooper Congratulations! May you have many, many, great shaves coming your way. Your attention to details DOES pay off, and it's so worth it!
Gillette Silver Blue - A Review
- Thread starter Esox
- Start date
Great blade. My Go-To.
It has been my experience, and that of more than a few others here on B&B, that the second shave is better than the first with the GSB's. I just finished shave number 4 with one, in three different razors, and noticed no appreciable difference from the 2 previous shaves. If you haven't noticed, GSB's are my favorite! Others here have mentioned that they strop the blade before it's first use on some denim. I have not yet tried this. I prefer to live dangerously, and use my extremely handsome face to knock any burrs off the blade. But I am just a little bit off, in many ways.
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
What's the point of the wax?
Also what is the history of Gillette blades. Made in Russia by 7oclick? At least that's what amazon says.
Also what is the history of Gillette blades. Made in Russia by 7oclick? At least that's what amazon says.
Supposedly to keep them from dulling by rubbing against the paper.
@FarmerTan , these lines almost cost me my keyboard and dress shirt! Dangerous to sip coffee while reading posts before work!
I have tried the stropping (2 to 3 swipes) and I did notice a difference. Or it could have been that the post-War Tech held the blade so rigidly. But either way, it was the best first shave I had experienced to that point.
@Rhody the wax dots drive me bonkers, too. I am trying to just ignore them and pretend they aren't there. Some mornings this method works...
Interesting to read through this thread. My reading is that there is a CONSENSUS (very rare here on B&B):
1. GSB are very SMOOTH blades (just about as good as it gets IMO!)
2. GSB are SHARP ENOUGH for most (not too sharp).
3. GSB LAST well enough for most.
Just my summary of an excellent thread!
1. GSB are very SMOOTH blades (just about as good as it gets IMO!)
2. GSB are SHARP ENOUGH for most (not too sharp).
3. GSB LAST well enough for most.
Just my summary of an excellent thread!
- Thread starter
- #28
As I understand it, Gillette bought a razor blade factory in Russia, and then IIRC they did a $700 million upgrade to it and moved their main DE blade production to that plant.
There is some very good information on the below site.
Petersburg Products International, where great razor blades are made – Bruce On Shaving
- Thread starter
- #29
Wow. I'm a bit stunned tbh.
You should make a thread titled "How to Shave with a Gillette NEW SC Without a Blade!" because thats exactly what it felt like.
Shaving like that is something like a "Life Hack". I didnt have to change the angle much and once I was there just a simple grip change on the razor and I was in business. I found the change in pressure I needed to apply more difficult to maintain than the angle. I didnt feel the blade at all and honestly was stunned to end up with one of, if not the most comfortable, BBS shaves I've ever had, albeit with one tiny weeper from the difference in pressure required, which was slightly more for me. I cant say I felt the blade at all other than giving myself that one small weeper. Not feeling the blade like that and hearing the stubble being cut instead of both threw me off, but I'm onto ya now
For all you people that already do this, laugh if you must, but this is exactly the type of information that needs to be more mainstream. That one simple adjustment of technique, once explained and understood, can save some people, such as myself, a lot of blood, irritation and misery lol.
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- Thread starter
- #31
"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." Indeed.
- Thread starter
- #33
You're going to make me blush, which is not a good thing!
Much like irritation, it'll be gone in minutes! Wait....you dont get any irritation LOL, and either will I now...
1. Try the Voskhod's if you haven't yet (sorry I know this is a GSB thread. That one is on my "need to try" list). I used a Voskhod yesterday (had to use my electric today due to time constraints... grumble grumble) and it was VERY smooth. I'm going to use it a few more days and see how it does but it might have been one of the smoothest shaves I've had. Not sure about sharpness as it wasn't anything I would consider as a close shave, but it didn't tug like derbys can do to me.
2. The shallow angle you were just posting about has seemed to work wonders for me. If I'm understanding how @rabidus is describing it, you lay the top cap against your face, lower your hand until you notice it is cutting and use that angle? Just started doing that as I had been doing the geofatboy put the safety bar against my face and rotate til I feel the blade. I noticed with the RazoRock OLD style that this technique worked pretty well, but my face is still too irritated to use the OLD style effectively for now. I think most of us rotate too far when we do the top cap and want to "feel" the blade so we know it is cutting. I like what rabidus said about the audible feedback: great way to judge whether things are actually being cut for me.
- Thread starter
- #35
See that review here and yes I agree, they are a very nice blade.
Voskhod - A Review
I edited my post in the "Disheartened" thread and explained what I did today. Maintaining that very fine angle through the entire shave is more a challenge than I initially thought as I now have some patchy stubble, but yeah, it works!
The way I previously shaved, I was riding the comb almost as much as I was the cap and thats why this razor felt like it was scraping the stubble off, but no longer. The only drawback I have right now is, I was using the comb to drag the soap back as I was buffing, and I noticed today that the comb wasnt even in the lather after my first pass, so there was nothing too drag back.
Now I'm starting to understand preshave prep and its importance. Hmmm.
Interesting! I am not yet able to do blade buffing (I'm still in pursuit of the irritation free shave!) but I can see how not being able to drag the soap back would make buffing more difficult. Nice review of the Voskhod btw, I need to start looking in the blade thread more, sorry. I also have watched all of Nick Shaves blade reviews to help guide me a bit as I go forward! Glad that you discovered a technique that seems to be working well (irritation-wise anyway)!
I'm thinking it was the way you were ridingView attachment 809290
Wow. I'm a bit stunned tbh.
You should make a thread titled "How to Shave with a Gillette NEW SC Without a Blade!" because thats exactly what it felt like.
Shaving like that is something like a "Life Hack". I didnt have to change the angle much and once I was there just a simple grip change on the razor and I was in business. I found the change in pressure I needed to apply more difficult to maintain than the angle. I didnt feel the blade at all and honestly was stunned to end up with one of, if not the most comfortable, BBS shaves I've ever had, albeit with one tiny weeper from the difference in pressure required, which was slightly more for me. I cant say I felt the blade at all other than giving myself that one small weeper. Not feeling the blade like that and hearing the stubble being cut instead of both threw me off, but I'm onto ya now
For all you people that already do this, laugh if you must, but this is exactly the type of information that needs to be more mainstream. That one simple adjustment of technique, once explained and understood, can save some people, such as myself, a lot of blood, irritation and misery lol.
The comb that caused you to have a less
Than stellar experience with the 7o'clock
Blacks , to be a fair stand-up guy "LOL" you should try the 7o'clock Blacks again , while applying your new found knowledge , and
Then report back your findings , and if it
Turns out that the Blade just dosen't work
For you then so be it , but believe me and
Quite a few others , the 7o'clock Blacks are
Among the finest blades out there.
- Thread starter
- #38
Yes! LOL.
I feel the same, its made my reviews moot haha. Good thing I have full tucks of most tested blades lol.
I was riding the cap slightly more than the comb, but not a lot, and just letting the razor dictate its own angle between the two. It honestly never occurred to me to try "riding the cap" like that until rabidus explained it the way he did and again, the light went off over my head.
Gillette blades have never let me down so far, the platinum, yellows, GSB and I guess you can put Polsilver in that group? All have been great!
Yesterday I did the extremely shallow, listen rather than feel, shave with a GSB on shave #9 in my beloved Slim set to 6. Wow! Actually, double wow!! I mentioned elsewhere that I tend to bin the blade after 4 uses. Early on, shave 5 or 6 on a blade wasn't as enjoyable. Now a year later, my technique improved more than I thought, and reading in the Excalibur thread challenged me to push past shave 4 and see if there are more good shaves in any given blade. So making it to shave 9 on a blade that I believed was "bad for me" after 4 shaves is a wow. And using audible feedback instead of feeling resulted in another wow. Beautifully close with zero irritation. I plan to push the blade to shave 10 with a late morning shave today!
