What's new

Blade Manufacturers

Greetings:
I received my first DE sampler from Amazon yesterday and was looking at where the blades were manufactured. Of the 18 different packages, a surprisingly large number were made in of all places Egypt and Russia. I was expecting Germany and maybe the US. I don't have a bias against any of these places. I'm just surprised. From everybody's experience, is there a "Mecca" for blade manufacturers, or is the distribution fairly world-wide?
 
Greetings:
I received my first DE sampler from Amazon yesterday and was looking at where the blades were manufactured. Of the 18 different packages, a surprisingly large number were made in of all places Egypt and Russia. I was expecting Germany and maybe the US. I don't have a bias against any of these places. I'm just surprised. From everybody's experience, is there a "Mecca" for blade manufacturers, or is the distribution fairly world-wide?
The market for DE blades in the US is minuscule compared to cartridge razors and the profit margins are larger for cartridges. About the only US made DE blades left are Personna Lab Blues and Med Preps.
 
Greetings:
I received my first DE sampler from Amazon yesterday and was looking at where the blades were manufactured. Of the 18 different packages, a surprisingly large number were made in of all places Egypt and Russia. I was expecting Germany and maybe the US. I don't have a bias against any of these places. I'm just surprised. From everybody's experience, is there a "Mecca" for blade manufacturers, or is the distribution fairly world-wide?

Overall, the best quality blades come from the PPI plant in St. Petersburg, Russia

Other countries would be India, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and Germany. Once a few years ago Israel was also prominent but they moved most of the production elsewhere.
 
The market for DE blades in the US is minuscule compared to cartridge razors and the profit margins are larger for cartridges. About the only US made DE blades left are Personna Lab Blues and Med Preps.
I noticed the US market size when I tried to find some blades at the grocery store and Target over the weekend. Absolutely nothing to be had.
 
Overall, the best quality blades come from the PPI plant in St. Petersburg, Russia

Other countries would be India, China, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and Germany. Once a few years ago Israel was also prominent but they moved most of the production elsewhere.
Being new to the whole bladed shaving regime it just surprised me where the companies were located.
 
I noticed the US market size when I tried to find some blades at the grocery store and Target over the weekend. Absolutely nothing to be had.

The bulk of DE razor blades produced in US are not intended for shaving rather for industrial and medical use (Accutec).

I'm not familiar with the US market, here in Italy grocery stores and super/hypermarkets don't sell DE blades anymore. DE razor blades still can be found at beauty & household stores, usually Wilkinson Swords and Gillette Platinums.
A larger variety can be found at stores intended for professional hairdressers and barbers: they usually sell Astra SP, Bolzano, Elios, Shark, Derby and Treet Platinums.
 
Interesting! Until now, I never would have thought something so ubiquitous as the razor blade, in all its forms, would have such interesting (and varied) sourcing. Naive me thought there was a mega-factory in countries X, Y, & Z owned by Gillette (the most familiar name to me) that spewed out all the billions of blades we see. I am definitely learning otherwise!
 
The bad news for us is that lots of those third world countries are starting to be second world at a steady pace.
Still pretty sure that in my lifetime it is more likely to have a laser blade shaver as no double edge blades.
 
I think many poorer countries haven't switched to cartridge razors so they still sell/produce DE blades there. e.g. Treet in Pakistan


It's quite a mystery. I've spent almost 6 years (2014-2020) in Venezuela, a quite poor country, and nobody uses DE blades anymore. The only few blades I've found locally were sold by immigrants' grocery stores (Chinese, Indian, Turkish). The vast majority of the population were using cheap China two-blades disposables. GoodNews, locally dubbed "Prestobarba" and Dorcos were too expensive.
When some friends came visiting my home they always teased me because I was shaving like the elders ("los viejitos") used to do. When they spotted a DE razor in the bathroom they said it was the first time they saw one since they were children.
When the economy went downhill and the extreme poverty induced by the socialist regime hit hard the population to the point they were forced to search for food leftovers in the trash, some businessmen started to import the cheapest DE razors from China to be sold at $1 or $2. Nobody bought such razors. When I finally left the country I couldn't take with me many things and I left behind a quantity of razors and all the DE blades. I asked friends if they wanted them for free and nobody took them, only one guy said his father may have made good use of them.
I've read the same about other African and Asian countries. The very rich use Mach3, rarely Fusion carts, and the poor use cheap disposables sold on the street.
So where the billions of DE blades produced every year go apart from professional barbers' shavettes?
 
This needs a new thread posting fantastic YouTube videos!! :D

The Treet advert had an overzealous patriotic pitch to why to buy their blades, "become a true pakistani, everyone come together to buy treat"

Brilliant, considering that the culture of south Asia including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh woukd have very less population who actually keep a clean shave look, beards are very popular.

You can also check out some oft there other blade ads in YouTube. All of theme are marvelous.
 
If I had to rank the countries in regards to DE blade quality:

Only talking currently available blades, so England, France, Brazil, and Poland are not included.

1. Russia
2. Israel
3. India
4. Egypt
5. USA
6. Japan
7. Vietnam
8. Czech Republic
9. Greece
10. South Korea
11. Germany
12. Turkey
13. Pakistan
14. China
 
If I had to rank the countries in regards to DE blade quality:

Only talking currently available blades, so England, France, Brazil, and Poland are not included.

1. Russia
2. Israel
3. India
4. Egypt
5. USA
6. Japan
7. Vietnam
8. Czech Republic
9. Greece
10. South Korea
11. Germany
12. Turkey
13. Pakistan
14. China

My ranking would be:
1. Russia (Undisputed champion)
2. India (7 O'Clock SP and Gillette Wilkinson Sword are among my favorite blades. Also SuperMax Super Platinums)
3. Germany (Wilkie Classics, Personna Platinum Chrome and Muhle Rasurkultur are great blades. Timor is good too.)
4. Egypt (I love some Sharks and Silver Stars, I don't care for the rest of Lord production)
5. Japan (Feather and Kai are not my blades of choice but no doubt they are high quality blades)

6. USA (too few variants but Med Preps are top tier)
7. Greece (Bic only but both Bic yellows and Astor are good blades)
8. Pakistan (I have a soft spot for Treet Platinums, I don't care for the rest)

Israel is no more, for what I know they produce carts nowadays (DSC)
China: I'm dying to try Gillette London Bridge, Gillette Rubie Super and Gillette Super Thin Platinum. Wish postponed to 2022 when the sabbatical is over.

The other countries you listed do not produce blades of any interest to me.
 
I would argue its more about the Plant and Company doing the manufacturing than anything to do with the country they are from.

A lot of people say Russia because of the PPI blades (Where all the Gillette/Proctor and Gamble Russian made blades come from, and they have a LOT of well respected blades), but then I've seen quite a few posts recently about quality control issues at the other Russian blade plant Mostochlegmash (Voskhod, Rapira, Ladas, Sharp Star blades).

Chinese blades often get a bad rep, but then a lot of people really like the Chinese made Gillette blades.

Gillette's Indian blades and the Indian Super Max blades have a lot of fans, but then there are also Euromax and One blades that come out of the Vertice Global plant which I haven't heard much about and I have no idea if there are other factories in India.

Then there are Personna's which were made in Israeli but have switched production to Germany and initial reports seem to be that the blades are identical. Other German blades can be a hit (Wilkinson Sword Classics for a lot of people) or a miss (Merkur blades).

Getting a sampler was a good move, enjoy trying them all out and figuring out which blades you like! (but be warned, it can get addictive, I have 25 packs of blades in my shave den waiting to be tried out 😂 )
 
Top Bottom