Dorco ST-301 Platinum Blades

I've long argued that choosing a DE blade is extremely personal - to the point that I take the gaggle of reviews I read, here and elsewhere, with a necessary pinch of salt. So many guys swear by Feather blades, but try as I might, they don't do it for me - I find them aggressive as hell, no matter my prep nor light touch in use. Really, it's a horses-for-courses thing.

Dorco is another golden example. Lots of people here slag the ST-300 almost six ways to Sunday. Me? They've been my go-to blade going on a decade, with only the no-longer-available (AFAIK) Israeli "no-name" Personnas for an alternate. Many of those trashing the 300 point to the 301 as the better blade, and not by a small margin. I finally managed to snag a pack of them some months back, figuring, hey, if the 300s are so good, these <i>could</i> be better, which of course would be amazing.

Alas, no. As I mentioned in my review of the ST-300, my shave routine is what I call 2-1/2-pass (WTG/ATG for face/neck/chin, XTG for neck only). The kindest thing I can say about the 301 is that it's pretty good WTG, just okay XTG, but extremely dodgy ATG, pulling and nicking worse than I recall Feathers doing. The 300 almost <i>never</i> does this, using either my gold Gillette Aristocrat or my '72 Super Adjustable. (My silver "Brit-ocrat" is a tad rougher, which I chalk up to a more aggressive blade gap than the American 'crat.) I just tried a 301 in the SA one more time (about the 7th time now) to see if there was <i>some</i> way to make the blades behave, but no dice - the nicks were so bad I had to finish up with the gold Aristocrat with an "old" 300 loaded in it.

So...does this mean the ST-301 outright sucks? No. I can see it working for others, and indeed others here have said as much, and I believe them. But the 300 is light-years ahead when it comes to pampering <i>my</i> puss, and that's really all that counts here. And I'm now just into my second box of of ten-packs, so it'll be a while before I have to stock up again. Read the reviews, but grab a sample-pack to be sure. Aloha.

I picked these up at a beauty supply store and the price was outstanding. I hadn't heard many good things, but was pleasantly surprised at the smooth shave. After about three uses I noticed some tugging. I'm a head shaver and it's usually in the back where I notice this most and I actually nicked myself behind my left ear. So I'd say three uses tops, but they are so inexpensive I can't complain.

These blades aren't the sharpest nor the smoothest. They are better suited for those with light beards.

Quality control also seems to be a little inconsistent.