Gillette Bleue Extra

I always pick up a few boxes (10 pieces in a cardboard box) whenever I'm in France. I've not seen the plastic boxes as shown in this thread but the cardboard boxes are the same blades.
Readily available in supermarkets but I've never seen them outisde France.
These are my personal benchmarks and so far nothing has surpassed these blades. At the price they are unbeatable anyway.
I can get about 7 smooth shaves out of them but I don't have a heavy beard. For those who have they should still get 3-4 decent shaves with these blades.

These blades give me a very close, smooth shave. No redness or irritation and unlike their close competition, Feather, they don't give me any nicks or weepers either.

I can get 4 good shaves out of a blade, 5 if I'm desperate, so I don't have any problems with value for money.

Quality seems to be consistently good, no "duds" so far after 4 blades from one packet.

My only complaint is that the oil they use to preserve the blades has stuck the whole dispenser of blades together. I had to break the dispenser open to get the blades out.

Other than that I like the concept of the dispenser with the used blade slot in the back.

Will buy more, hopefully the sticking blades was a one off.

I tried out nine blades and took notes. Overall, the blade seemed to do the job, but then I would develop really bad razor burn about the fourth day, although I was being very slow and careful with technique. Used the blades in a Fat Boy (5). Obviously, a high quality blade, but it ended up irritating my skin for some reason.

Hi all
Bought a bulk lot off the bay after reading the reviews .
Really nice smooth shave .sharp as expected from the reviews.
Used one 3 times now and will use it the 4th if it will allow.
nice to have the old style package ,never been keen on the cardboard
and wrapper type.. will buy more now .

Price: Bought a batch of 100 blades for about 13€. 0,13€ per blade is excellent, and these blades worth it.

Quality: This seems to have an excellent quality.

Sharpness: To me they're almost as sharp as Feather. Gave it a 9, because the 10 is exclusive for Feather

Longevity: 4 wonderful shaves, with a Muhle R89 or a Gillette Slim. Could have tried to stretch the 5th shave with the Slim with an higher setting.

Smoothness of shave: This blade is so smooth, almost as smooth as a Personna Medical prep blade

Packaging: 10 blades inside a plastic package. The blades have no wrapping, and are covered with an oil to make easier to slide.

After trying 2 blades in a 10-pack, I'm hooked on these. I've now bought 500 for $87.50 shipped, 17.5 cents per blade. I use a blade all week (6 shaves, and could probably push it further), so I'll probably get about 10 years of shaving from that order. This blade has an amazing edge, very sharp and effective, and it provides a smooth shave of the highest order. I've tried quite a few brands in my Merkur HD (Merkur, Derby, German Wilks, Astra SP, Feather, Lord Plat, Shark SC/SS), and these NOS Bleues rank right there with my other favorite Medical Prep Personnas. The mineral oil smell doesn't bother me a bit, and the ones I've gotten were not stuck together. I also am getting along well with the packaging and the disposal slot. These are a great value for me and I recommend them highly while they're still available.

IMHO they are one of the best blades I have ever used! Nearly as sharp as a Feather but second to none for smoothness. I stocked up because they are that good!

Price: I've been getting them for about 17.5 Cents a blade. For the quality thats the best deal I have found

Quality: Shaves the best of any blade including swedes. YMMV

sharpness: Probably not as sharp as Feathers, but good for me.

Longevity: I get 6-7 shaves per blade. Thats great for me.

Smoothness of shave: SMOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHH.

Packaging: I love the plastic box with a space for used blades. I dinged it one because I wish the didn't have the unnecessary cardboard backer.

Note the blades I am reviewing are the NOS ones that come in a plastic pack with 10 blades. They aren't making them anymore so I expect them to be harder and harder to get and more expensive.

My sister went to France for a few weeks and brought a couple of packs of these back for me. 10 wrapped blades in a cardboard box. From what she told me it was like $0.50 per pack in the drug store.

I have to say that they are way smooth and definitely sharp enough to get the job done. Not as sharp as feathers but tons better than Merkurs or Derbys.

Blades last 3 - 4 shaves for me.

Overall I'm very happy with these blades and will definitely buy them again if I see them.

Price - I got 100 for $21 shipped.

Quality - Excellent. These are now my go to blade, previously used Red Personnas.

Sharpness - It's about as sharp as a feather maybe, smoothness is where it counts.

Longevity - I get about 3-4 shaves, which is my usual with my Personnas.

Smoothness of Shave - Excellent. Smoothest blade I've tried yet. This is what sold me on these blades.

Packaging - The packs I have come with the plastic dispenser and are made in Stockholm, Sweden. These are Swedes with a different coating, hence the shorter life span.

For some reason now I find myself only wanting to use gillette hardware now. I've been leaving the merkurs in the drawer and going for the gillette red tip and super adjustable more.

I've just finished my third shave (fat-handled tech) with a Bleue Extra, and the experience has been good. Two of the three shaves came after 2-3 days growth, and every one came without a hitch. I'm not sure if I want to go for a fourth shave, but I'm very pleased overall, and I'm glad I have more of these to reach for. It doesn't seem quite as sharp as an iridium or a shark. Reminds me a little bit of a derby on its second shave.
-- Chet

Have not tried these yet, but bought a pack of ten blades at "Di" drugstore in Brussels (there is one at City2), for 2.99€. The packaging does not include a plastic dispenser, it is instead in a cardboard box, with each blades wrapped in paper. And according to packaging, they are manufactured in Russia, St Petersburg.

Price:
Good deal on eBay for these!

Quality:
Typical top notch Gillette

Sharpness & Smoothness of Shave:
Works really really well in a Gillette Tech razor, haven't tried it in anything else.

Longevity:
For me, 5 complete 3 pass shaves. This is a tad above average for me.

I recently discovered these blades, and find them to be top performers. In fact I find them near identical to the fables swedes in all but 1 category and thats longevity. Id even be willing to bet that they are in fact the same as swedes minus the platinum coating which gives swedes the clear edge in shaves per blade(just a theory of mine.....not fact). To each his own but I think these are great blades at a very reasonable price.

For some reason, my favorite blades these days are the blues--Bluebirds and now the Gillette Bleues. Now, I've never used a Gillete blade before--until now I was Red Israeli / Crystal guy. But then a nice person traded me a pack of these for a pack of Bluebirds. I think I got the better of the deal.

First, let's get the bad out of the way. The packaging for these stinks--or at least for the one I got. Blades should always be wrapped in individual packages, for safety purposes alone, and mine weren't. Because of this, they were all stuck together, making it impossible to dispense one at a time. I had to crack open the box and manually separate the blades from each other--not a task for those weak of heart of hemophiliac of blood.

I tried them both in my Fatboy at the 4 and 6 settings and with my semi-retired Red Tip.

The results:

Price: I just bought 100 for $21 from a guy on Ebay who seems to be the only person selling these in bulk. But of that cost, $7.50 is for shipping. Still comes out to 21 cents a blade--a little pricier than I'd like. Hopefully, competition will come in to help provider cheaper bulk prices.

Quality: They feel a little bit flimsy when you hold them, but when you put 'em in the razor, they're top notch.

Sharpess: To me, they're comparable only to Feathers and feel very similar. Like Feathers, they are not forgiving and will leave you with weepers if you don't respect them. Unlike Feathers, they are not lacerating.

Longevity: I got three BBS shaves from these. The fourth was a little rougher. I'm not trying for five with these.

Smoothness: Like budda. All the smoothness of Feathers without the latter's slicing and dicing. Even in my Red Tip, which I really don't like all that much, they felt so good I almost unretired it.

Great blades! Try some--if you can find 'em.

Jeff in Boston

I have a sneaking suspicion that these are carbon steel.
For me they are very sharp, not very smooth & doesn't last for more than 3 shaves maximum.
Why smother blades in mineral oil if they are stainless?
That is infact the classic way of keeping carbon steel from rusting.

My $0.02

Found some, and just tried one in my Rotbart 2000 with Cella. Smoothest and closest shave I had sofar (newby). As I am new I hesitate to call something BBS, but I guess it comes close (just one pass!). I do not like the dispenser, but that's me. Hence the n/a on the packaging. Longevity is never an item for me, as I only use a blade once or twice. This is my daily blade now...

I have a different packaging but they are Gillette Bleue Extra!

Quite smooth but not the smoothest I had. They didn't give me a lot of nicks, which is good! Those are sharp and gave me an average of 3 shaves per blade. I just finished my pack of 10 blades.

I used the blades in an Open Comb (England) with a bull mastiff handle.

It's a good blade but I think I prefer something like Astra Superior Platinum, Feather or Kai. If you can get your hands on those, I recommend them!

These blades are readily available in the big Monoprix chain stores in France. 2.15 euros for the 10-pack. The manufacturer is clearly indicated: ZAO Petersburg Products Int., Saint Petersburg, Russia.

I won't give a rating yet but an interesting observation.
I acquired some of these blades recently.
I also acquired and was using a Fat Boy,mainly with Astra Keramiks and I was pleased with the results.
I tried the Bleues in the FB set on 4 or 5 and while I was getting good close shaves the comfort wasn't there.They felt like pulling particularly on the first pass.I changed a couple after 3 shaves because of this.
This morning for some reason I decided to try my Super Speed('60)- unbelievably comfortable shave,DFS+ without trying and this from a day 4 Bleue.
I look forward to trying a new one in my SS
A lesson to me not to write off stuff without a thorough test