Gillette Silver Blue

First Impressions:
The blade is very smooth when I paired it with the Gillette Slim Adjustable on the lower settings. I have a personal preference for blade feel as I could feel where I've shaved. This pairing, however, has little blade feel. This results in a smooth shave, but, I had to do more touch-up to cover the spots I missed.

I would also note that I found this blade hard to find or expensive on places like RBC and AmazonSG. I eventually found it at a decent price on eBay, sold by someone in Turkey.

I really like these blades. They are sharp and stay sharp for about 5/6 shaves for me. I try to go 6 days on one blade. I use them in my Merkur and have been happy. They dont eat my face alive and by that I mean I don't have very much irritation after using them.

They can feel a little rough. Not bad enough to keep me from using them but just enough to notice.

I have 5 razors, a chinese gillette tech knock off, an actual gillette tech from the 70's, 2 black beauties one short and one long, and a slim. These blades perform perfectly in every single one, they are bar none the best blades I've used, I'd put polsilver as the best but they're a quite a bit more expensive for something that's only slightly better.

Used these as part of blade sampler pack I received.

Baseline is Astra SP. I have tougher skin with very coarse facial hair.

Have used these in a Merkur 34C with a variety of soaps and pre-shaves with good success. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between these and the Astras. Would use them 1 for 1 without question.

This blade is a perfect match for my Merkur Progress, I can get 5 smooth and irritation free shaves before feeling a decline in the quality of the shave. Very impressive!

Price: US$2.25 for five blades (US$0.45 each).

Quality: Tool marks on the bevels, some of which affect the edges.

Sharpness: Not as sharp as other blades from St. Petersburg.

Longevity: These blades last 4-5 days for me.

Smoothness of Shave: Smooth, but not particularly close.

Packaging: Cardboard box of five double-wrapped blades with four glue spots.

Really, too soon to rate.....I just got them and took them on a test drive. Very smoothe, comfortable and non-irritating. Durability & consistency can only be determined with time. However, my test run was pretty impressive. Perhaps the most notable aspect of my first shave with the silver blue is that it was NICKLESS! So, since it is Christmas Eve, I will name them my St. NICKLESS BLADES.😎

Will update in a month or so as I develop more time with them. But, so far, I am as sarisfied as I can be with only only shave to go on.

It might be my new favorite. I've been rotating between Personna blues, Wilkinson and Feather with great success. I'd seen some reviews on B&B and said to myself I must try some, but they never pop up in the free samples I get. I made the plunge and bought 75 blades. Great purchase and great deal. I slipped it into my standard try-out razor and had a pleasant enough shave day one. Day two I had one of the best ever. I usually shave only 2-3 times per blade, but I'm going to put this to the test.

I get along with most of the blades I've tried, and am reluctant to spend more than $15 per 100, so I tend to ignore premium blades as usually not demonstrably better for me. But I received a box of 100 as a gift and decided to try one in my Slim. Wow! Was there a blade in my razor? Since my face was now hairless, I must conclude that this was the smoothest shave I've ever experienced and it was second in sharpness only to the Feather which was not nearly as nice or as smooth. Subsequent trials with a Fatboy and a Tech have not changed my opinion that this is the best blade I have ever used. The only one that I find comparable is the now defunct 7 O'Clock Blue (Russian). It is the only current blade that I would gladly pay $21/100 for. Taking everything into account it beats the 7 O'Clock Blacks, Yellows, Feathers, and Med Preps for me at any price and absolutely crushes the Merkurs which are overpriced jokes. The only reason I buy other blades (like Astra or Shark or Rapira Platinum Lux) is to have cheaper alternatives as well. I cannot imagine any blade at any price that I would pay more for unless it were just as good and lasted twice as long.

Sharp, smooth & long lasting. Can be got cheaply if you wait & search around.
Only down sides are average packaging & that production seems to stop/start.
Oh, and big blobs of wax extending right toward the edges are a little off putting, although probably make no difference whatsoever.

Some blades may be cheaper, but I haven't found a blade to match Gillette's Silver Blue.

The blade comes in a double protective wrapper: open the paper wrapper, and the blade is wrapped in waxed paper sleeve.

The first shave is like a dream. The shave is so smooth that you might have to check to make sure there's a blade in there. On successive shaves, it remains smooth for at least five shaves, sometimes longer. (Thoroughly softening your beard beforehand will pay dividends with this blade.)

This blade ranks with the best, like the Polsilver or Feather.

I got hold of these locally since I like the yellows and 7'oclock greens.

Unlike the yellow and the green (smooth and sharp in weber DLC), I find the silver blue rather rough. No irritation after the shave, but each pass felt rough.

Edit 26 Oct 13
Apparent the batch I got was either a bad one or counterfeit.

Someone pif'ed me 2 of these blades. Shaved with one an hour ago: the shave was smooth and pleasant, resulting in BBS. It is the equivalent of the yellows.

I got these in a sample pack and to be fair have only used the one blade.

These are rated very sharp by others but they where very rough on the second shave ATG.

Although both shaves where BBS the second one I needed to polish my chin with it to get rid of my stubble.

These left my cheeks feeling like I'd rubbed them with sand paper.
I didn't block my face because I could tell where it was rough on my skin.

There are so many rave reviews about this blade that I will give them another chance but I fear they're going to be like feathers for me, not smooth or enjoyable at all.

Just had another go at these in a different razor and I still don't like them.
I marked them again to reflect this, down an overall point.

After trying many different blades, I tried a Gillette Silver Blue. Wow is all I can say.

This blade is as sharp, or sharper than, a Feather, and is as smooth as an Astra. It gives me a perfect, irritation free BBS shave every time.

Hard to find, but certainly one of the top blades.

When I first tried these at the beginning of my DE shave experience I thought these were dang good blades. They really lasted me.. upwards of 6-7 shaves. I thought they were really smooth at the time. However, after using more than 30 different blades I can say that these are not as good as I once thought. I have over 100 of these sitting around and they are giving me pretty rough shaves.. just eating my face up lately. These are no longer made and that's OK because there are much better blades out there that give me over 5 shaves/blade and are much kinder to my skin. These blades seem "thick" to me when compared to 7'oclock Blacks/Yellows. They also remind me a bit of Voskhods, but not as nice although they last longer than Voskhods. Who cares how long a blade lasts when you get lower quality?? I don't.

These blades are the wow factor for me. They are as sharp as any blade, including Feather, that I've tried but the difference is they give the smoothest shave that I can remember.

Price: I'll give them a 10 on price simply because I was able to purchase them at $18.99/100. I also purchased several hundred for around $30/100 which places them in the high range but they are still worth it.

Quality: top shelf.

Sharpness: If you can find a sharper blade, buy it.

Longevity: I got about 5 shaves before noticing deterioration.

Smoothness of Shave: Smoothest shave I ever had regardless of razor.

Packaging: Typical Russian cardboard, blades individually wrapped with glue spots on the blade.

I am a daily Silver Blue driver, using them in my 59 Fatboy. I have found them amazingly sharp, very consistent from blade to blade and pack to pack, and the final result (the shave) is consistently good from this blade.

It's sharp and very forgiving, yet it lets me know (gently) when it's had enough--usually (for me) about 5 shaves to the blade. The tired blade isn't difficult, I just notice it's not cutting as much.

I compare the smoothness to a Derby, but I have also found that the Derby (on my face, YMMV), while sharp and smooth, doesn't ultimately shave as close.

I would also consider the sharpness somewhat higher than I would the Derby.

Price wasn't bad-- I was able to purchase 100 for something like 27.00 USD.

Packaging is quaint, but functional, I don't have a worry about blade disposal, and the cardboard boxes are easily burnable, so I can add harmful greenhouse gasses to Al Gore's atmosphere.

If you haven't tried these...I challenge you to find a better value or a more consistent performer. It's a great tool, and while I sometimes slide in another blade just to check myself, I just keep coming back to these dependable old friends.

Until 6 weeks ago I was a hardcore Swedish Gillette shaver and thought there was no better blade on the market. Since then I have experimented with a few different blades including Tesco, Feather, Treet Blue Special and Gillette Silver Blue.

I now think I will settle on the Silver Blue as being my all-round favourite with the Treets a close second and Tesco third. They are really smooooooth. I also manage to easily get 7 shaves with them, compared with 3 for the Feathers. The Treets are fantastic but if only they didn't rust!

I love these blades, they are just fantastic. I tried a Swedish blade before these, and to be honest, I just did not really see what the fuss was about with those, they just didn't seem that special to me (they were 'proper' Swedish blades, not the english ones that seem to exist). These Silver Blues however are different. The first shave was excellent, and the second and third just as good. I actually threw my first blade after 3, to try another and see if it was still as consistent, or whether I just got a lucky blade. The next blade was just as great. So smooth, and yet so sharp. These blades can last quite long, and in fact, remain sharp when other blades would already be pulling your hair out. These are absoultely great. Cheaper than the Swedish blades, and better too.

I marked the packaging a bit higher, because firstly, I like those cardboard boxes, they have a sort of retro style effect, and secondly, they fit perfectly into the compartment of my Gillette Tech razor's box.

a good all rounder! this a very good blade that provide a good shave! it not as sharp as the Feathers or Derbys but this comes in at 3 on my list.....