Stainless Steel Blades

These came with the Van der Hagen safety razor handles I bought at Target and Wal-Green's. I have to say that for all the bragging of German-made "ice-tempered" blades, it's obviously just a marketing ploy to get you to buy the replacement blades. Don't bother. You'll simply be wasting your money when you could be buying a better blade for fewer dollars.

That said, there are a couple of things that make the Van der Hagen blades not totally worthless. Despite their dullness, I got very few nicks with them, and I chalk those up more to my inexperience with a safety razor and certain parts of my face and throat nicking regardless of what sort of blade type I use. While they don't give nearly as close a shave as, say, the Astra blades, they're still comparable in closeness to your standard three- or five-blade cartridge. And they're still far cheaper than a four- or eight-pack of Gillette cartridges, which can run anywhere from fifteen to thirty dollars, though still overpriced for the quality of shave they offer.

My advice is to get yourself a hundred-count box of Astra blades, which at an average of ten dollars will give you one to two years of shaves. Your face will thank you for it.

I picked these up early on because they were there. I'm a wiser shopper now, just because something is available doesn't mean I should use it. These are terrible blades and I have never had a comfortable shave with them, even with the most forgiving razor and slickest lather.

I got one shave out of each blade before it became completely useless, and the one shave wasn't even that good. You can get blades that are hundreds of times better than these for a fraction of the price. However, if I'm in a huge pinch while traveling and I need blades, I know where to find these. The packaging is also a fairly good looker.

Very colorful package, lousy blades, overpriced.

This is my first review on B&B, and I hope it is constructive to those whom it may apply!
I know these blades don't get much love on this forum and often get quite a bit of hate
but I wanted to share my experience with them.

Obviously as it is very well known in this community, blades act differently based on what
shave soap you use, your pre-shave routine (if you have one), your technique, your beard
and many other factors so this is just based on how I was able to shave with these blades.

Let me begin this review with an anecdote:
I am a undergraduate student at Michigan Technological University in the far north of the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I had just finished up my first year and I had moved all my
stuff into my first apartment. This included all of my current shaving gear that I had up
with me. My blades (all 90), my razor, my brush, everything. After I had finished my last
final exam, I flew out of there like a bat outta hell. Well I got home and realized I had forgot
everything 600 miles away, and luckily, I had a set of shaving gear at home, but no razors!

All I had was one dull blade left in my razor and after shaving once the tugging and yanking
was too much for me. I couldn't wait to receive another shipment of my precious Astra SPs
from Amazon, so I reluctantly went up to my local Meijers (supermarket) as I knew they
carried the Van Der Hagen blades.

After returning home with the blades, I loaded one up and proceeded with my whole pre-shave
routine as usual like nothing was different but it was. I had read the reviews, talking about how
the Van Der Hagen blades were pretty much rebranded Merkurs, which were my first blades and
awful on my beard. I cringed as I got ready to put the blade to my neck, but when I did I was
pleasantly surprised. I completed all four passes of my shave, and when it came time to apply my
aftershave, I felt the final product of this last ditch effort to get a decent shave and it felt almost
the same as after I shaved with my SPs! This is only after the first time of shaving with these blades
but in the predicament I am/was in one good shave will allow me to stick it out until my Astras get
here.

TL;DR: For cheap, locally available blades, I had a pleasantly positive experience with Van Der Hagen's
blades in a pinch.