I thought it would be a fun idea to give this challenge a shot, so I picked up five blades of each and went at it. I usually throw blades away after 3 uses, rarely going for 4. Having never used either one of these blades, my idea was to shave with both at least 4 times to see how they hold up.
For hardware I used a Titanium Timeless .95 OC and a Fine lather bowl. For the soap, it was four shaves each with Musgo Real Oakmoss and four each with Captain Fawcett's shaving cream. That Captain Fawcett's shaving cream has such a wonderful piney scent to it. Great stuff!
First up was the Gillette Platinum-Plus. This blade is very smooth and quite sharp. I could feel just the teeniest bit of bite from the blade on the first shave, but the blade completely mellowed for every shave after the first. There didn't seem to be any drop-off in quality regarding the fourth shave, so I pressed on to find out how much life the blade had left in it. There didn't seem to be any drop in quality with shave number eight either, but I was eager to try the Wilkinson Sword, so I discarded the Gillette blade at this point.
With the first stroke of the Wilkinson Sword, I knew something was different about this blade. Just for a moment, I thought I had forgotten to put a blade in the razor, but no, there really was a blade in it. It's just that it was cutting so efficiently, it was hard to tell. Wow! Since I used the Gillette blade eight times, I did the same for the Wilkinson Sword and I got eight of the best shaves that I have ever gotten in my life.
In conclusion: The Gillette Platinum-Plus blade is a top-of-the-line, high quality razor blade which, for me, out classes most of the blades being sold today. It's smooth, sharp and seems to have incredible longevity. As for the Wilkinson Sword blade.... it is the smoothest and one of the sharpest razor blades that I have ever used, period, and I sure wish they were still being manufactured today.
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