Astra SP have been the cat's meow of blades for me. In all my razors they produce close, irritation free smooth shaves. However recently in a 4:00AM rush to the airport I was left with major razor rash and stubble from a quick shave. Thinking it was just due to a half-asleep sloppy job by me, did not think much about. Then that night shaving before a formal dinner, I had another horrible shave with same razor (schick krona) and blade. Noticed some of the Proraso cream was not even coming off with the first pass. ***! Opened up the razor and notice the infamous Astra packaging wax had piled up and collected some whiskers and caused weird blade gaps. Cleaned off the wax and detritus, reassembled and shaves were then smooth and close. So I will be cleaning the wax off before loading Astras for now on.
Astra SP Wax Ruined My Shaves
- Thread starter Seattle
- Start date
The new Astras have the wax in the middle of the blade. Two small dots versus the four along the outer edge. No Problems so far with the first blade.
I wipe off the wax after the first shave. Generally I wipe the balde dry after every shave so no chance of any debris building up on the blade.
I have the same problems with my Silver Blue blades. The edges are sometimes completely saturated with wax.
Wax on blades has never caused me any problems. I don't know if this matters, but I always put the wax face down (on the base plate) for the first shave.
I don't know why they glop so much on there. One small dot would be enough to accomplish the task.
I hate the wax, even though it has never caused me any identifiable problems. I suppose my next 100 will have the new pattern of 2 dots in the center. That would be much better. I still have 70+ from my first 100, so it will be a while ...
I can't say that I've had any issues with the way either. I don't clean it off and put the wax towards the baseplate also. However, I'm not really sure why they need it. I recently acquired some Voshkods and they are inside a wax paper wrap then inside a regular paper wrap, but no wax on the internal wax paper wrap holding it on, so why do Astra's and Gillette SB's and others really need it?
I might try soaking my astra's in some really hot water next time I load one up, just to see if it will get the wax off.
I might try soaking my astra's in some really hot water next time I load one up, just to see if it will get the wax off.
+1. If you're using a TTO, it's much easier to clean the wax off of the base plate than the silo doors. I've never noticed the wax affecting my shaves, and I use St. Pete blades in one form or another for at least 70% of my shaves. The way the new Astras are wrapped is encouraging, though. I'd rather have the wax spots in the center of the blade.
Gillette Blacks do have a little wax, but nothing like the Russian blades. When I change blades, I set the new blade on the counter and shave the wax off with the blade I am retiring. No big deal.
Can you show a picture of the new wax spots?
Is there any way to know whether or not you're purchasing the new blades with the updated wax seals before you buy?
Once I had almost bent the mechanic of a TTO when the dots were facing upwards and stuck at the silo doors. The doors simply couldn't open while turning the knob.
What do you do when the wax is on both sides of your Astra? That's what I found when I was loading up an Astra for tomorrow morning's shave.
Interesting. I always put mine in wax up. My thought was that the wax would be less likely to collect hair and debris because most of that should be cut from the underside of the blade. I don't use TTO's though.
Astra SP is my everyday blade. I haven't had any problems at all with the wax dots other than being an annoyance when opening the wrapper. I think I put the blade in dots up in my TTO razors and I can't recall seeing any waz collect on the silo doors. I will have to experiment. One time I placed the new blade on the vanity top and carefully wiped the wax dots of with a swipe of a cloth. That worked OK.
It looks like there are two different sets of Astra SPs out in the wild. I read that some people's blade have 4 spots of wax - 1 near each corner. While others (including myself) only have 2 wax spots near the center of the centering holes.
As mentioned, mine are toward the center line of the blade and does not get anywhere near the blade edge.
As mentioned, mine are toward the center line of the blade and does not get anywhere near the blade edge.
Again, could someone please post a picture of these fancy new Astra wax spots.
The only reason I haven't posted a picture in this thread of myself in a bikini is because I want to keep the space open for someone to post a picture of the new wax spots. But, if the wax spots picture isn't coming........
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