Loaded one into my R89 this morning. Decent shave. Nice and sharp and pretty smooth. A little neck irritation but nothing serious. Dealt with problem areas pretty well too. Recommend giving it a go if you have never tried one and like blades like Bic, Nacet and Perma Sharp.
Bic Astor
- Thread starter Pip605
- Start date
I have never seen or tried one. They don‘t seem to be available often in Canada. Love my BICs though. I need to get some Astors from Razorbladesclub or similar to try.
Strange how some say they are the exact same as the BIC Platinum Chromes and others say they are completely different blades and love one and hate the other.
Strange how some say they are the exact same as the BIC Platinum Chromes and others say they are completely different blades and love one and hate the other.
- Thread starter
- #3
Yes, I've heard similar. If they are made on different places then they could very well have different characters. Personally I didn't think it was a sharp out of the packet as the Bic Platinum Chrome. Sharp enough mind and a decent shave.
I wanted to like them as they are easily available and cheap here. Unfortunately they are rough compared to Bic Chrome Platinum and the vintage red Astors I remember. But then again Astors are the lower tier. The Bics are the higher.
Yeah I don't know about these, I LOVE Chrome Platinums, probably my #1 blade, but the Astors I thought just like most people were just Chrome Plats, but somethings a bit...off about them I'm starting to notice. Shame that because I ordered a 100 pack of them since they were slightly cheaper than the Chromes and again thought they were completely identical....guess a pal of mine's gonna get a good supply of blades heading his way soon.
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- #6
Yea I know what you mean... I don't think I'll order them again to be honest. There's so many blades I would choose over them.
Not to say that Astors are garbage, far from in fact, I'd still place them ahead of quite a few I've tried but they're in the "average-above average" range for me, whereas the Chrome Platinums, Personna lab blues and Pol Silvers are, for my shaving experience, flat out excellent. Though I do wonder if what I've tried of Astor wasn't a dud, some claim they gotten an occasional bad blade in otherwise decent tucks of BIC Chrome Platinums...either way I'm sticking to what I know works.
Is your avatar the metalblade logo?
Btw, for people looking to try bics, the Astor is less likely to be counterfeited compared to the yellow., imo of course. I’ve tried yellow counterfeits and they’re REALLY bad.
- Thread starter
- #10
What are the differences between counterfeit and genuine?
The gentleman in this thread here lays out some comparison photos of what he believes to genuines vs fakes, might have to reference this when my blades come in: Bic chrome platinum blades - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/bic-chrome-platinum-blades.589417/page-3
I shaved half my face with a BIC Platinum and half my face with an Astor in the same razor for a week and couldn't tell the difference between them. Both very sharp and smooth. I don't believe they are made in different places, both are made in Greece but apparently packaged for different markets.
There is also a member (forget who) that contacted BIC in Greece and they advised the blades were the same but in different packaging. The BIC Greece catalog also states the Astors are coated in coating of chromium and a polymer (which is the same as the BIC Chrome Platinums) which again makes it seem like the blades are the same.
I suppose there is always a quality control issue to consider (Greek manufacturing doesn't exactly have the same reputation as German or Japanese manufacturing) whereby people have tried dud blades (especially when you consider the amount of people that claim they tried a BIC Chrome Platinum and it was dull and rough).
The fact you don't feel difference doesn't mean they are the same blade. And Bics have polymer chromium and platinum. I have been using Bics and Astors for some 15 years. Not the same blade. I very much prefer the Bic. Unfortunately Bics disappeared in my country 2 years ago. Yes Greece is a neighbor, but we don't have them any more.
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Resurrecting this old thread as it seems Astors are much more easily available now then they were a couple of years ago.
I bought 100 from Amazon Canada for just over $8 CAD ($6-ish USD) and they are excellent blades. As good or better than the original BIC Platinums. I bought a bunch more to add to the cache as well.
Anyone else using these blades lately? If so, thoughts?
i haven't used them as i am exclusively a Nacet person, but i've tried their Disposable version of it(Also made in greece) on a trip recently (ik, guilty as charged). and it was Awful, the blade(s) was OK in sharpness but it gave me terrible irritation.
