Blade reviews of my self chosen sampler pack

[renewingmind]

I started wet shaving in March, but continued to use my Sensor Excel. I waited to find a classic Gillette for the right price, and now have been fully immersed in the wonderful world of wet shaving with a DE for a whole now using my Gillette Adjustable Slim.

After reading here for a while I ordered a bunch of different blades from West Coast Shaving. I've been working my way through them for a while. Here are my blade reviews, ranked from favorite to detestable...


Gillette Silver Blue: Hated this blade the first day. Second shave was so close that it didn't feel like I needed to shave at all a day later. Overall this has been my favorite blade so far. Subsequent shaves had a better first day experience due to better lather. On the second go-round I LOVED this blade day one. The shave is super close and it doesn't irritate my skin. Love the feel and I think I'm going to order 200 or more of these this week.


PolSilver Super Iridiums: Very nice blade. Super smooth. Loved the feel of it and it was a solid 4 days of shaving. A lot more expensive than the GSB's, and they don't last as long.


Gillette 7 o clock Yellow : a good blade, seemed to like it a touch more than the Derby.


Derby - lots of people bash these blades, but I loved it. Nod to the GSB because it lasted longer than the Derby, but these are cheaper. Very smooth feel and a good shave. I am going to try these again after this round with the GSB because they are so cheap. If I still like it, I'll do the math (doesn't last as long, but about half the price).


Wilkinson Sword: The first blade I used. It was ok, but there are better things out there.


Personna Red: Seemed not as good as the Swords. Lasted a long time.


Astra: Very sharp and a good blade. Sharpness went off a cliff though. Lasted shorter than the other blades (about the same as the feathers).


Feather: incredibly sharp. I didn't think I would notice, but wow. Very noticeable difference. Only lasts two days, and the most expensive blade out there. And I don't like the shave either. Did I mention they are sharp? Only blade that actually feels dangerous. I was really surprised by this blade and didn't care for it.


Personna Blue: I really wanted to like these blades because they are made in the US, but sadly they were just average at best. I never got a particularly close shave with it, and after three days I moved on.


Lord - Oh wow. Liked it the first day, felt like a rusty tin can on day 2. Tossed it. Worst blade I have ever used. Gave me razor burn, something I haven't had in years.


It looks like my blade will be either a GSB or the Derby. This has been fun.



Joel

 

[ArNav]

A nice journal.

 

[ImAdummy2]

Blades are such a personal thing. What works for one, dosen't for another. It even changes from razor to razor for me. My Progress hated Feather but my Above The Tie likes them for example.
Overall, I agree with your findings. I really wanted to like Persona as well, for the same reason as you, just couldn't do it.
Thanks for sharing your findings!

 

[aihpcfl]

Thanks for the post. You are ahead of me at trying blades. Interesting that you like Derby blades. I do too, but you are correct that there are many who don't.

It would be interesting to revisit those blades a year from now and see what you think then.

 

[Okla1911]

Nice review! But I have few questions:

1) How would you classify your beard type? Fine...course....ect

2) How many passes to you normally do?

I'm working my way through a sampler now as well. After I get down to my top 5 blades I plan on switching up the razor for round 2 of testing.

 

[renewingmind]

My beard is ... My beard. Never really thought about it. Too tough for electrics, but not super thick. Middle of the road?

I do four passes: WTG, XTG, ATG, ATG

I obsess over my face being perfectly smooth.

Joel

 

[renewingmind]

Update:

I now have a stable of vintage gillettes. Some interesting twists have come along as a result:

(1) Derbys I like in the slim and don't like in the Fat Boy. I switch to the slim when I use them.
(2) I've tried a vintage Wilkinson Sword from the 60s in the fat boy and it was the best shave ever
(3) I tried the Lord again. Binned it during the first shave and tossed the box. Worst blades ever.
(4) My opinion of Gillette Yellows has not changed.
(5) I've tried Astras again and again, and still don't like them. Nope. Sorry.
(6) I LOVE the Polsilvers in the fat boy. Possibly the top of my list now until...
(7) Personna Blue in a fat boy set at 7. Whoa. This is the most similar to the Made in England Vintage Wilkie I've experienced. LOVING this blade. BBS is trivially easy. I'm going to enjoy the heck out of this blade and if the next one is the same I will be buying a boatload of them. So bizarre that this blade was average at best in my Slim and stellar in my fat boy.

And I love the 40s Gillette Super Speed but my son has his eye on it. It's a good razor to start on so I don't use it much as I don't want to get too attached. It's going to him with 100 GSB's for his 14th birthday...

joel

 

[wetshaverlarry]

I like Astra SP and surprisingly Derby Extra...

 

[BSAGuy]

Nice comments. Thanks for posting.

 

[PMT]

Nice!