Blade Wars: Gillette Platinum Plus - New vs. Vintage

[cw62803]

Blade Wars: Gillette Platinum Plus - New vs. Vintage




The competitors in this blade war are a currently manufactured and a vintage Gillette Platinum-Plus. The new blade is made in Brazil and available in 3-packs in many American drugstores and supermarkets for 3-4 dollars. To the best of my knowledge, the vintage blades were made in the U.S. and sold for $1.99 per 10-pack in the 1970s

Thank you to @CigarSmoka who sent me the Brazilian Gillette Platinum-Plus, and thank you to @Bootsy who airmailed me the vintage blade all the way from England. (I live in Connecticut.)

I will use two identical “Wet Shave Club” chrome razors, shaving half of my face with each razor. I’ll try to keep the conditions similar for everything except for the blade. I’ve marked the handle of one razor with a black laundry marker, but do not know which blade is in which razor. I’ll describe what I see and feel, and invite you to share your thoughts along the way.

I’ve used a Brazilian Platinum-Plus once, and it was superb – narrowly defeating Nacet in a Blade War. I haven’t tried a vintage Platinum-Plus, but have read in other posts that it is a fantastic blade. I think this is going to be a good match. I hope you enjoy reading it!

 

[Dog Whiskerer]

I will be following this closely. I have the Brazilian Gillette blades and French-made Gillette Platinum Plus blades. Both top tier blades. I've gotten a month of shaves out of each.

 

[cw62803]

I will be following this closely. I have the Brazilian Gillette blades and French-made Gillette Platinum Plus blades. Both top tier blades. I've gotten a month of shaves out of each.

The Brazilian Platinum Plus you sent me was one of the best blades I've tried. I didn't know they were made in France, too.

 

[cw62803]

Shave 1
silver razor=right side of my face, black razor=left

I had a wonderful afternoon shave using Cella soap and an Omega Pro 48 boar brush. I've had this brush sitting in a box for two or three years and finally opened it up last week. Even though it isn't broken in yet, it is quite soft and pleasant to use.

Pass One - OK, whatever is in the silver razor is out of this world. I had two and a half days of growth, and this blade went through it like a proverbial hot knife through butter. Utterly smooth, resistance-free, remarkable pass. The black was also excellent, but there was a little pull on my chin and neck.

Pass Two - Same. Silver glided without a trace of resistance. Unbelievably smooth. Black was great, but there was a small amount of drag.

Pass Three - Again, silver was other worldly. No resistance at all. Black had a bit of drag on my neck and cheeks.

By no means did black give me a bad shave. It is great. But silver gave me one of the best shaves of my life.

Advantage: Silver

 

[Bootsy]

Inspired choice of opponent @cw62803. My money is on....?
Maybe someone can put a date to the USA blades, my guess is the '70s.

 

[ShavingByTheNumbers]

Very interesting!

 

[frstplce]

I haven't tried the new ones so I will be interested to see how this goes. I'm sort of hoping the vintage doesn't win here. The eBay prices are bad enough without sending more people looking for them.

 

[BigJ]

Great war!

 

[G.W.]

Interesting match-up!

I just found some Platinum Plus blades on the clearance shelf at the drugstore. Only used it once, but was quite happy with how the blade performed. I'll be watching this thread to see what your opinion is.

 

[CigarSmoka]

An excellent matchup! I've never used a vintage one so I have no idea how it will perform, but the modern ones are an excellent blade.

 

[cw62803]

Shave 2
face lathered some Arko with my Omega Pro 48
black=right, silver=left

A nice two-pass shave tonight. On the first pass, the silver seemed a little smoother - but I wonder if it was in reality, or I was prejudiced because of yesterday's awesome shave. On the second pass they were both wonderful. There isn't enough difference for me to call one superior.

Advantage: tie

 

[fast shaver]

Interesting review! I will be watching.

 

[weekly]

I haven't tried the new ones so I will be interested to see how this goes. I'm sort of hoping the vintage doesn't win here. The eBay prices are bad enough without sending more people looking for them.

Im betting the modern Brazilian blade is
In the silver razor and will be the winner
Personally I'll always take a great modern
Blade over a vintage blade great or otherwise , the only reason the Brazilian
Blade was a commercial failure is that
They were only sold in tucks of 3 or 9
Blades and sold in drug stores for 6.98 US
For 9 blades on sale with regular price
Being $7.98. , had they marketed them
The way they do GSB's , Nacets or the
7o'clock series they would have been very
Popular and I believe a commercial
Success.

 

[fast shaver]

Those are some pricey blades per tuck. I won't be getting any unless its a 50 pack.

 

[frstplce]

had they marketed them
The way they do GSB's , Nacets or the
7o'clock series they would have been very
Popular and I believe a commercial
Success.

Keep in mind those blades aren't marketed to be sold 100+ at a time. It's a convenience and luxury that many of us buy blades this way. Where those blades are intended for sale, they are usually meant to be sold as individual packs for a low cost.

 

[CigarSmoka]

... the only reason the Brazilian
Blade was a commercial failure is that
They were only sold in tucks of 3 or 9
Blades and sold in drug stores for 6.98 US
For 9 blades on sale with regular price
Being $7.98. , had they marketed them
The way they do GSB's , Nacets or the
7o'clock series they would have been very
Popular and I believe a commercial
Success.

I agree. If I could get a 100pk for $20 or less I would. I bought a 9 pack for $7.99 just to try them out, but I won't be buying more. They're a great blade, but no modern DE blade is worth 90 cents apiece IMO.

 

[fast shaver]

I agree. If I could get a 100pk for $20 or less I would. I bought a 9 pack for $7.99 just to try them out, but I won't be buying more. They're a great blade, but no modern DE blade is worth 90 cents apiece IMO.

A+ on that, heck GSB are only 14 bucks shipped per 100 blades!!!!!!

 

[Quink]

Just did some research...
Back in 1935 a 10 pack of Gillette Blue Blades was sold for $0.49
That's a 2017 buying power of $8.83!! Making the blade price of $0.88
Look familiar!?! ;-)

Apparently they've always tried to get the money....

 

[RazorPete]

The vintage platinum plus are legendary. I have some that I use from time to time and they are smooth sharp and super durable. It's already obvious at the onset one blade is better. I would say that's the vintage one. I predict after the number of shaves increases the difference will become even more obvious until the time when one blade is totally spent while the other blade is still giving excellent shaves. Again that will be the vintage.

 

[weekly]

Those are some pricey blades per tuck. I won't be getting any unless its a 50 pack.

For me it would have to be a 100 pack
And be in the same price range as other
Comparable Gillette blades , and that's
A tall order since the Brazilian Platinum
Plus blades are In the same league as
St Petersburg's top shelf options.