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Blade Wars: Gillette Rubie Platinum Plus vs. Voskhod

Blade Wars: Gillette Rubie Platinum Plus vs. Voskhod

This blade war features two Russian-made blades. From St. Petersburg, comes the Gillette Rubie Platinum Plus, available for 65 cents at Tryablade. The 40-cent, Teflon-coated Voskhod is made in Moscow.

My razors will be two Pakistani-made, heavy weight “Wet Shave Club” razors, which I consider neither mild nor aggressive. I colored the ring of one razor handle with a black laundry marker and will not know which blade is in which razor. I’ll shave half of my face with one razor and half with the other, reporting on my progress as I go.

If there is a clear leader after six shaves, I’ll end the blade war. If not, I’ll keep going until a leader emerges or I start getting irritated. I haven’t tried Rubies yet, but I have heard they are excellent. Despite the fact that they were once crushed in a blade war, I am very fond of Voskhods, and predict they will work very well with these razors.

Please comment as we go. I’d love to hear about your experiences, predictions, and thoughts. Inappropriate comments are prohibited tolerated encouraged.
 
I haven't tried the Rubie yet, so I can't say if I think it's better or worse from experience. I like Voskies, but St Pete's plant can't seem to make a bad blade. Voskhod will feel the Stockton Slap in this one.

 
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I have a couple shaves on a Rubie in a pre-war Tech -- fabulous. Very smooth, very close, absolutely no irritation. Haven't tried a Voskhod yet, will be interested to see how this goes.

Peter
 
I have heard that rubies are close to or better than Nacet stainless. I personally don't like Voskhods.

You can see where my money is.
 
Gillette Rubie are good blades, but a bit pricey and I find that they get a bit rough towards the end of the 3rd shave - I've never been brave enough to try for a 4th shave
Voskhods are good blades, cost less and seem to hold their edge up to the end of the 3rd shave, a 4th shave would feel rough

Both good blades, both similar in performance, but on price alone, I'd choose Voskhod over Rubie as a daily beater
 
Shave 1

Face lathered with Proraso Red soap (one of my favorite products)
black-handled razor=right side of face, silver-handled razor=left side of face

I started off with a two-pass shave this morning. Both razors felt very similar. They both have that slightly prickly sharp feeling a new blade often has. On the first pass, the black razor felt a tiny bit sharper. On the second pass, the silver razor felt a tiny bit sharper. Both were smooth.

The first round is a draw.

I followed with some Captain's Choice Sandalwood aftershave, which has a nice, simple sandalwood scent and goes beautifully with Proraso Red.
 
I expect this to be one of the closest matches yet. It will be hard to choose between these two very similiar blades.
 
Rubies are great blades and I think better than Nacet (which are good, GSB-like blades). I just finished 5 shaves with them in a Timeless Razor. I expect them to win.

I'm biased against Voskhod, because of an early experience with them.

If CW finds it to be different, then I'll revisit the Voskhods.
 
Rubies are great blades and I think better than Nacet (which are good, GSB-like blades). I just finished 5 shaves with them in a Timeless Razor. I expect them to win.

I'm biased against Voskhod, because of an early experience with them.

If CW finds it to be different, then I'll revisit the Voskhods.

As much as I like Voskhod I'm a bit biased now too. I didn't want to bash the blade but the 100 pack I bought were from the unevenly ground batch. They aren't as comfortable, don't shave as well, and don't last as long as the properly ground ones so I'm a bit ticked. They had to have known the batch was bad - unless there is NO quality control at the plant - and knowingly sold them anyway. The good ones are the best blade for the money imo, but these were a waste if $10. At least it wasn't a lot of dough.

Sorry to derail the thread. Back to the war - I'll stand by my earlier guess, Rubie to win.
 
As much as I like Voskhod I'm a bit biased now too. I didn't want to bash the blade but the 100 pack I bought were from the unevenly ground batch. They aren't as comfortable, don't shave as well, and don't last as long as the properly ground ones so I'm a bit ticked.

That was my experience. Fortunatele, not a 100 blade purchase.
 
Shave 2
Face lathered with P160
Silver razor=right side, black=left side

Pass 1 – Silver was a little prickly and has some drag. It had to work hard to get through the stiffer whiskers on my chin. Black glided faster – a little more smoothly.

Pass 2 – Silver was smoother than the first pass, but still a tiny bit scratchy. Black feels a little smoother and sharper. It glides more easily.

Followed up with a splash of Florida Water. I feel some stinging on the right (silver) side of my neck, but not on the left side.

Round two goes to black.
 
I think silver is the voskhod. Sounds like my experience with them on the second shave. (but Ive only used a Rubie once so am not too familiar with the other blade). I guess we will see...
 
This is interesting. I hadn't heard about an unevenly ground batch of Voskhods before. If that has happened, that makes some sense to me, as they have given me some of my favorite shaves ever - up until the time I tried one in a blade war, and it was pretty bad. Unfortunately for me, I almost always buy blades by the hundred, and once I get them, I store them in their tucks by brand - but I don't separate one purchase from another. I may have a bunch of good and bad Voskhods living together under the same roof.
 
This is interesting. I hadn't heard about an unevenly ground batch of Voskhods before. If that has happened, that makes some sense to me, as they have given me some of my favorite shaves ever - up until the time I tried one in a blade war, and it was pretty bad. Unfortunately for me, I almost always buy blades by the hundred, and once I get them, I store them in their tucks by brand - but I don't separate one purchase from another. I may have a bunch of good and bad Voskhods living together under the same roof.

That would be a mess to sort out! The good voskies give me many smooth shaves, these uneven ones give me 3 lackluster shaves without the legendary smoothness they're known for. I'm not sure if I should pitch them or save them for the shavepocalypse. PIFing them just doesn't seem right.
 
Bad blades are my worst nightmare, especially if you order 100 at a time. I have not heard much about bad Voskhod's though.

About a year ago or so there were some posts regarding the uneven ones. I had already ordered 100 but they hadn't arrived yet. I examined them when they came in and sure enough, mine were from the bad batch.
 
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