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Chinese Made Ying JiLi Stainless Razor Blade - Review

TL;DR - very good blade, 5 shaves, similar to Russian Stainless blades, made in China


Background:

This is the 3rd of 3 blades that was PIF'd to me by [MENTION=106524]riverstyxxx[/MENTION] (excellent experience, thank you for making these available) and the best of the lot. riverstyxxx has had good luck with AliExpress and you can find the blades (Boyou, GFLV, YingJiLi) available there. Rumor has it that, at this writing, he may still have some available. Head of the
riverstyxxx's Testing Chinese and Korean blades thread for more details


The Blade:

My initial reaction was that the outer wrapper for this blade was the nicest I've seen, very well done. Other than the language, you couldn't tell that this was from China. The inner wrapper was a high quality wax paper with Ying JiLi printed in a nice pattern on it. Although the blade does feel thin (the patented flex between my thumb and forefinger test), it performed very much like a Russian Super Stainless with a good balance between smoothness and sharpness.

$Ying_JiLi_Blade.jpg

My Setup:

Razor: Merkur 20C (standard Merkur 3 piece - rated as mild, having a narrower blade gap)
Soaps: various soaps, blade worked well with all of them


The Results:

YMMV, but I was really surprised by this blade. I got 5 DFS 2-pass shaves from it, with the 5th shave being slightly less smooth than the others. I'm not going to push it for a 6th shave. The previous Chinese blade that I tried, GFLV, seemed to be effected by its thinness, but not so with the Ying JiLi, which to me says that this steel is of a higher quality than the GFLV. If someone loaded this for me and told me that it was Russian, I would have believed them.

I think this blade is definitely worth checking out.


Post Thoughts:

I'm very grateful to riverstyxxx for giving many of us the chance to try these Chinese and Korean blades. I'm still a little leary about AliExpress (only because I've limited my purchasing to the "major and well known" sites) but based on his experience, I may take a chance. I wish these blades were available at more outlets and some day they may be. Just for broadening the DE shaving experience, it's worth trying something different. You might well find a hidden gem among the lot - like these Boyou and Ying JiLi blades (GFLV not so much).
 
Thanx for the credit. Aliexpress is about as safe as it gets, alipay is an escrow service that holds payment until the goods are delivered. I've never had a problem that wasn't resolved in my favor, and I've bought a lot of things from them. If the option is available, use e-packet because it arrives a lot quicker and tracked via usps. The android app usually has some sales and discounts that aren't available via the main site.

I have a lot of blades available, 6 brands to go around (Boyou, GFLV, Cloud, YJL Standard/Platinum/Diamond) for any more lab rats who want to give reviews.
 
You're right....for Chinese blades those are fairly nice...Shaverboy blades have the best Chinese graphics I've seen ,but I wouldn't pay the price.
 

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You're right....for Chinese blades those are fairly nice...Shaverboy blades have the best Chinese graphics I've seen ,but I wouldn't pay the price.
And the outer wrapper looks like the magazine, shiny, high quality wrapper. The Ying JiLi has the multi-layering, depth graphic layout and the Shave Boy has that nostalgic feel. These Chinese companies are starting to do an excellent job on package design.

At first glance, those Shaverboys look rough!
The shave edges are excellent, well done; however, it looks like the manufacturer isn't buffing the non-shaving sides. I guess that if you're keeping costs down, that might be the step that gets the accountant's axe.

If you're PIF'ing in the future, keep me in mind. I'll take one or two and give them a test drive.
+1
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I too was fortunate enough to get the 6 blades PIF'd to me by riverstyxx. Have only used one of the blades so far, and it's this one. Am thinking of using it one more time, cleaning it and putting it away and trying another one, then to the next, etc.
My first shave with it was in my new Razorock Slant. Was an ok shave, but not better than my no name Dollar store blade I replaced it with. That's why I want to use it again, to see if it's me or the blade. Wholeheartedly agree with Grundi in the presentation of the packaging. The inner wax paper is top notch, as is the outside one. Looking forward to the next shave, Dave
 
This thread is very timely for me as I've just ordered a Ying Ji Li de safety razor from China on the 'bay (super-cheap) and was wondering about their blades. So thanks for enabling. The price for 100 off Ali Express looks pretty reasonable. I've used Ali Express many times for watches, underwear, shaving bowl, soap dishes, atomisers, etc and never had a bad experience. So I may pull the trigger – it's a toss-up between Ying Ji Li and Treet Platinum, which I've actually tried and thought pretty effective.
 
Treet Platinum X12 shaves... need I say more.? The Yingjili has X1 on it so far & should go to 7-8 shaves & maybe more.:thumbup1:

Thanks! That's helpful. The Treets costs so little that I've thrown mine away after four shaves. I pulled the trigger on 100 Ying JiLi from Ali Express but also 100 each of Treet Platinums, Astra SPs and Zaza Gold from extrashaving.com – their prices including shipping were too good to resist.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I too was fortunate enough to get the 6 blades PIF'd to me by riverstyxx. Have only used one of the blades so far, and it's this one. Am thinking of using it one more time, cleaning it and putting it away and trying another one, then to the next, etc.
My first shave with it was in my new Razorock Slant. Was an ok shave, but not better than my no name Dollar store blade I replaced it with. That's why I want to use it again, to see if it's me or the blade. Wholeheartedly agree with Grundi in the presentation of the packaging. The inner wax paper is top notch, as is the outside one. Looking forward to the next shave, Dave

Ok. Shaved last night with it again. Much better shave this time. There are only two explanations that I can think of. Would like your opinion gentlemen. 1) I'm the problem, or B) the blade actually was better for having been stropped across my lovely face.
Seriously, my face is only lovely to my mother, possibly my wife on pay day, but QUESTION: is it possible that the blade got better after its first use?
 
Ok. Shaved last night with it again. Much better shave this time.
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QUESTION: is it possible that the blade got better after its first use?
Yes, it is!! For me, most blades perform better on the 2nd shave. I suspect that any manufacturing and shipping goop comes off during the 1st shave. That's what I've found for me, but, of course, YMMV!!
 
I've tried these blades twice (different sources) and both times, it felt like dragging a broken piece of glass across my face. It was like a sting and both times, I immediately reacted by pulling the razor away from my face, grimacing, and tossing the blade directly in the bin while mumbling obscenities. I don't know why but they tear my face up.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
I've tried these blades twice (different sources) and both times, it felt like dragging a broken piece of glass across my face. It was like a sting and both times, I immediately reacted by pulling the razor away from my face, grimacing, and tossing the blade directly in the bin while mumbling obscenities. I don't know why but they tear my face up.
That was kinda how it felt on my first shave. Thought I was nuts because of the fairly favorable review from Grundi. Weird, I guess mileage can vary a whole bunch sometimes....
 
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