Crystal Persuasion

[Chadao]

Not long ago I came across some blades in my shave den that I did not recognize. I posted a photo and thanks to our blade brothers here at B&B, they were identified as Crystal or Israeli Personna. More information here at the Official Guide to Israeli Made DE Blades: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/51858-The-Official-Guide-to-Israeli-Made-DE-Blades.

I am in the midst of a 15 day business trip. I check my bag so I loaded up with several different blades. And I tried the Crystal. And I really like it. I returned to my go-to blade, the Feather, for comparison. Now again to the Crystal.

For me, in my Weber PH, for now, I prefer the Crystal. It is maybe not quite as sharp as the Feather, but it is close enough. And the Crystal seems much more forgiving. With my tremors, I have had several unexpected jerks of the hand that would surely have drawn blood with the Feather.

I have ordered 100 Crystals and am making them my new go-to.

BTW, during this trip I also tried the Polsilver. For me, not quite as sharp as the Crystal, and less forgiving.

 

[Nomad1600]

Thanks for the write up, I am trying one in my Slim tomorrow.

 

[ArNav]

Where did you order them from?

 

[Chadao]

West Coast Shaving

 

[awa54]

as usual the YMMV axiom runs strong in blades, the Crystal blades felt harsh and only moderately above average sharpness to me...

Maybe I need to revisit them, the "Israeli reds" held true to my initial impressions (harsh, but sharp), so I'm not expecting any revelations, but it's always worth a try!

 

[gd9704]

The Crystals are my first 100 ct. purchase. I find they are a nice combination of sharp and smooth. I tend to get good shaves with no blood when I use them. And they're about 18 cents a blade when purchased in bulk.

 

[branford]

I, too, find that the Crystals are a nice, sharp and smooth blade. You are also in good company. The crystals are Mantic59's favorite blade.

Nevertheless, for me, the Personna Labs provide an even better shave.

 

[Jeff_H]

I also ordered the 120 lot from Amazon for $18 recently. I really like these blades a great deal. I find them sharp yet forgiving. Almost sharper than I prefer, but not quite. My other favorite blades are the Gillette Silver Blue's and recently the Astra's. The Crystal is sharper than any of them, yet nearly as forgiving. I do tend to get a few more weepers when I use them, but nothing that isn't done by the time I'm out of the shower.

 

[Chadao]

It's nice getting more feedback, pro and con. Approaching my 4th shave with my current Crystal. I am sure I will go back and try the Feathers again at some point. Just because they are there and I use them as a baseline for any other blade.But I sure like these Crystals.

 

[Chadao]

Forgiving...tonight my hand gave a twitch and cut my upper lip...well my hand didn't cut my upper lip, my razor did...If I had been using a Feather, I would have been dripping blood. With the Crystal I got a weeper that stopped almost instantly.

 

[Jeff_H]

Plus with the price differential between the Crystal's and the Feather's, you can stock up on significantly more blades for the same money. I likely need to give a Feather another try. I got a pack in my sample pack when I first started. I tried it about 2 months into my DE shaving career, on a day I was feeling quite frisky about my DE shaving prowess. I have not had a single more painful shaving experience....ever. I literally couldn't shave for a week and had lingering irritation for over 2.

I now attribute that to poor noob technique. However, that same noob technique had never before, and has never since, produced such a painful experience. So the blade certainly had a large part in that.

 

[azshooter40]

I would agree that they are forgiving. My technique is getting better but still make mistakes and have only had a few weepers with the Crystal.
However, I am disappointed with this blade. First shave was great but the two shaves after that were not comfortable for me. The blade seemed to pull more after the first shave and by the third it was even worse. Will give it another try but going back to the Red Personna blades and working on my technique.

 

[coolbus18]

My first 100 ct. also. A fine smooth blade that worked well for me in all of my Gillettes. It prepared me for more effective shavers as my blade technique got more effective. Enjoy your shaves!

 

[thorimmortal]

crystals are a great blade, one of the best I have tried, I think the croma's are beating them out for first place though.

 

[MichaelB]

I am an experienced DE shaver. But every now and then I like to challenge my go-to blades by buying a variety pack. I just experimented with a 15 blade variety pack from West Coast. The Crystal was the only blade that received an A grade. Sharp enough, smooth, and very effective. The perfect balance for my taste. Astra, Gillette Nacet, Gillette 7 O'Clock, and the Israeli Personna Red Pack, received A-. On the other end, Sharp and Super Max both got Ds. Interestingly, Derby -- which had been a go-to blade for years -- only got a B, so it falls off my list. So now the Crystal has become my go-to blade until 2 or 3 years from now when I challenge it with another variety pack.

 

[eaglesgift]

I tried one last night and it was awful. Dragged through my stubble, even on the cheeks, and had to use extremely short, angled strokes above my mouth as it didn't want to go through that area at all. Scratchy and not sharp. I'm still a newbie so take my opinion with a pinch of salt but the Crystal blade did not compare well to the Astras I was using beforehand.

 

[Boge]

I tried one last night and it was awful. Dragged through my stubble, even on the cheeks, and had to use extremely short, angled strokes above my mouth as it didn't want to go through that area at all. Scratchy and not sharp. I'm still a newbie so take my opinion with a pinch of salt but the Crystal blade did not compare well to the Astras I was using beforehand.

Many are of the opinion that the Crystal blade has changed for the worse for whatever reason.

 

[Boge]

Since mental suggestion is strong here on the Forum I tried a new Crystal blade again today. I had not used one in 4 or 5 months if I recall. I used a Gillette Goodwill razor and this gave a really sharp & smooth shave. I switched to a Feather Popular DE razor to shave around my mouth & chin as the former razor is just too aggressive for that area for me. It reminded me a lot of the Personna Israeli Red in how it shaved, despite their being different blades, but made in the same factory.

The Crystal is another of those 'love or hate' blades. YMMV.

 

[August West]

 

[Chadao]

Tony, you the man.