Hello, I thought I would share my experience with the Gillette Red Tip and the Gillette Platinum Blades and request some informative feedback from the forum.
Several years ago I purchased a Gillette Red Tip. As I was new to wet shaving, I found that I nicked myself too often and the blade feel was too aggressive. My thought at the time was to use less aggressive blades like the Red Personna and the Lab Blue Personna, but that did not solve the problem and I eventually put the Red Tip aside. A few months ago, I decided to retest my skills with the Red Tip. On a whim, I loaded it with a Nacet Blade and it gave me an excellent shave. I was so surprised that I decided to have the Red Tip refurbished. As you can see in the image below, Chris Evatt at RazorPlate.com did an excellent job.
After I received the refurbished razor, I decided to spend some more time trying to optimize the blade selection. The PolSilver, which was my favorite blade and worked extremely well with the Merkur 34G and Gillette Tech, worked well in the Red Tip, but was not quite as smooth as the Nacet. The only issue with the Nacet was that it became sharper with use and could feel uncomfortable with slightly too much pressure. I decided to try the Gillette Platinum blades (blue box with white lettering) that some vendors are calling the new Swedes.
To make a long story short, the combination is amazing. I never thought that any blade could be decidedly better than the PolSilver, but I was wrong. The blade is unbelievably smooth and the level of sharpness is perfect for my beard and skin.
The one counter intuitive lesson here is that a more aggressive razor does not necessarily call for a less aggressive blade. Another surprise was that I could notice the improved glide of the razor after Chris's restoration. My take away is that a more aggressive razor calls for less applied pressure, but that the toughness of your beard determines the ideal razor blade. For reference, blades like the yellow Sharks, the Green Derbys and most of the Lord blades are not usable for me. They tug and pull rather than cut trough my facial hair. Feathers, on the other hand, are too sharp and feel too aggressive.
Let me know your thoughts on my conclusions. I would definitely encourage members with tough beards and sensitive skin to try the Platinum blades. Also, if you have an inclination to restore a vintage razor, don't hesitate to take advantage of Chris's excellent and very reasonably priced restoration and replanting services. He definitely has a passion for that work.
Several years ago I purchased a Gillette Red Tip. As I was new to wet shaving, I found that I nicked myself too often and the blade feel was too aggressive. My thought at the time was to use less aggressive blades like the Red Personna and the Lab Blue Personna, but that did not solve the problem and I eventually put the Red Tip aside. A few months ago, I decided to retest my skills with the Red Tip. On a whim, I loaded it with a Nacet Blade and it gave me an excellent shave. I was so surprised that I decided to have the Red Tip refurbished. As you can see in the image below, Chris Evatt at RazorPlate.com did an excellent job.
After I received the refurbished razor, I decided to spend some more time trying to optimize the blade selection. The PolSilver, which was my favorite blade and worked extremely well with the Merkur 34G and Gillette Tech, worked well in the Red Tip, but was not quite as smooth as the Nacet. The only issue with the Nacet was that it became sharper with use and could feel uncomfortable with slightly too much pressure. I decided to try the Gillette Platinum blades (blue box with white lettering) that some vendors are calling the new Swedes.
To make a long story short, the combination is amazing. I never thought that any blade could be decidedly better than the PolSilver, but I was wrong. The blade is unbelievably smooth and the level of sharpness is perfect for my beard and skin.
The one counter intuitive lesson here is that a more aggressive razor does not necessarily call for a less aggressive blade. Another surprise was that I could notice the improved glide of the razor after Chris's restoration. My take away is that a more aggressive razor calls for less applied pressure, but that the toughness of your beard determines the ideal razor blade. For reference, blades like the yellow Sharks, the Green Derbys and most of the Lord blades are not usable for me. They tug and pull rather than cut trough my facial hair. Feathers, on the other hand, are too sharp and feel too aggressive.
Let me know your thoughts on my conclusions. I would definitely encourage members with tough beards and sensitive skin to try the Platinum blades. Also, if you have an inclination to restore a vintage razor, don't hesitate to take advantage of Chris's excellent and very reasonably priced restoration and replanting services. He definitely has a passion for that work.