Gillette Silver Blue - A Review

[FarmerTan]

You will either like or dislike Arko it seems from reviews I have read so I bought 3 sticks on ebay for around 8 bucks Canadian, when you unwrap the first stick just take a knife and go down about 3/4 inch and cut around the foil and leave the rest of wrapper for holding it. It has the smell of a fresh bar of ivory soap that is strong but it does fad over time.(i just but in a zip lock bag when dried so I can enjoy my other soaps fragrances I have!) I also used a spent underarm deodorant roll up container to put my Arko in for a travel bag and it has a lid on it to keep it getting into my other travel toiletries items. I find Arko a little thirsty so you have to wet the brush a little once in a while to get it the way you like it.It has a good slickness if it just wet it enough IMO. Do a slickness test to see for yourself after first pass with just water to see how it feels if you get some.
All the best

Thanks. You've got me sold. I'm going to get me some too. If I'm not crazy about it I can always PIF it!

 

[RazorPete]

Getting away from arko and back to razor blades, which thankfully do not have such an offensive smell, Ive recently been casually comparing Gillette Silver Blues with vintage Gillette spoilers - while the spoilers won because they lasted longer the silver blues mimicked the spoilers’ sharp but comfortable feeling. Overall I give the silver blues a big thumbs up!

 

[FarmerTan]

Getting away from arko and back to razor blades, which thankfully do not have such an offensive smell, Ive recently been casually comparing Gillette Silver Blues with vintage Gillette spoilers - while the spoilers won because they lasted longer the silver blues mimicked the spoilers’ sharp but comfortable feeling. Overall I give the silver blues a big thumbs up!

Are the spoilers thicker?

 

[Esox]

I figure I'm using my face as a strop on the first shave, lol.

Face stropping is a thing! lol

The blade I noticed that the most with was Voskhod. The first shave was very good, the 2nd and 3rd became very harsh and rough, but the 4th was as smooth if not smoother than the first and it was as sharp as the first shave.

I agree the GSB got better past the first shave. I'm not sure why but they smoothed out for me as well. I still dont find them sharp enough for me though.

I personally wont buy a blade that I get a rough shave with, even if it smooths out again for the next shave. Life is too short to tolerate blades I dont get along with.

 

[RazorPete]

Are the spoilers thicker?

Yes

 

[mbarn]

I really enjoy GSB, but finding Platinum are also very good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Ron R]

Face stropping is a thing! lol

The blade I noticed that the most with was Voskhod. The first shave was very good, the 2nd and 3rd became very harsh and rough, but the 4th was as smooth if not smoother than the first and it was as sharp as the first shave.

I agree the GSB got better past the first shave. I'm not sure why but they smoothed out for me as well. I still dont find them sharp enough for me though.

I personally wont buy a blade that I get a rough shave with, even if it smooths out again for the next shave. Life is too short to tolerate blades I dont get along with.

Hello Esox, I wonder if the blade had a little edge curling and eventually straighten out by stropping out from the skin.
I have a question for you, when you place the blade in on #1 side do you flip the blade to the other side #2 on 2nd shave and then back to the #1 side for the 3rd shave.... to even the wear out evenly(similar idea to rotation of car tires for even wear)! It might prevent a serious edge curling from occurring? (we do know edge curling does occur at times with such a thin edge.)

 

[Ukrainian]

Face stropping is a thing! lol

The blade I noticed that the most with was Voskhod. The first shave was very good, the 2nd and 3rd became very harsh and rough, but the 4th was as smooth if not smoother than the first and it was as sharp as the first shave.

I agree the GSB got better past the first shave. I'm not sure why but they smoothed out for me as well. I still dont find them sharp enough for me though.

I personally wont buy a blade that I get a rough shave with, even if it smooths out again for the next shave. Life is too short to tolerate blades I dont get along with.

How does GSB compare to Nacet? In your opinion.

 

[Esox]

I have a question for you, when you place the blade in on #1 side do you flip the blade to the other side #2 on 2nd shave and then back to the #1 side for the 3rd shave....

I flip the blade every shave yeah. #1 side goes down and lays on the cap so would be up when shaving.

I've always flipped my blades if I use them a second time or more. It may not matter and I cant say if it does or not, but the idea makes sense to me. When I sharpen a knife, I count the strokes against the stone working down to a single stroke per side of the edge to keep that edge even. A razor blade I see as no different other than the medium used to hone or strop.

How does GSB compare to Nacet? In your opinion.

GSB is smoother but not as sharp. Nacet has a lot of "bare blade" feel like Astra SP, SS or Kai, but not as much. Nacet I also find considerably sharper than GSB.

 

[Capisco Capisce]

I flip the blade every shave yeah. #1 side goes down and lays on the cap so would be up when shaving.

I've always flipped my blades if I use them a second time or more. It may not matter and I cant say if it does or not, but the idea makes sense to me. When I sharpen a knife, I count the strokes against the stone working down to a single stroke per side of the edge to keep that edge even. A razor blade I see as no different other than the medium used to hone or strop.




GSB is smoother but not as sharp. Nacet has a lot of "bare blade" feel like Astra SP, SS or Kai, but not as much. Nacet I also find considerably sharper than GSB.

Everytime I think I'm set for blades, you or someone else makes a post like this.

Yeah even though I'm at the brink of bulk ordering GSB, Raven hits me with Platinum. Now you remind me of my untried Nacet stash.

How many St Petersburg products do we need?

 

[Ron R]

Everytime I think I'm set for blades, you or someone else makes a post like this.

Yeah even though I'm at the brink of bulk ordering GSB, Raven hits me with Platinum. Now you remind me of my untried Nacet stash.

How many St Petersburg products do we need?

But fifty of each or........ and enjoy it. My thoughts are the blades are much the same in sharpness with a high standard QC and are also made from specialty high carbon heat treatable stainless steel} its the coatings that make the difference for a smooth shave IMO.

 

[Esox]

Everytime I think I'm set for blades, you or someone else makes a post like this.

Yeah even though I'm at the brink of bulk ordering GSB, Raven hits me with Platinum. Now you remind me of my untried Nacet stash.

How many St Petersburg products do we need?

Well, all of them of course! LOL

 

[cw62803]

Everytime I think I'm set for blades, you or someone else makes a post like this.

Yeah even though I'm at the brink of bulk ordering GSB, Raven hits me with Platinum. Now you remind me of my untried Nacet stash.

How many St Petersburg products do we need?

These awesome blades are so inexpensive it is ridiculous. Go ahead and try them all. You live once and will pay plenty of bills that cost you more and give you no pleasure at all.

 

[shave/brush]

I love GSB, I think they are the best blades of all but I have one complaint about them. That wax they put on the blades makes a mess of my razor. I have a nice Gillette NEW that I had nickel plated and I have a very hard time removing the wax from it. It's almost not worth using the blades.

 

[FarmerTan]

I love GSB, I think they are the best blades of all but I have one complaint about them. That wax they put on the blades makes a mess of my razor. I have a nice Gillette NEW that I had nickel plated and I have a very hard time removing the wax from it. It's almost not worth using the blades.

You are right on. I've read some guys on here get the wax off somehow or other, but I'm on Coumadin, and I ain't handling that blade anymore than I have to! A weeper once a month or so on my face is one thing, but a sliced thumb is a whole different story! I wonder if a solvent of some type exists for that task?

 

[shave/brush]

I will Google it and see how to remove wax from metal. It might turn up something.

 

[Ron R]

I wonder if there is a easy way of removing the wax besides hot water and a scrap.(Its no fun playing with a razor blade, safer to leave the wax on and clean the razor.)

 

[shave/brush]

I wonder if there is a easy way of removing the wax besides hot water and a scrap.(Its no fun playing with a razor blade, safer to leave the wax on and clean the razor.)

Not easy to clean my nickel plated Gillette NEW. I can't get it off. I think it ruined the plating.

 

[Ron R]

Not easy to clean my nickel plated Gillette NEW. I can't get it off. I think it ruined the plating.

Hot water and a Q tip should work! That might be a good thread to start on how to deal with the wax.
Working method, to remove wax spots from blades?

 

[shave/brush]

I tried olive oil and a Q-tip. That seemed to work pretty good.