I have no idea why anybody likes Voskhod blades!

[kingfisher]

I know a fair number of people post positively about Voskhod blades but I just don't understand it. I got a tuck of these blades thrown in with something else I bought a long time ago. Tried one back then, or maybe two, and thought they were awful, but I didn't throw the rest of the blades away.

The other day I saw them sitting there and I thought that maybe my tastes may have changed or maybe my technique is different, and i would be using it in a razor I didn't even own back then, etc, so I decided to load one up and give it another go.

Yikes. What an awful freaking blade. This has to be the dullest blade I have ever tried in my 15 years of traditional shaving. It tugs and pulls like no other. By the end of the shave, I was thinking that I might as well yank the hairs out individually with a clam shell, like Fred Flintstone!

This morning, against my better judgement, I decided to see if it would be smoother on a second shave. Well, it was, but only a tiny bit. It was still tuggy and uncomfortable.

I will never use another Voskhod blade.

If you are a person who prefers sharp blades, and you haven't yet tried these, look elsewhere.

Those of you who like them, more power to you, but for the life of me I cannot imagine how anybody could enjoy shaving with this blade. A shard of obsidian would probably be better for me. /rant

 

[Virgil Sollozzo]

I know a fair number of people post positively about Voskhod blades but I just don't understand it. I got a tuck of these blades thrown in with something else I bought a long time ago. Tried one back then, or maybe two, and thought they were awful, but I didn't throw the rest of the blades away.

The other day I saw them sitting there and I thought that maybe my tastes may have changed or maybe my technique is different, and i would be using it in a razor I didn't even own back then, etc, so I decided to load one up and give it another go.

Yikes. What an awful freaking blade. This has to be the dullest blade I have ever tried in my 15 years of traditional shaving. It tugs and pulls like no other. By the end of the shave, I was thinking that I might as well yank the hairs out individually with a clam shell, like Fred Flintstone!

This morning, against my better judgement, I decided to see if it would be smoother on a second shave. Well, it was, but only a tiny bit. It was still tuggy and uncomfortable.

I will never use another Voskhod blade.

If you are a person who prefers sharp blades, and you haven't yet tried these, look elsewhere.

Those of you who like them, more power to you, but for the life of me I cannot imagine how anybody could enjoy shaving with this blade. A shard of obsidian would probably be better for me. /rant

I would attribute your poor experience with Voskhod to either something particular about your face/skin or any combination of technique, razor, soap...not sure. It's good you know what you like and don't. I for one love the Voskhod and get an amazingly close shave that is nick/cut free. It's really a pleasure and about all I use anymore. Happy shaving, Kingfisher.

 

[sandstorm99]

Interesting. I like Voskhod, and it's one of the four blades in rotation for me. Others 3 from Gillette: Nacet, Silver Blue and 7 O'Clock SharpEdge (Yellow). YMMV.

 

[Virgil Sollozzo]

Interesting. I like Voskhod, and it's one of the four blades in rotation for me. Others 3 from Gillette: Nacet, Silver Blue and 7 O'Clock SharpEdge (Yellow). YMMV.

Wow, very close coincidence, among my top blades are; Voskhod, Nacet, 7 O'Clock yellow...

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Voskhod, Rapira, and Ladas are my top blades and I have so many now that I never need try any other brands. I dislike blades which are known for being especially sharp such as Feather, Nacet, Bic etc. and don't purchase Gillette blades. Unless I happen upon a good deal for some vintage blades then I cannot see me buying any for several years. Plus I am starting to do more injector, GEM, AC, and Weck shaving so will require fewer DE blades.

 

[Brian H Shaves]

I have also found Voskhod dull and tuggy for me as well. I have tried them multiple times and it's always a very uncomfortable shave. For reference, some of my favorite blades are perma-sharp, GSB, Gillette Platinum, Nacet, and Astra SP

 

[Eric_75]

They work just fine for me.

 

[NotBloomingAL]

I recently tried a Voskhod blade and thought it was pretty good. I'm wondering if there are bad batches that are making their way to market. It's sad if that's the case. That really hurts the brand.

 

[Pinto90]

Yikes. What an awful freaking blade. This has to be the dullest blade I have ever tried in my 15 years of traditional shaving. It tugs and pulls like no other. By the end of the shave, I was thinking that I might as well yank the hairs out individually with a clam shell, like Fred Flintstone!

I'm sorry the Voskhod blades didn't work for you, they always work very well on me and are among my absolute favorites.

Try giving it a few more chances with different razor models, you might reconsider the quality and your opinion of this blade might be different.

 

[tejolot3]

When I first started DE shaving, I quickly settled on Voskhod as my blade of choice. I still have a bunch, but I rarely use them anymore.

In my experience, it's a bit of a crap-shoot. Most of the time, they're fine. Occasionally, I get one that's tuggy on the first shave but smooths out by #2 or #3. Other times, I'll get one that starts out fine but gets tuggy by #3. I pretty much never get one that's worth pushing past #4 or #5.

Where Voskhod has really done well for me is in my Gillette Slim dialed up to an 8. A lot of my preferred blades, which are sharper than Voskhod, get kind of dangerous in that razor on that setting, but that's where Voskhod shines. So yeah if Voskhod has treated you poorly, then I recommend trying it in a more aggressive razor before giving up on it.

 

[ivan_101]

Those of you who like them, more power to you, but for the life of me I cannot imagine how anybody could enjoy shaving with this blade. A shard of obsidian would probably be better for me. /rant

You have been long enough in the hobby.
May I enquire if you heard that mild blades work in aggressive razors, and very sharp blades work well in mild razors?

It is as simple as that. The Voskhods are very mild blades. That is why they shine in very aggressive razors. Especially if you have very tough whiskers.

So no need to bash the blade so hard, however bad your experience was. There are those of us who like them very much. I just cannot describe to you how brilliant my shave with a Voskhod in the Progress @5 is.



P.S. I forgot the most important question. What was the razor that you used with Voskhod?

 

[Kix]

My experience with Voskhod blades has been dismal. I've only used two of them, and I'm in no hurry to try them again.

 

[JoWolf]

I know a fair number of people post positively about Voskhod blades but I just don't understand it. I got a tuck of these blades thrown in with something else I bought a long time ago. Tried one back then, or maybe two, and thought they were awful, but I didn't throw the rest of the blades away.

The other day I saw them sitting there and I thought that maybe my tastes may have changed or maybe my technique is different, and i would be using it in a razor I didn't even own back then, etc, so I decided to load one up and give it another go.

Yikes. What an awful freaking blade. This has to be the dullest blade I have ever tried in my 15 years of traditional shaving. It tugs and pulls like no other. By the end of the shave, I was thinking that I might as well yank the hairs out individually with a clam shell, like Fred Flintstone!

This morning, against my better judgement, I decided to see if it would be smoother on a second shave. Well, it was, but only a tiny bit. It was still tuggy and uncomfortable.

I will never use another Voskhod blade.

If you are a person who prefers sharp blades, and you haven't yet tried these, look elsewhere.

Those of you who like them, more power to you, but for the life of me I cannot imagine how anybody could enjoy shaving with this blade. A shard of obsidian would probably be better for me. /rant

know a fair number of people post positively about Voskhod blades but I just don't understand it

When I first started DE shaving it was my regular blade and used for up to three face and head shaves. It worked great for me until my technique and blade stroke increased.

I thought that maybe my tastes may have changed or maybe my technique is different,

Both. Your technique improved and your stroke speed increased. Voskhod’s are in the middle category for sharpness. Duller blades require more time to cut through the same resistance than a sharper blade. If you slowed your stroke speed down and used more pre shave lubricants it would get the job done. Albeit with less efficiency.

This has to be the dullest blade I have ever tried in my 15 years of traditional shaving. It tugs and pulls like no other.

When my stroke and technique improved using middle category blades it felt like someone had a hold on the back of my pants slowing me down.

This morning, against my better judgement, I decided to see if it would be smoother on a second shave. Well, it was, but only a tiny bit. It was still tuggy and uncomfortable.

You probably slowed your stroke down, the tug is not allowing enough time for the blade to make the cut.

I will never use another Voskhod blade.

I had many shaves with them and have many left over which will never be used by me. I single use a Feather for each face and head shave. My second and third choice for sharp blades would be a Nacet or Bic Platinum. Both excellent blades but a tad slower than a Feather.

 

[kingfisher]

You have been long enough in the hobby.
May I enquire if you heard that mild blades work in aggressive razors, and very sharp blades work well in mild razors?

It is as simple as that. The Voskhods are very mild blades. That is why they shine in very aggressive razors. Especially if you have very tough whiskers.

So no need to bash the blade so hard, however bad your experience was. There are those of us who like them very much. I just cannot describe to you how brilliant my shave with a Voskhod in the Progress @5 is.



P.S. I forgot the most important question. What was the razor that you used with Voskhod?

It was a titanium Diamondback; very middle of the road in both efficiency and aggressiveness. Blade feel also about middle of the road.

 

[tube_guy]

When I first started DE shaving, I quickly settled on Voskhod as my blade of choice. I still have a bunch, but I rarely use them anymore.

In my experience, it's a bit of a crap-shoot. Most of the time, they're fine. Occasionally, I get one that's tuggy on the first shave but smooths out by #2 or #3. Other times, I'll get one that starts out fine but gets tuggy by #3. I pretty much never get one that's worth pushing past #4 or #5.

Where Voskhod has really done well for me is in my Gillette Slim dialed up to an 8. A lot of my preferred blades, which are sharper than Voskhod, get kind of dangerous in that razor on that setting, but that's where Voskhod shines. So yeah if Voskhod has treated you poorly, then I recommend trying it in a more aggressive razor before giving up on it.

I have also found that the Voskhod blades really shine in more aggressive razors. In fact, I've come to that conclusion for every Mostochlegmash blade that I've tried. Voskhod, Ladas, and a few different Rapira blades all seem to work really well in my most aggressive razors.

 

[BigJ]

This thread illustrates the principle that, ‘Blades are the most YMMV,’ aspect of ‘traditional’ wet shaving!

 

[BurnFree]

I did not find anything on a quick search, but think there are some posts about a bad batch (more like a bad several years of production) that took quite a while to work through sales channels. REALLY bad...not typical variation. It still kinda sounds like it's not your blade.

Could be wrong (often am), but might have to buy more if you're a glutton for punishment.

 

[Alex Jr]

I think for every “crap” blade out there, there’s a razor match made in heaven.

I’ve recently found that with the derby extra.

Keep exploring more aggressive razors with it, you might be surprised one day.

 

[psfred]

I have used one (I take forever to use up a blade) it is was fine. 50 shaves or so before it died, which while a little below average is fine, they were nice shaves.

I use adjustable razors (Gillette Slims and FatBoys) because it's easy to set them to match a blade rather than having to try a pile of razors to get a match.

Try a steeper shaving angle and an aggressive razor (or a high setting on a Gillette Adjustable). I've found many non-Gillette blades won't shave as shallow as Gillette blades.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

I will never use another Voskhod blade.

Sounds like the only logical way to deal with a blade that you don’t like.