Journey to 100 blades (journal)

[Abz88]

Blade 47: Dorco Titan

The next Dorco blade to be loaded into the Karve CB was the Titan and again I went for the D Plate again. The Titan felt sharper than that ST-301, pretty smooth and worked well with this plate. A closer shave than the ST-301 and no signs of irritation or Alum feedback after today's shave. Looking forward to seeing if this one sharpens up over the next few shaves!

 

[Abz88]

Shave 2 with the Titan and another pleasant shave. It felt sharper than on shave 1 and just as smooth. The shave itself was a touch closer and there was no Alum feedback and there are no signs of irritation or any ingrowns.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 3 with the Titan today and another pleasant shave. The blade felt a touch sharper again today and just as smooth. It was another close shave with no irritation or Alum feedback and still no sign of ingrown hairs this week.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 4 with the Titan today. The shave was OK, but it felt like it had lost some sharpness from the previous shaves. The shave wasn't quite as close as the last two and I had a couple minor spots of irritation.
Overall I could happily shave with the Titan for three shaves, but four seems to be too far for me.

 

[Abz88]

Blade 48: Dorco Prime Platinum

The next Dorco blade to be loaded into the Karve CB was the Prime Platinum but based on its reputation as being the sharpest of the Dorco baldes I moved back down to the C Plate. The Prime was definitely sharper than the Dorco blades and it was also very smooth in this plate (almost no blade feel at times). A closer shave than the other Dorcos' and no signs of irritation or Alum feedback after today's shave. Looking forward to seeing how this performs over the next four shaves, but it feels like it could be a top tier blade in the Karve.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 2 with the Prime today, but first by way of an update I ended up spotting a few ingrowns the day after this blades first shave. It felt pretty sharp so I'm not sure what caused it!

For shave 2 I only had time for a quick single pass shave. Again the blade felt pretty sharp and smooth in the C Plate. Again the shave felt close (enough for a single pass anywah) and no initial feedback or alum sting. No sign of anymore ingrowns so hopefully that's them gone!

 

[Abz88]

Shave 3 with the Dorco Prime today. After shave 2 I spotted another couple of ingrowns the following day, so I decided to move up to the D plate today to see if that helps.

The blade felt sharp again today and still very smooth in the D Plate. The end result was a close shave with no irritation or alum feedback and I am hoping that has also sorted out the ingrown hairs! I'll finish using this blade and then I'll try a full set of shaves with a Doro Prime in the D Plate.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 4 with the Dorco Prime today, again in the D plate, and another pleasant shave. The blade feels sharp and smooth and there was no irritation or any ingrowns today.

I'll be shaving with a new Prime for a full week in the D Plate, but it feels like this blade is in the Sharp category (with Astra SS, Tiger SS, Voskhod, Gillette Platinum, Rapira Platinum Plus etc) but it doesn't break into the Very Sharp category (with BICs, Nacets, Feather, Perma-Sharp etc).

 

[Abz88]

Blade 49: Sainsbury's Men Advance Double Edge Blades

Up next is the Sainsbury's (UK Supermarket chain) own brand blade. As you can see from the paper wrapper they are made by Dorco but it's not clear if it's an existing Dorco blade or slightly different in-house model. I've seen other posters state its an ST-301 but the wrapper is slightly different (the 301 has 301 written on the wrapper).
In terms of shaving, it was quite a good first shave in the D Plate. It felt pretty smooth and was sharp enough (although not as sharp as the Prime or Titan) for a close and comfortable shave. No irritation, ingrowns or Alum feedback today and it also didn't have the slight tug I felt with the ST-301.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 2 with the Sainsburys blade today. Another smooth and close enough shave but there was some very minor irritation on my neck. The irritation had disappeared by the evening so overall still a good result.

 

[Jay21]

I finally got around to reading some of your posts. I completely agree with you that the Dorco Titan is an excellent blade and is much better than the ST-300/1. I want to try the Prime sometime.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 3 with the Sainsbury's Dorco today and another pleasant shave. The blade feels similar to shave 2, it's smooth and sharp enough to provide an irritation free shave, with no irritation, ingrowns (so far!) or Alum feedback. The shave was close enough, although could be closer.

 

[Abz88]

Fourth and final shave with the Sainsburys Dorco today and another pleasant shave. The blade feels similar to the last two shaves (possibly a touch duller and smoother) and it again provided a close enough shave with no irritation, ingrowns or Alum feedback.

Overall this blade performed better than both the ST-301 and Titan (although the first three shaves weren't as sharp as the Titan). I've had no major irritation (very minor irritation on shave 2 but it disappeared by the evening) or ingrown hairs. Whether or not it's a re-packaged Dorco blade and I've just been lucky with it this week or one made slightly differently for Sainsburys is a mystery to me!

 

[thombrogan]

I couldn’t find the blades you’ve recently enjoyed on the supermarket’s website. So I got sidetracked and started thinking Harry’s razors could make a killing if they marketed razors for women with the same style and price, but renamed them “Meghan’s.”

 

[Abz88]

I couldn’t find the blades you’ve recently enjoyed on the supermarket’s website. So I got sidetracked and started thinking Harry’s razors could make a killing if they marketed razors for women with the same style and price, but renamed them “Meghan’s.”

The Men Advance blades are still on their website, but now stated as made in Czech Republic, Germany so I assume they have switched from Dorco to Personna now. I'll need to try and pick some up to do a comparison!

https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-men-advance-double-edge-blades-x10?istCompanyId=1e096408-041f-4238-994e-a7cf46bf9413&istFeedId=689af7a8-5842-4d88-be59-1ee5688a81b5&istItemId=rqqpltlmi&istBid=t&&cmpid=cpc&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=15440097740&utm_content=shopping&utm_term=%257bsku%257d&utm_custom1=130917518312&utm_custom2=759-449-0952&gclid=CjwKCAjwg-GjBhBnEiwAMUvNW4cJJyHOUZGBki3h9uYXjPqJKfr-GehDKzP7bHjI_ABPBaHCRfCS8xoC8YQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[thombrogan]

The only blade I didn’t see. Thank you for the link.

 

[Abz88]

Blade 50: Treet New Steel

At the half way point now, and up next is my first ever Treet blade, the Treet New Steel. I am not up to speed with the various Treet blades and how they are meant to perform, so I am set to shave with a quite a few of them with zero expectations. The first shave with the New Steel was a good start. In the Rocca it felt sharp and very smooth (minimal blade feel). There was no signs of tugging and I didn't feel like I had to go over an areas to clean things up. The end result was a close and irritation free shave with no Alum feedback and no sign of any ingrown hairs/curl backs.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 2 with the Treet New Steel and another impressive shave. It felt a touch sharper and still very smooth. Another close shave with no irritation or Alum feedback.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 3 with the Treet New Steel and another impressive shave. The blade feels sharper again (almost too sharp in this razor) and still very smooth. Another close shave with some very minor irritation and Alum Block feedback.

 

[Abz88]

Shave 4 with the Treet New Steel and another excellent shave. Its still sharp (not quite as sharp as shave 3) and very smooth (back to minimal blade feel). Overall a close shave with no irritation or Alum feedback.