So i'm back with another monthly review! As before, each blade will be reviewed based on a 2 pass (plus touch up) shave using a Van Der Hagen long handled razor, some atrocious “Peace” soap that should never have been used for shaving and a generic Fento badger brush. I run through 2 of each blade and use each 4 times; for a total of 8 shaves per brand. I'll be grading based on sharpness, smoothness, longevity and consistency. Price will be a factor but only of it's very cheap or expensive since most DE blades are pretty cheap comparatively.
Reviews are coming fast and furious these days due to my slacking over the holidays. Coming on the heels of the exceptional lab blue is the Permasharp Super. It’s made in the same St. Petersburg factory (Petersburg Products International) as the vaunted Polsilver SI so i expected good things out of the Perma. As a side note, i’ve noticed that the “Polsilver has stopped production” rumor has started up again. I intend to get some proof that this is another cooked up story so i’ll post a thread on my attempt to get to the bottom of this in the coming week. Back to the Permasharp...
Blade packaging is the standard translucent waxed paper and the blade is stamped “Permasharp Stainless.” Coating on these is a bit of a mystery. Some list it as PTFE coated and others don’t mention anything. I couldn’t find anything definitive so i’ll have to leave it up in the air. If anyone knows for sure, feel free to chime in. Unfortunately i don’t have any funny or witty tidbits to add on this blade. This blade is all business. From the packaging to the stamping, this thing is the yugo of razor blades. Basic, utilitarian, singular in purpose. But many great books have plain covers. Is this blade War and Peace? Or simply more propaganda from Pravada? Let’s find out!
As always, we start with sharpness. With a name like “Permasharp”, i was expecting something...well...sharp. And i can say definitively it most certainly is. The first shave had no problem taking down a couple days worth of stubble. I did suffer a couple of weepers and post shave irritation was noticible so i knew i was dealing with a sharp blade. I took more care on the second shave but the Permasharp was truly unforgiving. More weepers and even more irritation followed. The third and fourth shaves both felt a bit tuggy and like the preceding two, came with some weepers to boot. I don’t often draw blood shaving but for whatever reason, no matter how careful i was with the Perma, i couldn’t get a bloodless shave.
Smoothness was a real downfall here. The blade was plenty sharp but as i stated above, each and every shave came with the red stuff and a good dose of razor burn. Every shave i would carefully try to mitigate the pain by taking my time and being careful, and every time i ended up with blood and the prickly-itchy sensation of a shave gone wrong. This is not a smooth blade.
Consistancy earned high marks because both blades had a decent first shave then became harsh hack sessions i sufferered through. The second shave on both blades was the worst in terms of weepers and irritation. A good thing in terms of quality control, but bad for my mug.
Longevity was hard for me to gauge simply because these blades were tearing me up. For someone who likes sharp blades these would probably keep on delivering a super sharp shave well past four uses; but for me i simply couldn’t go on. This was the type of blade that made me question whether my “give the blade a fair shot” ideal was insane. Outside of the first shaves, each one was torturous. But i want to give every blade a full review so i plowed through and happily tossed the last Permasharp into the annals of B&B history.
Cost is on the high end as with most PPI blades. Amazon is asking 19.90 per 100 which is is expensive for DE blades but not necessarily break the bank level.
An old soviet joke regarding the two state run newspapers, Pravada (the truth) and Izvestia (the news) goes thusly: “There is no news in the truth and no truth in the news.” Unfortunately for me, all the news of the Permasharp being a good blade were like so much soviet propaganda. They took a kernel of truth (it’s sharp!) and duped me into thinking it was smooth. Well there’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again. Or something like that (thanks GW.)
I do think people who like extremely sharp blades may enjoy the Permasharp Super. Personally, it was far too harsh an experience for me to ever try again. Sensitive skin shavers beware. This is not the blade for you. In light of that, i’m giving the Permasharp Super an overall score of 4 out of 10. Sharp to be sure, but harsh as a siberian winter.
Up next, we move from Russia to Egypt with the Lord Super Stainless. Until then, happy shaving!
Reviews are coming fast and furious these days due to my slacking over the holidays. Coming on the heels of the exceptional lab blue is the Permasharp Super. It’s made in the same St. Petersburg factory (Petersburg Products International) as the vaunted Polsilver SI so i expected good things out of the Perma. As a side note, i’ve noticed that the “Polsilver has stopped production” rumor has started up again. I intend to get some proof that this is another cooked up story so i’ll post a thread on my attempt to get to the bottom of this in the coming week. Back to the Permasharp...
Blade packaging is the standard translucent waxed paper and the blade is stamped “Permasharp Stainless.” Coating on these is a bit of a mystery. Some list it as PTFE coated and others don’t mention anything. I couldn’t find anything definitive so i’ll have to leave it up in the air. If anyone knows for sure, feel free to chime in. Unfortunately i don’t have any funny or witty tidbits to add on this blade. This blade is all business. From the packaging to the stamping, this thing is the yugo of razor blades. Basic, utilitarian, singular in purpose. But many great books have plain covers. Is this blade War and Peace? Or simply more propaganda from Pravada? Let’s find out!
As always, we start with sharpness. With a name like “Permasharp”, i was expecting something...well...sharp. And i can say definitively it most certainly is. The first shave had no problem taking down a couple days worth of stubble. I did suffer a couple of weepers and post shave irritation was noticible so i knew i was dealing with a sharp blade. I took more care on the second shave but the Permasharp was truly unforgiving. More weepers and even more irritation followed. The third and fourth shaves both felt a bit tuggy and like the preceding two, came with some weepers to boot. I don’t often draw blood shaving but for whatever reason, no matter how careful i was with the Perma, i couldn’t get a bloodless shave.
Smoothness was a real downfall here. The blade was plenty sharp but as i stated above, each and every shave came with the red stuff and a good dose of razor burn. Every shave i would carefully try to mitigate the pain by taking my time and being careful, and every time i ended up with blood and the prickly-itchy sensation of a shave gone wrong. This is not a smooth blade.
Consistancy earned high marks because both blades had a decent first shave then became harsh hack sessions i sufferered through. The second shave on both blades was the worst in terms of weepers and irritation. A good thing in terms of quality control, but bad for my mug.
Longevity was hard for me to gauge simply because these blades were tearing me up. For someone who likes sharp blades these would probably keep on delivering a super sharp shave well past four uses; but for me i simply couldn’t go on. This was the type of blade that made me question whether my “give the blade a fair shot” ideal was insane. Outside of the first shaves, each one was torturous. But i want to give every blade a full review so i plowed through and happily tossed the last Permasharp into the annals of B&B history.
Cost is on the high end as with most PPI blades. Amazon is asking 19.90 per 100 which is is expensive for DE blades but not necessarily break the bank level.
An old soviet joke regarding the two state run newspapers, Pravada (the truth) and Izvestia (the news) goes thusly: “There is no news in the truth and no truth in the news.” Unfortunately for me, all the news of the Permasharp being a good blade were like so much soviet propaganda. They took a kernel of truth (it’s sharp!) and duped me into thinking it was smooth. Well there’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again. Or something like that (thanks GW.)
I do think people who like extremely sharp blades may enjoy the Permasharp Super. Personally, it was far too harsh an experience for me to ever try again. Sensitive skin shavers beware. This is not the blade for you. In light of that, i’m giving the Permasharp Super an overall score of 4 out of 10. Sharp to be sure, but harsh as a siberian winter.
Up next, we move from Russia to Egypt with the Lord Super Stainless. Until then, happy shaving!
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I primarily use my Ed Jagger, so only stocked up on blades that work well in that one razor, even though I do use other DEs occasionally.
