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 razor, Henry Cavendish shave soap 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.
Up this month are ZAE blades. These were an impulse purchase on tryablade; mostly because they were listed as being Japanese manufactured and i've not heard too much about them. Come to find out they're actually Chinese manufactured and I'm not all that surprised.
There is a website for these and you can buy 100 blades for 3.99 or a whopping 2500 blades for 87.50. That's less than 4 cents a blade. It's pretty clear these blades are marketed to barbers since all of their advertising is geared in that direction; and their website essentially is pushing the bulk purchases.
So with the chance to stock up on a near lifetime supply of blades for under $100, are they any good? Short answer: no.
The first noticable aspect of these blades are how dull they are. We all know that no razor blade is "dull", but comparative to a quality blade, ZAE blades are like butter knives. The tug and pull from these things made getting through all 8 shaves a serious chore. To be perfectly frank these were top 1 or 2 of the dullest blades i've ever experienced on any platform (cart, disposable or DE). I had to do a TON of blade buffing in order to achieve what a normal blade would do in one swipe. To make matters worse, they actually seemed to get signifigantly duller each shave. Shaves 3 and 4 on each blade were where any sane person would've tossed them. But for the sake of "giving them a fair shot", i soldiered on. Needless to say, longevity is extremely poor.
The one saving grace of these things was that they were surprisingly smooth. With the amount of time i spent going over the same spots, i would expect my face to be hamburger or at the least severely razor burned. But i honestly never suffered from much irritation at all and had no nicks or weepers. All said and done, i was able to get a pretty close shave almost every time but it took a
LOT of effort.
Regarding consistancy, it's another area where these blades fall far short. The first blade i tried was horrendous and by the 4th shave i was truly considering not even trying the other blade. But i did, and noticed that it was noticibly sharper. Still not anywhere close to the sharpness of any normal, quality blade but it was decent enough to get through another 4 shaves.
Overall, i'd give these blades a 3 out of 10. I waffled back and forth between giving them a 2 or a 3, but decided that because i really didn't get any irritation from them and was able to get suprisingly close shaves, they deserve a 3. Don't misconstrue the previous sentence as praise though. The tug and pull of these things made for a truly unpleasant shaving experience. The result was good, but as they say: "The end doesn't justify the means."
I did come to a realization though. These would actually make a really great barber's blade. Since most barbers are no longer doing face shaves, these are ideal for edging up sideburns, necklines, etc. They're very mild, cheap, and each blade is tossed after one use anyway. It makes alot of sense that they're being marketed to that arena. So if you're a barber, maybe look into buying a case. But if you're planning on using it on your face, i'd look elsewhere.
Up next: Gillette Wilkinson Sword (India). Also a note, i'm going to try daily shaving soon so the reviews might be more frequent than every month. But i'm still calling it Macduff's Monthly Blade Review. Because Macduff's Bi-Weekly Blade Review just doesn't have the same ring to it. Happy Shaving!
Up this month are ZAE blades. These were an impulse purchase on tryablade; mostly because they were listed as being Japanese manufactured and i've not heard too much about them. Come to find out they're actually Chinese manufactured and I'm not all that surprised.
There is a website for these and you can buy 100 blades for 3.99 or a whopping 2500 blades for 87.50. That's less than 4 cents a blade. It's pretty clear these blades are marketed to barbers since all of their advertising is geared in that direction; and their website essentially is pushing the bulk purchases.
So with the chance to stock up on a near lifetime supply of blades for under $100, are they any good? Short answer: no.
The first noticable aspect of these blades are how dull they are. We all know that no razor blade is "dull", but comparative to a quality blade, ZAE blades are like butter knives. The tug and pull from these things made getting through all 8 shaves a serious chore. To be perfectly frank these were top 1 or 2 of the dullest blades i've ever experienced on any platform (cart, disposable or DE). I had to do a TON of blade buffing in order to achieve what a normal blade would do in one swipe. To make matters worse, they actually seemed to get signifigantly duller each shave. Shaves 3 and 4 on each blade were where any sane person would've tossed them. But for the sake of "giving them a fair shot", i soldiered on. Needless to say, longevity is extremely poor.
The one saving grace of these things was that they were surprisingly smooth. With the amount of time i spent going over the same spots, i would expect my face to be hamburger or at the least severely razor burned. But i honestly never suffered from much irritation at all and had no nicks or weepers. All said and done, i was able to get a pretty close shave almost every time but it took a
LOT of effort.
Regarding consistancy, it's another area where these blades fall far short. The first blade i tried was horrendous and by the 4th shave i was truly considering not even trying the other blade. But i did, and noticed that it was noticibly sharper. Still not anywhere close to the sharpness of any normal, quality blade but it was decent enough to get through another 4 shaves.
Overall, i'd give these blades a 3 out of 10. I waffled back and forth between giving them a 2 or a 3, but decided that because i really didn't get any irritation from them and was able to get suprisingly close shaves, they deserve a 3. Don't misconstrue the previous sentence as praise though. The tug and pull of these things made for a truly unpleasant shaving experience. The result was good, but as they say: "The end doesn't justify the means."
I did come to a realization though. These would actually make a really great barber's blade. Since most barbers are no longer doing face shaves, these are ideal for edging up sideburns, necklines, etc. They're very mild, cheap, and each blade is tossed after one use anyway. It makes alot of sense that they're being marketed to that arena. So if you're a barber, maybe look into buying a case. But if you're planning on using it on your face, i'd look elsewhere.
Up next: Gillette Wilkinson Sword (India). Also a note, i'm going to try daily shaving soon so the reviews might be more frequent than every month. But i'm still calling it Macduff's Monthly Blade Review. Because Macduff's Bi-Weekly Blade Review just doesn't have the same ring to it. Happy Shaving!
