Ming Shi - my first shave with a Chinese blade

[Highspeedlane]

Along with my Ming Shi 2000s razor I received 5 Ming Shi DE blades. In all the DE shaving I've done I've never used a Chinese made DE blade until this morning.

So today I wanted to break that pattern and at least give one of these a whirl. I loaded one in my Ming Shi 2000s, set it to 2.5 for the first pass and lathered with Tabac on my 24 hour stubble.

After the first pass I was very smooth and close. ALMOST decided to do touch up and call it a day, but naw, I have to do another pass. For the second pass I set the razor to 3.5 and went primarily ATG on most areas.

My impression of this blade? Very smooth and in that realm of being efficient without being "too" sharp or unforgiving.

The "acid test" of my shave is using Florida Water AS. Florida Water will tell you immediately if you have irritation or errors. I didn't. I had extremely mild feedback and an amazingly close, smooth shave.

If I had to use these blades regularly I would have no problem with them. I plan to move this blade from my Ming Shi 2000s razor to my Gillette ball end Old Type for tomorrow's shave!

 

[fast shaver]

My experience with different Chinese blades is that they are smooth but, I can only get 2-3 shaves from them until they shoot the moon. Another gripe I have is that they are as expensive as GSB's which I can get X8--X10 smooth shaves with.

 

[Highspeedlane]

My experience with different Chinese blades is that they are smooth but, I can only get 2-3 shaves from them until they shoot the moon. Another gripe I have is that they are as expensive as GSB's which I can get X8--X10 smooth shaves with.

Great info.

Honestly I was apprehensive about using one but recalled some positive reviews on other threads. I don't know how many different factories make Chinese blades but at least as far as this brand line goes I am impressed. Longevity is of course a subjective thing. Out of the gate though, the smoothness of this blade is quite impressive.

 

[BigJ]

My experience with different Chinese blades is that they are smooth but, I can only get 2-3 shaves from them until they shoot the moon. Another gripe I have is that they are as expensive as GSB's which I can get X8--X10 smooth shaves with.

Thanks for the post!

I have minimal experience with Chinese blades, largely because I can get Russian, US, German, Israeli, etc blades that I am very happy with for the same (or fewer) $. Clearly YMMV, which is what keeps things interesting!

 

[Capisco Capisce]

Another country heard from, and why not?

I'd give 'em a whirl!

 

[RapidRob]

PSA: The only retailer I know of for the blades is Virginia Shaving Products on AliExpress. They sell 100 blade lots.

 

[fast shaver]

Aliexpress is a good site but, on some items they are pricey. I got some good deals there in the past. The downside is shipping from China to the USA can take up to a month or longer.

 

[Highspeedlane]

Aliexpress is a good site but, on some items they are pricey. I got some good deals there in the past. The downside is shipping from China to the USA can take up to a month or longer.

I was amazed how quickly I received mine from the Chinese Ebay seller. From clicking "Buy now" till it arrived at my mailbox was 13 days.

 

[fast shaver]

I was amazed how quickly I received mine from the Chinese Ebay seller. From clicking "Buy now" till it arrived at my mailbox was 13 days.

Yeeoww! That has to be an all time record.! Are you related to President XI.?

 

[Highspeedlane]

Yeeoww! That has to be an all time record.! Are you related to President XI.?

Yea no kidding, I was amazed. Another thing I liked about this seller was they continually updated me with the shipping status.

 

[weekly]

My experience with different Chinese blades is that they are smooth but, I can only get 2-3 shaves from them until they shoot the moon. Another gripe I have is that they are as expensive as GSB's which I can get X8--X10 smooth shaves with.

I noticed the same thing and I won't buy
Them at that Price , on Aliexpress the
Lowest price was $15 , I can GSB's on Ebay
From my favorite Vendor for $14.00 shipped ....shipping from NY....

 

[BSAGuy]

Good report. Thanks.

 

[NDM63]

I was amazed how quickly I received mine from the Chinese Ebay seller. From clicking "Buy now" till it arrived at my mailbox was 13 days.

Yes, my experience with Aliexpress has also been good. I tried the Baili blade, it's OK. The blade with the Ming Shi marked as Personna, I found rough. Are you able to buy the blade you're testing separately for the razor? Longevity is a problem with a number of blades, and others like the Polsilve SI seem to last forever!
Hey man, I notice you're using the up the aggression method, which as you might know I've bee touting like an old time salesguy...ecept I'm not selling anything! The Ming Shi is amazing value I feel.

 

[jmudrick]

My QShave was seven days delivered to me in California.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[Graybeard57]

Good review, Lane. Thanks!

 

[Highspeedlane]

Yes, my experience with Aliexpress has also been good. I tried the Baili blade, it's OK. The blade with the Ming Shi marked as Personna, I found rough. Are you able to buy the blade you're testing separately for the razor? Longevity is a problem with a number of blades, and others like the Polsilve SI seem to last forever!
Hey man, I notice you're using the up the aggression method, which as you might know I've bee touting like an old time salesguy...ecept I'm not selling anything! The Ming Shi is amazing value I feel.

The blades I have came with the razor so I'm not sure how readily available they are out on the market. I always had an irrational fear of Chinese blades before now but these are not too shabby!

Very well made razor and certainly a good value.

 

[Highspeedlane]

Good review, Lane. Thanks!

Thanks Bruce!

 

[adamchur]

I waited until I'd got a feel for the razor with some of my tried and tested blades before trying a Mingshi blade.
IMHO it's not a bad blade, but I've already got 20+ different blades in my rotation, all of which are better. When I run my supply down I might use a Mingshi blade again for a bit of variety