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NEWBIE BLADE PIF!!!!

Gillette 7 o’clock yellow: 1st shave went well. Much better than the personna. A little irritation but I can live with that. I think I like the milder blades


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Most consider the yellows sharper than the greens and the personnas.
Very interesting to hear everyone's opinions. Each one proves more and more how YMMV blades are!!!
 
Really?! I just figured the sharper ones were chewing up my face. I have much to learn.


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2nd shave with 7 o’clock yellow went surprisingly well. No cuts, slight irritation, glided through my hair. I think we have a contender!


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Finally getting back to trying some of these blades. I've been playing with a Viking Sword blade and after the 10th shave I finally tossed it.

Here was this mornings shave.

Pre shave: Hot shower and Neutrogena face wash
Blade: Personna Med (1)
Razor: 53' Gillette Super Speed
Brush: Maggards 24mm Black and White Synthetic (second time using it)
Soap: Stirling Arkadia
AS: Nivea balm
Splash: Stirling Executive Man

For the most part it was an ok shave. I had a little bit of irritation and some razor bumps but both seemed to fade rather quickly after applying the balm and splash. After using the Viking Sword for so long by comparison this shave wasn't as smooth or quite as close as what I have been getting. I will give this blade another try or two in this razor that possibly switch it to my Merkur clone or Slim adjustable.
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Shave two with the Personna Med and just as I had hoped, it was a better shave than the first. Still a little rough compared to the Viking Sword I have been wielding but not terrible. Now nicks or weepers and just a tiny bit of irritation on the typical areas of my neck. I think Friday this blade will go in either my Merkur Clone or my Slim adjustable.

Pre shave: Hot shower and Neutrogena face wash
Blade: Personna Med (2)
Razor: 53' Gillette Super Speed
Brush: Maggards 26mm Black and White Synthetic set in a Orange Agate handle that I turned over the weekend
Soap: Stirling Executive Man
AS: Nivea balm
Splash: Stirling Executive Man
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3rd shave with 7 o’clock yellow went well. Not as good as I hoped but that’s my fault. Tried my new yaqi synthetic brush for the first time. Used arko for a face lather and didn’t use enough water(I think). Afterwards I played with the leftover soap in a bowl, added water and poof...instant lather. The blade forgave me, took my hair, left my blood. I think we have a keeper.


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4th shave with Gillette yellow did not go as planned. Lots of irritation. Either bad angle or too much pressure. Blade felt really scratchy on one side. I think my lather was good. I’ll have to try again later. Moving along.


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I did a third shave with the Personna Med and had to pitch it. Just not a good blade for me. It was pretty rough all the way around and was left with a fair amount of irritation after shave three.

This morning I loaded a Nacet in my Merkur clone and had a very nice shave. Nice and smooth with next to no report from my alum block. I am looking forward to the next shave with this one. If the next couple of shaves go as well as the first one this blade will go on my shopping list.
 
Participation Report #7

I got to try Super-Max Platinum and Super-Max Super Platinum. Both blades scored very closely to each other using my scoring system, and both are solid middle of the pack blades for me. Although I'm sure that I could use them for 3, 4, or 5+ shaves, I stopped both of them after the second shave.

A while ago I think I found someone selling the Super Platinum's for around $15/100, but now I can't really find any reasonable listings. I'm sure if I dug around the internet some more I might be able to find some, but I wonder if they've been discontinued or something?

If I had to choose between the two, I would choose the Super Platinum. They seemed to do a slightly better job than the Platinum's, which most likely has to do with the word SUPER in the name! Both blades did not bother my problem area, which is GREAT. That's what makes them solid middle of the pack, and maybe even top-middle. I've mentioned before, but I'll take comfort over closeness any day. Fortunately for me, I can get both with other blades.

By my count, I still have 8 more blades to try. It'll take me a while, but I'll get to them soon enough. Thanks again, OP.
 
Shave number 5 with the Nacet this morning. So far this blade has been in a Merkur 34C clone (2), a Gillette Tech (2) and now a Gillette slim adjustable. The Tech is a new to me and first go with it with the Nacet. First shave was so smooth that I wasn't sure if I was actually taking anything off.

I started off with the Nacet in my Slim adjustable on 5 this morning for my WTG pass then dialed it down to 4 for my ATG grain pass and touch ups. For a 5th shave it performed very well and seems like there are at least a couple shaves left in it.
 
Happy new year to all!!!!
Thanks for all the updates!!!
Hope everyone had a great time with their families!!!
 
Happy new year to all!!!!
Thanks for all the updates!!!
Hope everyone had a great time with their families!!!
I had a wonderful new year with my family and hope you did as well.

After the 7th shave with the Nacet I had to pitch it and move on. It was a little rough and starting to produce some irritation which certainly could have been me but with the assortment I have to work through It makes no sense to deal with unwanted irritation.

Yesterday I moved on to the Gillette 7 O'clock Super Platinum. I loaded it in the WSC Toothsome razor I won in shave/brush's giveaway just before Christmas and it was a wonderfully pleasant shave. The head is a little more aggressive than I am used to but I really enjoyed it. The blade was very smooth and cut through my three day stubble like butter. If I were to based my blade choice off one use this one would be a keeper. I'm looking forward to the next few shaves with this one for sure.
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I was going to wait to write my next report, but since the post above used the same blade I thought it'd be fun to make it back to back.

Participation Report #7

I used a Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum in a Timeless .68 razor today, with Barrister and Mann soap. The first pass was nice, and I thought it might be a winner. No tugging, nice and smooth.

The second pass for me is a hybrid XTG/ATG depending on the area, and this blade did not work well for me there. Lots of tugging and pulling.

I'll use it again tomorrow in order to account for the coatings wearing off, etc. I don't recall any of the other blades being great in one direction, and bad the other, so that was interesting. Either way, the end result was actually not bad, just with some minor irritation.
 
I was going to wait to write my next report, but since the post above used the same blade I thought it'd be fun to make it back to back.

Participation Report #7

I used a Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinum in a Timeless .68 razor today, with Barrister and Mann soap. The first pass was nice, and I thought it might be a winner. No tugging, nice and smooth.

The second pass for me is a hybrid XTG/ATG depending on the area, and this blade did not work well for me there. Lots of tugging and pulling.

I'll use it again tomorrow in order to account for the coatings wearing off, etc. I don't recall any of the other blades being great in one direction, and bad the other, so that was interesting. Either way, the end result was actually not bad, just with some minor irritation.
An update to my previous report:
I tried the 7 O'Clock Super Platinum again today, but had to toss it after the first pass. It must not be compatible with my whiskers, because there was lots of tugging. I switched to an Astra SP (first time using one in a while) and had better results.
 
An update to my previous report:
I tried the 7 O'Clock Super Platinum again today, but had to toss it after the first pass. It must not be compatible with my whiskers, because there was lots of tugging. I switched to an Astra SP (first time using one in a while) and had better results.
Definitely a YMMV situation.
Could also be razor and blade compatibility, but most likely perfect example of YMMV between two peoples experience woodwzd and hotelmode.
Don't feel bad that you had to toss it. Is what it is. It's the entire point of this :)

Hope everyone is getting good idea of their likes and dislikes. That's the whole idea behind this PIF.

Good thing you didn't have to buy 100 pack to find out haha
 
Second and third shave with the 7 O'clock Super Platinum report

Second shave was the same setup as the first with the exception of changing to CBL Rockin the Casbah soap. This was another rather enjoyable shave with the exception of just a tiny bit of tugging ATG on my throat. I am finding if I stretch the skin to tight on my neck I tend to get a little tugging regardless of blade and razor. I had no irritation and no weepers.

Third shave was with all the same software and a change to my Gillette Slim Adjustable. I had the slim set at five and the first pass was good. I left it at five for the second pass and again had just a tiny bit of tugging on my throat area until I backed off on stretching my skin. Oddly enough, I also experienced some chatter of the razor both ATG and XTG. I am not sure if it was the razor and blade combination, my angle was off, or if I just didn't have my soap lathered properly causing it to be a little less slick. This was only the second time I have used this soap. In the end I had two tiny weepers that my alum block took care of right away and just a little bite from the alum block in other areas of my neck. I will use this razor and blade once more but will probably change soaps.
 

Eben Stone

Staff member
After testing most of the blades with my R41 I realized it would be a better test with my Ikon Tek. While testing with my Ikon Tek I realized that the lather makes a huge difference (some blades need cushion while others seem to work OK with any lather). I have also found that I can go first pass ATG with some blades but not others.

I can pretty much get a good or great shave with any blade, if I'm willing to adjust my technique slightly for that razor + blade combination. IMO, the only things that really matter are can I go first pass ATG and the blade longevity and price (price per shave).

I still haven't had the blades long enough to determine longevity for all the varieties.

I'm trying to go about testing this "battle of the blades" somewhat scientifically. I think in a few more weeks I'll actually have some useful opinions to share.
 
Fourth and Fifth shave with the 7 O'clock Super Platinum report

Fourth shave was with the Slim Adjustable set at 7 for the first pass WTG and dialed back to 5 for the second pass ATG/XTG and third pass for touch ups. As stated in my last report on this blade, I changed up the soap and went with Stirling Scots Pine Sheep. I had a very enjoyable DFS with no nicks, weepers, or irritation. I have one area on my neck that I almost always seem to have a little tugging regardless of the blade and it was minimal on this shave. I would give this one a 9/10

Fifth shave was with the same razor again only this time I dialed it in to 7 and left it there for the whole shave. Same soap this time as well. The shave was very comparable to the last only maybe jus ta tiny bit smoother. another 9 or maybe even a 9.5/10. I might note that I had no chattering with either of these shaves so I am thinking that I may have been in error when lathering the CBL soap or that it just isn't as slick as the Scots Pine Sheep.

I think for the next shave or two I am going to load the blade in a new to me pre-war fat handled Tech.

Pic from this morning.
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