Opinions on Treet black beauties?

[Sweeney_]

While it sounds absurd at face value, the realities of marketing are quite different. As specially on a global scale.

In the US, we have the same ice-cream called by different company names on the east coast and the west coast.

I knew someone whose mother worked in a soup canning plant. They would finish their run of the major brand. Then they would continue, placing different labels on the same cans of soup.

As I have been given to understand it, there are several known brands of DE blades that are just re-branded blades.

It is thought that King C. Gillette DE blades are re-branded Gillette Platinum's, primarily intended for the US market.

A member on this forum has pointed out that the only blades from the PPI plant that were intended for sale in Russia were the Sputnik and Rubie. All the others are produced for export.

As such, you really could have the same blade rebranded for sale in different countries.

Starting off... when blades were really manufactured in their original countries, they were made of a particular steel. When manufacturing is moved to another country, are they still using that same steel? Very doubtful?

The PPI plant produces many different blades. How many different types of steel are used in the PPI plant? Not many, I guess?

Then you take brands that have many varieties of blades, like Lord, Super-Max and Treet. I really doubt whether these are really completely different blades.

Consider also, the complete lack of transparency of the companies themselves. Many of them do not even operate websites. Others that do, say very little concerning their own different blades.

Very few industries operate today in this fashion...

Just for the record, <looks all around cloak-and-dagger style> I don't find it absurd at all.

In the thread I was referring to, the original poster (I'm convinced) was just reposting what the author had posted on a Russian shaving themed site... similar to Reddit.
He initially posted the link which was taken down by moderators due to forum rules.

However, I copied the link beforehand and followed the crumb trail to the Russian site. Then using the Chrome browser and the magic of Google translate, I read through the whole thing plus postings and questions that followed. It certainly makes for interesting reading if you're curious about DE blades like myself. But to get all the meat, it's necessary to scroll down, wade through the comments and 'expand' some of the thread answers.

If you think it might interest you, let me know and I'll be happy to PM the link so you may browse/read at your leisure.

edit: some gets lost in translation. For example, satellite is Sputnik but vest, I have no idea.
Also, he wrote that the St. Petersburg plant gets steel from 3 different suppliers.

 

[lasta]

While it sounds absurd at face value, the realities of marketing are quite different. As specially on a global scale.

In the US, we have the same ice-cream called by different company names on the east coast and the west coast.

I knew someone whose mother worked in a soup canning plant. They would finish their run of the major brand. Then they would continue, placing different labels on the same cans of soup.

As I have been given to understand it, there are several known brands of DE blades that are just re-branded blades.

It is thought that King C. Gillette DE blades are re-branded Gillette Platinum's, primarily intended for the US market.

A member on this forum has pointed out that the only blades from the PPI plant that were intended for sale in Russia were the Sputnik and Rubie. All the others are produced for export.

As such, you really could have the same blade rebranded for sale in different countries.

Starting off... when blades were really manufactured in their original countries, they were made of a particular steel. When manufacturing is moved to another country, are they still using that same steel? Very doubtful?

The PPI plant produces many different blades. How many different types of steel are used in the PPI plant? Not many, I guess?

Then you take brands that have many varieties of blades, like Lord, Super-Max and Treet. I really doubt whether these are really completely different blades.

Consider also, the complete lack of transparency of the companies themselves. Many of them do not even operate websites. Others that do, say very little concerning their own different blades.

Very few industries operate today in this fashion...

Shhhhh!

Be careful, you might get banned for this! (PS this is coming from a fellow Russian mole convert).

Different steel + different coatings + *maybe variations in grinding could make quite a few variations.

But I'd also add batch variations (or in your case, different branded soup cans) to possibilities.

From my experience:

2018 Perma Sharp ≈ 2019 Nacet ≠ 2021 Perma Sharp
2021 Platinum ≈ 2021 KCG ≠ 2021 Platinum (intra-year variations?)
2014 GSB ≈ 2016 GSB ≠ 2019 GSB

 

[Eric_75]

I'm not impressed with them. At this point, the only Treet blade I enjoy is the 7 Days Platinum.

 

[Sweeney_]

I'm not impressed with them. At this point, the only Treet blade I enjoy is the 7 Days Platinum.

I like 7 Day Platinum also.
Also tried some DuraSharp in the blue pack that were ok.

 

[amdamsky]

We had a bloke that showed up here in the forum some years back... sort of a one-post wonder.
It's a bit fuzzy in my memory now whether he claimed to be Russian and worked at the PPI factory in St. Petersburg or just had access or whatnot.

Anyway, he claimed they only made one blade and the only difference was the coating(chrome, platinum, etc)and the packaging. Opened a big can of worms he did and just threw them all over our nice clean B&B floor.

I mean just imagine someone telling you your Nacet is the same as an Astra Stainless or your Perma-Sharp is the same as some plebs lowly Sputnik. I'm too lazy to find that thread but it was good times.

The thing is that it doesn't sound too out there, I always kinda subscribed to that theory. Blades from certain factories/regions are all the same with the coating being the difference. For me: All the stainless Gillette blades i've tried shave the same (Nacet, minora, 7'oclock green), all the lords feel similar (lord, shark..) and all the german blades feel the same (Wilk. sword, elios). The only difference being the coatings. One exception to this seems to be Turkish blades. I love bluebirds, like extras but hate premiums, but they're all the same factory and coating...

 

[NewYorkBuck]

Haven't tried a TBB for a while, but had one sitting on my shave shelf for some time.

Just for ****z and gigs threw it into my razor last week. Didn't go well - had to switch it out for a Wizamet SI to finish.

 

[jollyroger]

Treet Black blades ~ real trash blades. Only good for one shave and then not consistent. Would never buy again!

 

[jollyroger]

Would love to hear other peoples opinions on Treet Carbon "Black Beauty" blades. Got a tuck a month ago as part of a huge sampler and fell in love. I'd previously been using Rapira super stainless (the oink and blue ones) and nothing had beaten them for me but these? Amazing! Get a nice, comfortable shave with them in my Yaqi final cut with a blade that ticks all the boxes for me.

I also don't feel as guilty tossing them after one shave as well since Carbon steel blades don't last as long

Would love to hear what others think

They are junk..like you , I had some packs ok, others terrible ~ all from 100 pack box..just much better blades out there than Treet Black Beauty`s.

 

[Merchant Seaman Z]

Got 40, just to try. For me one good shave. A maybe 2nd shave. Very smooth and sharp. 2nd shave not so much. So 2 shave is the limit for me.

 

[LooneyToons816]

I absolutely hated my first shave with the black beauty's, i threw it in my rex on 5.5 and had an awful shave, TOO aggressive so i tried them again on 4 then 4.5 and man was the shave 100000 times better! Now im a fan of them. Lots of blade feel and they smoothen out after the first shave. Maybe my technique was off when i shaved with the ambassador on 5.5 im not sure but it was night and day when i went a little lower on the adjustment dial

 

[Happy Jack]

I had one tuck of the carbon steel blades. One shave with the first blade was horrid. It was dull right out of the packet. The rest of the tuck got damp and the remaining blades all went rusty.

 

[LeroyR]

Coupled with a Henson +++, these blades deliver the smoothest near-BBS shave I’ve ever had. I know they’re more expensive than other blades because you get far fewer uses from them, but there’s no denying they’re great blades.

Oddly when used in an R41, they’re terrible. Rough and “scrapey,” even more so than the R41 under normal circumstances; that razor just requires a sharper blade in my experience. (It actually used to be my favorite razor, but some excellent examples of highly-efficient aggressive razors have been released over the past few years, including the Henson +++, and it was ultimately unseated from its throne.)

I’ve had such a polarized experience with them that I haven’t tried them in anything else, and they’re pretty much reserved for use in the Henson.

 

[Eshebert]

They are automatic razor burn for me, I have abut 45/50 left. You name it, i have a problem with it, they tug, they scratch, they chafe, leave a ton of stubble on my neck, nothing smooth about them.

Listed below are the razors I have attempted the "Black Beauties'".
I also included a list of e blades I prefer in the same razors: To give you a fair assessment of what my equipment is and what I prefer in s blade.
Remember, as said on here all the time, blades are very much in the eye of the beholder. Try a small pack and see if you like them.

Razors
- Henson A13+++
-R41
-34G
-Flexi
-59 Fatboy
-Gold Gillet Tech
-Rockwell 6C

Blades I enjoy in my razors
-Gillette Silver Blue
-Gillette Nacet
-Personna Comfort Coat
-Permasharp
-Astra SP
-Shark Chrome
-Wilkinson Sword Gillette

 

[Alex Jr]

I'm beginning to like these blades a lot more than I used to. It's a complete different feel during the shave, yes it's not smooth as butter but somehow the after shave results are amazing. No irritation whatsoever, no sting from aftershave, nada.

Is it tuggy? Well I would say it's a different kind of feel for me, it doesn't hurt or punishes my skin. It's a different type of metal composition so they cut differently and they feel different.

It's the same slight "tugging" I get from the R41 even with the sharpest blade, if that makes sense. Is there a good tug and bad tug? I don't know... But I have a dark and coarse beard and with the right technique, they just work.

 

[Goblin]

Tried these blades for the first time on Sunday in my Fatip and pictured them in SOTD photo.

Full confession - I didn't finish the shave with the Black Beauty, in fact I swapped it out after struggling about 1/3 of the way through my first pass. I have another 9 in the tuck so I will give them another chance in a different razor, but my initial impression was that it was just unusable.

I can put a sharper and smoother shaving edge on a pocket knife with a cheap pair of crock sticks!

 

[Kendoll]

I think they are great in the right razor. I use them in any of my vintage open comb Gillettes. New.New standard, old type. Seem to replicate the correct blade for the period. Having said that, I would not use them in something like a fat boy, superspeed, or more modern Gillette. By modern I mean any closed comb Gillette. I use them, and throw them away after a shave.

 

[LooneyToons816]

Starts off real rough, once yoy shave a strip it mellows down gets pretty smooth at the third shave from my experience i like em, id rank 6.5/10

 

[LooneyToons816]

I think they are great in the right razor. I use them in any of my vintage open comb Gillettes. New.New standard, old type. Seem to replicate the correct blade for the period. Having said that, I would not use them in something like a fat boy, superspeed, or more modern Gillette. By modern I mean any closed comb Gillette. I use them, and throw them away after a shave.

I did my first shave with a 1959 E1, it was rough, second time in a rex ambassador which turned out a phenomenal shave, very close comfortable shave