Pleasantly Surprised by SuperMax Platinum

[geneaut]

I'll pick some of these up on my next order from RBC.

To this day the SuperMax Blue Diamond Titaniums are one of my top blades. I wish they still made those.

 

[RayClem]

Well, none of the indian blades I've tried agree with me. Wish I could like it since it's so cheap.

Which blades have you tried and what was the issue with them? Blades can either be too sharp or too dull. Blades can also be too rough. Sometimes a blade that won't give a great shave in one razor will be ideal in another razor.

There is no ideal blade; you have to figure out what works for you with your beard, your skin and your razors.

 

[ViratShah]

Well, none of the indian blades I've tried agree with me. Wish I could like it since it's so cheap.

Which Indian blades have you tried so far? We've got some fantastic blades that perform just as well as, if not better than some of their western counterparts.

The Indian Gillette Wilkinson Sword is among my favourites in the milder blades while Gillette 7OC SP is a great blade on the sharper side of the spectrum.

 

[psfred]

The SuperMax blades are nice, but they don't last as long for me as the St. Petersburg blades do, or the Indian Gillette 7 O'Clock blacks.

Very comfortable, just eventually stop removing stubble.

 

[Rhody]

My first use of diamond edge. I have to say I wasn’t that impressed initially. I did try it in a Lupo aluminum that I haven’t used in a long time. So it warrants another try in a better razor.

 

[BigJ]

Good man!! The only way to evaluate blades is to actually try them! And I have often been surprised!

 

[Goblin]

My first use of diamond edge. I have to say I wasn’t that impressed initially.

What was the issue? Lack of sharpness I am guessing?

I ended up skipping my second trial of a fresh Super Stainless the other day, but it's going to get an opportunity to redeem itself today for Palmolive Sunday. I usually always have a great shave with the Palmolive, so the gauntlet has been thrown down! Got my gear all ready. Thoughts to follow after the shave...

 

[Bayman]

I'm a big supermax fan from Sweden. Blue diamond titanium, Blue diamond platinum, Diamond edge, Stainless... Top blade in my personal ranking. Also like others from India like Gillette black, Gillette 365, Winner, Laser ultra, Gillette - 7 0'Clock - Permasharp stainless
Gillette 7 0'Clock – Permasharp stainless.

They can really make great blades in India in my personal opinion.

 

[ivan_101]

I know that blades are considered YMMV, but generally speaking if you check out enough opinions you can establish an overall consensus on how a blade performs. I am really surprised that the consensus on these blades isn't more positive. Looking here I see I am not the first person to note the similarity to Indian Wilkinson Sword. As far as I know, those IWS are a well liked blade, although these Platinums are much cheaper.

Consensus? Here on the forum?
I have tried at least 10 Super-Max models. These are not among my favourites. Will agree the Diamond Edge is better. I much prefer the plain Super Max Stainless (brown and yellow), which are considered a very bad blade by many here.

 

[slimshavy]

We interrupt your scheduled programming for a pointless deviation on the subject of a rarely discussed razor blade...

Over the last week I have received about 18 tucks of different Indian and Egyptian blades. For most of my shaving career I have used Feathers or Gillette PPI blades, but with the impending move of Gillette's Russian blade manufacturing to India I thought, "Hey, why not try some of the blades that are already being made in places other than Russia?"

I intend to work my way through most of the Lord and SuperMax ranges, plus a few others. Why not? If anything really stands out, I may pick up a couple 100 of my favourites.

I have to admit that in a lot of instances, the scattered information I have found online about many of these blades didn't bode well, and left me fearing a couple of months of uncomfortable, sub-standard shaves. In particular, few seemed to have anything nice to say about the SuperMax Platinum, so being the contrarian that I am, I decided to make it one of the first blades to be tested.

And I'll be damned if this isn't a very fine blade. It's deceptively sharp and smooth - the kind of blade that feels efficient yet sufficiently forgiving that it encourages you to hunt down every last straggler for a perfect finish. It has delivered a VERY close shave in my GC 0.84, far closer than I anticipated and absolutely on par with some of the better Russian Gillette offerings. If I had to say anything negative, I would note a tiny bit of prickliness, and after the application of aftershave I did notice a minute weeper on my jawline (I rarely get weepers), but that's no doubt down to user error and over-confidence on my part. The overall quality of the shave, combined with the almost complete lack of sting from the Old Spice, inclines me to view this blade very favourably. Longevity remains to be proven, but I usually swap out blades fairly quickly anyway, so provided it can do 2 or 3 comfortable shaves I am happy.

So, based on this initial outing I am really not sure what the nay-sayers have against this blade. The only other Indian blade I have used up to now is the Gillette Wilkinson Sword. That's another surprisingly good blade, and I would consder this one very close in performance. If this is an example of what the unpopular SuperMax blades are like, I am really looking forward to trying the popular ones.

I wonder, does this blade actually have ANY fans at all? Is anyone using it as one of their favourites?

View attachment 1679460

I’ve used these a lot, this exact version, and they’re a decent mid-tier blade for me. They’re 10 times better than either the Indian or Chinese Wilkinson Sword for me, but not as good as the German Wilkinson Sword, which is top tier.

I wouldn’t have tried these if I hadn’t been gifted them but now I’m eager to try one of the “diamond” ones (but which? Their branding is unnecessarily confusing) that others have raved about.

 

[Goblin]

Another use for a fresh, green SuperMax Super Stainless and my thoughts are pretty much the same - it's not bad, but not quite sharp enough for my tastes. On the first pass it made heavy weather of my 48hrs growth and the only way to comfortably get through the tough stuff on the chin was with liberal deployment of sliding strokes. On subsequent passes it was better, but I had to consciously resist putting pressure behind some of the ATG strokes to get the job done, and still had to chase down a lot of stragglers on the touch up pass.

Being prone to irritation, I prefer a blade that is sharp enough to shave efficiently with the lightest touch I can manage. This one isn't quite there. I could probably get used to it if nothing else was available, but I won't select one again by choice. It might have another shave in it, but I suspect it's safer to consider it a one-and-done blade for me, rather than try and push through another shave.

Next week, the SuperMax testing will have to take a break, as it's Shark Week. I wonder how the Shark Super Stainless will compare to the SuperMax Super Stainless?

 

[abies]

I'm a big fan of SuperMax; it's one of my favorite brands and I buy them frequently along with Feather and Personna.

My favorite is the Economy-Stainless blade. I like the Platinum but not quite as much; I don't get quite as smooth a shave from them and the blades don't last me as long (although I still like them more than most other blades I've tried).

I've had great shaves with other blades I think are associated with SuperMax somehow, like Zorrik and RK.

 

[DesertIguana]

Think everyone is different, people like somethings, other hate. Or visa versa.

Even in 10 different size 11.5 running shoes, all fit different, even thought they all are same size.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

I had noticed a similarity between the Super Max and the Wizamet.

It was only a few days ago when I had moved them around in a clear plastic box where I keep my quantity blades that I saw how really similar they look.

Here is how the box looks. I keep a single tuck of my quantity blades in here.

It currently has 31-tucks inside.

 

[blethenstrom]

I'm a big supermax fan from Sweden. Blue diamond titanium, Blue diamond platinum, Diamond edge, Stainless... Top blade in my personal ranking. Also like others from India like Gillette black, Gillette 365, Winner, Laser ultra, Gillette - 7 0'Clock - Permasharp stainless
Gillette 7 0'Clock – Permasharp stainless.

They can really make great blades in India in my personal opinion.

Hello from a fellow Swede, but living in the US. Hejsan hejsan.

 

[Bayman]

Hello from a fellow Swede, but living in the US. Hejsan hejsan.

Men tjenare!

 

[Tanuki]

I'm not sure if the SuperMax Blue Diamond Platinum are the same blade. In any case, the Blue Diamond Platinum are a regular/favorite blade for me, right up there with my favorite Russians.

 

[Sweeney_]

I've yet to try the SuperMax Platinum but having tried the
SuperMax Titanium (discontinued)
SuperMax Diamond Edge
Blue Diamond Titanium (discontinued?)

and the Blue Diamond Platinum, the last is my favorite.

 

[Leng]

Men tjenare!

Hej på er båda!

 

[Theodore]

I've yet to try the SuperMax Platinum but having tried the
SuperMax Titanium (discontinued)
SuperMax Diamond Edge
Blue Diamond Titanium (discontinued?)

and the Blue Diamond Platinum, the last is my favorite.
View attachment 1688877

You inspired me to try one of the blue diamond plats I got recently - I had to dial up my fatboy to 6 but it once there it performed very nicely!