Polsilver Super Iridium

[pdieten]

Yes. They have a listing that shows a $16 price. But several reviews complained about blades that were not genuine. One reviewer sounded like an experienced wet shaver who had used GSBs before and found many "duds". There are several reviews where the buyers received Platinums instead of SBs. The seller is not Amazon. They are just a fulfiller. I wouldn't buy those. Reputable sellers like West Coast Shaving, Maggards and others are selling them for north of $30 for 100. That is insane. When I bought my first 100 pack of GSBs I think I paid around $18 or so. Before I pull the trigger on any blade purchases of Polsilver SIs or GSBs, I will fully research the seller. I normally do this but now my radar is especially heightened because of having read somewhere that the GSBs were being discontinued. Lots lf shady sellers out there. Research is your friend.

The shave vendors always charge more for blades than eBay and Amazon. Look at the prices at WCS for their other PPI and Gillette India blades. You think you can't scare up 100 Gillette Platinums for less than $46 or 100 Astras for less than $18? The damn things are everywhere for half that or less and there is certainly no danger of them being discontinued. Same with GSBs. Genuine blades on eBay are still available from several vendors as I write this for under $16 per 100.

Now maybe PPI hasn't run GSBs in awhile but that doesn't mean the sales channels aren't awash in them. Stocks peter out slowly. When they're getting hard to find (like the red box Gillette Stainless have) then you can figure they're going away forever. None of these are hard to find. Apparently it's pretty easy to find people willing to panic buy, though.

 

[RayClem]

Others have mentioned a number of other good blades/ It really depends a lot on what you need in terms of sharpness and smoothness and which razor you use them in. Some of the typical candidates that are alternatives to Polsilver are the 7 O'Clock Yellow, Gillette branded Wilkinson Sword, Voskhod, Gillette Silver Blue, Gillette Platinum (which I find nearly identical to the GSB), 7 O'Clock Russian Greens, Rapira Platinum Lux, Personna Crystals and Astra Superior Stainless.

Some other blades that I really like that are not often mentioned are: Dorco SPT310 Prime Platinum (not the ST310), Shark Platinum (not the Shark SS or SC), and SuperMax Blue Diamond.

Once your technique improves, you might want to try some of the sharpest blades: Feather, BIC Chrome Platinum, PermaSharp, Gillette Nacet, 7 O'Clock Super Platinum (Black), Personna Platinum (Israeli Reds), and German Wilkinson Sword blades. I do not recommend them for new shavers as they are super sharp, especially after the first shave. Many coated blades become sharper as the coating starts to wear off during use. In fact, some folks say that some blades are no good until the second shave. BIC, PermaSharp, 7 O'Clock Blacks, German WS, and Personna Lab Blues are blades that all sharpen significantly after the first shave.