The 2023: 1-Blade, 1-Week, Daily Shaving Adventure

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 48 Ends: Blade is the Gillette Platinum. The ones in the dark blue box with white lettering.

Have to say, this is a week with all first class shaves.

As an observation, the previous week I shaved with the Personna Platinum Chrome (The Israeli Red's). The Gillette Platinums are every bit as good as the IR's.

So, while things go away and we miss them dearly, there are other very nice DE blades that can take their place.

The Sputnik, not so much, but before the Sputnik, I used the Gillette 7-O'clock Sharpedge "Yellow" and these were also particularly excellent blades.

Both the Gillette Platinum's and the Gillette 7-O'clock Sharpedge "Yellow's" are currently available on Amazon.

No need to panic, just yet! DE shaving will carry on, at least for the time being. Though the Yellow's are PPI production, so don't wait too long...

The Platinum is still good for another shave or two.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 48 Begins: Blade is the Super-Max Blue Diamond. This is a Platinum coated blade, made in India.

I am understanding that this particular blade has been discontinued, only to be replaced by the Super-Max Diamond Edge, also made in India.

What's the difference? I haven't got a clue...

 

[ShavingPrimate]

This is a correction, reference post on November 25th:

Week 48 Ends: Blade is the Gillette Platinum. The ones in the dark blue box with white lettering.

This should read:

Week 47 Ends...

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 48 Ends: Blade is the Super-Max Blue Diamond. This is a Platinum coated blade, made in India.

Another week of high quality shaves, all seven days. Not only smooth, but close.

Blade is still up to another shave or so.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 49 Begins: Blade is the Super-Max Diamond Edge Super Platinum.

Cheating on random blade selection once again!

I happen to have a quantity of the new and supposedly improved version of the Super-Max Blue Diamond, the Diamond Edge Super Platinum.

So, having just concluded a week with the Blue Diamond, I decided to pull the Diamond Edge from the remaining DE blades.

Since the respected and now discontinued Blue Diamond was a good blade, I thought, why not try the Diamond Edge as a back-to-back comparison?

Here we are, finally coming down the home stretch. The finish line is now only the final four weeks away!

Here goes...

 

[APBinNCA]

Wilkinson Sword(DE)

This was a bit of a saga, I think I had this blade in my razor for three weeks! As is my norm when testing blades, I used one edge at a time and then combined the two for the last shave. The blade delivered seven smooth shaves when four is my norm!

These are really phenomenal for me in the aggressive Henson which requires a sharper blade... which usually has consequences. I discovered the Schick branded blades for the S Africa market at the beginning of the year and have satisfied myself that these are the exact same blade. I can't really get over how well these work right out of the wrapper, it seems like most modern blades expect you to endure a cruddy shave or two. I rank the first couple shaves 1/10 of a point lower, only perceptible well after the shave. The next two don't feel any more dangerous and are delivering top performance. The fifth shave shave may or may not be as close, it's hard to call it. The sixth however is when things got a bit weird; I noticed that I was buffing more, but was able to eliminate the stragglers... so I thought. It turned out that while the majority of my face was at a level similar to the first couple shaves, I had a rather noticeable strip of whiskers under my chin! Today's shave was similar, but I buffed forever to at least make sure I didn't have a repeat. The blade was at a stage where you chase the crunchy sound endlessly and have to give up eventually. The overall closeness was just below the last, but no stragglers! These are sharp blades, make no mistake, most shaves produce a tightening sensation and some restraint is wise when the blade is at its peak. This is perfect for my Henson which is my speed shaver, but only for five shaves.

These blades, Nacets and Dorco Primes make up my trio of sharper blades, others tried don't work for me for various reasons. Primes feel very similar to me, but only last four shaves before becoming dangerous(not dull). Nacets are great for three shaves, the fourth is too dull for me(but not dangerous). These top the podium by remaining safe from beginning to end while getting more shaves per blade. Primes are half the cost so those get a break for being shorter lived, Nacets are a bit short lived for their cost though. I now have my stockpile of all three and don't care about cost any further, I am just going to enjoy my shaves!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 49 Ends: Blade is the Super-Max Diamond Edge Super Platinum.

Week was flawless. Everything went fine.

The verdict? I couldn't tell any difference between the Diamond Edge and the Blue Duamond. That in itself is not surprising, because it is difficult for me to discern much difference between quality blades.

Could have gone on another shave or two.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 50 Begins: Blade is the Polsilver Super Iridium.

A very favorite and very discontinued DE blade.

This was one of the blades that was recently gifted to me. This is my first time shaving with it.

Although I do have a couple hundred of the Wizamet Super Iridium blades that are supposed to be the same blade, as replacements?

Are they the same blade? I have no idea!

Curiously, this is the third week from the end of this year's journey. The Curious part is that the Wisamet was the blade I used in the third week of this year.

Not that this has any meaning or significance. Just a coincidence...

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 50 Ends: Blade is the Polsilver Super Iridium.

Have to say, this is one particularly excellent blade.

Remained "razor sharp'' to the end and the shaves I received were all very close and smooth. Absolutely no irritation.

Next year, perhaps I will compare it to the Wizamet in a shave off?

Only two more weeks to go!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 51 Begins: Blade is the Parker Premium Platinum.

Is it really premium? We will see...

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 51 Ends: Blade is the Parker Premium Platinum.

Finished the week flawlessly. The first few shaves were not as smooth as I would have preferred but that corrected itself throughout the course of the week.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 52 Begins: Blade is the Treet 7-Days Platinum.

This is the final week to finish the 2023 year.

Will provide some summary comments during this final week...

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Here is a summary of the blades I used during 2023 *

2023 - LISTING IN WEEK ORDER:

#01 - Dorco ST300 (1/1)
#02 - Personna Lab Blue (1/8)
#03 - Wizamet Super Iridium (1/15)
#04 - Gillette Nacet (1/22)
#05 - Voskhod (1/29)
#06 - Lord Platinum Super Stainless (2/5)
#07 - Sharp Hi Chromium (2/12)
#08 - Super Max Super Stainless (2/19)
#09 - Gillette 7 O'Clock Black (2/26)
#10 - Treet Dura Sharp (3/5)
#11 - Feather New Hi-Stainless (3/12)
#12 - Treet Silver Carbon Steel (3/19)
#13 - Gillette PII Twin Blade Cartridge India (1) (3/26)
#14 - Astra Superior Platinum (4/2)
#15 - Wilkinson Sword Germany (4/9)
#16 - Gillette Minora (4/16)
#17 - Dorco ST301 (4/23)
#18 - Gillette PII Twin Blade Cartridge India (2) (4/30)
#19 - BIC Chrome Platinum (5/7)
#20 - Treet Trig Silver Edge (5/14)
#21 - Treet A Treet For Your Face (5/21)
#22 - Treet Classic (5/28)
#23 - Astra Superior Stainless (6/4)
#24 - Gillette PII Twin Blade Cartridge India (3) (6/11)
#25 - Gillette Perma-Sharp Russia (6/18)
#26 - Wilkinson Sword Gillette India (6/25)
#27 - Derby Extra (7/2)
#28 - Big Ben Super Stainless (7/9)
#29 - Treet King (7/16)
#30 - Shark Platinum (7/23)
#31 - Silver Star (7/30)
#32 - Treet Carbon Steel "Black Beauty" (8/6)
#33 - Gillette Platinum (8/13)
#34 - King C. Gillette - Russia (8/20)
#35 - Gillette Silver Blue (8/27)
#36 - Wilkinson Sword Gillette China (9/3)
#37 - London Bridge China (9/10)
#38 - Treet Platinum Super Stainless (9/3)
#39 - Personna Platinum Chrome Super (9/24)
#40 - Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless Green PPI (10/1)
#41 - London Bridge England (10/8)
#42 - Gillette Permasharp Stainless Green India (10/15)
#43 - Dorco Prime Platinum (10/22)
#44 - Gillette 7 O'Clock SharpEdge Yellow PPI (10/29)
#45 - Sputnik (11/5)
#46 - Personna Platinum Chrome "Red" (11/2)
#47 - Gillette Platinum Dark Blue Box (11/19
#48 - Super Max Blue Diamond Platinum (11/26)
#49 - Super Max Diamond Edge Super Platinum (12/3)
#50 - Pol Silver Super Iridium (12/10)
#51 - Parker Premium Platinum (12/17)
#52 - Treet 7 days Platinum (12/24)

* There are 50 blades total. This is due to my using the Gillette PII razor and twin blade cartridge for three different weeks. The PII is an a Indian made authorized reproduction of the Gillette Trac II twin blade cartridge razor from the 1970's.

These are the modern blades that I didn't get to in 2023:

Derby Premium
Gillette Rubie
LOl Titanium
Rapira Platinum Lux
Super Max Blue Diamond Titanium
Super Max Titanium

Maybe in 2024?

 

[ShavingPrimate]

This is a listing of the blades used during 2023, presented in alphabetical order.

IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

Astra Superior Platinum (Week 14)
Astra Superior Stainless (Week 23)
BIC Chrome Platinum (Week 19)
Big Ben Super Stainless (Week 28)
Derby Extra (Week 27)
Dorco ST300 (Week 1)
Dorco ST301 (Week 17)
Dorco Prime Platinum (Week 43)
Feather New Hi-Stainless (Week 11)
Gillette 7 O'Clock Black (Week 9)
Gillette 7 O'Clock SharpEdge Yellow PPI (Week 44)
Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Stainless Green PPI (Week 40)
Gillette Minora (Week 16)
Gillette Nacet (Week 4)
Gillette PII Twin Blade Cartridge India (Week 13/18/24)
Gillette Permasharp Stainless Green India (Week 42)
Gillette Perma-Sharp Russia (Week 25)
Gillette Platinum (Week 33)
Gillette Platinum Dark Blue Box (Week 47)
Gillette Silver Blue (Week 35)
King C. Gillette - Russia (Week 34)5
London Bridge China (Week 37)
London Bridge England (Week 41)
Lord Platinum Super Stainless (Week 6)
Parker Premium Platinum (Week 51)
Personna Lab Blue (Week 2)
Personna Platinum Chrome "Red" (Week 46)
Personna Platinum Chrome Super (Week 39)
Pol Silver Super Iridium (Week 50)
Shark Platinum (Week 30)
Sharp Hi Chromium (Week 7)
Silver Star (Week 31)
Sputnik (Week 45)
Super Max Blue Diamond Platinum (Week 48)
Super Max Diamond Edge Super Platinum (Week 49)
Super Max Super Stainless (Week 8)
Treet 7-Days Platinum (Week 52)
Treet Carbon Steel "Black Beauty" (Week 32)
Treet Classic (Week 22)
Treet Dura Sharp (Week 10)
Treet King (Week 29)
Treet A Treet For Your Face (Week 21)
Treet Platinum Super Stainless (Week 38)
Treet Silver Carbon Steel (Week 12)
Treet Trig Silver Edge (Week 20)
Voskhod (Week 5)
Wilkinson Sword Germany (Week 15)
Wilkinson Sword Gillette China (Week 36)
Wilkinson Sword Gillette India (Week 26)
Wizamet Super Iridium (Week 3)

As a note:

All blades are removed from the razor, immediately following the shave. They are rinsed and wiped under running water and dried on a paper towel.

They are left sitting out and are turned over for the next shave.

All shaves are conducted using a canned shaving gel. Usually either Gillette or Edge. I get between 2 1/2 to 3 months of shaves from each can.

Shaves are one complete pass, rinse, then touch-up with the remaining clear slick residue.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 52 Ends: Blade is the Treet 7-Days Platinum.

I finished up the final shave with one of my TTO razors. This was a particularly excellent shave! Very much so.

In fact, it might be the best final shave I have ever had this or any week shaving with a DE blade.

Amazon is offering the 7-Days blade for $8.99 per-hundred. The photo is showing one bonus blade in each package?

Hard to believe how close it shaved while remaining completely smooth and irritation free. One of those rare perfect shaves.

Before this year, I have never had the opportunity to sample a Treet blade. I have to say, other than my completely negative experience with the carbon steel "Black Beauty", all experiences have been overwhelming positive. I have shaved with nine Treet DE blades this year. That is close to a 1/5 of all shaves.

I take this opportunity to induct two Treet blades into my all time favorite top tier!

These will be the Treet King and the 7-Days. Amazon is offering the King for only $7.99/hundred.

Both of these blades represent an extraordinary value in these days of inflationary prices. With the prices of PPI blades skyrocketing and the availability ever diminishing, finding alternatives is of paramount importance in this economy.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Conclusion Year 2023:

Every blade made it through the Week with the exception of the Treet carbon steel "Black Beauty".

I had to call it quits after three days. Curiously, in Week 12, I used the Treet Silver, which is also a carbon steel blade, successfully?

I had only two other blades that were petering out at the end. These were the Gillette London Bridge from China and the Gillette 7-O'clock "Green" Super Stainless from the PPI plant.

All the others made it through with flying colors!

The year worked out extremely well. This was due to the contributions of two members who gifted blade exchanges. I had started the year off with only enough blades (26) for the first half of the year.

Having finished with fifty blades, covers a good amount of the modern blades that are in common use today.

My criteria was that the blade be sharp enough to perform the shaves, while still providing a smooth irritation free shave with no damage to the blade. All the while, lasting for a full week.

My impression is that this will meet or exceed the demands of our average shaving members, who appear to use a blade for three to five shaves.

If we were to set the mean to six shaves, then I guess that 2/3 of DE shavers would be able to use any of these blades for five to seven shaves.

Noting that Y.M.M.V... Nobody wants a bad shave!