Top 5 Essential Blades.

[deafficianado]

Gillette Platinum blue (All time favorite but expensive and hard to find because it's discontinued)
Gillette blacks
Gillette silver blues
Feather
Permasharp

 

[coyotewhisper]

Thank you everyone for your input. There are 42 brands of blades being used by members.
I'll list those blades with 2 or more votes only.

Number one goes to;
1. Feather 29
2. Gillette 7o'clock Black 27
3. Polisilver 26
4. Tied Astra Sp and Persona Red 23
5. Perma Sharp
6. Wikinson Sword 8
7. Super Iridum 7
8. Persona Blue Israeli 6
9. Gillette 7o'clock Green 5
10. Tied Bic Chroma 4, Crystal 4, Gillette 7o'clock blue 4
Those are the top ten chosen blades.
Lord gets an honorable mention with 3 both Platinum and SC
Super Max also comes in with 3
Voshkod with 3 too.

 

[Jasman]

Interesting results. Merely from how much discussion I see of them, I would have guessed the 7 o'clock Yellows or Greens would have beaten out the Blacks. I would have also guessed Astra was going to place higher than 4th or 5th, on the same grounds.

 

[Lucidor]

Polsilver SI
Personna Lab
Astra SP
Rapira Platinum Lux
Permasharp

 

[Apex]

Still a rookie and so far:

Feather
Gillette Nacet
Gillette Silver Blue
Crystal Personnas
Personna "Lab Blue"

Honorable mention..
Gillette Yellows
Personna Reds
Polsilvers SI

 

[skydivemd]

Perhaps the nomenclature is messing me up (?), but where are the Personna Med Preps/Labs in the lineup?

Thanks for compiling the results!

 

[Apex]

Thank you everyone for your input. There are 42 brands of blades being used by members.
I'll list those blades with 2 or more votes only.

Number one goes to;
1. Feather 29
2. Gillette 7o'clock Black 27
3. Polisilver 26
4. Tied Astra Sp and Persona Red 23
5. Perma Sharp
6. Wikinson Sword 8
7. Super Iridum 7
8. Persona Blue Israeli 6
9. Gillette 7o'clock Green 5
10. Tied Bic Chroma 4, Crystal 4, Gillette 7o'clock blue 4
Those are the top ten chosen blades.
Lord gets an honorable mention with 3 both Platinum and SC
Super Max also comes in with 3
Voshkod with 3 too.

Question please. Are the Personna Blue Israeli same same as the Crystals? Out of all she brands Personnas can sometimes have me guessing.

 

[coyotewhisper]

Number one goes to;
1. Feather 29
2. Gillette 7o'clock Black 27
3. Polisilver 26
4. Persona Med 25
5. Tied Astra Sp and Persona Red 23
6. Perma Sharp 9
7. Wikinson Sword 8
8. Super Iridum 7
9. Persona Blue Israeli 6
10. Gillette 7o'clock Green 5
11.Tied Bic Chroma 4, Crystal 4, Gillette 7o'clock blue 4


These are the blades with the most votes
Lord gets an honorable mention with 3 both Platinum and SC
Super Max also comes in with 3
Voshkod with 3 too.


OOPS left out Persona Meds, thank you for bringing it to my attention skydivend. The list has been revised with the corrections.

 

[jay_gord]

1. Polsilver SI
2. Perma-Sharp Super
3. Gillette 7 o'clock yellow
4. Astra SP
5. Gillette 7 o'clock black

Because of the generosity of another B&B member I was recently able to try a Gillette Platinum (swede) and I think it may be the best blade I have ever used. Since its discontinued I didn't include it on this list.

 

[aimsport]

Essential blades by purpose:

Feather: For the sharpest at any cost, including the loss of durability and abrupt roughness.
Super Iridium: For the smoothest most durable of the near sharpest blade
Permasharp: For durability and close shaves cheaper than Super Iridium
Dorco: For stiff blade, super smooth, consistent and medium sharp (just perfect for steep angle R41 shaving)
Astra: For super smooth and ultra mild shaves for beginners
Personna 74: to prove that a super durable sharp and smooth blade is possible but not commercially viable. :-/
Derby: To buy in 100pk and ask yourself why you have so many of them; to practice corking blades.

 

[shave/brush]

Interesting results. Merely from how much discussion I see of them, I would have guessed the 7 o'clock Yellows or Greens would have beaten out the Blacks. I would have also guessed Astra was going to place higher than 4th or 5th, on the same grounds.

I agree with you. From at least 3 pass surveys like this I found it was always: 1. Feather, 2. Astra, 3. 7 O'Clock yellow.

 

[SteveWY]

When you say "Personna Meds" is that specifically the Personna Super that is marked "For Hospital Use" or a general reference for the Personna Super "Blue_ that include what we call Labs and Meds? Just wondering.

 

[SIG9]

1. Astra SP
2. Astra SP
3. Astra SP
4. Gillette (yellow, green, black, blue silver, take your pick)
5. Astra SP

 

[Laocoon]

1. Astra SP
2. Gillette 7 O'Clock Black
3. Gillette Silver Blue
4. Red Personna
5. Feather

 

[fuzinboston]

Personna Med Preps
Personna Labs
Feathers
G7OC Black
Personna Med Preps

 

[fuzinboston]

When you say "Personna Meds" is that specifically the Personna Super that is marked "For Hospital Use" or a general reference for the Personna Super "Blue_ that include what we call Labs and Meds? Just wondering.

Med Preps have the "for hospital use" language on the blade itself.

 

[dmalsbury]

1) Personna Blue (US)
2) Wilkinson (Germany)
3) Topaz Stainless
4) Lord stainless
5) Dorco ST300

All of the above are severely dependent on which razor they are used with. That said, all have given me great results.

 

[Kramerica]

1. Med preps
2. Iridiums/PSIs (IMHO the PSIs and SIs should be lumped together)
3. Astra
4. GSB
5. Gillette Spoiler

 

[mdevine]

My five favorites, in order of preference;

1. Super Iridium
2. Astra SP
3. Med Prep Personna
4. Voskhod
5. Derby

Mike

 

[mdevine]

Thank you everyone for your input. There are 42 brands of blades being used by members.
I'll list those blades with 2 or more votes only.

Number one goes to;
1. Feather 29
2. Gillette 7o'clock Black 27
3. Polisilver 26
4. Tied Astra Sp and Persona Red 23
5. Perma Sharp
6. Wikinson Sword 8
7. Super Iridum 7
8. Persona Blue Israeli 6
9. Gillette 7o'clock Green 5
10. Tied Bic Chroma 4, Crystal 4, Gillette 7o'clock blue 4
Those are the top ten chosen blades.
Lord gets an honorable mention with 3 both Platinum and SC
Super Max also comes in with 3
Voshkod with 3 too.

I remember doing a similar tally several years ago. The results show that preferences have stayed fairly constant. In September of 2010, it looked like this.

"Having nothing better to do with my time, I thought it would be interesting to count up all the votes received to date on this thread. There were some difficulties. For example, some blades are called by more than one name (i.e. Gillette Yellows are also known as Gillette Sharp Edge); some, such as Personna Reds, IPs, Red Pack may refer to different products (BTW, I grouped all of these under "Red Personnas"); some votes were not specific (if listed as "Shark", I had to assign them to Super Chrome or Super Stainless). So what we have here is a count done the best way that I can figure it out. I the top ten based on total votes, ending up with eleven total as there was a tie at tenth.


10. (Tie)- Merkur and Shark Super Stainless; 7 votes
8. (Tie)- Kai and Wilkinson Sword; 9 votes
7. Gillette Swedes; 12 votes
6. Derby Extra; 16 votes
5. Astra Superior Platinum; 17 votes
4. Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge (Yellow); 20 votes
3. Red Personnas; 23 votes
2. Iridium Super; 24 votes
1. Feather; 38 votes


I think the top of the list lines up with what I've seen elsewhere on the site. Feathers are the clear favorite followed rather closely by Iridiums. The results here have piqued my interest in several blades that I haven't yet tried. I just bought a pack of Astra SPs and I think I will put Kai and Gillette Yellows on my short list. Most intriguing for me, however, are the Gillette Swedes. The fact that they get so many votes despite being unavailable for so long, makes them something that I just have to try. (Anyone interested in sending me a blade or two would have my never ending gratitude! )"

I think that the Super Iridium and Polsilver Super Iridium should be lumped together. The Swedes have been relegated to the dustbin of history. Gillette Blacks have seen the biggest jump in usage, while Derby blades have fallen out of favor.

Mike