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You Spoke: Worst Tier Modern DE Blades

This was/is not a scientific exercise, so don't hold it to those standards. It is a collection of responses here and three other shaving forums. The listings were in response to a thread entitled "Bottom Tier of Modern DE Blades" found here on this forum [Bottom Tier of Modern DE Blades - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/bottom-tier-of-modern-de-blades.622271/]. These results cover posts through 03/31/2022. I will continue to accumulate results and edit this post for updates when/if there are a meaningful number of additions.

Of course, results are YMMV and we're intended to act only as a reflection of the personal experiences amongst a variety of shavers using a wide variety of razors. Hopefully, it can act as part of one's own research and usage (or avoidance) of a variety of blades. Personally, I hope that it will help new beginners to develop their own DE shaving product choices.

Statistically, blades with few or single votes are not particularly suspect. Reasons for votes are partially listed in the above-linked thread.

Without further ado, and presenting these in ascending order of quality (from worst-of-worst to best-of-worst):

Derby (Unspecified) 14
Derby (Extra) 8
Derby (Green) 2
Derby (Premium) 6
Shark (Super Chrome) 10
Shark (Super Stainless) 3
Dorco 11
Rockwell 8
Mercur 6
Voskhod 5
Za Za 4
Astra SS 3
Dollar Tree (Assured) 3
Tiger 3
Treet (Platinum) 3
Van der Hagen 3
Astra SP 2
BIC (Chrome) 2
Bolzano 2
Ladas 2
Lord 2
Personna (Comfort Coated) 2
Rapira (Platinum Lux) 2
7 O'Clock Permasharp SS 1
BIC (Yellow) 1
Daylight 1
Feather 1
Flying Eagle 1
GEM (Blue Carbon) 1
Gillette Sword 1
KAI 1
Polsilver 1
Rapira (Swedish Super Steel) 1
Super Max (Platinum) 1
Swedish Rijk 1
Tatra 1
Treet (Black Beauty) 1
Wilkinson Sword 1

Thanks to everyone who actively participated and to those reading this.
 
BIC Chrome & BIC Yellow are the same blades.

Those seem to be love-it-or-hate-it blades. IMHO, they belong in the top tier. Which just goes to show...
 
I'm a bad person. I meant that the difference between my first pick (the worst blade) and the second was so great that there was daylight between them. I'm not aware of a blade called Daylight.

Although, perhaps there is an opportunity for a brand to step in here now! :p
Not necessarily your response. Three other forums included in the tally.

Good catch though!
 
This was/is not a scientific exercise, so don't hold it to those standards. It is a collection of responses here and three other shaving forums. The listings were in response to a thread entitled "Bottom Tier of Modern DE Blades" found here on this forum [Bottom Tier of Modern DE Blades - https://www.badgerandblade.com/forum/threads/bottom-tier-of-modern-de-blades.622271/]. These results cover posts through 03/31/2022. I will continue to accumulate results and edit this post for updates when/if there are a meaningful number of additions.

Of course, results are YMMV and we're intended to act only as a reflection of the personal experiences amongst a variety of shavers using a wide variety of razors. Hopefully, it can act as part of one's own research and usage (or avoidance) of a variety of blades. Personally, I hope that it will help new beginners to develop their own DE shaving product choices.

Statistically, blades with few or single votes are not particularly suspect. Reasons for votes are partially listed in the above-linked thread.

Without further ado, and presenting these in ascending order of quality (from worst-of-worst to best-of-worst):

Derby (Unspecified) 14
Derby (Extra) 8
Derby (Green) 2
Derby (Premium) 6
Shark (Super Chrome) 10
Shark (Super Stainless) 3
Dorco 11
Rockwell 8
Mercur 6
Voskhod 5
Za Za 4
Astra SS 3
Dollar Tree (Assured) 3
Tiger 3
Treet (Platinum) 3
Van der Hagen 3
Astra SP 2
BIC (Chrome) 2
Bolzano 2
Ladas 2
Lord 2
Personna (Comfort Coated) 2
Rapira (Platinum Lux) 2
7 O'Clock Permasharp SS 1
BIC (Yellow) 1
Daylight 1
Feather 1
Flying Eagle 1
GEM (Blue Carbon) 1
Gillette Sword 1
KAI 1
Polsilver 1
Rapira (Swedish Super Steel) 1
Super Max (Platinum) 1
Swedish Rijk 1
Tatra 1
Treet (Black Beauty) 1
Wilkinson Sword 1

Thanks to everyone who actively participated and to those reading this.
Hi, the methodology of just asking for users about blades that delivered poor shaving experiences is flawed because it is skewed by the number of shavers who have experience with each blade. A top performing blade used by the most users could receive a poor rating if just a tiny percent of the users have a bad experience while a horrible blade used by few could look great because hardly anyone uses it. A more valid methodology that (others have used this) just asks folks to rate their blades from best to worst would mitigate market share impacts. Given YMMV even a top blade will have a significant number of users for whom it doesn't work.

Additionally, to fairly evaluate some of these blades the manufacturing location and year needs to be identified. In the case of Dorco they moved production from Korea to Vietnam a few years ago investing in new equipment. The new Vietnamese blades (also labeled HQ Technology) are considered excellent by most users versus the older Korean manufactured blades that have received a number of mixed reviews. Note there is still a lot of old Korean production being sold today based on on-line site descriptions. In a number of recent threads almost anyone who poorly rated Dorcos turned out to be using older Korean stock. Dorco also needs to be split between Stainless and Prime blades.

In the case of Derby they changed to a thinner blade (.1 to .09 mm) a few years back that for many users moved them up to a "middle of the pack" performance level. Many of the really poor reviews are from blades manufactured roughly from 2010 to 2015 before the change. Kind of surprised at the Derby Premium ratings given all the positive reviews out there - good chance this could be due to the market share effect above.

I use both of the above brands in addition to Astra SPs with typically 3-5 good shaves from the Derby Extra's, 4-6 from the Astra's and 8-10 from Dorco Stainless & Primes with HQ Tech from Vietnam. Per package designs my Derbys are the newer and thinner blades. Would not consider any of these brands in a "worst" category based on performance.

Realize that YMMV but given all the positive reviews out there for blades listed above as "worst" the above methodology may not be presenting a fair overview of available DE blades.
 
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The biggest factor, IMO, in the YMMV factor is pairing up of blade to razor. Go try to shave with a Treet Black Beauty in a Gillette Tech or newer model razors - they absolutely suck. When I put that same blade in a Goodwill or Old Type, I get a smooth & close shave.
Opinion polls rating blades are completely useless, unless everyone uses the same razor. And in that case it only shows which blades work best in that particular razor.
 
The biggest factor, IMO, in the YMMV factor is pairing up of blade to razor. Go try to shave with a Treet Black Beauty in a Gillette Tech or newer model razors - they absolutely suck. When I put that same blade in a Goodwill or Old Type, I get a smooth & close shave.
Opinion polls rating blades are completely useless, unless everyone uses the same razor. And in that case it only shows which blades work best in that particular razor.
ARKO makes everything better.
 
The biggest factor, IMO, in the YMMV factor is pairing up of blade to razor. Go try to shave with a Treet Black Beauty in a Gillette Tech or newer model razors - they absolutely suck. When I put that same blade in a Goodwill or Old Type, I get a smooth & close shave.
Opinion polls rating blades are completely useless, unless everyone uses the same razor. And in that case it only shows which blades work best in that particular razor.
Yes, we could take a modest-priced razor, such as EJ DE89 or Razorock Tech 2, and ask people which blades worked best/worst in that razor. Modest-priced razor is best because more people will have one.
 
YMMV lot of peoples said Merkur blade provide with all new Merkur rasor are the worst blade they used. For me its my daily blade i use in my Feather AS-D2 after trying more than 15 differents blades in samples. The Merkur blade is simply the one who fit with my type of skin.
 
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Yes, we could take a modest-priced razor, such as EJ DE89 or Razorock Tech 2, and ask people which blades worked best/worst in that razor. Modest-priced razor is best because more people will have one.
Count me in!
Today I used a Teck II and compared 2 blades in a left vs right side of my face shave.
Soap: HC&C Emperor Oud
Brush: Semogue 1438
Left side: SuperMax Blue Diamond.
Right Side: BiC Platinum
Both blades worked well. The Blue Diamond was a little closer, while the Bic was smoother.

I replaced the Razorock Teck II suppository-end handle with a Razorock Stainless .Barber pole handle. The Teck II is obviously a design inspired by the Gillette Tech, but with one difference:The top cap ends cover the blade ends.
 
Today I shaved with a Hill and Drew HDRB40, a butterfly opener, costing about £12 from Amazon, but on offer for £5.50 at an online UK store for this month. The blade was a Baili blue (stainless) on it's 4th shave. It was a lovely shave, and I didn't bother putting any cream etc on afterwards.
I used Proraso green soap in a tub.

 
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God knows I tried the Dorco ST300 in my KCG. It still kept nicking me. "Made in Vietnam" didn't impress me either.

If anyone is interested in 90 Dorco blades, I'll PIF them.

They're just not for me.
 
God knows I tried the Dorco ST300 in my KCG. It still kept nicking me. "Made in Vietnam" didn't impress me either.

If anyone is interested in 90 Dorco blades, I'll PIF them.

They're just not for me.
The Dorco Prime Platinum STP-301 blades are actually pretty good (and very inexpensive). The ST-300s are a bit on the dull side so maybe you felt you had to apply more pressure to get a close shave with them.
 
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