Dec 8: New blade, new soap, new brush. The blade is the Shark Super Chrome (part of my ongoing test), the soap is Barrister & Mann Lavanda, and the brush is a new Omega Hi-Brush synthetic. First synthetic I've owned and tried. The Shark blade gave a so so shave. Not bad, but middle of the pack results. Some pulling but no irritation. I really could not tell the difference between this blade and its twin brother the Shark Super Stainless. I will rate it among the growing population of "ok" blades. The soap was nice. As with all B & M soaps - the lather was excellent. I live in the middle of lavender growing country - the scent of this soap wasn't much like lavender. The Omega synthetic was surprisingly nice. Not as good as my boar brushes but was as good if not better than any of my badger brushes. Handle was very easy to grip. Needed to use a bit more water for the bowl lather as the synthetic hairs don't retain water as well. Finished with a splash of Fine Platinum.
Dec 9: Not a great shave this afternoon. Tested the Personna Platinum blade. Used the usual Merkur 34c with my new synthetic Omega Hi-Brush. Captain's Choice Sandalwood soap (very nice scent). Finished with the "Original" Old Spice. I had higher expectations for this blade. I know the Personna Lab Blues get pretty high reviews. This Personna blade though, certainly does not get my thumbs up. Lots of pulling and considerable touch up. Still have areas that need more attention but my skin won't take it. Rating this one in my lowest category. That's two Personna blades now - this one and the Crystals. Neither work for me. I was going to order a pack of Lab Blues to try but I don't know now. As Scarlett said: "Tomorrow is another day"
The packaging if different but I'm wondering if those are the same exact blades as the Personna red that I tried. If you saw my review, I also thought that it was a bad blade as it skipped around a lot for me and it gave me terrible razor burn. The Personna blue was much better, although I had a pretty bad second shave with it. However, that could've just been my own fault.
Blade: Treet Platinum Super Stainless I had a good second shave with the Wilkinson Sword but as I don't have the patience to test longevity at the moment, I decided to move on today. The Treet is the last blade of my first sample pack and it was also one of the biggest surprises because its performance greatly exceeded my expectations. It felt completely identical to the Astra SP, which is my baseline blade for a solid middle of the road blade. There really wasn't any tugging and the comfort level was about average. I had only one tiny weeper that I noticed at the very end of the shave, and it was on my upper lip anyway, which is very typical as this is a problem spot. When I say that it's identical to the Astra SP, this means that it unfortunately shares the negative qualities as well. The Astras irritate me for some reason, and it's the same exact case with the Treets. I still have no idea if it's the platinum coating or something else with the blades, but I hope to get to the bottom of this some day soon. If this were a blind test and you handed me two razors with an Astra SP and a Treet, it would be impossible to tell them apart as there really aren't even any subtle differences. I am really impressed with this blade because even though it isn't for my skin type, it is a heavy hitter that is on par with anything except perhaps the "luxury" blades like the Feather. Sharpness: 7/10 I also went ahead and ordered another sample pack of blades even though I wanted to hold off for a bit. I'm just eager to trade away my 100 pack (now 80 pack) of Astra SP blades and I want to find some blades that don't cause me any irritation when my technique is on point. I'm too lazy to type out the list of new blades but maybe I'll post a photo at some point. With a few exceptions, I only ordered one of each blade this time even though I know that it's not fair to judge a blade based on one shave as duds are always possible. I just didn't think I'd have the patience to keep testing blades for the next 6 months, and I think that my face will appreciate finally finding and sticking to a good blade.
Astra SP cause me some serious irritation as well. I had the opposite experience with Treet Platinum than you. As of right now Treet is my #2 blade, GSB is my #1. I am tempted to get another blade sampler and reevaluate some blades since I started cold water shaving a while back. That was a game changer for me. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab using Tapatalk
Interesting that I didn't do anything special. Our last move was 17 years ago when I retired from the Army. All my wet shaving gear was thrown in a box and shipped across country and the brush had been sitting in a lower cabinet until I pulled it out a couple months ago. More luck than science.
Cold water shaving felt pretty good in the warmer weather but I switched back to warm water when I got sick and I've been sticking to it since the weather got cooler. The first several blades that I reviewed were actually done with cold water but I don't think that it affected the blade's performance or the end result. It's good to see that someone else thinks highly of the Treets because I thought it was a bit of an anomaly being so impressed with this blade. I haven't seen many positive reviews of south Asian blades apart from the black Gillette 7 O'Clock Super Platinums, but these Treets definitely deserve praise.
So what's the difference between the Wilkinson white pack versus the black pack? I tried the black pack and found the blade to be a bit rough on the first shave but very good on the second. It ended up in the middle of pack from a rating stand point.
I just used the image from Try A Blade's website and I'm not sure why they feature a white pack, but I'm assuming that they're the same exact blades and that they're both made in Germany despite the differences in packaging. Another vendor actually has photos of both the white and the black blade packs for the same blade that they are selling, and the description says that they're made in Germany. The only other Wilkinsons are the Indian ones, which have much different packaging and always say "Saloon pack" on the bottom. Indian blades:
I'm going to order another sample pack or at least buy a number of blades separately to try. The sample pack I have had a good selection but blades such as the Treet and Rapira were not included. Once I have tried everything I feel I should - then I'll go back and revaluate the top blades and narrow it down to 3 or 4 for bulk buying. The adventure continues.
These blades are platinum coated and are very very good blades in my opinion. The blades labelled Wilkinson Sword (without Gillette) are stainless and don't have the platinum coating I believe. They are also very good blades !!!
Rapira makes a lot of good stuff. Definitely get some Super Stainless and Swedish Super Steel Rapira blades. Rapira Platinum Lux gets many positive reviews too, but I have not yet tried them !!!
Dec 12: Excellent shave just now. Same Merkur 34c, Omega Hi Brush synthetic, Stirling Bay Rum and Dove Post Shave Balm (first time - very nice) and my bowl. New blade tested. The Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge (yellow package). Very nice blade. Seemed to be pretty sharp. A smooth nonirritating shave needing little clean up. I will add this blade to top category of the 18 blades I'm testing. I am also going to order a number of other blades not included in my sample pack - so the test will continue for awhile longer. I will retry all the top blades after that for a final ranking. But I feel good right now - makes a gloomy, rainy, northwest day seem a lot brighter.
For me, the SharpEdge is the king of closeness. I really love that blade and I'm looking forward to revisiting it. You also have some really great shaving tools. I can't get enough of that Executive Man scent.
Executive Man is great! Use it all the time. The problem I'm having with this test is the fact that I've been doing it for several months now. I have 5 blades (Astra SP, Nacet Stainless, Lord Platinum, Gillette Silver Blue and now Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge) in my top category so far. I can't really remember the exact feel of any one blade - other than the fact that I liked it. With all the so so blades in between, my senses are in over load. That is why I really need to go back and revisit each of the top blades. Feather is the next blade followed by Voskhod. I will be ordering a number of other blades but with Xmas - its going to take awhile for them to arrive.
Blade: Asco Super Stainless (Orange) My friends, this blade was absolute magic and I felt incredible after my shave today. This blade has greatly exceeded my wildest expectations and although I still have many more blades to test, the adventure will essentially just be a novelty from here on out. I don't even know where to begin with describing this phenomenal blade. To be fair, it is essentially a Voskhod but it just reaffirmed that even though I loved the Feather and 7 O'Clock SharpEdge, the Asco or Voskhod is ultimately the right blade for me. Ascos are made by the same people who make the atrocious Shark blades, so I was expecting more of the same. What I got was the most comfortable shave of my life, including any shave that I've had with electric, cartridge, or disposable razors. Try A Blade claims that these are Teflon coated like the Voskhods, but 1) the blade descriptions on that site seem to be flat out wrong occasionally and 2) I've read that every single blade meant for shaving is Teflon coated, so this claim is essentially a marketing gimmick. However, it was immediately apparent that this blade had that same magical coating as the Voskhod and whether it's Teflon or something else, both of these blades have something that the other blades lack, marketing gimmick or not. Like the Voskhod, this wasn't the sharpest blade and I didn't get as close of a shave as I got with the Feather and the SharpEdge. This was hardly a concern however because I still got a presentable shave in the end and given how comfortable it was, I couldn't have cared less less about the slightly substandard sharpness. Here's where it gets interesting: I decided to turn the Slim down to a 3 for the second pass and go crazy, shaving completely against the grain and at all different kinds of aggressive angles that I would normally never attempt. I even applied pressure in a few areas just for the hell of it but no matter what, this blade refused to nick me or cause any irritation. If I had attempted these moves with any other blade except the Voskhod, my face probably would've needed a month to recover. I will cut it short since this is already too long but the bottom line is that I can't sing enough praise for this blade. For the first time ever, I was able to smile, stretch my skin, yawn, pinch my cheeks, scrub my face red with a towel, and abuse my face in other ways without feeling any residual irritation from the blade. This is what shaving should be. I'd imagine that this is how everyone else feels after a normal shave but this is one of the only times that my face has felt almost completely normal since I started shaving. Sharpess: 6.8/10 Comfort: 10/10 Longevity: 3 shaves or 6 passes + touch ups (third shave was poor) Preemptive overall rating: 9.9/10 (my personal rating without any regard to the above categories) Of course there is one catch - I can't find this blade for sale anywhere. There is a UK site that sells them but for several dollars than the price at which they are supposed to be sold. I am fine with sticking to Voskhods if it comes to that since they are sold everywhere and they are almost identical to the Ascos anyway.
I'll have to try them. Amazon shows 100 Asco (Orange) blades for $13.25 which is a pretty good price. I'm placing an order tomorrow for a couple different Treet blades, same for Rapira, Perma Sharp and PolSilver. I'll add a pack of Asco. Looks like they're made by Lord in Egypt. I do like the Lord Platinum blades that I have tested already.
I can't find the orange Ascos on Amazon. I'm only seeing the Asco reds for $13.25. I haven't tried the reds ones and I don't think that I have any in my sample pack but I don't think they're the same as the orange blades. I have a Treet carbon steel "black beauty" in my new sample pack as well as the other blades that you're ordering except for the Pol-Silver.
You are right. Since I am a bit color blind I asked the wife what color the image was - she said "red". They looked orange to me. There are a few places that will sell single packs of the orange but not in bulk. I may try the reds as well. I decided to add the Pol-Silver to the list since they seem to get quite a few good reviews. Although they are expensive.
