A Blade Safari - 15 enter how many leave?

Once again an unimpressive shave from the Israel Viking Sword, but it is growing on me. Three shaves with no irritation, no cuts, and consistent results.

This blade might not be a great performer, but it's no slouch either...

 

Well it took four shaves, but I might have figured out the secret of this blade. This blade have been consistently mild. I enjoyed the consistency, but it was just too mild. Today I added in a full ATG pass, playing into the mildness of this blade and it worked.

I was able to get a (mild) DFS with mild irritation from the alum.

It's not the best out there, but if I could only use one blade I'd have no complaints with the Israel Viking Sword.

 

A third of the way into my blade safari, and onto the Gillette blades. With the exception of the Astra, all the blades I received from Bobcat are new to me, and I've been looking forward to trying them out. I started with the Personna and Israeli blades with high expectations... expectations may have been a mistake in something "YMMV" as shaving.

I'm still excited to run the gauntlet of Gillette blades to see what does and doesn't work with my face and WW2 Khaki razor.

 

First time using a Gillette blade, and I was looking forward to trying these out, so far so go.

For me there is no comparison to the Israel Viking Sword. Right from the first pass I was expecting a close shave, as I could feel this is not a mild blade.

It's more aggressive then that last few blades I've used, hopefully it doesn't take me long to adjust to that. It was kind of nice to get that bite from the AS...

 

Been busy and it seems I forgot to post a review of yesterday's shave with the Gillette 7 O'Clock green...

Shave 2
I little nick, but nothing noticeable. The aggressiveness of the 7 O'Clock was toned down today. Not sure if that was me or a duller blade...
Either way I got not a bad shave with "typical" sting from the Nivea Men cool kick AS balm

Shave 3
Not as smooth a shave as yesterday, and a little bit more bite from the AS balm today... This is not a direction I want to be going.
The extra bite on the post shave I'm sure was from the touch ups, which were in an ATG direction.

 

Today was the final day for the Gillette 7 O'Clock green, and I have to say the blade felt like it was done. It wasn't a bad shave, just more tugging then there should be. For my face, this blade when loaded in my WW2 tech is only good for three shaves...

Bring on the Gillette 7 O’Clock Black Super Platinum!

 

Day 1 -- 7 O'Clock Black
Good shave results with this blade. Seems to be closer then the 7 O'clock Green, and with less "bite".

Day 2 -- 7 O'Clock Black
Another close shave from the 7 O'Clock Black, but it found it's bite. Definitely in the DFS results bracket, but I could have done without the exfoliation. Not blood letting though so I'm not ready to call it a "bad" shave...

 

Results like today's shave will find me bulk ordering this blade! DFS, No nicks, irritation or bite. A great shave from the 7 O'Clock Black!

 

Not as smooth as yesterday's shave, but still a nice shave. I have a feeling this is not the last I'll be seeing of this blade...

 

Again with the weird tugging/sticking feeling with this blade. I'm thinking it might be the coating?

The 7 O'Clock yellow seems to be pretty close in performance and characteristics to the green and black. Might have had a little less bite out of the box from the yellow, we'll see how it lasts.

 

Second shave from the Gillette Yellow, nice results. The tugging/sticking was gone with no loss in performance. Just as smooth a shave as yesterday with no nick and only minimal irritation.

 

A quick shave today, but the Yellow was up to the challenge. It could have been a smoother shave, but I'm pleased with the results based on the effort I put in. After three shave's my face is relatively smooth and even, no rough patches.

The Nivea Men cool kick wasn't it's most soothing today, but it was well within my tolerance range.

 

Well, four days later and the Gillette 7 O'clock series of blades are done. All three of these blades performed similarly, and I'm not 100% sure where the Yellow stacks up against it's brothers.

I would not be opposed to using this blade again.

 

Hard to judge the sliver blue based on today's shave. It was not a good shave, but I don't think it was due to the blade at all. Despite the nicks and unpleasantness from the alum, I did get a borderline DFS...

Wait and see what tomorrow brings.

 

Major improvement with this shave. DFS results with zero irritation or nicks, doesn't get much better then this!

 

Great shave on the face, not as close on the neck; the alcohol in the Dove Men let me know it was there too. I'm hopping this was more a technique thing and not the blade, as the Silver Blue hasn't really had a chance to shine.

I'm not finished with this blade yet, and I am planning on picking up another one so it can get a do-over...

 

I can't say that the Silver Blue has given a bad shave, but every time I use it I just feel something is missing. Today was not really any different. I got a nice close shave, and all it cost was post shave irritation

 

Really interesting reading this.Which blade is next and have you a favourite so far?

 

The Gillette Platinum is up next.

When I first started this blade safari I had high hopes of finding that "super awesome best ever blade", I haven't found it yet, and don't know if I will. With the exception of the Astra SP all of these blades are new to me and fairly popular. Blade preference is very YMMV. This blade safari is helping me learn what to look for in a blade. Some of these blades have performed better then others, but all of them are good enough to be a daily driver, for me, with the tech I am using. As to how they will perform for me an one of my other DE razors, only time will tell. I do have a better idea as to which blades I want to try first though.

 

Well this is a great and informative experiment. I hope you enjoy the Gillette platinum, it is one of my favourites. Maybe you will find the super awesome blade.