I am happy to write the 1st review about these blades, because I heard so much about them, but this morning was my 1st shave with this brand. They are manufactured in Russia, and they are definitely very sharp, yet also very smooth. I have a good feeling about the longevity in spite of my hard beard. The shave this morning was very comfortable and smooth, in fact, I found that I needed only 2 passes to get rid of my rough stubble, and I did it with no cuts, nicks, or irritation. I hope to get some more of these blades when I finish this pack.
HOLY Grail like blade from russia Batman ..... Where to start on this treasure from russia ,I guess the top .Ive tried 3 of these blades, one as a free sample,2 others from 2 five packs from the 100 I ordered after trying the 1st blade , so far so good on consistant quality each blade performed the same.Sharpness... Id say was in the feather area without the irritation the feather gave me , way better than the astra platniums or the persona reds . Gave a 2 shave pass with less j hooking and buffing touch ups I have to do on my neck to get rid of the blue/black fred flintstone / homer simpson shadow I have on my neck .BBS shave without the irritation ,noteworthy because it takes 3 pass with touch up for a feather , 4 pass with a astra platnuim with touch up , both the former blades when achieving this leave my neck raw. The voskhod better bbs which lasted longer with NONE of the irritation .Longtiivity..This may ramble a bit stick with me on this category . I do this zen thing for my shaves , I shower use musgo gly/lime , use a skuttle , shave ,warm water splash, cold water , use alum or witch hazel , clean brush, take ej89l appart in drop blade and razor in 90 alcohol jar. I hand strop each blade each time after use when putting razor back together , Everytime I shave . The blades deserve it after battling my neck . Feather get 3-4 shaves do 4 on because I think a even a styrefomed / stropped feather is Rough 1st shave not because it really can do a 4th but because a 4th is less rough than a 1st .Asta platniums get 3 solids. Volkhod 6-7 . 1st free blade I got 7 , when my 100 came in I popped another in cuz I thought why go 8, Ive got 100 of them and I wanted to try a ladas(another great blade soon to be reviewed ) I recieved with the free voskhod. Used the 2nd 6 times when I got my 200 ladas in , so ejected it no because it needed it but because I just got 200 ladas in . Blade currently in on shave 1 is a volkhod Ill try to see how far I can push her .Skin friendly only 1 of 2 blades I can get a BBS withouth a red neck , other is the ladas . Other blades Ive tried is the entire westcoast shave sampler choice . Feather New Hi-Stainless Platinum ,Crystal or "Israeli ,Derby Extra, Red Israeli Personna ,Astra Superior Platinum and out of those only 2 can even get BBS or even close with neck irritation and prep .Quality ... 3 blades sample same and can vouch it has a good even teflon coat by way alcohol beads on it during cleanup ( pretty cool looking )Price... Less than $20 when I bought 100 , same range as astra plats , feathers go for double that , better shave than either , and last 2 times as long so again great googly god what a good price ....
I am on day 6 of using this blade for the first time. I am sure I can get at least another if not 2 more comfortable shaves from this marvel from Russia. I kept reading a few of our fellow Denninites raving about these blades. Through a PIF from Jeff (thanks Jeff) I am finding that the Voskhod will most definitely be my strong number two blade, being edged out by my beloved Feathers. At first, I rated the price of these a bit lower but considering I would have to use two other blades to this one, the price of them measures up. They are skin friendly and mildly forgiving, one of the attributes above the Feather blade. I do not feel that they are sharper than the Feather. So with all the good about these blades I listed quality very highly. I urge anyone that has wanted to try a Feather blade, to first try a Voskhod, mostly because of the forgiving qualities.
sorry for the bump Tried out one of the Voshkod sent me by Jody. I know you should never judge any blade on the very first shave, so I won't. But I will say that while it strikes me as pretty sharp it is not quite the smoothest...frankly, Dorcos seem a bit smoother, as is my beloved '60s era Gillette stainless. But again, judging by shave #1 is unfair so I'm going to give that blade 2-3 more turns, then decide. I'm sure it won't be a bad blade in any case, though.
Review threads aren't like other threads, they never die. Volkshod blades have been good to me. They come in just under Feathers, They are sharp and smooth and work in every DE razor I own. They edge out the Astras by a hair because of the Teflon coating. For all I know, they are the same blade, one gets Teflon coated and the other gets Platinum coated. I believe both blades are made in St. Petersburg, Russia. I know the Astras are for sure.
That's good to know as my sample pack of Astras did well enough for me to remember them (long gone now). Think it'll smooth out a bit on next shaves?
When they updated the forums, some of the categories went bye-bye. You can find a review thread then go to "post new thread" which is what most experienced forum members do when they want to leave a new review. It's inconvenient to say the least and maybe someday it will get fixed. Sparky posted a thread somewhere about why it vanished, maybe he'll chip in and explain further.
I think they're both made in St. Petersburg, but in different factories, by different companies. Astra is made by P&G, Voskhod is by Mostochlegmash. Interesting that you find them so similar, because for me their worlds apart. Of the 14 blades I've tried, Voskhod is at the top, Astra is second from the bottom. I've only tried them in my 38M though. I'll be trying them soon in my other razors to see if I should keep my 100 Astras or trade them.
Our awesome site admin, Sparky, is still working on a way to rescue the many different review sections we had under the old forum software. Unfortunately, the software they used under the old forum software, is incompatible with the forum software we now use. One day... Soon... We hope.
I got 2 excellent and 1 so-so shave outta the Voshkod...the third and last one started to get really nicky on me. The second "broke in" shave was best. FWIW/YMMV
Just for another data point, the one time I pushed a Voskhod I was able to get 5 great shaves out of it. Normally I toss them after 3.
I found these blades to be pretty harsh at first, but found that they mellow down after the first shave. They're a serviceable blade, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get them.
