January - Shavettes and Jeeves!
January 10 - Blade Trials
Razor - 1962 (H1) Gillette Slim (3)
Blade -
View attachment 183485
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Soap - Arko
Brush - Stirling Two Band Synthetic
Post - Alum
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside. Yes boys and girls, blade trials are back! I haven't done this in quite some time but I've had a few sent to me with a request to give them the full treatment and see what they're capable of. First up are the Super Gillette Blue Blades from
@John Ruschmeyer . I know he shaved with these and wanted me to give my take. He also sent a special treat, the matching razor for this blade that looks suspiciously like the Rapira razor. I know there are copies of that razor packaged with several blades. I will be getting to the razor after I give the blade its three shaves for the trial.
For those of you who have never experienced blade trials, and for the old-timers who need their memories refreshed, here's the protocol. Each blade gets three shaves. I use the Gillette Slim in order to shave at three different aggression levels. I use settings 3, 6 and 9 to approximate mild, normal and aggressive. I use Arko soap and I'll be using the Stirling synthetic brushes to make a consistent lather each time. I perform three passes, WTB, XTG and ATG with no extra touch up for the finish. I use alum to help determine irritation levels and then grade the shave by feel. What we're trying to do is establish how the blade performs under different conditions. Putting a Chinese blade on a blade trial is always something that makes me nervous. Chinese blades typically SUCK! However, Gillette branded (and Schick) blades made in China have traditionally performed quite well. So, we'll see how this one does.
Some interesting notes about the printing on the blade and packaging. These are stainless steel blades as opposed to the original Gillette Blue Blades that were carbon. And, they're platinum coated. That gives me hope. Gillette in China is based in Shanghai, which is an interesting note. Most of the rest of the printing involves identifying them as a U.S. company and also providing instructions on how to use the razor and blades. You'll notice on the front of the blade box the numbers 1.65, which is the price of the pack of 5 blades. That isn't $1.65, though, but rather 1.65 Yuan, which is China's currency. The cost in U.S. dollars for this pack of blades? $0.24. Yep. A penny less than a quarter. One more interesting note - the inner wrapper is also printed and has an ad on it for the Gillette Vector razor, which is clearly a cart or disposable of some kind. Even in China they're trying to push in with their cart garbage.
Ok, on to the shave. Arko, of course, produced an instantly thick and slick lather. I set the Slim on 3 and started the first pass. Very smooth and comfortable. With the mild setting I had to watch my angle just a bit to hold it steady. I usually shave with more aggressive settings/razors so going mild again was a bit of a change. Second and third passes remained very smooth and produced no signs of blood or other trouble. I stopped at the end of the ATG, rinsed, rubbed on the alum and found no stings/burns/discomfort at all. Rinsed and dried and checked the result. BBS all the way. Surprisingly smooth and very nice. Well, surprisingly only because I had set the expectation for a bit rougher of a shave than I received. So, first impression - very nice blade with great results. We'll see how it progresses over the next two days.
Happy Friday everyone! We have a Winter Storm Warning starting at noon tomorrow. Up to 8 inches of snow headed our way, or so they say, so it could be a fun weekend in the Lou!
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