Astra SS blades. Wow. Pretty Sweet.

Total Subjective YMMV Post, But, anyway..

I live in an Astra SP household. Gives us 2-3 close, comfortable, smooth shaves that last forever and is as cheap as they get for a 100 pack. I had just struck a Rumplestilskin-esque deal with Jason from Tryablade.com(great guy, really great guy, wow.) to give him 130 of my Dorco 301 blades for 130 Astra SPs in a no-money trade. Wow, fantastic. The blades came, and they were Astra SS blades. I thought, either I complain to him and send 'em back, or I try 'em out.

Turns out, that they're even better than Astra SPs. I have relatively sensitive skin, so that uncoated scratchy feel doesn't really work for me. The SS's were even smoother and sharper than the SPs. I think they're smoother, because the sharpness allows you to get more hair without overpassing, leaving you with less irritation. I have pretty coarse hair too. So, I get less irritation on my neck when I go XTG with the SS than the SP. So now, we have around 220 Astra SPs and 130 Astra SS's, which sates my Blade Acquisition Disorder(haha) for now.

So...bottom line..If you're a firm Astra SP believer, and you could use them for the rest of your life because they're so damn good, then you should try out the SS. It just might surprise you. I only write this, because there are so few posts on the Astra SS's.

I'm still on my first blade..just completed my 2nd shave with it, and it was fantastic.
-5:45 AM shower(usually get up at 6 on Mondays for Marketing class...but I woke up at 5, and just kept falling back asleep and kept having really terrible dreams that made me wake up scared for my life. The kind of dreams where you're laying in bed paralyzed, and you can hear someone breaking in the house. I couldn't fall asleep again)
-Cadet OC
-Stirling MOTA
-Stirling Boar Brush face lathered, whipped to a peak on the brush(way more than I ever see in videos)
-Astra SS.
-Witch hazel after, and some Aveeno lotion(just the normal one. It's non-comodegenic, so I use it on my face too.)
-3 pass shave.

 

Sweet! Jason is a really good guy! I like Astra SS, I'm glad they're working for you. Happy Shaving!

 

Thanks for the review. I have been increasingly pleased with my SPs, and was thinking about getting some of the Astra SS blades, just to try out. You can never have too many blades! Or at least that is what I tell my gf.

 

You should get a 5 pack and try it out. They surprised me.
Same thing with my GF, but brushes and soaps haha.

 

I use the SP's regularly but I've never tried the SS only because the online supplier I use had better customer reviews with the SP. I might just order some SS's now because of your input. Thanks.

 

Youre welcome. Theyre sweet. They dont have a scratchy uncoated feel. They Were quite a nice surprise.

 

Just finished 3 shaves with the first Astra SS blade and tossed it. I maybe could have gone a fourth, but I got a couple adverse affects from the third that I do not wish to repeat.

Shave 1:
Utterly fantastic. Effortless. Irritation-less. I could go more confident on XTG on my neck than I could with the Astra SP. ATG and WTG are completely effortless. Pretty awesome. Shower prep. No blood, maybe a weeper.
-Cadet OC
-Stirling MOTA
-Stirling Boar
-witch hazel plus aloe afterwards plus some Aveeno lotion.

Shave 2: Pretty damn fantastic. Same as before. Shower Prep. No blood, maybe a weeper.
-Cadet OC
-Proraso White soap
-L'Occitane Plisson
-witch hazel plus aloe afterwards plus some Aveeno lotion.

Shave 3: Pretty good. I'd rate at about a B. No shower prep. Used bum old Tweezerman brush to lather Biore Charcoal Cleanser on my face after using a hot towel compress. Felt great. That stuff actually lathers pretty well with a brush, haha. Effortless WTG and ATG. It usually goes perfect until I try to go XTG on my neck. I usually just do it once with no overpassing, and whatever I miss, I live with. I go with the contours of my face, instead of in a square as my face is coming down as a V. Got a little blood on my neck, but no nicks. Also got a bit of irritation on my neck after going XTG.
-Cadet OC
-Van Der Hagen Deluxe plus some added pure aloe gel (maybe this is where I went wrong, haha.)
-L'Occitane Plisson

So, I guess the thing to learn is that, on the third shave, I either skip XTG on my neck completely and just roll, or I come down at a J-hook style angle and kind of do WTG and XTG at the same time. I also got a little turkey waggler style bump on the direct center of my neck. I think it looks horrible. It's very small like a normal razor bump, but the fact that I can see it and waggle it around makes me very self-conscious. Still a very comfortable, painless shave.

 

I had a lot of irritation using the Astra blades for some reason. I went back to using the personna blue and have less irritation as for now. I wonder if it because the thickness of my hair?

 

Maybe. Who knows? I tried the Personna blues once and it absolutely burned the crap out of me. Literally felt like I stuck my neck on a hot skillet for 2 days.

 

I have Astra SS in my sampler and haven't tried them yet. They are certainly the least expensive blades I have but I have learned more money doesn't always equal better.

 

Try 'em out next . They might surprise you.

 

i love the astra ss
platinum blades ruin me

 

How come?

 

I've used both the SS and SP blades and never really noticed a distinct difference between the two. I purchased the SP (100pk), but was gifted 50+ of the SS.
You could certainly do a LOT worse in blade choices than using these. Good, long lasting blades that are reasonably priced.

 

no idea
total irritation

 

Those Astra Super Sweet blades sound like worth trying. I believe I have some sitting around. Maybe I will put one in for the last week of the year.

 

If you're a firm believer in Astra SPs, then I would definitely give the SS's a go.

 

When I tried the SS I thought they were just ok, until I put it in my Superspeed, and in that razor for me resulted in a great shave. Likely will keep a pack or two around just for the Superspeed.

 

I've used Astra plenty of times. Mighty fine blade. In my top 5 definitely.

 

I like the SPs, gonna have to give the SS a try