I was going to send you a tuck of Seagull brand razor blades, upon inspection I opened a blade and was doing the thumbpad test and was getting no stickyness. I tried to shave some arm hair, nothing removed. Then I actually slid my thumb along the "edge", no cutting action whatsoever. Need any "blades" for a paint scraper ? I ponder the reasoning for manufacturing these blades, to dupe some silly American out of $3 (for 100 blades btw) ?
$3 for 100? That doesn't raise any red flags at all!! Why, these should be the finest Chinese blades ever made at that price! Yeah, the Chinese blades (and a few others like Tiger) really make no sense to me. It's one of the items that I ponder way too often and keep trying to find an answer to. You're making these things. There is apparently a market. Where and why?
While I was out running around today I stopped at one of our Dollar Tree stores on the north side of town. Nothing. I wasn't surprised. I dislike that store. Messy and poorly organized. But I was on the west side of town as well so I decided to stop in at that Dollar Tree store. To my amazement they had an entire bin full of these "Pacific" DE razors and blades. I bought four of them. They appeared to be a replica of the VDH Chinese made DE razor and the MicroTouch DE razor, which I'm certain are manufactured at that same place. Once I got it home I opened up one and obviously it's lighter in weight to both the VDH or MicroTouch razors. But I think the weight is in the handle. That appears to be the stainless steel. The TTO mechanism feels cheap but it's functional and the head is light in weight. Sorry, I don't have a weight scale so I can't give you a scientific comparison in weights. But I have pictures! Below you'll see the $1 Pacific razor in comparison to the VDH and MicroTouch TTO razors. The Pacific razor is on the left; the MicroTouch is in the center; and the VDH is on the right. It'll be interesting to try it sometime soon. Thanks to @gzp for pointing it out. It's always fun to "hunt."
VDH and Micro Touch are both Weishi razors. This one looks cheaper, especially at the head. Handles are similar. It's possible Weishi made this one too just not up to the "quality standards" of the VDH and MT. I like the fact that things like this show up in the wild now. At least people are being exposed to wet shaving, even if it is cheap and somewhat crappy gear. Once they get started it may be the gateway to using better gear and enjoying much better shaves than they're getting now!
Neal, That's what I thought about the MT and VDH razors.... that they were Weishi, but I wasn't certain. I have to agree with your perspective that this may be a positive way to get more people exposed to DE shaving. Playing more with the $1 razor, while the handle has some heft to it, and I'm certain that is stainless steel, I think the TTO knob is plastic, or maybe aluminum. Same with the head... but I await to get the opinions of others. Dan
I picked up the same razor at Big Lots. I didn't both with the blades that came with it. On a blade that I knew to be good, Astra, it was a very rough feel on the shave. It did the job with a tiny nick, but it wasn't a comfortable shave. Definitely a cheaper feel than any Weishi I have had.
Thanks for the comparison pictures! Very informative. I recently acquired a MicroTouch One, and have to say it is a very competent shave tool. I would add that the MicroTouch One claims to be a plated BRASS razor on the packaging. Your comparison pics makes me want to pick up one of these, even though I really don't need another DE to play with. CHEERS!
So......there's a Dollar Tree about 2 blocks from my store. I stopped there tonight but didn't find the razor, nor any razors other than disposable carts. I did, however, find aisles clogged with ladders, boxes of crap, misplaced and fallen merchandise, and two check out lines crammed with some of the worst backwoods white trash I have seen in years. There's another one not too far from my house that I'll try tomorrow night. Will be an interesting comparison.
If you can't find one at the other store, I went back yesterday and picked up an extra to send to you.
Looks like you're my only hope John. The second Dollar Tree was much cleaner, better organized, free of white trash but, alas, no razor.
Ok, so I went to my local Dollar Tree store and headed over to the shaving section. I saw the razors and picked up one to look at. I did notice that the finish was better than the Nanjie. I didn't get one, only had enough for certain items. I did do a shave with the Nanjie, so why not, I'll pick one up next time I'm there.
We have to Dollar Trees here locally.... one is like the first one you described. A mess! The other across town was much neater and better organized, but I was surprised to see a bin full of these razors. I'm thinking I'll try it out sometime next week. It may be such a new item for them that they haven't been distributed nationwide yet. May have to give it a few weeks. Dan
SOTD 10.2.2017 Pre-shave: hot shower Brush: VDH Boar Soap: CO Bigelow Razors: Merkur 1904 OC (loaded with a new German made Wilkinson-Sword blade) "Pacific" TTO razor (loaded with a new "Pacific" DE blade) Post-shave: Dickinson WH, Nivea Sensitive Cooling Balm, Skin Bracer This was my first shave since Friday and I was looking forward to it as well because I used SE razors all last month. I found I missed the DE razors. While I want to participate in the OC focus in October, I'm not going to use them every day. There are several razors I want to use this month and they're not all OC. For years, I promised my wife that I would grow a beard after I retired. Although the rules for facial hair at my place of work had relaxed over the last few years, I was still "old-school" and made sure I was clean shaven except for my mustache. When I retired this summer she reminded me of that promise for a beard and I convinced her to wait until no-shave November. Summer time was too hot for a beard in July. Anyway, I was torn between this morning between using an OC razor or trying out the inexpensive $1 DE TTO razor and blades from Dollar Tree reported by @gzp last week in the following thread: http://theshaveden.com/forums/threads/dollar-tree-1-safety-razor.57499/ So I decided to compromise. I planned on both a face shave and a head shave today and elected to try the "Pacific" razor on my face, and use the Merkur for my head shave. I lathered up the CO Bigelow into a creamy, protective lather and began the shave. I was very careful because I noticed the blade gap was more than in other TTO razors I have. I also had 72 hours of stubble to plow through. I did find a safe angle for the shave but it was uncomfortable and rough feeling. I shaved both cheeks and then removed the Wilkinson blade from the Merkur and replaced the Pacific blade in the cheap razor. The cutting through the stubble was easier but it was still an uncomfortable shave as I went over the neck to finish up the first pass. So I replaced the Wilkinson blade in the Merkur, set the cheap razor aside, and finished the face shave with the Merkur OC. What a difference.... extremely smooth and comfortable and a CCS. I then moved on to do a head shave with the Merkur again an excellent result. In fairness, the cheap Pacific razor did give me a DFS in that it was close. But my face was burning after that first pass with it. So much so, I had to switch to the Merkur. I am still curious about these blades, so I may try one in another razor to see how it performs in a not-cheap razor. The Pacific Razor is on the left.... a MicroTouchOne TTO is on the right.
I noticed with mine that it was initially aggressive like in the photo. I took the blade out, flipped it over, and closed it again and got something much more like the SS. I suspect there may be a manufacturing issue that prevents the TTO from sometimes closing all the way (or bending the blade sufficiently) initially.
I didn't even think to flip the blade over, but I'm not convinced that would've helped in my case. I wouldn't be surprised that one could randomly load a blade in different "Pacific" razors and you'll get hugely varied blade gaps. Just be aware it's not a vintage Gillette, or a modern TTO razor.
