The 2024: 1-Blade, 1-Week, *Daily Shaving Adventure

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 7 Ends: Blades are the Treet Platinum's and the Treet King's.

About neck-to-neck. The Platinum is proving to be an excellent blade so far. Pretty amazing for a 6¢ blade. Very sharp, still smooth.

I had a comment from someone who uses shaving soaps and when he is in a pinch, he uses Barbasol. He prefers it over gels. He likes the way that it lubricates.

With that in mind, I decided to get out my can and give it another go. I thought how before, I just put the foam against my face. That is why it wasn't very lubricating.

This time, I rubbed it in, like I do the gel. It is working perfectly well for me now.

After rinsing, it doesn't leave a slickness layer like gel, for touch-up passes. However, I have enough on the unshaved parts of my face to spread around for my touch-ups.

My first pass probably gets 97% of everything. My touch-ups only pick up a few isolated strands.

A benefit is that Barbasol costs less than gels and it is easier to rinse off. Just a little water will take care of it.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 8 Begins: Blades are the Treet Platinum's and the Treet King's.

 

[markusk]

Week 7 Ends: Blades are the Treet Platinum's and the Treet King's.

About neck-to-neck. The Platinum is proving to be an excellent blade so far. Pretty amazing for a 6¢ blade. Very sharp, still smooth.

I had a comment from someone who uses shaving soaps and when he is in a pinch, he uses Barbasol. He prefers it over gels. He likes the way that it lubricates.

With that in mind, I decided to get out my can and give it another go. I thought how before, I just put the foam against my face. That is why it wasn't very lubricating.

This time, I rubbed it in, like I do the gel. It is working perfectly well for me now.

After rinsing, it doesn't leave a slickness layer like gel, for touch-up passes. However, I have enough on the unshaved parts of my face to spread around for my touch-ups.

My first pass probably gets 97% of everything. My touch-ups only pick up a few isolated strands.

A benefit is that Barbasol costs less than gels and it is easier to rinse off. Just a little water will take care of it.

so you used both the Platinum and King's this week? can you say more about the differences or are they very similar?

 

[ric164]

Finished the week this morning with the Astra Superior Stainless. As far as I remember, this was my first use of the Astra. It performed very well in the RR GC-76P. I managed 7 DFS’s with virtually no weepers. A nice blade/razor combination for me.

Up next: Personna Medical Prep, historically my number 1 blade. Actually probably used these almost exclusively for almost 14 years.

Have a blessed week everyone.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 8 Ends: Blades are the Treet Platinum's and the Treet King's.

Pretty much neck to neck. Shaved the last four days with the R41 head. This gives an ultra close glass-like shave. Both blades passes admirably.

so you used both the Platinum and King's this week? can you say more about the differences or are they very similar?

I used both of these blades for week 7 and week 8, alternating the blade each day. This gave seven shaves in total for each blade.

The King seemed ever so slightly less sharp on day one. This might have been due to the coating? The King is similar to the Voshkod in this respect.

The King tugged ever so slightly on its last day. Maybe it was slightly less sharp than the Platinum at the end?

You can notice tugging using the R41 head over the '89 style heads due to its extra blade feel. It has less of a tendency to glide over facial hair. Instead it attacks it head on and plows directly through. You can feel the blade tugging easier because it catches each hair in the process.

My last years objectives were to determine if a specific blade could be used for one exact week of daily shaves, without being uncomfortable.

Since I went through 50-different blades, I see no particular reason to repeat the same this year. Although I may use some of these same blades again.

I thought I might use this same basic format to better compare two blades using the same 7-days on each blade. Hoping that this might reveal some commonalities and some differences between them?

So far now, I have gone through eight different blades and have not been able to discern any significant differences between any of them being compared.

I have tried using some different razors and that has not brought anything to the table.

From my experiences so far, the major differences in the shave experience is the razor being used and not the blade in particular.

Keeping in mind that this is not a scientific inquiry, just my observations and comments. Some may experience similar results. For others, it may be different?

It still comes down to, can I get a full week's of daily shaves from a single DE blade. The answer appears that I can.

Another individual may get five days out of a blade, while others may get even more.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 9 Begins: Blade is the Rapira Platinum Lux.

This is my first experience using this blade. Will not be doing a comparison this week, only this blade.

 

[ric164]

Finished off the week with my 7th shave this morning using the Personna Medical Prep blade.

Wasn’t the most comfortable week of shaving for me. I had to really work at getting a DFS with the setup. I hope it was just a dud blade, as I have never been disappointed with the med preps.

Next week I will be using a Lord Platinum. I don’t remember using these blades before so I am considering this my first go at them.

Have a blessed week everyone.

 

[cranewarrior]

Finished off the week with my 7th shave this morning using the Personna Medical Prep blade.

Wasn’t the most comfortable week of shaving for me. I had to really work at getting a DFS with the setup. I hope it was just a dud blade, as I have never been disappointed with the med preps.

Next week I will be using a Lord Platinum. I don’t remember using these blades before so I am considering this my first go at them.

Have a blessed week everyone.

I was able to try the Lord Platinum with the sample blade that came with my Lord L6 razor. It is a likeable blade...but not the same as the Lord Silver Star if anyone is wondering.

I look forward to your report!

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 9 Ends: Blade is the Rapira Platinum Lux.

Great week's worth of shaves. I have heard a lot of good things about this blade. It most certainly lives up to its reputation, from the first to the last shave.

Seemed better than the two Treet blades (Platinum and the King) that I used previously. Hard to exactly say because I would be comparing the end of the previous blades with the start of a fresh blade.

Also, I shaved the last four shaves with the Treets using the R41 head. This is an ultra close shave that is very revealing to the blade.

It tends to cut through every hair, rather than glide over some. So it will tend to pull a bit when not cutting cleanly through.

With the Rapira, I used the KCG razor on the last four shaves. It shaves easier in general and these last shaves were smooth but not as insanely close as with the R41 head on the KCG handle.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 10 Begins: Blade is the Loi salon Blades - Swiss Quality Titanium.

First time using this blade.

 

[cranewarrior]

4 Shaves with the London Bridge (China)

This was a relatively uncomfortable experience for me. I could never dial in on this blade and suffered multiple occasions of weepers and razor burn. I got the blade from a participation PIF, but the other reviewers seem to be having good experiences with this blade unlike me. I generally get along with any razor blade, and this is probably just the first or second that I think perhaps is not for me.

Still, maybe it was the razor I was using with the London Bridge. I'll try it in a Tech. Maybe it will be better there.

Final count: 1 good shave out of 4. Could I use it for a whole week? Yes, I did. It just wasn't a very good week.


cranewarrior’s Completely Subjective Rankings of Blades Tested in 2024

#1 Treet Platinum
#2 Dorco ST300
#3 Treet Dura Sharp
#4 Super-Max Super Stainless (Vidyut)
#5 Doalco ST300
#6 Jifuli Platinum Edge
#7 Gillette London Bridge (China)

 

[ric164]

So I finished the week with the Lord Platinum this morning. I am very impressed with this blade. I had 7 comfortable, close, DFS or better shaves with it, one of my best weeks of shaving ever.

Next up (and the final in my collection) is the Bic CP. I can only hope that it gives me performance like the Lord did.

Have a blessed week everyone.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

4 Shaves with the London Bridge (China)

This was a relatively uncomfortable experience for me. I could never dial in on this blade and suffered multiple occasions of weepers and razor burn. I got the blade from a participation PIF,

I can agree with you on your assessment. I remembered that I did not have a good experience with it in last years thread.

Looking back, here were my observations:

"Week 37 Ends: Blade is the Gillette London Bridge blade from China.

At best a "C". Sharp enough but not very smooth. Took until the 5th day to finally get a smooth shave. Will not use again."

It is exceedingly rare that I cross paths with a blade that is unacceptable. Most blades seem more alike than not, to me.

Through a PIF, I had the opportunity to shave with an original vintage London Bridge blade from England. Much much better blade.

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 10 Begins: Blade is the Loi salon Blades - Swiss Quality Titanium.

Blade did a good job. Got me through the week. Nothing particularly eventful to add?

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 11 Begins: Blade is the Rubie and the GSB. Thought I would give these a head-to-head for the next two weeks...

 

[cranewarrior]

Gillette Silver Blue

So this previous week was almost like a Halley's Comet sighting, so I'm going to be able to post a second blade review beyond the Gillette London Bridge. I used the Gillette Silver Blue from Friday, Saturday, and now this Sunday morning.

I had the very unusual occurence of having 4 shaves in 3 days due to a combination of work, social events, and a baptism. I'm an every other day guy normally, but I needed to look my best. I was worried about aggravating my skin - it is a bit dry right now and I have had some lingering razor burn from my time testing the Chinese London Bridge razor blade.

I'm happy to say the Gillette Silver Blue didn't let me down at all. I used it in a Gillette Tech and in an Edwin Jagger DE89 with no trouble, getting a PFS shave with a short single pass. I frankly didn't have to do much other than going slow and making sure to be gentle but sure-handed. The single Gillette Silver Blue passed with flying colors on all 4 shaves. I'm not going to jinx it or press my luck, so this razor is going into my blade bank, and I'm going to exit these 3 days with a superlative opinion of the GSB.

High comfort, no irritation, great cutting performance. It's perhaps not a fair test, because the GSB honestly didn't have to do much, but sometimes that is exactly what is needed. Consistency and a good standard of performance will take you far in any endeavor. I am reluctantly moving the GSB to the top of my review rankings. As I said, I didn't put exactly the same type of stress on it that I did the other blades, but I daresay most of the other blades would have struggled to be as smooth as the GSB. I'm also annoyed the Russian GSB will likely become unobtainium soon enough. Stock is still available from AMZ which is my gold standard for considering a blade "mainstream" for me (I do not want to become reliant on discontinued, expensive blades). However, I am guessing that production will move to China like it happened with the Gillette Platinum and who knows it the new ones will feel the same.

Perhaps I will do a final playoff with the top 3 contenders at the end of the year to determine a true Cranewarrior Champion's Cup.

cranewarrior’s Completely Subjective Rankings of Blades Tested in 2024

#1 Gillette Silver Blue
#2 Treet Platinum
#3 Dorco ST300
#4 Treet Dura Sharp
#5 Super-Max Super Stainless (Vidyut)
#6 Doalco ST300
#7 Jifuli Platinum Edge
#8 Gillette London Bridge (China)

 

[ShavingPrimate]

I'm happy to say the Gillette Silver Blue didn't let me down at all. I used it in a Gillette Tech and in an Edwin Jagger DE89 with no trouble, getting a PFS shave with a short single pass. I

I consider myself to have been fortunate to have discovered this magnificent blade early on after my return to DE shaving.

I am reluctantly moving the GSB to the top of my review rankings.

No reluctance necessary. Judging from your current list, that is clearly where it belongs (and not by a small margin).

daresay most of the other blades would have struggled to be as smooth as the GSB.

That is the specific attribute that captured my attention of the GSB. It is a wonderfully smooth shaving blade. I sometimes compare it to our American Personna Lab Blue. Though it is no longer "Personna", it can still retain its moniker of "Lab Blue".

Sometimes, when I speak about the Voshkod's, I would refer to them as a "Value Menu" GSB. That was that the GSB was priced around $15/100 and the Voshkod's used to be around $9.50/100.

As the price of the Voshkod's have now gone far north, the Treet King moves into its place as a value menu GSB.

The Treet Platinum makes a good 2nd place on your list.

In my case, it is not so much that I devalue the GSB, it is that I now have other blades that can take their place beside it. My closest being the Gillette 7-O'clock Black.

I'm also annoyed the Russian GSB will likely become unobtainium soon enough.

That would appear to be likely...

Stock is still available from AMZ which is my gold standard for considering a blade "mainstream" for me (I do not want to become reliant on discontinued, expensive blades).

Good time to stock up on this PPI gem, while you can. I tend to believe that Amazon is, or should I say was, in determining what is a mainstream product.

Lately, Amazon offerings have been highly segmented. Not just for blades but across the board. I see fewer mainstream products in the search results and more and more secondary products.

The current Amazon DE blade selection has become a real mess.

 

[ric164]

Finished the week with the Bic Chrome Platinum and also finished up my first time through all of my 10 blades.

The Bic CP performed very well. I have no complaints with it.

After my first rotation through them, this is my ranking. It’s a very loose ranking and I’m pretty confident that it will change after my 2nd rotation.

1. GSB
2. Lab Blue
3. Lord Platinum*
4. Nacet*
5. 7 O’clock*
6. Astra*
7. Bic Chrome Platinum
8. Reds
9. PermaSharp
10. Med Prep

* tied for this position

The Med Prep is maybe an outlier as it has been my favorite blade historically. I think I may have had my first dud blade. The PermaSharp seemed liked a good blade. However, I did get more weepers from it than any of the others on the list. That is why it is rated lower. The top 7 blades all performed really well and I would be satisfied with any of them at anytime.

I will start my 2nd 10 week rotation tomorrow and to start I will be using the Gillette Silver Blue.

Have a blessed week everyone!

 

[cranewarrior]

Lord Racer

I used this blade for 4 shaves this week. The first two shaves were fine, but I did not think the Racer was particularly smooth nor comfortable. The third shave was much better for unknown reasons. The fourth was at or the same level. So 2 "meh" shaves and 2 good ones.

I've never experienced the effect before that some members here have mentioned where the first shave or two with a blade is not as good as subsequent ones. It's very odd. The Racer is not advertised as one with any particular coating which wears off and reveals its unvarnished characteristics if one keeps using it.

Granted I have only used this one Racer blade. Will need to use up a whole tuck before I should form any lasting impressions, but I find it as of right now inconsistent. It goes to the middle of my rankings.

cranewarrior’s Completely Subjective Rankings of Blades Tested in 2024

#1 Gillette Silver Blue
#2 Treet Platinum
#3 Dorco ST300
#4 Treet Dura Sharp
#5 Lord Racer
#6 Super-Max Super Stainless (Vidyut)
#7 Doalco ST300
#8 Jifuli Platinum Edge
#9 Gillette London Bridge (China)

 

[ShavingPrimate]

Week 11 Ends: Blade is the Rubie and the GSB. Thought I would give these a head-to-head for the next two weeks...

So far, both are preforming very well.

Note: My post on 3/9 should read, Week 10 Ends (I just noticed this).