A few days ago, Master P, a member of this board, was kind enought to send me some Gillette Platinums that he had bought from Dridiot, in Singapore.

Considering that I am a huge fan of the now discontinued Gillette Platinums known as "Swedes" to us, I was very pleased to try these out.

I planned to do three or four side by side comparisons but after the first two I think I have a fairly good idea of where they stand, at least in my humble estimation.

I compared them to an old stock "Swede"( Oslo-Stockholm-Surrey distribution) and against a currently made Gillette 7:00 Yellow. I chose the 7:00 Yellow because after the the first comparison, I felt that shave was close to that of a Yellow.

So here are my notes:

7/18/2009

Side by Side shaving comparison

P&G Surrey UK Swedes vs Singapore Gillette Platinums

1940's Gillette Aristocrat razor

T&H Trafalgar shave cream, normal shower and shave.

Swede:

Shaved the left half of my face with the Swede. As expected the shave was excellent. Close and smooth. Three passes left by face BBS. This is the standard shaving experience by which I rate the others.

Plat:

Shaved the right side of my face with the Singapore Plat. Noticabley more drag and roughness than with the Swede. It did shave fairly close. But, after three passes my face is not as close to the BBS as left by the Swede. The shave was not nearly as smooth .

My initial impression is that the Singapore Plat is sort of like the Gillette 7:00 yellow.



7/19/2009

Same prep as above.

Gillette 7:00 Sharp Edge yellow vs Singapore Gillette Platinum

Note: For this comparison I am using a new 7:00 blade against the Plat I used yesterday. I did take the Plat out of the razor after yesterdays shave, rinsed it with Iproh alcocol and patted dry. This morning I hand stropped it before use.



Plat: Shaved the right side of my face. Noticed some drag and roughness right away. It still gave a fairly close shave, but with a little more burn and irritation than I would like.

After 3 passes I had a pretty close shave but no too comfortable.



Gillette 7:00 yellow: Shaved the left side of my face. My initial impression was that of a normal Gillette yellow shave. Sharp and close but not all that smooth. A little drag and pulling, but not as much as with the Plat

I would say that the 7:00 shaved a little closer than the Plat and a little smoother.

After 3 passes I had a very good shave but a little more irritation than I would like.

So, I am thinking that I will stick with my Super Iridums as my blade of choice.

Although the Shark blades from Melyus are pretty darned nice too.

Thanks again to Master P for sending me these blades to try out.

Best Regards,

Mike

------------------------------
Albuquerque Mike

Nothing strange here. This blade is almost exactly as good ast the Swedes Platinum. Recommended.

------------------------------
Razors: Merkur 34C HD, Polish Lux, Weishi
Blades: Derby, Gillette Platinum
Brush: Sanguine Mixed Badger
Cream & Soap: TOBS Sandalwood, Tabac Original Shaving Soap
A/S: Tabac Original, Davidoff Cool Water, Nivea Sensitive Balm

I agree. These blades are excellent!

------------------------------
www.hjsna.com

It looks like there is also another review thread for these blades: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=123130

------------------------------
Jan Pieter

I used these for two weeks, after picking some up from a Maltese seller on ebay. I believe mine were made in St. Petersburg, Russia, though. I used three blades for a total of eight shaves -- three shaves for two of the blades, and two of the third. All three blades were used in a slim set to '5'.



To the ratings!



Price: Bought these at US$18.50 for 100 blades (US$4.50 of that was shipping), so we're looking at ~18 cents per blade. That's pretty cheap. Used for three shaves, that'd be 6 cents per shave, which is quite good. I rate a 9, here.



Quality: I've always taken quality to be a measure of consistency, and all three blades were the same, no difference between them. Ranks a 9, for me.



Sharpness: I expected that they'd be a bit sharper, frankly. The 2-pass results were good, but I still found that I had to do touch-ups on the hollows of my cheeks. Rates a 7.



Longevity: I noticed no degradation in sharpness over three days. I think I could have pushed these out to 4 or 5 shaves without any problem. Let's face it, though, you can use these blades twice and still be under a 10-cents-per-shave threshold (my own value requirement). Rates an 8 here.



Smoothness: I honestly found the shaves to be very nice and smooth. The blade performed well, and I didn't notice any degradation of performance by the third shave. I've had better experiences with some vintage blades, and german-production blades, though, so it seemed maybe a bit better than average. I rate an 8, here.



Packaging: Well, it's pretty plain. There's 5 to a box and each blade is double-wrapped. I prefer a plastic dispenser, and there are some small glue spots, but the spots are pretty thin and don't interfere. Rates an 8.



Overall, it's pretty average. It reminds me of a Bleue Extra, but not quite as sharp. I also noticed that, when I got to the third shave on a blade, I began to develop some small red spots on my neck -- nothing painful or terribly obvious, and no ingrowns, but still unpleasant. It's rare for me to get any spotting on my neck, and at 2 shaves, everything was fine. I am guessing that the coating on the blade might have been thinning out by the third shave. I haven't heard anyone else report this, so maybe it's just me.



It's a good, serviceable blade. The value proposition is excellent. Feels nice on the face, and is acceptably sharp. I had higher expectations, though. This blade was surprisingly average, and probably not a good fit for me, owing to the irritation problems.



Hope it helps,

-- Chet

------------------------------
On the wrist this week: Fortis Millenium Starship Limited Edition Flieger Chrono in Valjoux 7750

I came across these on Amazon and thought I would try them.

A very high quality blade. The price is cheaper if ordered in larger quantities. I did not want to make the mistake of ordering 50 or 100 then not being happy with them, so I ordered 25 blades with free shipping from Wish4Star on Amazon. Price is about 38 cents per blade.



Used the blades for 8 days and took notes. Razor free, very smooth shaves every time. This blade will definitely be part of my regular rotation of blades.

Had high hopes for this blade but in the end I found them to be just average, nothing special. Even with little beard growth the first pass is a little rough, even after 2 passes there is still stubble that required lots of buffing and I still couldn't get it all. These blades left me with minor neck irritation and a so so shave, I think the Astra Platinums that come out of the same factory which also happen to be cheaper, to be a better blade. I think I'll pass on these....

------------------------------
The Name's Rob & "I'm Shaving Through History, One Razor At A Time"

I normally use Feather, find these to be better for second and third passes as they are smooth. Really enjoy them.

------------------------------
Pursuit of Shaviness