What's new

Gillette Fusion Proglide - 12 Shaves and Counting

l also have to say that for me... I personally get way way waaaaay better shaves from my Feather SS + Feather Blades than any cartridge ever!

And trust me after 7 years in the U.S. Marine Corps I know a good shave when I inspect one.
 
I started shaving with Gillette Platinum Plus blades back in the day and upgraded through every system Gillette offered believing they were the best a man could get and I was worth it; until my wallet got trapped in my pocket in front of a pack of Fusion carts and I bought the cheap own brand plastic DE razor and blades next to it. My money saving wheeze turned into the most expensive shaving move I ever made but hey, it's an investment and worth it.:biggrin1: (And the shaves are better)
Anyway my point is that I always got more shaves from a blade than I could be bothered to count, just as long as I kept on upgrading to Gillette's latest, at least two or three weeks worth, but often rather more. I get at best a weeks worth of shaves from a modern DE blade, often only 3 or 4 days worth, but my new old stock DE blades still keep on shaving so long it's boring. They just don't make 'em like they used to, heh.
 
A few moments ago, I just finished my 12th shave with the Gillette Fusion Proglide Power cartridge I received with the ProGlide challenge. For this shave I hand-lathered KMF shave cream. The previous 11 shaves (by the way, these were not all in a row--I mix up my routine) were also with KMF shave cream, either hand lathered on my face or done properly with a brush and bowl. Even though this is the 12th shave on the blade, I was able to achieve a BBS shave in 2 passes + touch-up with no appreciable irritation. The shave is fast. Color me impressed.

----------Backstory----------
I've been DE shaving for many years. I got into DE shaving because I was never that happy with my cartridge shaves... I mean, the Mach 3 got the job done well enough and quickly, but I always had horrible acne breakouts after shaving a few days in a row. Then, the Fusion came out... I bought it along with a huge pack of blades at Costco. I immediately hated the Fusion, it was mean to my face caused massive irritations and a lot of acne, so I set it aside and went back to my Mach 3. I was venting to a friend about how horrible the Fusion was (I believe this was in 2006) and he suggested I look into DE shaving. The idea appealed to me a great deal, so I ran with it. For the better part of the years in-between now and late 2009, I DE shaved about 70% of the time with my Merkur 38c using random blades from a huge sampler pack and used my Mach3 the rest of the time.

By the end of 2009, I had ranked my picks for my DE blades. I started looking into shaving forums to see what else was out there. So far this year, acquisition has really set in. I've purchased hundreds of DE blades (my favorites are now Feather, Russian Yellow Gillette, and KAI). I've picked up a Merkur 38b (I like the handle better) and all nature of old Gillettes. Not satisfied with that, I picked up a Gillette Sensor, a Shick Hydra 3, and soon I'll have a Bump Fighter handle and some Personna Trac II blades.

Variety is the spice of life. I'm no longer satisfied to just use the same old razor every day.
------------------------------
The Gillette Fusion Proglide Cartridge is really impressive to me so far. I've never had a blade of any sort give me a 2-pass BBS shave after having already used it for 11 previous shaves. The moisture strip on this thing is starting to flake away--it's extremely thin now and will be gone very soon. I honestly wonder how much longer this thing can last. That said, the astronomical price per cartridge continues to surprise me.

I really wonder how the old Gillette Fusion cartridges were the worst cartridges and worst shave I've ever had while, conversely, the Gillette Fusion Proglide cartridge I've been using for several weeks is easily the best and most durable cartridge I've ever used. There really must be a difference in the metal/coatings. I've often wondered if the old Gillette Fusion cartridges were made out of soft metal on purpose (to sell more replacement blades).

Oh yeah... and one other thing: I really have to wonder if the consumer blades being sold in, say, a year from now, will be as good as the blades in the sampler cartridge. Time will tell.

p.s. I'm still mainly a DE shaver. =)
I never got more than 5-6 shaves from a ProGlide cart, and I have a fairly light beard.

I've generally gotten the same 5-6 shaves from my Astras or Derbys.

Oh, well, YMMV.
 
Back waaay before I got into DE madness, I listened to the Clark Howard show once and they talked about using one gillette cart for 6 months plus.

So I tried it. I used a single Mach3 cart for about 3 months. I am not gonna kid anyone, they were not great shaves, but the weird thing is, after a while, those carts just don't seem to get any duller. (there is a character in a William Gibson novel Virtual Light who uses the same disposable year after year.) It stayed pretty consistent level of scraping which you learn to work around. Would never do that today, but it did "work" on some level for me years ago.
 
Problem is...even if you get 20 shaves from a $4.00 cartridge...still costs a ton more than even 2 shaves per DE blade...and most likely will give an inferior shave on top of it.
You have to divide the cost of the cartridge by the number of blades it has . . . the pro glide has 5 blades + lube strip, so it only comes out to 80 cents per blade! :lol:

I can get far more shaves from a DE blade than from any cartridge, but I do think there is something to the proglide system. Glad it is working for the OP!
 
Cartridge blade longevity as always been a sore issue with me, which is why I wet shave (and have been for many moons). Unless this cartridge is dramatically different that other cartridges, I doubt I could get more that 5 shaves from it. It becomes as much a clogging issue as well as a sharpness issue in my case.

Actually, IMO the Fusion ProGlide carts are dramatically different, and better, than previous cartridges. They are the only carts I didn't need to change after 3-4 shaves. Obviously if you are looking for the most cost effective shave, you wouldn't use Gillette carts of any type. But compared to the Mach3 carts, for example, I think they are a better value---and give a much better shave, IMO. I've shaved with these carts two (maybe three?) times since switching to DE in the spring of 2013, but the shaves I get with them are spectacular.

It seems the general consensus is that the Hydro system is better than the Fusion sysfem.

I haven't noticed a consensus here, at least not re: the Hydro. I do notice a general bashing of all Fusion in general, though. But if we base the quality on the sales (not always a wise decision, IMO) than we'd conclude the Fusion is a far better system. For me, it was no contest,. The Hydro wasn't very good. But their moisturizing gel/foam was OK--except the cans had a tendency to explode in the shower.
 
i don't give a heck if 1 cartridge could last everyday for the rest of my life: in my past when i used such a thing i simply hated everything about shaving and shaved maximum once every month. now i shave and have an interesting journey 3 times every week and no cartridge shall interfere with my life ever again.
 
I use cartridges (Proglide Fusion Power) and I get average of 12-15 shaves out of each cartridge before it is time to change. My cartridges last an average of 30-40 days (given I shave every 2 or 3 days averaging 3 shaves a week). I can testify that I get close and smooth shaves out of Proglide fusion power catridges and the catridges easily average 12-15 shaves, some more.
I find that the blades are very usable and offer smooth shaves until that green strip turns white which for me is somewhere around 12-15 shaves if not more.

Gillette Fusion Proglide cartridges have gotten pricy with each one of their evolutions (latest averaging $4 per cartridge or $3.50 if you buy in bulk at Costco...14 Fusion Proglide Power catridges for $45+tax) but they do last very long for me and I still love the convenience and not having to worry about cutting myself.
 
Well, that may be the case but you can get great shaves with other brands of DE blade at less than 1/2 the price of Feathers. I think to the point being made is that cartridge shaving is more expensive than DE shaving. Anyway, do you think $1.75 per cartridge is going to be the long term price of Schick Hydro blades?

No, if the prices for older cartridge systems are an indication, they will fall below $1.75 in the long term.

Nowadays, Trac II compatible cartridges are no more expensive than DE blades.
 
I wonder how many people on B&B are wet shaving just to save money.

I never felt the need to "upgrade" to something more expensive. My only real "luxury" is aftershaves ... I have used basic boar brushes (Omega) and supermarket soaps almost exclusively for the past 30 years ... if it works, why change?

I do spend money on aftershave though, because I love the luxuries of a good face feel and a classic scent.
 
I went back to DE shaving to save money (and reduce irritation), but have really started to further explore the history and the strategies of Gillette, Schick, and ASR. I do try to experiment with the current products when I can get them cheaply (much as I did in earlier years).

I do think Gillette has had some interesting changes lately:

1) The bad economy (and PG's segmenting philosophy) has led them to realize that not every man even in what was their target demographic can afford the top cartridge system. This has led to focusing on better coatings and alloys on both the Fusion Proglide and Mach 3 Cartridge and an advertising message that expects the user to get two weeks to three weeks out of a cartridge to make shaving more economical. Also, it led to coupons and advertising on the Mach 3 system to encourage its use over disposables. I think Gillette has not done monetary promotions on older systems since the late 70's-early 80's.

2) There are men that can and want to pay even more that what used to be the top shaving system. This has led to such innovations as the Fusion trimmer, which is a very well regarded product, that goes beyond shaving to hair and even body hair trimming. Many people are trimming more than their beard hair with razors and systems. Also, Gillette's Art of Shaving subsidiary has started to run 3 minute long form ads on youtube for DE razors on Youtube, where they demonstrate how to use them and why they are good. Can an expensive Art of Shaving or King Gillette brand DE be far behind?
 
I get great results with Fusion Proglide blades and though it's been a while using them it's a lot more shaves per cartridge than I remember with DE shaving but may have to take a run and see now I have the added techiques and prep learned. Don't think the shave is as controlled and enjoyable especially at hard to reach places (under nose, middle of chin) but irritation and closeness of shave - esp neck would equal or beat many - prob most DE blades I've tried.

When you take into account you can shave much faster it is useful as a back-up for those days where you just have to get out quickly.
 
Received art of shaving for Christmas, love it. Wife bought me their proglide. Is expensive, but love it. I found the razor clogging, may be the preshave oil. However a soft toothbrush has helped. Love shaving now.
 
Here in canada ,
cheapest you can pay is about 40$ taxe in for a 8 cartridges packl
5 $ each... i started wetshaving 1,5 month ago, and i still have a 8 pack. accumulation dust.
Was an ok shave, would clog fast , but very fast shave i must admit
What i like about DE, is the freedom to get the blade i want, and the fact that it's a challenge right now, finding the right blade (perma sharp and Shark SS are my fav up to now)
I like the fact that im not a slave to the latest Gillette expensive product like i was for the past 14 years . like 99% of my surrounding are

to me it's like the difference between drinving your own modified old Porsche VS driving a V8 Automatic 300C .

Ones much more fun than the other
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom