Ninja vs. Spetznaz - The results thread! Gillette blue vs black Super Plats

I PIF'd four Gillette Super Platinums, two Russian blues and two Indian blacks to 1o folks this week. I have some of both and I sent some blues to Man00ver, too, and he had blacks in his shave den. Rather than continue the other thread, which had PIF in the title and might cause some frustration, I started this thread for the twelve of us to post our comparisons.

What I would LIKE, if you will respect the wishes of the OP, is for folks to post comparisons between the Russian and the Indian Gillette Super Platinums. I would PREFER to not see,

"I think the yellows are the best of the current crop of Gillettes."

or

"I love Astra SPs, those really work great for me!"

The primary purpose of this thread is to compare the two versions of the Super Plats. If you have used both, or have both now, feel free to post your comparison of the two blades, I don't want to exclude others. But I would like to bring in comparisons to third or fourth blades AFTER some comments have been made about the relative merits of these two blades. If that makes sense?

Thanks, and have fun! I'm not going to do my comparison until I get back to my Chicago shave den next week. The rest of you 'test subjects' post in here as you progress. Post after your first shave and keep coming back or post after you have run however you are setting up your test.

Thanks to all the testers!

John, got your envelope with your samples today! Thanks! Have a bit of a head start because I have been using a Russian Blue in my EJ DE89L for five days now in another comparison. Will start with my first Indian Black when I finish this one. If the two blades are comparable, this looks like a four week project to get through the four blades! May I also suggest that perhaps testers indicate what razor/razors that they are using? Might be helpful.

Added 9-5-11. Finished seven shaves with the first Russian Blue in my EJ 89L this morning. I rotate between different soaps, but all perform well. All shaves were three passes, with touch up only necessary on my jaw line and chin for the last couple. This morning on the last shave, had to use a little pressure but got no burning. The shaves were all DFS, which is as good as I normally ever get. Usually there is a bit of residual stubble on my chin and jaw line, hence the buffing. I will make my judgments by comparison. Smoother than Feathers and Russian Yellows, and as close. As good as my Super Iridiums, except I would get several more shaves from them. I won't talk about sharpness because I can't define it.

Many thanks to my blade-buddy JC for letting me in on this. Here's my plan for next week.

Setup: 7-Black in my '56 Red Tip, 7-Blue in my '55 Red Tip. Remarkably, I've only used the Red Tip once before, and it wasn't with either of these blades. I'm well familiar with the 7-Black in a Merkur HD, where it delivers top-shelf performance for me from 1st shave to sixth. It'll be my first time ever with the 7-Blue, though I've used many blades from the St. Petersburg plant, and I typically find those to be a bit rough on the first shave. I won't be palm-stropping or otherwise prepping these blades.

Schedule

• First shave contest starts Monday night with the Black, followed by the Blue on Tuesday night. Software: RSC Moisturizing Shave Cream
• Second Shave contest starts Wednesday night (Black), then Thursday night (Blue). Software: Old Spice Shaving Mug Soap
• Skipping Friday
• Saturday morning (heavy growth) will be right side Black and left side Blue. Software: Speick Men Shaving Cream
• Sunday night (heavy growth) will be right side Blue and left side Black. Software: VDH Deluxe Shaving Soap

Got my blades in the mail today...Thank you again!

Here are my plans for this test...

1. I will use two razors. Razor one will be an F1 Fatboy set of 4, which is mild by my tastes; razor two will be a Merkur HD. For each razor, I will do five shaves with a blue, and then five shaves with a black, then repeat for a total of twenty shaves.

2. I will use a variety of both soaps and creams, however I will keep the product ordering consistent across both blades to account for any subtle differences that may arise (e.g., If I use Tabac cream for shave 2 on the first blue blade, then shave 2 on the first black blade will also be Tabac cream).

3. If I think of anything else before I start the test, I will edit this post!

EDIT: ALSO!!! My prep will the same each day. Hot shower, followed by bowl lathering with a Duke 3 in best.
Can't wait! Let the games begin!

Since I have two EJ DE-89s I will set them up and alternate days. Will be using TOBS Avocado, hands down my new favorite lather product, soap or cream. I'll keep a daily journal. After the first set of comparisons maybe I'll do a second set with Tabac soap. I'll be using my King1976 custom silvertip brush.

Oooh, I get to be first!! The black went yesterday, the blue was today. I used the same setup on both blades, and tomorrow I'll use different software to mix things up. Here we go!

Shave #1:

Merkur 23c/Semogue 620/Palmolive Stick/Thayer's Lavender & Clubman. Face lathering, as usual.

I didn't find too much of a difference between the two blades. Neither blade tugged, razor burned, or skipped, and both required 3 passes with touch ups--significantly more touch ups with the black ninja, though. 3 passes and maybe a touch up is usually my standard with my favorite blades, and I didn't mind doing a tiny bit extra because the mildness made up for it.

Though they were both similar to me and my not-so-heavy beard, I found the black to be the milder one. The blue spetznaz seemed to have more cutting power in my mild Merkur long handled 23c, the only DE in my rotation. Maybe it's the blade, maybe it's my technique of the day--we'll see what happens after a few uses. So far, I prefer the blue.

Nice report! And first, to boot!

Like you, my normal shave is a 3-pass with touchup. I'm kind of anal and it makes me crazy if I don't get at least a DFS every day. That requires 3 passes plus touchup. I will start with the black tomorrow, do the blue Wednesday and then report myself.

Suggestion: so folks following this don't have to keep scrolling looking for earlier posts, why not Quote yourself then reply with Shave #2. Keep this up so shave #3 contains all three observations. It will make it easier for folks following this to see how each tester is progressing. That's what I plan to do.

Thanks for the blades! I got them when I got home from my trip back to my hometown for the weekend. I am waiting to be done with my current blade. Then I will start with a blue. I am going to use the same tools and prep for both. EJ89 and Cella tub. Shower before, most of the time I do a three pass with some touch up on my neck. Follow with warm then cold water rinse and witch hazel. Cant wait to give these a try

Ok guys 2 shaves in with The blacks. Testing done with:
soap is a mixture of williams puck with 5 drops of glycerin and a half pump of kiss my face unscented. Boar brush.
Feather all stainless
prep was cold water rinse with a face scrub (earlier in the day before shave) and some olive oil as pre shave. cold water

Initial impression

The blacks are definitely sharp. If the consensus is feathers are the sharpest , a 10 my judgement is the Gillette blacks are an easy high 7 or low 8. Very respectable. But sharpness is not the be all end all in my book. Its how it glides over the face that makes me enjoy the shave. And this is where the blacks shine. It just seems to be buttery smooth. I don't expect to have any sort of pulling or tugging with any new blade and this again holds true. Some other branded blades feel more like a gentle scrape along the face as they effectively slice whiskers. The blacks did not exhibit this at all.... It felt as if I was just moving the soap off my face with an unloaded razor. Beautiful feeling.

I don't shave daily so please bear with me while I get the longevity test results and move onto the blues.

**First shave with the Blue 7 O'Clock blade in my 37c Merkur Slant**
my next shave shall be in a 1961 Gillette Flairtip...I will keep this post as I update it


1st Usel..Slant is a heavy and aggressive razor..plenty of lather on my brush...nicks n cuts around the chin area..kinda like playing "connect the dots"...wasn't comfy at all....seems more of the razor gap and heavy weight of the razor didn't like the blade on my face...my hard soap was Trumpers Lime..very cushy and felt great..used with my Omega 22mm Boar brush

My blades arrived while I was away over the weekend (thanks JCinPA!). Unfortunately, I think I will have to delay my observations for a week, as I lent my usual DE (EJ 89L) to a friend who wants to see if he would get into DE shaving. (I've been trying my brother's Mergress. Used only once so far, but I liked it very much.) I think my review will be more accurate/significant with my usual razor.

But I will post my reviews here soon.

Thanks again, JCinPA. I really like the yellows and I really wanted to try other Gillettes.

You won't be let down by the blues. Sometimes I feel like I was the first person on B&B to own the blues. I bought a hundred of them, and I've had interesting results using the Merkur Futur. I don't want to influence anyone's opinions. I definitely want to keep an eye on this thread.

Just take a look at my sotd picture:

Nice!

I had a terrific shave with the Black this morning, I will post tomorrow after the Blue. I'll post in pairs, shave by shave, every other day.

I tell you, the Blacks are awesome, Man00ver turned me on to them. If the blues are better, I might just have found my blade. I think the Blacks compare very favorably to my vintage Schick Plus Platinums, frankly.

Monday night: '56 Red Tip with 7 O'Clock Black (1) = 3+ pass BBS

The Ninja was supremely smooth with good reduction performance on each pass. Only after supper did I notice a tiny blood bubble over a sneaky weeper in an odd spot on my neck, but it was otherwise perfectly kind to my face, with minimum AS sting. It seemed marginally less sharp than I remembered, probably because the Red Tip is marginally less aggressive than the Merkur HD I had used it in before, but was still very effective during the light-to-average touch-up phase.

• Antique German Badger Brush
• RSC Moisturizing Shave Cream
• Avon Black Suede AS
• Comfort: Grade A+ (4.5)
• Effectiveness: Grade A- (3.5)
• Overall Average: Grade A (4.0)

--------------------------------------

Tuesday night: '55 Red Tip with 7 O'Clock Blue (1) = 3 pass BBS

The Spetznaz was very smooth, just a half-tick less so than the Ninja, and I wound up with a fair chin weeper and another tiny one on the upper lip. However, the cutting performance was a full-tick better than the Black blade, allowing me to incorporate all needed touch up right into the 3rd pass, and leaving a shave so close that my fingers were squeaking on the skin when fruitlessly searching for leftover stubble during the final rinse.

• Antique German Badger Brush
• RSC Moisturizing Shave Cream
• Avon Mesmerize for Men AS
• Comfort: Grade A (4.0)
• Effectiveness: Grade A+ (4.5)
• Overall Average: Grade A+ (4.25)

OK, first pair of shaves. I used Art of Shaving on one side of my face and TOBS on the other for a cream comparison on the first shave, but they are so similar in performance, I don't think it will matter. Future setups will be Taylor Avocado in a Straight Razor Designs scuttle whipped up with a King1976 custom ebony handled silvertip brush. Razors are both Edwin Jagger DE89's, one with the octagonal black handle the other a Barley Chrome handle.

The equipment ...

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9/6/11 First shave on a Black Ninja. Wow! I used a Ninja before some months back, but forgot how good they are. This is a sharp blade, but not quite yellow sharp. It is VERY smooth and comfortable, however. Much more so than a yellow. I have a lot of vintage Schick Plus Platinums from back in the 70's I got on the 'Bay and this blade rivals them on the first shave. Three passes, plus touch up, DFS almost BBS, no issues or irritation of any kind. Finished off with Thayer's WH, a second cold rinse and Pinaud Classic Vanilla. This blade is definitely one of my favorites and requires no breaking in. First shave is close and comfortable. As good as any other blade I've tried to date.


9/7/11 - First shave on a Blue Spetznaz. My first outing with this blade. TOBS Avocado cream only today. Same brush and finish. I am also impressed with this blade, although not more than, and perhaps not as much as the black on the first shave with it. I got the same DFS, near BBS shave today that I got yesterday, again with no issues whatsoever. While the blade was certainly not at all uncomfortable, I was aware of the blade. It is sharp, it is definitely not uncomfortable, but it is not as comfortable as the black, if that makes sense? It is not bad at all, it is just not as good. Another poster said it well when he said he almost did not know the Ninja Black was loaded, like he was scraping cream off his face with an unloaded razor. I felt that way about it as well. I did not feel that way with the blue, but have no complaints.

Good blade, good shave, the difference between the two on shave #1 is (pun definitely intended) razor thin. I like them both, I like the black a little more based on only one shave. Time will tell how the shaves feel as the blade ages.

Next update in two more days!

Edit: I like Man00ver's assessment of the Blue "very smooth, just a half-tick less so than the Ninja" I think that captures what I was trying to say, only better. It's only a 1/2 tick difference. Not much at all.

As an interested observer here could I request that when each of you is completely done with your testing you give us a final simple evaluation - which did you prefer, or did you find them essentially the same. Thanks.

9/7/11 - First shave on a Blue Spetznaz.

Hardware: F1 Fatboy set of 5
Software: Speick uberlather (Speick Stick + Speick Cream + Glycerin), face lathered with a Duke 3
Method: 2-pass (WTG, XTG Nose to Ear).
Prep: Hot shower, shea-butter soap scrub.
Post: Alum block, cold water rinse, Speick AS.

Impressions: Smooooth...Very nice shave, no tugging or pulling. Was able to do some excellent buffing on my chin and neck area. No irritation to speak of, and no razor burn. I conclude DFS.

I was not part of this PIF, but I have both Russian blue and Indian black Super Platinums and I tried both. I found the blacks to be a lot better than the blues. The first shave with both was equally good, but the blue was already unpleasant on the second shave, while I can use the black for a week of great shaves. I'm stocking up on the blacks.

I'm a little jealous. Is there anyone out there who would/could trade me a pack of Blues or Blacks for a pack of my Yellows, or maybe even one of each for two packs of Yellows?

PM sent. You are now an official tester.