Newbie with a blade identification question

**Synthetic Badger** · 01-20-2012, 12:07 PM

Hi all!

I am still new to traditional wet shaving; I have been wet shaving for a couple of months now, having converted from an electric shaver. I am now almost exclusively wet shaving, save perhaps one "woke-up-almost-late" morning a week. I have been reading this and other forums, blogs etc. resources along the way and have picked up tons of valuable information and hints, which have made the transition a much smoother one -- thank yous are here in place to the active wet shaving community.

I have a question. I picked up the Gillette blades depicted in the pictures below (a *tad* blurry thanks to a mobile phone camera) at a local super market. I understand they are none of the 7 o'clock series (blue, yellow, green, ...) made at the St. Petersburg factory, nor are they any other Gillette brand I have seen online. So I am wondering what Gillette blades exactly these are? Are they re-packaged current production, perhaps, or some out-of.production stock? I first thought they might be the famous Gillette "Swedes" -- so dubbed, I have gathered, due to the Swedish text and Gillette address on the wrapper -- but here the text says in English: "Distributed by Procter & Gamble UK, Weybridge, Syrrey, KT13 OXP, UK"

Any thoughts?

The blades were ridiculously expensive, EUR 6 for a pack of five. So I purchased a package just for the heck of it, to try them out. I can of course get other blades in bulk from the web. For example, Treet Durasharp carbons feel excellent based on my limited experience and are available for a very good price online. Other blades I have tried include Derbys, Merkurs, Astra SP's, Feathers, and Crystals. I have found the Feathers to allow me to go almost against the grain under my chin, but they lack the smoothness of the Treets which are the only other blade of the ones trialled so far that can cut effortlessly in that area. I still intend to test also Timor's DE blades and the 7 o'clock series, and later others as well. I could already live with the Astras, too, and I feel that as my technique improves, they, too, perform better every week. They are not bad at all!

The pictures should appear inline.