PIF: Gillette Singapore thin

**rxonmymind** · 03-24-2012, 01:34 PM

Whoohoo! Slowly but surely there getting there.
Great Britain checked in waiting on India. Interesting address that one. "Near the post..."

**cwhiteboy** · 03-24-2012, 10:05 PM

Alrighty... I was not a recipient of the PIF, but based on the few reviews on this thread, I decided to give these blades a try. I loaded them into my 1953 Superspeed Flare Tip, lathered up a decent bowl of Proraso, and put blade to skin. On my first shave, these felt pretty good. They seemed to be very sharp, but not as sharp as the Gillette Yellow (not a bad thing to me), but definately a lot smoother. I did three passes, WTG, XTG, modified XTG/ATG. Ended up very close to a BBS, with my skin only feeling a slight bit of irritation under my chin.

Tonight I gave them another go, same razor, but this time with some TOBS Mr. Taylor from my recently acquired samples from Garry's sample shop. This time around, the blade seemed to perform amazingly; they where extremelly smooth. Sharp enough to cut through my whiskers without any hesitation, but still gave me plenty of feedback on each stroke, letting me know I was cutting through hair (which I prefer). I ended up only really needing 2 passes, one WTG, one XTG, and had a mighty fine DFS. No irritation at all, not a single wheeper.

One thing to note, I usually had strop my blades before their first use, but forgot to do so with this blade (it does make a difference to me), which may have led to more irritation on their first go. I usually toss blades after 3 shaves, as I am trying to go through my large variety of samples for the second time, but these may stay for another couple of rounds, as I enjoyed them that much.

**rxonmymind** · 03-25-2012, 01:09 PM

Thanks for the write up. I wanted to wait for someone else to do a write up so I wouldn't color the veiw.
The first thing I noticed was the double wrapping of the blade. One in wax and then the outer wrapper. Very nice IMO and as a bonus no glue spot. Woohoo. Also as an added cool factor bonus there for the Uber nerds are numbers on each corner of the blade. So for those of you who like to flip, turn and rotate the blade on every shave you'll have a point of reference.
My choice of hardware was the EJ89 with Tcheon Fung Sing Barbe Rosse. As of this write up it was my second shave with the blade. Three passes and some light touch up resulted in a BBS shave. Although the blade isn't Feather sharp I'd definately put it on par with Polsilvers, Personna Red, Gillette silver blues, Gillette south American("Iron Hammer & Sergio blade") or Gillette blues. I hope there's enough there to reference too. This blade is also smooth thus forgiving. Cost wise your looking at 120 blades per order @ $22 from DrIdiot which works out to 5.4 cents a blade. Not bad considering that I got two solid shaves out of it which is 2.7 cents per shave. Totally acceptable.

**Sqratch** · 03-25-2012, 04:31 PM

Ok so I'm 2 shaves in on this blade. I went with my super adjustable on 5 with some AOS sandlewood cream. I was not expecting much from this blade but I was soo wrong. My first pass was very smooth reduced my 2 day stubble quite a bit. I was shocked with how smooth this blade was. 2nd and third pass was just as good as the first. I got a effortless BBS shave from this blade with zero nicks or weepers. I would say this blade will make it to my rotation. They are as smooth as an Astra sp and as sharp as a polsilver. Thanks for the opertunity to test drive these! Now time to shoot Dr. Idiot a pm for a 100 stack of these.

**rxonmymind** · 03-25-2012, 08:30 PM

Nice review Sqratch. Thanks.
Cwhiteboy Thank you for your contribution! Also a great review.

**VULPES** · 03-27-2012, 06:15 PM

I had my first shave with one this morning and I am pretty impressed. There was no discernible difference between it and the Astra SP that has been my regular recently. I will leave it in my Slim and give it another go tomorrow. Thank you.

**truegreen** · 03-28-2012, 12:42 PM

Ok, I had three days of stubbles so I thought I give this blade a try. I loaded up my Chubby with some Valobra (valobra stick milled into a plastic bowl) lather. Loaded the blade into my super adjustible at the # 4 and went on with it. I was very surprised about how sharp these blades were. They are sharp, not biting sharp like Feather but smooth sharp. I would compare these with Personna red, may be slightly sharper than IP red but not as sharp as Gillette Yellow or Permasharp. I did notice the blade had a slight drag but it could be due to my beard (I have pretty tough beard and I have not shaved for three days). The second pass(XTG) was excellent, it was amazingly smooth, no drag at all. I was pretty much done, but I thought what if I go a third round (XTG opposite direction). I wanted to do this because I get irritation with third pass with most blades. Third pass was excellent as well without any irritation. I washed off and then applied my alum and this is where I was surprised....very little sting and absolutely no irritation. So, three pass and a complete BBS. These are really excellent blades and I will definitely put these in my rotation.

Thanks for PIF'ing these blades, I probably would never tried these otherwise.

**VULPES** · 03-28-2012, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by VULPES

I had my first shave with one this morning and I am pretty impressed. There was no discernible difference between it and the Astra SP that has been my regular recently. I will leave it in my Slim and give it another go tomorrow. Thank you.

Shave two today, not as pleasant an experience. Whilst it got me smooth, a little more effort was required and a quick wipe around with my alum block stung considerably more. I don't think I will leave it in for a third day, sorry.

**Sqratch** · 03-28-2012, 04:36 PM

My second blade was just as good as the first. Very impressed with this blade. I am surprised this blade is not spoken about more on this board.

**rxonmymind** · 03-29-2012, 08:09 AM

Originally Posted by VULPES

Shave two today, not as pleasant an experience. Whilst it got me smooth, a little more effort was required and a quick wipe around with my alum block stung considerably more. I don't think I will leave it in for a third day, sorry.

Never have to apologise for your observations. All reviews whether negative or positive are welcome. Glad you tried them & thank you for your input. I will say that if these are a one hit wonder for you it's not bad considering it's only a 5cent a blade. As they say "a nickel shave". One feels less guilty about throwing them away. Thanks again.

**rxonmymind** · 03-29-2012, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by truegreen

Ok, I had three days of stubbles so I thought I give this blade a try. I loaded up my Chubby with some Valobra (valobra stick milled into a plastic bowl) lather. Loaded the blade into my super adjustible at the # 4 and went on with it. I was very surprised about how sharp these blades were. They are sharp, not biting sharp like Feather but smooth sharp. I would compare these with Personna red, may be slightly sharper than IP red but not as sharp as Gillette Yellow or Permasharp. I did notice the blade had a slight drag but it could be due to my beard (I have pretty tough beard and I have not shaved for three days). The second pass(XTG) was excellent, it was amazingly smooth, no drag at all. I was pretty much done, but I thought what if I go a third round (XTG opposite direction). I wanted to do this because I get irritation with third pass with most blades. Third pass was excellent as well without any irritation. I washed off and then applied my alum and this is where I was surprised....very little sting and absolutely no irritation. So, three pass and a complete BBS. These are really excellent blades and I will definitely put these in my rotation.

Thanks for PIF'ing these blades, I probably would never tried these otherwise.

Well good. Glad you liked them.

Originally Posted by Sqratch

My second blade was just as good as the first. Very impressed with this blade. I am surprised this blade is not spoken about more on this board.

That's what intrigued me. I thought if the south American blades were good how about these. I'm going shave again on these for day two & I will pay close attention to this blade. Closer than the first review and post my observation. I just shaved with Polsilvers yesterday in order to compare that with these blades.Tuesday was Singapore thin blade, Wednesday the Polsilver, then tonight will be the Singapore thins again. Now these blades do feel that smooth like the Pol's on the first shave and I should have clairified that in my first review. How smooth are they on the second? We'll see. It'll be Proraso & EJ89 tonight.

**rxonmymind** · 03-29-2012, 07:37 PM

Just shaved 2 minutes ago as I write this. Sorry guy's but I had thrown way the other Singapore thins thus was not able to test them for a second run. That will be tomorrow nite. But I did shave with a new one and it reaffirms my first review that these are as good as the Gillette Silver Blues and a toe in Pol silver. Smooth and comfotable. Second shave?..Hmm looking forward to it.
Anyone else try these again?

**truegreen** · 03-30-2012, 11:50 AM

I did my second shave with this blade(same set up as the first one except used AOS Sandalwood cream). Again very good result. Sharpness is same as the first shave, very smooth as well. The second shave it felt almost like Astra blades, only slightly smoother. I only needed two passes and accomplished a very good result without any irriataition or nicks. I usually toss my blade after the second shave because of my tough beard, but I will try this for a third shave tomorrow.

**rxonmymind** · 03-31-2012, 12:20 PM

My final observations.
Finally was able to have a go with it for a second try as my initial observation my have been clouded more by enthusiasm than a detached emotional analysis of the blade itself. Choice of shaving gear was Ej89 and Proraso. Started on a 36hr growth which means that I had facial hair about the length of this I<. I have what one could call light density growth of facial hair. After the usual prep, shower etc the lather was a treat.
First pass was rewarded with loud slicing by a little dragging of the razor on th face. Ah. The lather wasn't slick enough I said to myself. Reloaded the brush and applied directly to face. Second pass was butter smooth as was all subsequent passes. I say that tongue & cheek as I had taken these blades on a Marathon run on their first shave ( six passes!) and as many on their second shave. Here I give a mountain of credit to the legendary Proraso for it's ability to provide superior glide, protection, and that touch of menthol to the shave. Without it I would have had highly irritated and tender face. In conclusion this blade performed admirably and without a second thought recommend them. Even if your only going to use them once, it will only set you back a nickel. With no wax spots these also won't gunk up your TTO or three piece razor. Hassle free right out of the wrapper is a good thing.

Cheers gents and good shaving to you!

P.S. For the next five people I'd gladly piff three of these blades to if you'd like to try them. Conus only please. PM me.

**truegreen** · 04-03-2012, 09:31 AM

Ok, third shave was almost as good as the second shave. Only difference was that the blade was slightly less sharp. No tugging or pulling though. After the two passes, there were few areas that I caould have used a third pass. I decided not to do a third pass because I had a pretty good shave and I was in a hurry. These are excellent blades and I am going to order these for sure.

**dannycr** · 04-06-2012, 09:12 AM

just did my first shave with this blade. Loaded a super thin into my inexpensive Dorco TTO, face lathered with TOB almond and went at it. My first impression, the blades are sharp but not overly aggressive and smooth (YMMV). Overall a very decent shave and definitely a top contender in my quest to find my everyday blade.

**taylor0150** · 04-06-2012, 08:28 PM

im in i would like to test these. had my eye on them for awhile

**dannycr** · 04-09-2012, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by dannycr

just did my first shave with this blade. Loaded a super thin into my inexpensive Dorco TTO, face lathered with TOB almond and went at it. My first impression, the blades are sharp but not overly aggressive and smooth (YMMV). Overall a very decent shave and definitely a top contender in my quest to find my everyday blade.

I just had my second shave with these and a dfs at that. These blades are great. Used Razorockxxx, 2 passes and buffing around the neck and jaw line a little Captains Choice AS and the world was right again. Got a few weepers on the jaw line. The blade was so smooth I used more pressure than I needed but that was my fault.

**tech.addict** · 04-12-2012, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by rxonmymind

Whoohoo! Slowly but surely there getting there.
Great Britain checked in waiting on India. Interesting address that one. "Near the post..."

Received the blades today. Thanks mate!!

Already have Gillette yellow loaded for this week. So, will try the blade on Monday and post my experience.

**The Provost** · 04-16-2012, 10:30 PM

First off, a big thank you to rxonmymind. The first blades never arrived, but rxonmymind very kindly sent more. Very much appreciated. Another great example of why B&B is such a great place.

Loaded a Super Thin today after finally tossing a Shark Super Chrome, which lasted a long time (6-7 shaves). Here are my first impressions:

I used the same set-up I've been using recently to better compare to other blades (Feather Popular, Omega boar brush, Omega soap). First pass was great--mowed down the majority of my two-day growth pretty easily. XTG and ATG were both very good, and I was particularly impressed with how smooth the blade was ATG. A very good shave, not quite BBS (should note that the Popular is a rather mild razor), but still pretty close and irritation-free. Very little touch-up needed, right jawline was smooth (a trouble spot for me). No cuts at all. Sharpness and smoothness were very good--comparable to Personna Blue/Lab, or the Shark SC. It'll be interesting to see how long these blades last in comparison (Labs remain smooth for only about two shaves for me).

That's only one use, so when this blade's done, I'll post again about how the subsequent shaves went and how long the blade lasts (and maybe again when I try them in other razors).

Thanks again, rxonmymind, for a great PIF!