Top 5 Essential Blades.

Iridium Super
Gillette Silver Blue
Voskhod
Personna Lab Blue
Gillette 7 O'clock (black)

Personna Red
Astra SP
Dorco 301
GEM PTFE SE
GD Straight

As of right now, for me:

1-Feather or Astra SP
2- TBD
3- TBD
4- TBD
5- TBD

In this order:

1. Derby Extra
2. Feather Hi-Stainless
3. Astra Superior Platinum
4. Shark Super Chrome
5. Crystal/Israeli Personna Platinum Chrome

I would be interested in seeing what are the most commonly mentioned blades in the line up, in scrolling through I believe there are a lot of great performers that are sitting in a second position or lower. For instance Gillette silver blues seem to be a common thread in a lot of top 5's but less frequently #1. Just a thought.

My top five:
1. Gillette Silver Blues
2. Gillette 7o'clock greens (high stainless)
3. Astra SP
4. Gillette 7o'clock black (platinums)
5. Personna lab prep

Crystal blue
gillette platinum
gillette silver blue

I don't see the rage about Israeli personna reds. I don't have thick hair but those things tug my face really bad

As of today, my top 5 blades (I can't put them in order because they are very close for me).

1- Astra SP
2- Feather
3- Gillette Silver Blue
4- Polsilver
5- TBD

Not a lot of mention of Derbys here. I don't know if they are truly good or not, but all I can say is that they are the blades that I have had my finest shaves with

Feathers
PolSilver
Personna Red
Astra
Not Merkur

1 Posilver SI
2 Gillette 7 oclock Yellow
3 Gillette Silver Blue
4 Gillette Platinum
5 Gillette 7 oclock Black
99999999999999999999999999999 Bolzano -worst ever

1-polsilver si

forgot the names of anything else...

Thanks so much to coyotewhisper for starting this project.

I've taken the liberty of updating his list, adding recommendations given after coyote whisper's list was last updated at 12:41 on 10/3/13. My update is not really complete because some labels are just too confusing to sort out; if I wasn't sure which exact Personna, Gillette, or Wilkinson Sword blade was being recommended, I didn't tally it.

There are a couple of things about coyotewhisper's original list which I've modified - hopefully I have not introduced errors. For example, I've added a country-of-origin to each entry, so don't blame coyotewhisper if I'm wrong about that. I've also tried to clarify some of the Gillette entries. Coyotewhisper's #10, "Gillette 7o'clock, Green" could be interpreted to refer to either Indian or Russian blades, but because there was already an entry for "Perma Sharp" (India), I assumed #10 was for the Russian "Super Stainless" so I re-labeled it as such.

I was surprised that Gillette's 7 O'clock SharpEdge, yellow, and Gillette Silver Blue were not mentioned on coyotewhisper's original list. When I went back and checked entries before 12:41 on 10/3/13, I found 14 recommendations for the SharpEdge, yellow, and 23 recommendations for the Silver Blue which I've included in my updated list.

Finally, I've re-ordered the list ranking, based on the more recent recommendations, and shortened it to include only the top ten.

My update shows coyotewhisper's tally first, plus my numbers, equals total.

1. Feather (Japan); 29 + 25 = 54
2. Astra Sp (Russia); 23 + 29 = 52
3. Gillette 7o'clock, Super Platinum, Black (India); 27 + 12 = 39
4. Gillette Silver Blue (Russia); 23 +14 = 37
5. Personna Med Prep (US?) 25 + 8 = 33
6. Personna Red (Israel?); 23 + 9 = 32
7. Polsilver* (Russia); 26 + 1 = 27
8. Super Iridium* (Russia); 7 + 19 = 26
9. Gillette 7 o'clock SharpEdge, yellow (Russia); 14 + 6 = 20
10. Tied: Gillette Perma Sharp, green (India); 9 + 7 = 16
Personna Lab Blue (?); 8 + 8 = 16

*Some have mentioned that perhaps the 'Polsilver' and the 'Super Iridium' should be combined, which would make that blade #2 with 53 recommendations. One person specified that he was recommending the old Polish-made Polsilver (brown pkg), so it's possible there may still be a few using old Polish stock they have hoarded over the years.

My top 5

1. feather - My every shave blade choice
2. Astra sp - 2nd if feather is not available which is rare for me
3. Personna lab blues - weekends + holiday shaves when I dont worry about how smooth
4. Wilkinson - if i need a quick mild shave
5. Shark Chrome - if I'm in a bind

AtreyuOcampo said:

My top 5

1. feather - My every shave blade choice
2. Astra sp - 2nd if feather is not available which is rare for me
3. Personna lab blues - weekends + holiday shaves when I dont worry about how smooth
4. Wilkinson - if i need a quick mild shave
5. Shark Chrome - if I'm in a bind

Click to expand...

If I had not not stopped at 10, Wilkinson would have been #11.

Like Personna, Gillette and others, Wilkinson is problematic to tally, because there are multiple versions from different countries - and the recommendations are not always clear about which one is being recommended.

1. GSB
2. Feather
3. Gillette Super Thin Platinum
4. Rapira Platinum Lux
Tie 5. Wilkinson Sword Classic /Astra

1. Personna Med Prep - Just the perfect blade in my opinion. Ultra Sharp, Ultra smooth. Doesnt get any better than this.
2. Polsilver Super Irididium - Equally sharp, and almost as smooth. Awesome Blade
3. Gillette 7 o clock Blacks - Same as Polsilver. Really amazing blades.
4. Personna Red - You need a mild blades for those days in a hurry or with previous irritation. This is the perfect blade for that. Incredibly smooth and is not dull at all either.
5. Astra SP - Good overall performer, just doesnt excel at anything in particular. Good to have in any den.

There's a few I haven't tried, but my current favorites are Polsilver SI, Perma-Sharp Super, Personna Red, Feather, GSB. Also to a slighty lesser extent, I can get a decent shave with Lord Platinum Class, and Voskhod. This could change tomorrow.

Polsilver SI. starts and ends my list!

I'll add to the counts!

1. Astra SP
2. Derby
3. Rapira SS
4. Feather
5. Personna Red

I may have posted here before but if not here are my Top Essential Blades (alphabetical order):

Astra SP
Gillette 7OC black
Gillette Silver Blue
Personna Super (Lab/Blue)