I recently noticed that I was sent a 5 pack of Astra SP blades with one of the razors I bought. These were double wrapped. I like them so I ordered a 100 pk. somewhere, which really don't remember where I got them. I noticed these were in plain white single wrapped. Are there any difference in these blades?.Just curious. My Astra SS blades are also in plain white wrappers. Like some feedback. Thanks!
Question on Astra SP blades
- Thread starter Longnecks
- Start date
Just like double mint gum...2 times the pleasure...most likely a wrapping machine gone wild.
Let us know which blade perform's the best for you...the SP or the Stainless.
Let us know which blade perform's the best for you...the SP or the Stainless.
I recently bought a pair of 100 packs of Astra SPs. They are in plain white wrap. Not sure about double wrapped versions, but every SP I've ever used (including sample packs and those free with purchase) have been single wrapped.
Wish I could help you out on this one.
Wish I could help you out on this one.
Single plain white wrapper for both Astra SS and SP. Mine were both 100-packs purchased in the past couple months.
It must have been a packing machine malfunction. Mine have always been single wrapped, 100 and sampler packs. They're great blades, I hope you like them. I've settled on them as my blade of choice. They're sharp enough to hack through my thick beard, but not so sharp that they are scratchy (Feathers).
mine are all single wrapped, you said you liked them .... Did both single & double wrapped blades feel the same when you shaved with them?
You have some old stock there, the double wrapped Astra SP's were before they were bought out by Gillette, after the buyout 2 years ago or so they switched to single white wrapping to save money, there is no difference in the blades.
Thats great to hear!! I have the Astra's with white wrapping and I read that they could be fake. Did they used to have wrapping with "Astra" on it? Sorry for the thread jack.
Some bean counter somewhere is racking their brain how they are down 100 wrappers on their inventory.
the old double wrapped ones had "Astra" on the label yes, the single white paper wrapped ones are newer stock, some people thought they were fake just cause of that, but the case is actually what I outlined above, just a corporate buyout and Gillette forcing them to use single wrapping cause its cheaper and kept costs low. On a related note the Feathers are almost the same way going from Yellow packaging to Black, its to differentiate old stock (Yellow) that came in 10 blades/tuck from the new stock (Black) which comes in 5 blades/tuck, same brand and blade, just different packaging.
Thats great news!!! They seemed legit but just wondered a little. On that note...I just ordered a 100 pack of the ASTRA SP!!!
Thanks for the great info!!!
I bought a few hundred SP's off amazon 2 years ago and mine are double wrapped. I wasn't aware Gillette took over. Decent enough blade somewhere between my sharper Feathers and milder UK Red Personna's.
Wait a minute, I thought Gillette bought into PPI over a decade ago?
Yes, according to McKibben Gillette owned a 65% share ca. 1992-93. He also says (p357) that they bought 80% of Wizamet in Poland about the same time, with an option on the remaining 20%, and Permatik in Turkey. Astra was originally a Czech brand, I think, and so my guess is Gillette bought them around the same time. At Astra_Superior_Platinum_Razor_Blade on the wiki you can see photos of a double-wrapped blade and the blade box says they are made by ZAO PPI. At Astra_Superior_Stainless_Razor_Blade the blades are also double-wrapped, and the box says they are made in Russia for Gillette UK.
All mine been single wrapped and they are SP so I figure the wrapping machine went while.
Maybe those were the Double Secret Astra's hand honed by elves on the Black Sea. Top secret for KGB use only. 
When I first started using Astras a couple years ago, they were double-wrapped and I'm sure they said Gillette somewhere on the box. Frankly, I like the new single-wrapped, because they also started using less wax when they changed the wrapper.
