Blade Wars: Gillette Silver Blue vs. Perma-Sharp Super

Blade Wars: Gillette Silver Blue vs. Perma-Sharp Super

The contenders in this blade war are two of my all-time favorite blades. They are highly regarded by many, many wet shavers - and for good reason. Both are manufactured by Petersburg Products International in St. Petersburg, Russia. On Amazon, you can buy 100 Silver Blues for $18.35 and 100 Perma-Sharps for $19.99. There are even better prices on eBay.

The Perma-Sharp Supers come in a gold box and are made in Russia. Gillette also makes a 7 O’clock Permasharp blade that comes in a green box and is made in India. I’m testing the Russian blades.

My razors for this blade war will be two Razorock Proteges, which have fairly mild heads and somewhat short stainless steel handles. The heads are similar to the Muhle R89 or Edwin Jagger DE89. I rate them about a 4/10 in aggressiveness. I’ll color the cap of one razor with a blue Sharpie for differentiation, but won’t know which blade is in which razor. I’ll shave half of my face with each razor, and switch sides with each subsequent shave. I intend for the competition to last for six half-face shaves, but will let it go longer if there isn’t a clear winner and I’m not getting irritated. I have a suspicion this one may go a while.

As we go, I’ll share what I experience and invite you to comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

This is kind of weird, but in all the blade wars I’ve done so far, I was rooting for one of the blades to win. Unfortunately, the one I root for usually loses. Go figure. The only victor I’ve rooted for so far was Gillette 7 O’clock Super Stainless. In any case, I don’t have favorite in this blade war. I hate to see one of these wonderful blades go down. But that’s life. It’s time to get it on.

Who do you think will pull out the victory between Gillette Silver Blue and Perma-Sharp Super?

I'm going for GSB but who knows.

Let the challenge begin!

I did this experiment, the gsb are smoother ,not by much, but the perma sharps will last longer before the tugging starts,, gsb is my go to blade and 2nd is ps, I have to be more gentle when using the ps,, I predict ps will win

genuinestyle said:

I did this experiment, the gsb are smoother ,not by much, but the perma sharps will last longer before the tugging starts,, gsb is my go to blade and 2nd is ps, I have to be more gentle when using the ps,, I predict ps will win

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I'm looking forward to seeing if my results are similar to yours.

Good to see the Permasharp Super get more attention. I find it to be a very consistent blade that flies under the radar here. It's the blade I used when testing new razors when I first started out. I found it to be an agreeable blade across a wide variety of razors, unlike some of the other blades I was trying.

Rooting for GSB!

Perma-Sharps are magical! By far my favorite blades.

gagarin said:

Perma-Sharps are magical! By far my favorite blades.

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+1

gagarin said:

Perma-Sharps are magical! By far my favorite blades.

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"Magical." You win the prize for best razor blade adjective. Well done.

I love them, too.

Shave 1

Silver razor=right side, blue razor=left side
Face lathered with P160. No other prep. I think these blades can handle it.

Pass 1 - Silver - Nice pass with a little of the prickle you get from a very sharp blade. I rate the pass 9/10 for perceived sharpness and 8/10 for smoothness.
Blue - Another great pass. Blade did not feel quite as sharp as the silver, but it felt a little smoother. Sharpness: 8.5, smoothness: 9

Pass 2- The silver razor felt great. Great audio feedback, very nice and smooth.
Blue: higher pitched audio - even smoother than the silver. Blade just glided across my face. Wonderful pass.

Pass 3 - Silver: Unbelievable. As smooth and clean as a pass gets. No resistance at all. Superb in every way.
Blue: Believable. Very smooth, but there was a slight bit of resistance.

Finished with some Brut splash. A fantastic shave. I can't say one blade significantly outperformed the other. Blue's first pass was slightly smoother, and it's second pass was clearly smoother. Then silver did a better job on the third pass. It's hard to say at this point, but perhaps the silver is a little sharper and the blue is a little smoother.

Good luck predicting which blade is in which razor. In any case, I've got a clean, close shave on both sides of my face with no nicks and no discernible irritation, despite my lack of prep.

cw62803 said:

Shave 1

Silver razor=right side, blue razor=left side
Face lathered with P160. No other prep. I think these blades can handle it.

Pass 1 - Silver - Nice pass with a little of the prickle you get from a very sharp blade. I rate the pass 9/10 for perceived sharpness and 8/10 for smoothness.
Blue - Another great pass. Blade did not feel quite as sharp as the silver, but it felt a little smoother. Sharpness: 8.5, smoothness: 9

Pass 2- The silver razor felt great. Great audio feedback, very nice and smooth.
Blue: higher pitched audio - even smoother than the silver. Blade just glided across my face. Wonderful pass.

Pass 3 - Silver: Unbelievable. As smooth and clean as a pass gets. No resistance at all. Superb in every way.
Blue: Believable. Very smooth, but there was a slight bit of resistance.

Finished with some Brut splash. A fantastic shave. I can't say one blade significantly outperformed the other. Blue's first pass was slightly smoother, and it's second pass was clearly smoother. Then silver did a better job on the third pass. It's hard to say at this point, but perhaps the silver is a little sharper and the blue is a little smoother.

Good luck predicting which blade is in which razor. In any case, I've got a clean, close shave on both sides of my face with no nicks and no discernible irritation, despite my lack of prep.

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Excellent!

I think they may be equals. I haven't done long term comparisons. But I think GSB is more consistent. I haven't encountered a dud yet.

Tough match!!

How fun! I'm calling it again on the first shave like I always do....have I ever been right?! Don't answer that!

My guess: GSB is blue.

kluber said:

How fun! I'm calling it again on the first shave like I always do....have I ever been right?! Don't answer that!

My guess: GSB is blue.

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We'll know in a week or so.

Shave 2

Blue=right side, silver=left side
typical prep (shower) - face lathered with Tabac

Pass 1 - Blue: Fantastic, smooth. Almost no resistance at all - blade is cutting right through.
Silver: Very nice. Blade doesn't feel quite as sharp as the blue, though.

Pass 2 - Blue: Gliding along beautifully. Fabulous.
Silver: Very slight, pleasant resistance. The resistance feels even. I can feel the blade snipping off the stubble.

Pass 3 - Blue: Perfect. A+. Skating rink glide.
Silver: Very slight resistance. I would be glowing about it if it hadn't been for the blue's "miracle" (thank you, [MENTION=4567]gagarin[/MENTION]) pass.

Finished with a liberal douse of Florida Water. I just made an offer on a Disney Vacation Club listing, so I am in a Florida state of mind. It gave me a little more sting than I expected, reminding that three-pass shaves on consecutive days is pushing my threshold.
But wow, what I shave I have right now! Blue has taken the lead, but Silver is a fabulous blade. Is blue the GSB as [MENTION=110175]kluber[/MENTION] predicts?

Shave 3

Just a quick one-passer before heading out to church. I had very little to shave off, as last night's three-pass shave left me baby smooth and I haven't had a lot of time to re-grow whiskers.

Used Neutrogena Mens Sensitive brushless shave cream. Both razors performed similarly. Clean, smooth, effective, and irritation-free.

A quick note on brushless cream. This stuff works great. Because I enjoy whipping up an old-fashioned lather with a brush, I don't go brushless often, but whenever I do, I get a great shave. Neutrogena is so moisturizing I do not feel the need for any skin care follow up. It would be a great product to take when traveling, and it's nice to use on those days when your face needs a break from shaving but you still want to look good. Very gentle and slippery.

Perhaps GSB by a slight margin, though I am still fond of Perma-Sharp.

Shave 4

Face lather with RR Amici
Silver: right side, blue: left side

Pass 1 - silver: nice, smooth pass - a tiny bit of resistance, but very nice
blue: just about identical to the silver - slight resistance, but a very good first pass

Pass 2 - Another very nice pass from both blades, with the blue gliding a little smoother across my face. It seems to move faster and more effortlessly.

Pass 3 - I was surprised. I expected the blue to give me a smoother, less draggy pass, but it didn't. Both razors performed well, and with just a slight bit of resistance. They were just about identical.

Both sides of my face have a close, clean shave. I gave myself a small weeper near the left (blue) corner of my mouth. Finished with an un-branded blue aftershave my daughter bought at the school Father's Day sale. Felt quite a bit of sting on both sides of my face.