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Gillette's Current Offerings, Ranked

Fightingillini22

Fightingillini22

Master TSC Shave Member
I started this little experiment before joining TSC and have been documenting over on that over forum. Figured the info might be interesting to us good guys over here too. I racked and stacked 14 of Gillette's current DE blade offerings (that are readily available in 100+ quantities, disqualifying vintage and other harder to find like Minora) and attempted to keep as many of the variables constant across shaves, including always starting with the same razor and a soap I know to provide great shaves.

The preliminary ranking:

1 - Nacet
2a - GSB
2b - Rubie
2c - Platinum
2d* - KCG (second tier in performance but not in "shave off" due to higher cost-per-shave)
3a - Yellow
3b - Black
3c - 365
4 - Super Thin
5 - Green Permasharp
6 - Sputnik
7 - Permasharp
8 - Gillette Wilkinson India
9 - Green SS

Now I'm working to break the 3 way tie in the second tier of blades. First side-by-side shave off is between GSBs and Rubies, in which after 2 shaves, Rubies appear to be edging out the GSBs.
 
Fightingillini22 said:
I started this little experiment before joining TSC and have been documenting over on that over forum. Figured the info might be interesting to us good guys over here too. I racked and stacked 14 of Gillette's current DE blade offerings (that are readily available in 100+ quantities, disqualifying vintage and other harder to find like Minora) and attempted to keep as many of the variables constant across shaves, including always starting with the same razor and a soap I know to provide great shaves.

The preliminary ranking:

1 - Nacet
2a - GSB
2b - Rubie
2c - Platinum
2d* - KCG (second tier in performance but not in "shave off" due to higher cost-per-shave)
3a - Yellow
3b - Black
3c - 365
4 - Super Thin
5 - Green Permasharp
6 - Sputnik
7 - Permasharp
8 - Gillette Wilkinson India
9 - Green SS

Now I'm working to break the 3 way tie in the second tier of blades. First side-by-side shave off is between GSBs and Rubies, in which after 2 shaves, Rubies appear to be edging out the GSBs.
Click to expand...
I'll be following with interest my friend!
 
Oiut of the ones I have tried (which is most of them) my favorite from the list would be the 7 O'Clock Super Platinum blades (black). Really like how they perform. Close behind them for me would be Nacet and Sputnik blades.
 
Nacet, Green Permasharp those two are my favorite. Also if of interest I have this project. And I do have plans to get it back up and running soon.

Chad Uses BAD blades!

Alright so I have been wetshaving with DEs, SEs, and Straights for almost 5 years! In the beginning I bought a lot of blades in 5 packs and some singles etc. Alot or them I blamed for providing bad shaves. But now 5 years later my 100 packs that I bought of Astra SP, Personna Lab Blue, Rapira...
theshavingcadre.com theshavingcadre.com
 
I do love GSBs and would be more apt to use them if it weren’t for the price. Nacets and Rubies I have not yet sampled.
 
Nacets are also at the top of my list. I have just started trying out the GSB, which was good in it's first 3 shaves for me, but now you're telling me I need to also try Rubies...well darn the luck.
 
CVargo said:
And I do have plans to get it back up and running soon.

Chad Uses BAD blades!

Alright so I have been wetshaving with DEs, SEs, and Straights for almost 5 years! In the beginning I bought a lot of blades in 5 packs and some singles etc. Alot or them I blamed for providing bad shaves. But now 5 years later my 100 packs that I bought of Astra SP, Personna Lab Blue, Rapira...
theshavingcadre.com theshavingcadre.com
Click to expand...
Don't do it...It's a trick!
 
After 3 SBS shaves with Rubies and GSBs, I can confidently say Rubies are smoother to my face in both my Krona and Red Tip SS (two favorite razors) than the GSBs. I wouldn't have predicted that and thought the GSBs were going to take the second tier crown easily!

Next up, I'm going with GSB vs Platinum, as if I determine the GSB to be better than the Platinum, I'll have easily broken up the 2nd tier. If Platinums edge out the GSB, I'll have to do a final SBS of Rubie and Platinum. We'll see!

Temporary Revised Ranking

1 - Nacet
2 - Rubie
3a - GSB
3b - Platinum
4* - KCG (second tier in performance but not in "shave off" due to higher cost-per-shave)
5a - Yellow
5b - Black
5c - 365
6 - Super Thin
7 - Green Permasharp
8 - Sputnik
9 - Permasharp
10 - Gillette Wilkinson India
11 - Green SS
 
GearNoir said:
What are you going for as far as metrics? Smoothness and shave results?
Click to expand...

Yes just smoothest through the shave and result. As I believe blades to quite possibly the most YMMV aspect of wet shaving, I tried to keep the initial run through of blades consistent in terms of software, prep, etc. Metrics were the same in the initial run too.
 
Officially have broken up the second tier!

Throughout all the side-by-side shaves, the GSBs proved to be smoother on my face than the Platinums. Again, none of these tier 2 blades are bad in any respect and I'd be happy to use them all. But didn't want them all sitting tied up towards the top of the list.

1 - Nacet
2 - Rubie
3 - GSB
4 - Platinum
5* - KCG (second tier in performance but not in "shave off" due to higher cost-per-shave)
6a - Yellow
6b - Black
6c - 365
7 - Super Thin
8 - Green Permasharp
9 - Sputnik
10 - Permasharp
11 - Gillette Wilkinson India
12 - Green SS

I am surprised that the GSBs fell behind the Nacet and Rubies. While I had previously not used a Nacet or Rubie blade, I had used plenty of GSBs and considered them to be one of my top blades across most all of my favorite razors. Goes to show that it's never too late to try something new against something tried and tested. You might surprise yourself!

Also surprised the Gillette Wilkies were so low on the list, as I have seen them praised by many people across wet shavedom. Might just be one of those things that works for most but not for me.

Going to take a break of actively reviewing blades for now, although I plan to do a similar shave-off between the Yellows, Blacks and 365s at some point in the near future.
 
I had been using GSB for the better part of a decade and then I got a 5 pack of Wilkinson Sword (no idea where they're from) but my British flat head tech just sings with them in there. I'm tempted to 100 pack them. Any ideas how to tell which country of manufacture I have and where to locate my new supply?
 
heysi said:
I had been using GSB for the better part of a decade and then I got a 5 pack of Wilkinson Sword (no idea where they're from) but my British flat head tech just sings with them in there. I'm tempted to 100 pack them. Any ideas how to tell which country of manufacture I have and where to locate my new supply?
Click to expand...
If they are in a black plastic dispenser, they are probably German Wilkies. If they are in a white cardboard tuck, they are most likely Indian Wilkies.
 
heysi said:
Checked last night....I have the German Wilkies. I like them a lot. Care to share where you got yours?
Click to expand...
I found a deal on eBay a couple of years ago. Picked up 200 of them ultra cheap. That deal was through a liquidator, so that was a one-time thing.

You should be able to easily find them on Amazon for ~$23 USD per 100. There is also a seller, razorbladesclub, on eBay that has decent prices (also ~$23 USD) and good service, but is shipping from Sweden. If you are willing to do some hunting, you might be able to find a slightly better price.

If you look on eBay, you will find both the German ones and the Indian ones. The Indian ones, while great blades for me, are not what you are looking for. (But, I do suggest giving them a try.) Those have red, white, and blue packaging and bear the Gillette name as well as the Wilkinson Sword branding. Look for the ones packaged like the ones at this "Buy It Now" link: 100 Wilkinson Sword double edge razor blades | eBay. You want the packing to say "Wilkinson Sword" or "Wilkinson Sword Classic."
 
Interesting. For me the Nacet's and Rubie's seem the sharpest but Blue's seem the smoothest. Still only get 4 shaves max against my Teflon mammoth beard growth.
 
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