SMF

Looks like you have made excellent choices for value and way ahead of most that start out with the Williams and VDH.

CMur12 wrote:GA, which Astra blade did you try?

There is the old, highly rated Keramik, which has been discontinued, and there are two current Astras. I don't recall what they are called, but one comes in a green box (a "platinum" blade, I believe) and one comes in a blue box

- Murray

Thanks, Murray! As it turns out...it was the Keramik that I rated fairly low on my hit parade.

The one Squire gave me that I used yesterday had a white wrapper with blue lettering, and says, "Astra Superior Stainless Double Edge".

So for point of reference, I'm going to refer to these as "Astra Superior".

river1 wrote:Looks like you have made excellent choices for value and way ahead of most that start out with the Williams and VDH.

Thanks river1, but to be truthful, I used a lot of VDH (or Surrey as it was previously called) for 30 years before discovering shavemyface.com!

GA Russell wrote:

CMur12 wrote:GA, which Astra blade did you try?

There is the old, highly rated Keramik, which has been discontinued, and there are two current Astras. I don't recall what they are called, but one comes in a green box (a "platinum" blade, I believe) and one comes in a blue box

- Murray

Thanks, Murray! As it turns out...it was the Keramik that I rated fairly low on my hit parade.

The one Squire gave me that I used yesterday had a white wrapper with blue lettering, and says, "Astra Superior Stainless Double Edge".

So for point of reference, I'm going to refer to these as "Astra Superior".

GA, I think the one you just tried is the "lesser" of the Astras currently available. I dug up a some green-box Astras from among my shaving miscellanea, and they are called Superior Platinum.

- Murray

Great, Murray! This is good information. I haven't seen much discussion of new blades here for the past couple of years.

Gillette Super Thins are made in Thailand.

Here are the links to Squires reviews of the two currently produced Astras.

Astra Superior Stainless:
http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=48593

Astra Superior Platinum:
http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=28111

Finally, the national language of Bangladesh is Bengali (I have a friend that is from there), so excellent deduction Murray.

That tapped my cognitive capacity for the day. Time for a nap.

Thanks Quarterstick!

PS - OK, following Squire's lead, I will refer to these as the Astra Superior Stainless.

Today I tried another one of Squire's blades which I hadn't tried before, the Asco red, which is a Lord blade.

The shave was very uncomfortable. But the result was bbs after a simple two pass shave.

Squire's blade review is fantastic!!!

It's been quite some time, so I have updated my blade hit parade. This is for blades used with a mild razor such as the Weishi and the Gillette Super Speed.

I have added 10 blades to the list, bringing the total up to 41.

If any blades in addition to those marked have been discontinued, please let me know!

7 O'Clock black
Voskhod
Gillette Platinum*
(NOS) Wilkinson (England)*
Big Ben blue
Crown blue
Shark Stainless
Lord Platinum
7 O'Clock yellow
Rainbow
7 O'Clock green (India)
Kai
Silver Star

*****

Trig
Feather

*****

Astra Keramik*
Personna Hospital Use
Gillette 365
Lord Super Chrome
Shark Super Chrome
Big Ben violet
Racer grey
Asco orange
Lord Classic
Super Iridium
Treet Black Beauty
Treet Classic DuraSharp

*****
*****

Zaza
Gillette Super Thin
Lord Classic
Asco red
Gillette Wilkinson
Bic Chrome Platinum
7 O'Clock Diamond

*****

Lord Cool
Derby Extra
Israeli Personna red

*****

Astra Superior Stainless
Dorco 300
Crystal
Bolzano
Personna comfort coated Platinum Chrome

* discontinued

Russ, what's the Gillette 7 O'Clock Diamond?

Gary, it's been a couple of years, so I'm not sure if my memory can provide an intelligent response.

As I recall, it was from India and came in a black box with a picture of a diamond on it. As I recall, I was disappointed - perhaps the worst of the 7 O'Clocks if you use a mild razor like I do.

Ugh! That's probably why I haven't read much about it.

Yes, yes, yes, of course, but to call it the mysterious 'diamond' brand would only inflate the price on ebay.

Squire, as I recall the 7 O'Clock Diamond came in a pack of two instead of five.

I remember that someone here gave me the pack, but I'm afraid now I don't remember. I always write these things down, so maybe if I check my records, I will see.

As I recall the name really was 7 O'Clock Diamond - that's not just a nickname I gave it. Do you know better?

OK, I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that I found the 7 O'Clock Diamonds. The bad news is that I did not make a record of who gave them to me and when.

The box is the same size as a box of five blades, but contained only two.

The color is a deep forest green rather than the black as I had remembered.

The name of the blade is Gillette 7 O'Clock Diamond, with a medium size diamond below the word "O'Clock" and beneath the word "Diamond".

I suppose that I tried this blade promptly upon receiving it, and if I searched this thread I would find the post indicating the date.

You probably saw Natural Science's introduction, and if you didn't you can see it here.

http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=50010

I find the concept of having a soap specifically formulated to my tastes to be exciting! So I responded, with the proviso that we have hard water here in Raleigh, and there wouldn't be much point in the exercise if their products are not better than anybody else's in hard water.

Rob at Natural Science responded positively, and asked me a few questions:

1) - What type of skin do I have?
2) - Tallow or Non-Tallow?
3) - Any allergies to almonds?

I received my package today. It includes small hard soaps of various scents - mint, citrus and sandalwood. Three non-tallow and two tallow samples. A small vial of pre-shave oil, and a small vial of what I am guessing is a water softening compound.

This is going to take me quite a number of shaves to compare all five samples. I want to give them all a fair test, so I won't change any variables except the soaps. I will use my favorite blade, the Gillette 7 O'Clock black; my favorite brush, the Koh-I-Noor SC68 boar; and my favorite razor, the Gillette 1948-50 Super Speed.

Everything came with a page of instructions. Taking notes is important, so I expect to revisit here every couple of days to let you know.

I'll start with my next shave.

I'll start with my shave later today.

I intend to start with the mint non-tallow, and alternate my way through the tallows and non-tallows:

mint non-tallow
sandalwood tallow #1
sandalwood non-tallow
sandalwood tallow #2
citrus non-tallow

I plan to use each soap three consecutive days. After I choose a preference between the first two, I will use the third and then reuse the winner of the first match to remind myself of it - like the way photographers give you two options at a time rather than showing you the entire selection at once.

I've just finished my first shave with the mint non-tallow.

It lathered like nobody's business! And I obtained very quickly enough lather for two passes.

The instructions called for me to use pre-shave oil first, which I did. I'm not sure what effect if any it had on the shave.

It's been quite a while since I used a 7 O'Clock black, and I had forgotten how the first shave is usually the worst. This shave was quite uncomfortable. Maybe it had something to do with the slickness (or lack thereof) of the soap.

My skin feels quite good regarding the soap, but not regarding the blade.

The mint scent was pleasant, but I don't think that I would buy it. I find the soap more pleasant to smell than the lather.

Tomorrow will be the same routine without the pre-shave oil.

I see from my post on the first page of this thread that today is the fourth anniversary of my becoming an SMF wetshaver!

I have finished with the Natural Science mint non-tallow for now, and next up will be the first sandalwood tallow. I never got the mint to lather as well as it did the first time, so I guess that is a matter of perfecting the moisture of the brush.