A beginner’s guide to traditional shaving kit

Firstly a disclaimer, the variety of traditional shaving kit on sale is so vast that the choices are effectively infinite. And because you are different to the next man so what kit is best for you will be different, this is part of the joy of shaving this way, you can customise to your own exact personal likes and requirements. So what follows is just one man’s opinion, yours may differ substantially. Also because I am UK based this is reflected in some of the choices, however the interwebs have made us one big global community so this is not the problem it once was.

Soaps and creams.

Russian shaving creams and balms. Svoboda, Tet A Tet, Comme Il Faut, Viking, Everest, Phyto Expert

Basically creams are just soaps with water added to make them easier to use. So hard soaps are much more concentrated and can work out far cheaper per shave even if they cost more.

One of the very best soaps in the world is the Palmolive shaving stick that you can often get for under £1 in English supermarkets. Just rub it into your stubble like a big crayon then whip up into a fantastic lather with a shaving brush. The brush will then have enough charge left in it for second and third passes. This is not available in America so American traditional shavers buy it at a far higher price on eBay or bring home masses of sticks when they come here on holiday. I have done some great transatlantic equipment swaps for these sticks.

An excellent low cost cream is Ingrams which you can buy in many chemists and supermarkets. Loaded with menthol this is superb in the summer. Once again impressive value for money.

Going a bit upmarket there is Mitchell’s Wool Fat (MWF) shaving soap. This stuff is a legend and is really good for your skin. Keep it in a sealed container between shaves. Mantic59 has just done a YouTube video on how to get the best out of it. It is actually very cheap to use as a puck lasts a very long time indeed, buy online. Also it prefers a brush with a bit of backbone, like a Vulfix 404 boar/badger mix.

If you are a cream person then the step up from Ingrams is probably Body Shop Maca Root which is truly lush and is available on any high street. Sometimes they have it on offer which is a good time to stock up.

Then there are the St James’s soaps and creams from the male grooming shops in London (and online). The best value creams here are Taylors of Old Bond Street (TOBS) who have a range of different flavours. It is good to visit their Jermyn Street shop and smell them all to see what you like. About £6 for a tub.

My favourite hard soap is Trumper’s Violet. This is expensive but lasts a long time. It lathers up much more easily than MWF and the violet is very soothing.

If you want 100% natural stuff then there are artisan shaving soap makers. The best respected in England is Nanny’s Silly Soap Company (online). Beware some artisan soap makers just add bentic clay to an ordinary soap to make their shaving soaps and the results are frankly rubbish.

Beyond the above there are thousands of different creams and soaps available around the world. The Russian creams, especially Svoboda, are excellent as are the Indian creams, most famously Godrej menthol mist, which is a bit special. The Italian soaps and creams from companies like Proraso and Cella have excellent reputations and I like them a lot.

Shaving brushes.

These are the most expensive part of traditional shaving. A top brush from a top manufacturer will be about £80 and upwards, but will last at least 30 years as your only brush. If you have several brushes it will last for ever. However there are far cheaper options as we will discover. Some people have large collections of brushes.

The brush has two components, the handle and the knot. With handles wood will not last as long as plastic, no matter how it is treated.The knot has very many variables which effect the way it works. One very obvious characteristic is the variation from floppiness to backbone.

Diameter at the base. This is the knot size. Too big eats cream/soap too small is more work to use.
Loft is the height of the bristles from the handle. They also go some way into the handle.
Knot shape. Flat top, bulb and fan are the main shapes. Most are a combination some way between these.
Hair variety. Badger, boar, horse and synthetic. Each behaves differently, each has followers.
Hair grade. Each of the above varieties is available in many grades and you tend to get what you pay for.
Knot density, how tightly packed the hairs are.

And you thought it was going to be simple!

Boar brushes tend to have more backbone which makes them work well with soaps. A good boar brush doesn’t have trimmed ends to its bristles and so with use they split and the brush becomes softer. This “running in” process can take several weeks and reveals the full performance of the brush. An excellent cheap boar brush is the Jaguar from Turkey, bought online for £5ish. The detail finish is not brilliant, but the brush is. After that the main brands of quality pure boar brushes are Semogue in Portugal and Omega in Italy. These are great brushes and you get what you pay for in the range. They are an online purchase. I have both. Allow £20 for a good model.

There is also the Vulfix 404 boar/badger mix brush which is just a beautiful and brilliant all round brush and is something of a bargain at less than £10 from these people.

Badger brushes tend to be softer and more expensive. Nearly all the hair for them comes from China, where badgers are vermin. The Chinese graduated to making whole knots and then whole brushes.

The bargain is to buy a Frank Shaving Finest Badger (not the silvertip) for about £10 from Ian Tang in China on eBay. He has good customer service and the brushes take about 10 days to arrive, they look beautiful and are well presented. There are a range of knot sizes, shapes and lofts. I bought three of these brushes then Ian sent me two to review for my blog. The value and quality is such that they have taken the traditional shaving world by storm and with lots of positive feedback.
You can buy brushes with the retailers name on them, Trumpers, Taylors of Old Bond Street etc. Don’t. You don’t know who the manufacturer is. Better to buy one with the makers name on it. The two great, famous, British brands are Rooney and Simpsons.
Rooney are in London and make very small quantities of fantastic hand crafted brushes.
Simpsons are owned by Vulfix on the Isle of Man and make somewhat larger quantities of equally fantastic brushes across a huge range, from £20 to several hundred pounds. Models like the Persian Jar, Polo, Chubby, Milk Churn and Wee Scot are classics. I have just two Simpson’s brushes. Buy them at good prices here.
If you want to spend lots of money then Plisson in France (which Napoleon used) make exquisite bulb shaped brushes from European badger for several hundred pounds.

Horse used to be the most used brush hair before anthrax scares moved people onto boar bristle. They are fantastic brushes and have the benefit that no animals are harmed in making them, the hairs come from natural grooming.
This Turkish brush for just $2.45 is simply amazing. The biggest bargain in shaving. The detail finish is not perfect but the brush really performs.
Next up are Vie Long from Spain which you can buy here.  About 10 Euros will get you an excellent “Barber Brush” (which I have), a few Euros more and you are into their very nice branded range.

Synthetic brushes are useful in that they dry out instantly so are good for travelling. There are two sorts.
Firstly there are the simple nylon strand brushes. The £5.50 Body Shop model is a perfect example.
Then there is “synthetic badger”. The theory is that these all come from Omega in Italy, no matter what brand names is on them. They are £30+ and they are excellent.

For a bit of further reading there is Fido’s shaving brush blog  which you can find in the blogroll on the right here.

Razors.

Different razors perform and handle completely differently to each other, like different cars. And there are adjustable razors that are a bit like having a gearbox, you can alter the thickness of each slice of hair that they take, but the fundamental characteristics of that razor don’t change.
As ever I can’t over-emphasise that the choice is personal. What you use and how you use it is entirely up to you, the options are infinite. This is the exact opposite of what the big global shaving companies try and impose on you with their patent protected multibladed system razors.
There are two main routes you can go down, vintage razor or current production razor, let’s deal with them separately.

Vintage razors.
These are rocketing in value. But ask round friends and family and see what turns up.
With over 100 years of production there are a lot of different models to choose from but most are made by Gillette.
The Tech is a simple three part razor. Handle and two part head that just screw together. Often found in travel kits. Gives a very good and mild shave. Plentiful and cheap, everyone should have one.
The Super Speed is a succession of models with twist to open butterfly doors. These are the backbone of the traditional shaving revival. Mild shavers except for the model with a red tip to its handle which is a medium shaver.
The adjustables. Fat boy, Slim and Super Adjustable. Just dial in the aggression you want. Between passes or mid pass. Less common and going up in value fast.
There are plenty more but these are the main ones. Avoid old razors with toothed heads, except to collect till later.

Current production.
Start with a Weishi off eBay or a Wilkinson Sword Classic in black delrin from Boots for less than £5. These are very mild and won’t bite. Even when you are up the learning curve they are still good for a buffing and polishing third pass. There are also the Lord razors from Egypt which are less mild and which are exceptional value. Then there are the Edwin Jagger razors that have taken over from the Merkur 34C to become the “standard” traditional razor. The new Edwin Jagger head, which they seemingly co-developed with Muhle in Germany, is amazing. It feels bullet proof, as if it will never bite, yet it very effectively and effortlessly slices through the stubble. It is easy enough for beginners yet rewards the more experienced. And the razor is beautifully made, a real piece of craftsmanship and engineering for about £20.
If you want to spend more get an iKon, handmade in Thailand, buy the tooth headed model. More money still and you want the Mergress conversion of the Merkur Progress adjustable. Made in small batches you go on a waiting list, they sell out in one hour once released. Finally there is the Feather Stainless Steel from Japan which is yet more expensive.
When you get expert you might want to try a Merkur Slant Bar, probably the most powerful shaving tool known to man. So efficient that they are perfect for people with very strong beard growth and sensitive skin.
There are plenty of others like the Joris and the Goodfella but the above list is IMHO a good guide.

Blades.

These are critical, because they do the cutting and there is a lot of difference between the different brands.
The three characteristics to look for are sharpness, smoothness and blade life. Like everything else to do with traditional shaving the experience is personal and varies from person to person. Some make a Feather blade last one shave, some make it last nine. Also different blades behave differently in different models of razor. The sharper the blade the better, then it can cut your stubble with the least trauma to your face.

Supermarket blades tend to be Personna, from Israel and Wilkinson Sword, from Germany. These are perfectly good blades and cannot really be faulted. However DE blades are so cheap that it is normal to buy them in 100s off eBay or from specialist retailers like Connaught, who also do sampler packs which are a really good idea as they allow you to try different blades to find out what works for you.

Probably the best razor blades that you can buy are the dozen or so brands that come out of Petersburg Products International (PPI) in Russia, that is 65% owned by Gillette. These include Astra, Sputnik, Permasharp, Polsilver, Rotbart, Nacet, Minora and the several different variations of the Gillette brand. They have just discontinued making Iridiums which were pretty legendary in the shaving community.

Gillette also makes DE blades in Vietnam, India and Brazil. These have excellent reputations but not as good as PPI.

Feather and Kai blades from Japan are immensely sharp but less smooth than PPI blades. Also they are very expensive. A Feather blade in a slant bar razor is supposed to be the absolute ultimate way to shave!
Lord in Alexandria, Egypt make several billion good quality blades a year under several brand names. Shark is the one with the best reputation. Though they are probably all the same!
Derby from Turkey are smooth and regarded as a good beginners blade, as are Personna from Israel. But you would probably be better off with a PPI blade.
If you want the best value for money then get Super-Max from Vidyut Metallics Limited in India, the world’s second biggest blade manufacturer. These are good and can be picked up at half the price of PPI blades.

One to avoid IMHO is Merkur blades from Germany, which are not as good as their razors.

Finally there is the shavepocalypse. The time when because of reducing demand the DE production lines are closed down. This has become more likely with the launch of the very low cost Gillette Guard system razor for developing countries which is targeted at DE users. This is why many traditional shavers have a stash of thousands of blades. They don’t cost much and take little space. Also they shoot up in value when a brand is discontinued as we have seen with Personna 74s, Gillette “Swedes” and now with Iridiums.

This article gives you a good place to start, but the choice out there is close to infinite, which is part of the joy of traditional shaving. So experiment, try different things and use what works best for you, even if it doesn’t work for anyone else!

Yet more on the three razor method

Firstly a quick recap. Like many I shave with three passes, with the three razor method I select a razor for each pass that is optimised for the job. This, quite obviously really, gives a quicker and better shave and the few people who have tried it agree.

This is very definitely not the same as using an adjustable razor and turning it down between each pass. There is far more to how a razor works than just mere blade exposure. So by selecting a different razor for each pass you get to use a whole pile of characteristics that are optimised for what you are doing.

One feature of the three razor method is that the blades last a very long time because they are only being asked to do a third of the work, it is only now that I have needed to change my blades again, so I have decided to try a different set of razors as well.

The right tool for each job

The first time I tried the 3 razor method I used the following combination:
1) Merkur 39C Slant Sledgehammer with Iridium blade.
2) Edwin Jagger DE89L with Iridium blade.
3) Weishi with Iridium blade.

Next it was time to experiment with the blade as well as the razor:
1) Mergress opened out to 5+ with a Feather New High-Stainless blade.
2) Eclipse Red Ring with an Iridium Super blade.
3) Wilkinson Sword Classic with a Personna Platinum blade.

This was interesting, there is definitely some merit in using different blades as well as different razors. The disappointment here was the Eclipse Red Ring which for the second pass, reducing, job was not as good as the Edwin Jagger DE89L. The revelation was the Wilkinson Sword Classic, Personna combination which could buff and polish away with gay abandon. And the Mergress was just brilliant, but then so was the 39C, both relentlessly despatching lots of stubble in very short order indeed.

So now it is time to experiment with vintage Gillette razors with the following combination:
1) Gillette long handled Super Adjustable turned up to 9 with a Kai blade. The Super Adjustable has a far wider range of adjustment than the earlier Fat Boy and Slim models and it is one of my favourite all round razors. The Kai blade is extremely sharp and in this razor it is free to do what it does best. A powerful combination.
2) Gillette red tipped Super Speed with an Astra Superior Stainless blade. The red tip is the most aggressive Super Speed but compared with the first pass razors that I have been using it is still fairly mild. The Astra is a Petersburg Products International blade so is both smooth and sharp, it could very well just be an Iridium in a different wrapper. This combination has to be very effective for a reducing second pass.
3) 1930s fat handled Gillette Tech (with the triangular cut outs) and a Super Max blade. These early Techs are not quite so mild as the later ones but they are still very benign. The Super Max blade is also not so aggressive, so this should be a good buffing and polishing combination.

After a couple of shaves this is working very well indeed, the red tipped Super Speed/Astra combination standing out in the reducing, second pass, role. This is all very interesting and great fun. Obviously my experiences and opinions are personal to me. Different combinations and methods may well work better for you. This is part of the joy of traditional shaving, we have near infinite choice to use what is best just for ourselves.

Gillette in proposed $7.5 million settlement for alleged false and misleading marketing

Firstly here is the offending advertisement:

Here is the website about the settlement.

And here is the press release about it:

If You Acquired a Gillette M3Power Razor Between May 1, 2004 and October 31, 2005 You May Be Entitled to Benefits from a Class Action Settlement

There is a proposed class action settlement with The Gillette Company in a class action lawsuit called In re M3Power Razor System Marketing & Sales Practices Litigation.

The lawsuit claims that Gillette’s advertisements stating that the M3Power Razor (“M3P”) “raises or stimulates hair up and away from the skin” were false and misleading and violated consumer-related laws in the USA and Canada. In mid-2005, Gillette deleted those representations from its ads.  The proposed Settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing or an indication that any law was violated.  The Court has not ruled on the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims or on the defenses made by Gillette.  Gillette denies the allegations but agreed to the proposed Settlement to resolve this class action.  This lawsuit is not about the safety of the M3Power Razor.

The proposed Settlement provides $7,500,000 to benefit Settlement Class Members who obtained an M3P in the USA between May 1, 2004 and September 30, 2005 and in Canada between May 1, 2004 and October 31, 2005. M3Ps purchased for re-sale are not included.

The proposed Settlement will provide Settlement Class Members who submit a valid, timely claim with either a refund (a minimum of $13 US or $16.25 Canadian, depending on the place of purchase) for their M3P, or up to two $5 US rebates (up to a total of $10 US, or the equivalent in Canadian dollars) for any M3Power blades and/or any Fusion or Fusion ProGlide razor purchased before May 2, 2011, or a new Gillette manual men’s razor as a replacement, and other relief.

Claims are limited to one per person and three per household.  If claims exceed the amount available for benefits, there will be no benefit for replacement razors and the refunds and rebates will be reduced in proportion.  If claims do not exceed the amount available, additional benefits may be distributed.

Ben Barnow, Barnow and Associates, P.C. and Robert M. Rothman, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP have been appointed as Settlement Class Counsel.  If approved, Gillette will pay fees, costs, and expenses of Settlement Class Counsel, as well as incentive awards to the individuals who brought the lawsuit.  These amounts will not be deducted from the proposed Settlement.  You may hire your own attorney, if you wish, at your own expense.

If you do not want to be legally bound by the proposed Settlement, you must exclude yourself in writing, postmarked by March 4, 2011, and sent to the Settlement Administrator at the address below.  If you stay in the Settlement Class, you may file a claim. Claims must be postmarked by May 2, 2011.  You may object to any aspect of the proposed Settlement.  Objections must be postmarked by March 4, 2011.  You also may request in writing to appear at the Final Fairness Hearing, which will be held on March 25, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts will consider whether the proposed Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate and the motion for attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses. The Court will also consider objections at that time.

This is only a summary of the proposed Settlement.  For a more detailed Notice, a copy of the Settlement Agreement, and how to file a claim: call: 1-877-506-4030, visit: http://www.m3powersettlement.com, or write to:  M3Power Settlement, P.O. Box 2302, Faribault, MN 55021-9002.

The 1940s Gillette Super Speeds. My birth razor

Gillette Super Speeds. Red Tip, Flare Tip, Blue Tip

I have written on here before about the Gillette Super Speed razors, but mainly the Flare Tip version that was available from 1954 to 1966 and its short lived Red Tip (aggressive) and Blue Tip (mild) derivatives that were available from 1955 to 1959. These are excellent razors with Twist to Open (TTO) mechanisms and they are part of the bedrock of the real shaving movement today.

Gillette Super Speeds. Red Tip, Flare Tip, Blue Tip

However they were preceded by a model which is known as the 1940s Super Speed. This was made in small quantities during World War 2, from 1942 to 1945 and production was ramped up in 1946 and kept going till 1954. Interestingly this was one of the razors that saw the introduction of date codes, stamped on the bottom of the razor head, from the third quarter of 1950. These codes run from 1 to 4 for the quarter of production and have a letter for the year. 1950 was V, 1951 was W and 1952 was X, which is of interest to me because an X3 Gillette razor would be my birth razor.

Gillette Milord, 1940s Super Speed, Black Tip Super Speed

There were two anomalies of 1940s Super Speed production. The first was that when they replaced the standard nickel plating with gold plating they renamed the razor. It became the Milord. The second was the effects of the Korean war. This used up immense quantities of brass for making artillery shells, to such an extent that there was a strategic shortage of brass in 1951 and 1952 which was the worst that America had ever seen. This hit Gillette especially as their razors were mostly nickel plated brass, so they were forced to adapt to the circumstances.

This is what led to the Black Tip Super Speed, which was only made for these two years. It was made with either a steel handle (the only steel handled razor that Gillette ever made in the USA) or an aluminium handle. On both of these versions the TTO knob at the bottom of the handle was made from black plastic (unlike the later Red Tip and Blue Tip models which had painted metal TTO knobs).

Gillette Black Tip X3 birthday razor

Despite their comparative rarity, interesting history and the fact that they are one of the best shavers Gillette ever made these razors still sell for comparatively low prices. They just aren’t in fashion, which suited me down to the ground when I went hunting for my X3 birth razor Black Tip on eBay. The one I found is a steel handled version in immaculate, almost unused, condition and it cost me just $7.99 (£4.93) and like most of my vintage Gillettes it crossed the Atlantic in a jiffy bag.

Razors photographed:
B2 Super Speed Red Tip 1956
J4 Super Speed Flare Tip 1964
C1 Super Speed Blue Tip 1957
No code Milord
No code 1940s Super Speed
X3 Super Speed Black Tip 1952

Both the “no code” razors have a notched centre bar so are 1948 or later.

Sleeping with the enemy. The Gillette Guard razor

History can teach us many lessons and this applies to shaving as much as anything else. Until the 20th century anyone who could be bothered to shave (many didn’t) used a straight edged cut throat razor, or more normally went to a barber who used one. But then King Camp Gillette achieved one of the greatest marketing coup d’états in history. Towards the end of World War One America decided to join in and sent millions of troops to the European trenches, they were each supplied with a Gillette safety razor (you can still buy these sets on eBay). Once these soldiers got home they didn’t want to know about cut throat razors any more and the word spread. Very quickly indeed the double edged (DE) razor took over. It was a sudden shavepocalypse for the cut throat but these dramatic looking razors still linger on amongst niche hobbyists.

Gillette (now owned by Procter & Gamble) makes its most money from having a monopoly in supplying blades for its patent protected razors. In the 1930s the patents on DE razors and blades ran out, so anyone could make them. Gillette responded by adding patent protected features to their razors, such as aggressiveness adjustability, but still anyone could manufacture the blades to go in them. It was not until 1971 with the two bladed Trac II that Gillette created a new patent protected blade supply monopoly.

Nowadays in the developed world Gillette are by far the dominant supplier of shaving equipment with their Mach3 and Fusion razors, however they have a problem with the developing world, where most of the world’s shavers live. About half the world’s population live on less than a dollar a day so they just don’t have the money to buy blades for Mach3s and Fusions. What they do have money for is DE shaving, which is inexpensive precisely because it is not patent protected. But DE razor blades are a commodity item that anyone can make so there is not much profit there.

Gillette have answered this conundrum with a stroke of sheer genius. They have engineered a patent protected system razor specifically for the developing world. It has just enough features to differentiate itself as a superior product to the DE razors it competes against yet clever design makes it and its blades very low cost to the end user and even lower cost to manufacture. This could very easily be the most significant event in shaving since Jean-Jacques Perret invented the safety razor in 1762. And it is called the Guard.

Gillette have very definitely set themselves up to replace DE shaving here. Here it is in their own words: “Gillette Guard is a breakthrough new shaving system designed to provide a safe, high-quality shave at an affordable price for more than one billion men in emerging markets who today shave with double-edge razors.” This is a huge threat for Western DE shavers, we rely on the huge mass of DE shavers in the developing world to assure our supply of razor blades. If the developing world does as Gillette wants and shifts over to the Guard then it could be shavepocalypse time for us.

Obviously the Gillete Guard merited a closer look so as soon as they (inevitably) came up on eBay I ordered a pack containing four razors, each with a blade and eight additional blades. All of this cost me $6 (£3.72). And now I have had a good chance to play with them. They are masterpieces of engineering design and production. Every fraction of an ounce counts when you are going to make billions of something and when price is one of the main drivers. So the Guard has, according to Gillette, 80% fewer parts than a Western system razor and it is evident that it is constructed just heavily enough for permanent use and not to be a disposable.

The razor itself is just two pieces of plastic (a top and a bottom) glued together, the tuning fork ends splay out to form the hinge and are squeezed to get the cartridge on and off. You couldn’t make it any simpler. The cartridge is just one piece of plastic with 4 little hot weld on it where the tiny sliver of steel that makes up the single blade is located. There is so little steel in this that it wouldn’t surprise me if Gillette can make one of these shave heads for less cost than they can make a DE blade. So just four components are needed to make up the entire shaving system.

Now lets look at the features and benefits that Gillette hope are going to make hundreds of millions of men make the switch over from DE to the Guard. Here they are, once again in Gillette’s own words:

  • Comb Guard: The revolutionary Comb Guard feature, first time ever on a razor, helps to automatically manage skin bulge on the face and serves to flatten the skin for a safe shave while minimizing the risk of nicks and cuts. Comb Guard is designed to reduce cuts and irritation, even when you press the razor while shaving. Whereas a double edge blade might cut, if you press it slightly hard against the skin.
  • No clogging: The blade on Gillette Guard can be rinsed conveniently, enabling cut hair to be easily washed away. Thus, facilitating the consumer to experience a more hygienic shave.
  • Swivel head: Gillette Guard has a flexible, swivel razor head that helps in maneuvering around the curves on the face and neck during a shave.  The swivel head of Gillette Guard enables the consumer to cut hair in the area under the nose – a fairly difficult area for a user of double-edge blade to shave because the ordinary razor does not have a swivel head.
  • Ease of cartridge change: The single squeeze cartridge loading system  of the Gillette Guard, a simple squeeze two-point intuitive docking – is an innovation in design that makes it  much easier to change the blade of a Gillette Guard with less steps compared to fitting a double-edge blade to an ordinary razor.
  • Enhanced glide while shaving: The grooves on the cartridge of Gillette Guard above the blade helps to hold in water during the shave in order to enhance the razor glide. Whereas Double edge razors have no such provision.
  • User-friendly handle design: The Gillette Guard handle has also been designed to meet the needs of the consumer during and after shaving. The ergonomically designed handle enables the user to experience ease of maneuverability during shaving. This ribbed and lightweight handle will help the consumer to have better control while shaving, even when it is wet. The broader and thicker end of the razor handle is the rinse grip feature that enables consumers to hold it vertically while rinsing the razor. There is also a “hang hole” at the end of the razor handle that enables consumers to hang it to dry after shaving.

I have to say that I hope that Gillette haven’t patented the comb guard and the grooves above the blade. In their marketing spiel above they say “first time ever on a razor” and “Double edge razors have no such provision” yet if you look at the pictures of my 70 year old Eclipse Red Ring DE razor you can see what to me look like the same features.

So how does the Guard shave? The first thing you notice is that the handle feels very long, this must have been done deliberately as a differentiator from DE razors. The head swivels nice and freely to adopt the position that Gillette’s boffins want it to. Then it shaves quickly and easily, there is no getting away from the fact that it is ridiculously easy to use compare with a DE razor. But it is not anywhere near as fast as the Hydro system razor I used the other day. But then the shave head doesn’t clog up anything like as easily with the Guard. The first shave gave an OK result so I lathered up for a second pass and got an acceptable shave. Not DE good, just acceptable. It gave me two very, very small weepers in the goatee area but these were really nothing.

Just now an Indian Rupee is 1.4 British pennies, 2.3 American cents and 1.6 Euro cents. The Guard razor with one blade is priced at 19 Rupees with a 15 Rupee trial offer but obviously it will be discounted by traders, the blade cartridges (where Gillette will make their real money) are 7 Rupees with a 5 Rupee trial offer and Gillette are saying that they are good for 7 shaves. So one Rupee or less per shave, which is a lot more expensive than DE razors but a whole continent cheaper than the multibladed system razors that are prevalent in the West.

So will Gillette succeed with the Guard? With such an excellent product and with the normal Gillette marketing steamroller the answer has to be yes. The real question is how far will they succeed. Obviously they will roll this out in the Indian subcontinent, China, Africa, much of Asia and the former Soviet states. There will be pockets where the price is still too high, but generally it will be affordable. The Guard could very quickly and easily become the most used razor on earth, which must be what Gillette are planning. It is just a matter of time scale.

Gillette would be fools not to convert their DE factories over to Guard cartridge production, firstly because there will be far less demand for DE blades and secondly because the Guard cartridges will be a lot more profitable for them. So DE shavers will presumably lose a lot of the best brands of blades. It then remains a question as to whether there will be enough DE blade demand left to keep the other, non Gillette, DE blade factories open. Shavepocalypse beckons for DE shavers, time to build up the stash.

Wilkinson Sword (Schick) Hydro 3 & 5 system razors

Oh no, I can hear you thinking, Bruce has gone over to the dark side. But don’t worry, there is some method in my madness. The two big global system razor companies, Procter & Gamble (Gillette) and Energizer (Schick and Wilkinson Sword) make their huge profits by patenting features on their system razors which their marketing people can try and convince us are benefits. These patents give these big global companies monopolies in supplying the very expensive blade cartridges needed for their razors. But patents run out, so each of these companies is forced to bring out a succession of new models with new patents in them. Then their marketing people have to convince us that the new patented ideas are worthwhile.

Of course these marketing people are massively successful (rivalled only be De Beers and the global diamond monopoly) and many hundreds of millions of men around the world are perfectly happy to pay enormous prices on an ongoing basis for these patent protected system razor blade cartridges. In the West they are far more popular than the double edged (DE) safety razors that this blog is about. Yet the DE razor is both hugely better and hugely cheaper. It just doesn’t have the marketing billions behind it.

So now, in the patent cycle, the time has come for Energizer to try and sell us more new features in a brand new system razor, this one they are calling the Hydro. Inexplicably they sell this under two different brand names in different sales territories. In some places it is a Schick and in some places a Wilkinson Sword. This must cost them many millions every year in lost marketing synergies and in my opinion epitomises why they are number two and are likely to remain that way. Marketing is far more important than the product with these razors.

Part of the marketing billions is spent with PR companies, whose job it is to reach people who write in the media. And these days that means bloggers as well as conventional print journalists. Rightly so, my Bruce on Games blog had over 100,000 readers a month, so reached an audience larger than a lot of specialist print magazines do. All of which means that the PR companies employed by Procter & Gamble and Energizer have me as a target as a “shaving blogger”. If they actually read my blog they would  realise that I see them as being the dark side, which might dampen their enthusiasm.

Hence I received a stream of emails from the London PR company representing the Hydro inviting me to an event: “I was just wondering if you would like to join us for our special breakfast on Monday to unveil the biggest launch in Wilkinson Sword’s history. We will also have a pop up barbers shop should you wish to try the new range and have a professional shave. The lovely Nick from Shaving Shack is coming along.”. How could I refuse?

Everyone in traditional shaving knows that the best ever Wilkinson Sword razor was the legendary “Stickie” DE, which was my first ever razor. Would this PR company have one of these for comparison? Hardly likely.

To me the defining feature of a system razor is the hinge, everything else is just marketing. The hinge is supposed to keep the angle of the blade against the face constant, which makes it easier to use. So the shaver can shave with their wrist and use long strokes. A DE shaver has to manage the angle of the blade themselves, which entails shorter strokes, not using the wrist and a brief learning curve. But it gives the shaver far more control over what the razor is doing.

So what is the Hydro all about then? What “features” have they come up with that they can patent and which their marketing people can convince us are benefits? They say the razor was 6 years under development. In this time they came up with 2 main innovative features. The first is a bump that runs along the blade just behind the edge to prevent it digging in to the skin. These are called “Skin Guards”. The second feature is the replacement of the (possibly unnecessary) lubricating strip with a small tank containing a water activated lubricating gel. This is called the “Advanced Hydrating Gel Reservoir”.

Interestingly there are two versions of the Hydro. A 3 blade and a 5 blade (handily either cartridge will work on either handle). You can see exactly what has gone on here. A lot of Gillette customers haven’t upgraded from their Mach 3 razors to the Fusion, presumably they think that 3 blades are enough. They have a point because anything more than 3 blades tends to be very clunky and the cartridges sell for even more extortionate prices. So Energizer need to compete against both the Mach 3 and the Fusion if they are to switch customers over. On the Hydro 3 packaging there is a sticker that says “Shaves Better Than Mach 3″, which gives the game away.

On the Hydro 5 you get the bonus feature of an “Advanced Hydrating Gel Reservoir” that clicks back to make the head less clunky. This is called the “Flip Trimmer” and is handy for allowing the blades to reach the stubble under your nose. Unfortunately clicking it back stops the cartridge hinge working, so the blade has its pivoting action hindered or stopped completely, which goes against the fundamental mechanism and philosophy of these razors.

So let’s look at the system razor market. Basically Procter & Gamble own it with the Gillette Fusion and Mach 3, they must be very disappointed that so many of their customers have stuck with the Mach 3, but they are still making big profits from them, it is just that those profits are less big than if the customers “upgraded” to the Fusion. Energizer are a fraction of the size with their Schick/Wilkinson Sword Quattro, introduced in 2003, which is a bit clunky to use. Then there is the plucky young upstart King of Shaves with their Azor razor which is fundamentally cheaper and easier to manufacture because it uses a simple hinge in the handle for its pivoting mechanism.

This makes the Hydro a critical product. They could end up as the meat in the sandwich between the more expensive Fusion and the cheaper Azor. Or they could take market share out of both. When the Hydro was launched in America it had a brief honeymoon as the best selling razor in the market. However this party was soon rained on when Gillette launched (with a massive budget) a new version of the Fusion with more “features” called the ProGlide. In the UK the ProGlide will be launched early next year in what Procter & Gamble are promising will be the biggest consumer launch of the year. So for every pound that Energizer have spent marketing the Hydro, Procter & Gamble might spent five pounds marketing the ProGlide. And when it comes to shaving the customers buy what the marketing people tell them to buy, so this bigger spend will be everything. And of course the reason they have so much marketing spend is because of the huge profitability of those patent protected multibladed cartridges. The shaver pays for all those TV adverts and celebrity fees every time they shave.

Now I thought I would do something radical and look at the real technology of these razors. Gillette use a simple pin pivot just behind the razor head, Schick/Wilkinson pivot using a semi circular track which puts the pivot point somewhere about the surface of the skin. This latter mechanism has to be better because the head is more free to follow the face’s profiles. The Azor uses a handle hinge so the cartridge moves through an arc, rather than a pivot, which to me looks a less pure, but cheaper, engineering solution. Not that you need any pivot at all as billions of double edged shavers have proven over the last 100+ years.

The next big difference is that the individual blades on the Fusion and the Azor are mounted on springs, so move up way from the cutting zone when subject to any pressure. When you consider that these blades have zero exposure and are buried within a plastic cartridge it strikes me that this could be counter productive, it could work towards preventing the blades from actually giving a close shave. Schick/Wilkinson Sword on the other hand mount their blades rigidly and rely on their “Skin Guards” to make their razor as foolproof as their competitors’ razors.

So if these multibladed cartridge based system razors are a good idea, which to me is a dubious proposition, then Schick/Wilkinson Sword seem to have technological superiority in two very key areas. All in my humble opinion, of course.

Now we come down to what they are like to use. I lathered up using a brush and Williams shaving soap then used the Hydro 3 on one side of my face and the Hydro 5 on the other side of my face. As you would expect from system razors they were ridiculously easy to use and very, very fast with no sign of even the slightest razor burn or nicks. A Chimpanzee could easily use one of these. They both clogged up very quickly and needed frequent rinsing, just like all multibladed razors.

The “Advanced Hydrating Gel Reservoir” was a bit too much, making the face all gloopy, other users report that it is more successful with the lower grade lathers you get with an aerosol gel or foam. And it didn’t work till it had a couple of seconds exposure to moisture, so it would be best to dip the razor head in the water before using it. There was no noticeable difference in the efficacy of the Hydro 5 over the Hydro 3, just that the 5 was a bit more clunky to use. As ever with a system razor the shave was not particularly close so I lathered up again and finished the job off with my Eclipse Red Ring, a 70 year old double edged razor.

Energizer are taking advantage of their huge investment in launching the Hydro brand to piggy back a whole range of men’s grooming products. Two aerosol gels (sensitive and moisturising) and a foam, and of more interest to the traditional shaver a shaving cream and a balm. However the cream contains Methylparaben, Propylparaben and Triethanolamine whilst the balm contains all three of these plus Ethylparaben. I have written about these chemicals before.

So who are the Hydro 3 & 5 razors for? Anyone who wants a quick and easy (but not the best) shave who is prepared to shell out a fair bit of money every year on multibladed cartridges. So that is most men in the developed world. Of the available system razors it is probably the best of the bunch just now. The Hydro 3 is the better of the two because it is less clunky and is cheaper to buy and run. But obviously I would recommend that anyone climbs the short learning curve to use a double edged razor instead.

And what am I going to do with my freebie Hydro razors? I keep a Gillette Mach 3 in the shower for shaving bits that aren’t my face. It looks like the Hydro 3 may replace this as it seems to be the better razor. A bit more comparison is needed first, though. The Hydro 5 will be kept for when I need a passable, high speed shave and haven’t the extra couple of minutes needed to do it properly with a double edged razor.

Freebies received in the making of this article:
Bacon rolls.
Fruit juice.
Shave by grooming expert.
Hydro 3 razor with 2 blades
Hydro 5 razor with 2 blades.
Pack of 4 Hydro 3 blades.
Pack of 4 Hydro 5 blades.
Hydro shaving foam aerosol.
Hydro sensitive gel aerosol.
Hydro moisturising gel aerosol.
Hydro shave cream.
Hydro after shave balm.

How double edged razor blades are made

The true genius of the double edged razor blade is how it is bent over and held in tension within the razor. This simple engineering technique allows the blade edge to be held very firmly in a precise position whilst using the minimum amount of steel in that blade. Hence double edged blades can be extremely thin and a thousand of them only weigh a few ounces. However this is still a massive amount of steel compared to multibladed system razors that only have an edge about 1mm deep made of steel which is then mounted in plastic.

Double edged blades have been in manufacture for over 100 years (though it was only in the 1930s that they became as thin as they are today) so their production is not rocket science. However putting a superb edge (for that is what is needed) on such a thin piece of steel in a mass manufacturing process is not easy.

Most of the world’s razors are made in a very small handful of factories around the world such as Gillette in Manuas, Brazil and St Petersburg, Russia, Vidyut in Bombay, India and Lord in Alexandria, Egypt. The manufacturing processes are proprietary and partly secret. The plants are capital intensive, contain a lot of technology and run at very high speed. The above video shows the processes (if you don’t blink!) and I will try and explain them.

Now for a disclaimer. This is not an academic paper and I am not a manufacturing engineer, this is just a blog article that looks at some of the processes involved. Factories will have more and different processes and will carry them out in different sequences. Also no razor factories changed hands in the writing of this article.

Stainless steel strip for making razor blades

The process starts with drawing blade strips, the width of an individual blade, from large spools of steel. This steel is always a compromise between cost, the ability to take an edge, the ability to keep that edge, corrosion resistance and behaviour under heat treatment, plus a number of other factors. Stainless blade steel is a martensitic stainless steel with a composition of chromium of between 12 and 14.5% and a carbon content of approximately 0.6%. For a lot of the developing world cheaper carbon steel is often used.

The steel strips are like a long belt and go through a high speed punching machine to create the blade blanks, this removes the complex centre shape of the blade and the four locators in the corners, a job which requires great precision yet which a machine can do a thousand times or more in a minute. So one production line makes ten years supply of blades for an individual in 60 seconds.

The belt of blanks then go through a hardening and tempering process that involves heating and cooling the steel down repeatedly as it passes through furnaces. This is a tricky process if such thin steel is not to distort as it is subject to the temperature changes.

Next the belt of blanks goes through an etching machine to put the brand on each blade and a varnishing process to protect the blade from corrosion before the belt is broken up into individual blades.

Each blade then needs to have its edges ground by progressively finer grinding wheels, then polished and finally honed. The honing, which produces the final super sharp edge is done with animal leather. The edges then go through a vapour deposition coating/metal spray/sputtering process  that adds a few molecules of titanium nitride, platinum or whatever proprietary cocktail to enhance its qualities. There are secrets here.

The finished blades then go through QA, which is why they often have the numbers 1 to 4 on them, it identifies which particular machine may be at fault if there is a problem. At this stage blades might be graded into different brands. The blades are then boiled and dried to clean and disinfect them before being packed.

It is amazing that all this work and technology results in blades that cost as little as $1 per 100, such is the sheer scale of the process.

Multibladed system razor cartridge blades are made in a similar process but are scored part way through just after the punching machine process, thus allowing the edges to be snapped off later down the production line and for the bulk of the steel to be recycled.

The 5 top tips for traditional shaving

Wander round the online shaving forums and you come across lots of beginners asking the same questions again and again. Whilst some may find this a tedious misuse of bandwidth there is no denying that it shows that lots of new people are being attracted over from the dark side. So, for these people, I thought that I would write down the 5 key, most critical bits of information that they need to take on board as they venture up the traditional shaving learning curve. Obviously it is possible to write a book on the subject, but these 5 tips contain much of the distilled knowledge that is critical for the enjoyment and pleasure that traditional techniques bring to this daily ritual.

1) Make sure that your stubble is waterlogged. When dry it is as strong as copper wire, when fully waterlogged it loses as much as 80% of this strength. The easiest way to ensure this is to shave after or in the shower, it is generally reckoned that it takes 3 minutes from first getting wet for the stubble to become shaveable. If you find that your shave gets easier as it progresses you have started too soon. Obviously this applies whatever form of wet shaving you are doing.

2) Control the angle. The multibladed system razors have pivoting shave heads that control the blade angle, with a double edged razor you must do this for yourself. The downside is a short learning curve, the upside is much more control of how the blade works on your skin. Start with the handle at 90 degrees to your skin and tilt it over, whilst moving the razor across your skin until you reach that sweet spot where it munches effortlessly through your stubble. Good techniques to ensure good angle control are to only make short razor strokes and to move the razor with your arm, not with your wrist.

3) No pressure. This is a huge difference between system razors and double edged razors. System razors have their blades buried within a cartridge, so shavers tend to apply pressure to get them to work. Double edged razors have blade exposure so they don’t need any pressure, just keep the razor head in contact with the face and concentrate on removing the lather. It is counter intuitive to start with, but using pressure will give you a worse shave because you are distorting your skin before and underneath the shave head.

4) Watch the Mantic59 videos on YouTube. I have been saying this consistently since I first started this blog which is why a link is on the blogroll here. These videos are just brilliant. They cover lots of different aspects of shaving and you can’t beat seeing everything demonstrated by an expert. It is almost essential to watch these, they will make you confident and relaxed and move you very quickly up the learning curve.

5) Do it your way. When you escape from the patent protected walled garden of the global shaving companies and their expensive multibladed system razors you discover the heady and intoxicating experience of freedom. So take advantage of this freedom and do it your way. Some internet shave bores are nearly as bad as the big shaving companies, insisting that theirs is the only true path. Ignore them. Experiment a lot and find out what works for you. If that involves using peanut butter as shaving cream then fine. Just do it, and don’t let anyone tell you that you are wrong.

Much of the rest, like making a lather, is either common sense or trial and error. The important thing is that shaving needn’t be the daily chore of the multibladed system razor. Instead it can be something special and enjoyable.

The global nature of real shaving kit

One of the really bad things about the multibladed system razors is that they try and force a communist like conformity. Supposedly we are all the same and must all use exactly the same pieces of equipment in order to shave. System shaving is living in a patent protected walled garden that has been engineered to maximise the profits of big global companies.

Traditional, real shaving is the exact opposite. An explosion of choice from all around the world so you can customise every pass in every shave to suit you. With such a diversity and quality of products that we are truly pampered. Yet because we are not paying for expensive patent protected monopolies the prices are far more reasonable.

Making most shaving equipment is not rocket science, the double edged safety razor has been around for over 100 years, so much of what we use can be made in the developing countries and/or by small artisan companies. In fact it is the developing countries where the vast majority of the world’s DE shavers reside. It is their use of this kit that creates the massive volumes that enable us to buy so much good stuff so cheaply.

And then there is the enormous globe shrinking power of the interwebs. The communication this provides mean that everybody in the world has the potential to have perfect knowledge all the time. This has powered the explosion in traditional shaving in the West. Anyone who is interested does not have to stumble alone in the dark, they can go online and share with tens of thousands of like minded others from all around the world. Not only that, it is so easy to buy and sell stuff virtually anywhere, shaving kit is mostly light in weight which stops the postal charges from being punitive and PayPal and credit cards ease transactions.

We are just so lucky, the world is our oyster and our playground in a way that previous generations would not have believed. So it would be churlish not to take advantage by experimenting with and buying from everywhere. So let’s go for a little trip to look at some of what is available (in no particular order).

United Kingdom. Lots of active companies, making some brilliant kit. Edwin Jagger razors are rightly very popular. Brushes also come from them and also from Kent, Rooney, Mason Pearson, Culmak etc. Some fabulous shaving creams and soaps come from the famous St James’s grooming brands and also from Mitchells’s Wool Fat, Castle Forbes, Body Shop, Creightons, Coates etc etc. A plethora of riches really.

Isle of Man. This small island nation in the middle of the Irish sea is of immense importance to traditional shavers because it is where the very best shaving brushes come from with the famous Simpson’s range. The company that make them also make the value oriented Vulfix brushes and own label brushes which are sold under the brand names of lots of different companies.

New Zealand. Earn a mention for their very nicely crafted Goodfella razor.

India. Home to hundreds of millions of traditional shavers it is hardly surprising that they are also home to two of the world’s biggest blade manufacturers Malhotra (Laser, Topaz, Vijay, Swish, Centwin etc) and Vidyut (Super-Max, Zorrick etc). It is also the home of Parker razors. But of most delight to Western customers is the plethora of fantastic, high quality shaving creams, the jewel in this particular crown is Godrej and most famously their Menthol Mist, something that really has to be tried.

Vietnam. Gillette have a factory here that makes DE blades. But what is really special are Kimson shaving brushes (that I have written about before) which are exquisite and beautiful handmade works of art made mainly from buffalo horn.

China. The other huge market in the world and even more prolific than India at manufacturing. They make lots of different razors, which I have written about elsewhere and have a bewildering array of razor blade brands. But their main claim to fame in the global real shaving market is badger hair shaving brushes. Badgers are conserved in the West but culled as vermin in China, so they have lots of badger hair to export. Being entrepreneurial, having cheap labour and access to the raw materials, much of this is sold as manufactured knots which are used by just about every brand of shaving brush in the world. Now, because of eBay, it is possible for individuals to buy brushes directly from China cutting out the middleman and the expensive brand names. So what was a very expensive luxury item for the elite can now be bought by anyone for just a few dollars. Something that some people are finding difficult to take on board.

United States of America. Home to the big global shaving companies, Procter & Gamble (Gillette) and Energizer (Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Personna etc) whose sheer marketing horsepower nearly eliminated traditional shaving. But the fight back is on with artisan companies producing razors, brushes and soaps/creams. However the biggest attraction of America for an international traditional shaving audience is as a source of vintage razors. Nearly all my classic Gillettes crossed the Atlantic in a Jiffy bag.

Australia. Like most countries Australia have their own shaving soaps and creams. But the real gem are the gorgeous Bryce artisan shaving brushes that are something special. You will find his account on eBay as “theshavingbrush”.

Spain. I have written about Spanish swag before, as a frequent visitor there I have had some good buys. Pre-eminent in many people’s eyes are the La Toja range of shaving sticks, shaving soaps, balm and after shave. Also Vie-Long are one of the world’s premier shaving brush manufacturers.

Portugal. Brought to our attention by the action of Semogue and their fantastic brushes and by Musgo Real shaving soap.

France. L’Occitaine and Pré de Provence soap, Joris razors and Plisson brushes are just typical of the French luxury goods industry. But there is excellent stuff at sensible prices, Monsavon shaving soap, for instance, is more than a bit special. And then there is Thiers-Issard a cutlery company who make Sabatier knives, cut throat razors and some of the very finest shaving brushes that money can buy.

Italy. Omega brushes are excellent and available worldwide, as are the soaps and creams of Cella, Valobra and Proraso which are world class.

Germany. A powerhouse in traditional shaving. Razors from Merkur have been the backbone of the movement for years and Muhle and Pils also make excellent razors. There are a plethora of blade manufacturers including Merkur (again), Apollo, Feintechnik, Souplex and Timor. Famous soaps include Tabac, Speick and Sir Irisch Moos and brushes come from Muhle, H L Thäter and shavemac.

South Africa. Here we have The National Match Company factory in Cape Town that makes double edged safety razors and the blades to go in them. Unfortunately they are little known of outside Africa.

Russia. Home to the factory that makes some of the best double edged blades that money can buy (but for how long?) with Petersburg Products International. Also there are Rapira blades from Moscow. But an area where Russia really shines, without most shaving enthusiasts realising it, is shaving creams. There are a huge range, all excellent. Tet-a-tet, Everest, Nord Ost, Phyto Expert, Svoboda and Comme il Faut are just some of what are easily available there but difficult to find here.

Thailand. Must be included for the excellent iKon razors, one of the best made in the world today.

South Korea. Home of Dorco razor blades and Tweezerman brushes.

Turkey. Traditional wet shaving is big here amongst their 73 million people so there is a lot that is made here including Derby and Bluebird blades, excellent Arko shaving soaps and Jaguar brushes. It is also an good place (alongside Spain) to buy horse hair shaving brushes.

Japan. Here are made some of the sharpest blades, Feather and Kai. Also Feather make the razors to put their blades in.

Egypt. In Alexandria is Lord who are one of the world’s big manufacturers of blades and razors which are sold under an array of different brand names and which are very widely exported.

Israel. Home of a big Personna blade factory that also produces under the Crystal brand name.

That is not the lot, obviously things like shaving creams and soaps are very easily made in just a kitchen, so they can be made just about anywhere. From my own experience it is well worth experimenting and trying the less well known, even if it takes a bit of effort to get hold of it. Some online lemmings deride the non mainstream, but that is their loss.

Some double edged safety razor blade brands

Once again this is not an academic paper, just a list of some of what is available. I have not included any supermarket own brands/re-labels. Obviously one factory can make many different brands, Petersburg Products International (PPI) for instance makes about a dozen.  Lord in Alexandria Egypt also make quite a few as do Samah in Bangladesh, Malhotra in India,  Benxi Jincheng in China and Feintechnik in Germany. It is quite easy to buy OEM blades from several different factories who will put any name you want on them, hence the plethora of obscure brands from China.

Apollo. From Solingen, Germany.

Asco. Made by Lord in Egypt.

Astra. Several different models in this brand. All from PPI.

Astor. A Bic brand for their Greek made blades.

Balaka. A Samah blade from Bangladesh.

Bic. Greek made blades from a large and well known French manufacturer.

Big Ben. Made by Lord in Egypt.

Bluebird. A second brand from Derby in Turkey.

Bolzano. Italian market blade once manufactured in Italy. Now made in Germany by Feintechnik.

Centwin. A brand of Malhotra in India who say they are the world’s largest shaving blade manufacturer.

Champion. A Samah blade from Bangladesh.

Cheetah. A Benxi Jincheng brand from China

Croma.Made in Germany by Feintechnik.

Crown. Made by Lord in Egypt.

Crystal. From the Personna factory in Israel.

Derby. Made from Swedish steel in Turkey.

Diamant. Made in Germany by Feintechnik.

Dorco. Several different models. From South Korea.

Elios. Made in Germany by Feintechnik.

Feather. Japanese.

Flying Eagle. From Shanghai Razor Blade Co., China, who also make razors.

Gillette. Several different models made in several different factories around the world. Owned by Procter & Gamble.

Gold Cow. One of several brands made by Yantai Huamei Razor Blade Co., Ltd in Shandong, China.

Happy Bird from Ningbo Fuda Blade Co., Ltd. in China.

Iridium. From PPI, production suspended.

Kai. From Japan. Are they still in production?

Laser. A brand of Malhotra in India who say they are the world’s largest shaving blade manufacturer.

Lion. From Lion Match in South Africa. They also make DE razors.

Lord. One of the big global producers of DE blades, in Egypt, under several brand names. They make razors too.

Merkur. Of Solingen, Germany. Rightly more famous for their razors.

Minora. A Gillette brand name used in Africa.

Nacet. A Gillette brand manufactured by PPI.

Panda. A Benxi Jincheng brand from China

Permasharp. These blades were originally made by a Turkish company called Permatik Celik Sanayi. Gillette bought the company and in 2003 moved production of the DE blades to PPI.

Personna. Several different models made in several different factories around the world. Now part of Energiser.

Polsilver. A Gillette/PPI brand.

Racer. Made by Lord in Egypt.

Rainbow. Made by Lord in Egypt.

Rapira. Made in Moscow, Russia by Mostochlehmash, from Swedish steel. Also use the Ladas and Voskhod brand names.

Rotbart. PPI blades for the German market.They come in Extra Dunn and Supersanft flavours.

Schick. Big global brand owned by Energiser.

Shark. Made by Lord in Egypt.

Sharp. A Samah blade from Bangladesh.

Shogun. Difficult to know what is going on here. The red packs look like a not very good Chinese blade. The black packs look like Chinese Feather rip-offs. Or maybe a genuine Feather sub brand.

Silver Star. Made by Lord in Egypt.

Souplex. Made by Medyna in Solingen, Germany.

Sputnik. A PPI blade for the Russian market.

Super-Max. From Vidyut Metallics Limited in India who say they are the world’s second largest manufacturer of razor blades.

Swish. A brand of Malhotra in India who say they are the world’s largest shaving blade manufacturer.

Timor. Made by Giesen & Forsthoff in Solingen, Germany.

Topaz. A brand of Malhotra in India who say they are the world’s largest shaving blade manufacturer.

Treet. Pakistani manufacturer with several different blade models including 3 from carbon steel.

Trig. A Treet brand from Pakistan.

Vijay. A brand of Malhotra in India who say they are the world’s largest shaving blade manufacturer.

Vincent. There is a Vincent razor from China. Maybe these blades are related.

Voskhod. Made in Moscow, Russia by Mostochlehmash.

Wilkinson. Several different models made in several different factories around the world.

Zorrick. Another brand from Vidyut in India, of Super-Max fame. You can buy these for as little as $2 per 100.

7am. A Samah blade from Bangladesh.

The Chinese situation is a little confused. It is difficult to know who is a manufacturer and who is just an intermediary, so several companies can claim to be the source of a given brand. Also several companies claim to be the biggest. Also there are lots of brands which are difficult to pin down. Also there are quite a lot of carbon steel blades that most in the West wouldn’t know how to handle. They rust if not managed properly.

If you strip the brands away back to the actual factories then it is surprising how few there are. Gillette hoovered up lots of different European brands and consolidated them into PPI, which made a big difference. The only Western European country with any diversity of manufacture left is Germany. The USA is also pretty bereft of blade manufacture.

I think a lot of what we see in this article will soon be feeling the cold chill of the Gillette Guard, companies like Malhotra and Vidyut make enormous numbers of blades and you have to wonder what their SWOT analysis is like at the moment. And of course Gillette themselves will be keen to convert their own DE manufacture over to the Guard. The Shavepocalypse is not too distant a possibility.

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