I have really enjoyed working through my recent sampler pack of double edged (DE) razor blades. Some of these blades I have tried in the past. But one type was new to me and I wish I had tried it sooner.
Full disclosure, my own personal shaving needs are not extreme. My facial hair is fairly fine. I skip a day here and there – especially in the days of working from home during the days of COVID-19. So a normal week would consist of 4-5 uses. But after a week I do tend to see a difference. There is a bit more drag and I notice some increased skin irritation – which I have always been susceptible to. Blades are fairly inexpensive so there is no reason to attempt to squeeze more life out of each one.
My recent go-to blades have been my Astra 100 pack. These are great blades at the incredible price of about $0.07 per blade. But it is fun to try different blades so picking up a sampler pack is always recommended. Recently I received this set of 100 blades.
It is safe to describe all these blades as quality. But often I find that they feel pretty similar to each other. Which is not a bad thing. My normal Astra blades do a great job so if the new ones also do a great job well… that’s great.
But the Gillette Platinum blades really felt different. They added a definite smoothness to my shave even on the short strokes on my lower lip to clean up my current goatee.
I learned that Gillette supplies these blades from their production facility in St Petersburg, Russia where they make a wide variety of DE blades.
They are called Platinum but they are really made of stainless steel – just like every other DE blade. They call it that because they carefully place a layer of platinum atoms on the blade. The layer is 100-400 angstroms thick. That is 0.04 microns. That is super thin…but it does the job (which is to protect from rust and harden the edge).
Bonus Info!
On a technical side note, this is accomplished by atomizing the platinum in a vacuum and making it stick to the receiving metal (the blade edge). The method is called “physical vapor deposition” and it is the same thing I used when I would prepare samples for a scanning electron microscope. But back then I used tiny amounts of gold. I ended up reviewing some of the patents on this technology, one from Gillette and one from Bic.
EP2454057 Atomic Layer Deposition Coatings on Razor. Assigned to the Gillette Company. Patent Granted April 18, 2018
EP1815040A1 Method for deposition of a layer on a razor blade edge and razor blade. Assigned to BIC Violex SA. Patent granted January, 6 2016
This is fun stuff! You will find many blades are covered with something…very often Teflon. I will have to write a separate blog post on this since I find it interesting – and you may too!
Interestingly enough, I found that these awesome Gillette Platinum blades lasted about 1 week of use (4-5 uses). So no difference vs my current Astra Blades (also platinum coated by the way)! And get this…the Astra blades are also made by Gillette in the very same factory as the Gillette Platinums. Gillette acquired the Czech company that produced the Astra blade in 1996 and have producing them in the same St Petersburg facility ever since. If interested, you can check out an earlier blog post about Gillette’s dominance in the razor market.
Wow. I just came to a revelation:
I am now convinced to never buy a 100 count pack of any DE blade. For me, it is too fun to explore different blades. I do not want to stick with one blade for 1-2 years (even at $0.07 per blade)! So I will soon pick up a 50 pack of Gillette Platinum Blades for less than $9.00 (about $0.17 per blade). See links below if interested in checking out the Sampler Pack or the Gillette Platinum Blades.
I will order them unless I find another blade I like better in this sample pack. I have a couple more brands left and I have my eye on that black Feather Hi Stainless. Never a dull moment…