This razor was pretty sweet this morning. In fact I like these better than I do the newest ones that Gillette just recently released. So lets dive into some details and a little bit of my history with these Gillette Mach 3 standard version cartridges. Back in the early 90's, all I had to choose from was these, Gillette Atra and Trac 2, Gillette Sensor and Schick's Extreme 3 which I didn't like at that time. These tore me to shreds back then mainly because I really didn't know how to shave like I do now and I also had no choices at all when it came to traditional soaps, creams and/or brushes. All I had back then was the canned foam and gel and there wasn't much to choose from there either. There was NO Internet back then either so that meant going into either a drug store or a big box store to buy your shaving stuff and you only had maybe 4 choices of the canned foam and/or gel which has no lubrication at all. Thank God for the Internet or I would be really hurting for shaving supplies such as brushes, soaps and creams which out performs the canned goo on every level period:
This handle only cost $8 U.S. Dollars in most big box stores and it came with 2 cartridges. The costs of the Gillette Mach 3 standard are much lower now than they were about 15 years ago when they came out with their Proglides and now that they've since released the Proshield cartridges, these got even lower in costs. 10 Gillette Mach 3 standard cartridges for $21.17 U.S. Dollars and that total does include taxes. That's roughly about $3 U.S. Dollars more than what the old Gillette Atra/Trac 2 cartridges costs and it's about $4 U.S. Dollars more than the old Gillette Sensor blades currently cost now. So these are much more economical than they used to be:
These still come with a clear plastic cover that is recyclable which I'm demonstrating here in this photo. There's 3 versions of the Mach 3 cartridges. First there was these standard version which a lot of people didn't like so Gillette came out with the Turbo version which has a much better lubrication strip and comfort coating on the blades which they also claimed to be much sharper back in the mid 90's which I will find out about. The last version was the Sensitive version. I don't know too much about them at all because they only recently came out with them and as far as I know, all they really did was change the lubrication and the comfort coating on the blades which I'm pretty sure is much more milder than what they use today on both these and the Turbo versions:
Here's a better look at the plastic cover. The cost difference between the standard, turbo and sensitive versions of these blades is only about maybe $1 to $3 U.S. Dollars give or take a little:
Apart from the obvious 2 extra blades, I can definitely see and tell the differences between the two. The 1st is the fact that the Mach 3 below and on the left has a much slimmer razor head and not as wide as the Proshield is which is on the right. I needed far less touch ups with the Mach 3 because I was able to get in my trouble spots more efficiently than I was with the Proshield specifically my moustache and neck areas. Another thing that I noticed was the glide was much better with the Mach 3 because the blades are much sharper than the Proshield. The Proshields have much thinner blades and a more shallow angle than the Mach 3 does. Also take notice that the Proshield on the right has 2 lubrication strips versus the Mach 3 which only has 1 lube strip. The slightly yellow at the top and the bright yellow at the bottom of the Proshield cartridge is what Gillette is currently promoting. The Mach 3 standard also has a rubber strip at the bottom that also has ridges in it which is used to stand the hair up before the blades come in contact with the hair for a close shave. Think of how the safety bar works on DE safety razors:
These were much easier to strop due to more blade exposure, thicker blades and a stationary handle that has no "Dyson Ball" on the end of it where the cartridge attaches to the handle which makes a huge difference for the better. I don't know what Gillette was thinking with that idea:
As far as re honing these Mach 3 blades, I've not tried to as yet but I'm looking forward to my next shave with them due to how easy it was to strop these blades after my shave this morning. I'm also going to be looking at the other blades that Gillette also offers along with what Schick has to offer as well. I did consider trying Dollar Shave Club again more specifically the twin bladed version but their top of the line blades were so dull that I would have to use a full honing progression to get them where I would need to be and that could ruin them if I'm not careful which kindly defeats the purpose but I will look into it for you guys and go from there. Right now I'm just scratching the surface with the cartridge world and there's quite a few that I won't be looking at due to poor quality and the fact that they caused more irritation than anything that I've used in my lifetime.
