Gillette Platinum Plus Part 2:

Tonight's blog post features the Fine Accoutrement's Marvel DE razor and as I suspected, this was a far superior and much more comfortable razor and blade combo than the Rockwell 6C white chrome with the #4 base plate was with these specific blades. This was just an eyelash below the Edwin Jagger DE89 in the comfort department but I can chalk that up to the massive blade gap that the Marvel has over the DE89 which makes it a far more efficient razor. The shave can be seen in my latest video over on my YouTube channel. The oversized safety bars done exactly what I predicted and provided an extremely comfortable shave.

I also wanted to show what the blade looks like out of the packaging. They went with the old school look of the 60's and 70's. First the front of the blade.

Here's the back of the blade. If you have ever seen or used Vintage Gillette blades before, then you will notice how close they came to the 1960's and 1970's version with the arrows printed on the blade. I also find it ironic that these are now vintage blades themselves.

The next part will be the final part in this series and it will feature a brand new Leaf razor which will be arriving in 2 to 3 days. Let me fill you in on what happened and has already been taken care of via private messaging over on Twitter. The original version I have now is having some mechanical issues. The thumbscrew on the back of the razor head is nearly stripped out and getting extremely weak. Plus the left side of the top plate seems to be slightly lop sided. I also had a really tough time removing the blades so I can try these Gillette Platinum Plus in the Leaf. So I contacted Adam over at Leaf shave to tell him about these issues and he informed me that the newer version has a far better thumbscrew over the original version that I have. So he has sent me a brand new Leaf razor in their new Mercury finish along with a prepaid shipping envelope to return my original Leaf razor to them. That's what I love about the Leaf. It has a lifetime warranty. So if something happens, they will replace it. I wish I had done that with my Edwin Jagger DE89.

Hot Lather?

One of my favorite experiences when I go to the barbershop is the hot towel and hot lather shave after my haircut which I will be getting sometime this week. Probably Monday to be exact. I also get asked about hot lather for a wet shave at home. Now there's 3 ways to achieve hot lather. The first way can be seen below in the form of a candle warmer which is fantastic. 

The candle warmer can be used to heat up your water to soak your brush in which is what I do while I'm in the shower getting cleaned up which makes for a great hot lather when you load your brush up. After that, I leave the coffee cup on the candle warmer during the shave between passes which not only keeps it warm, the lather continues to heat up and get hot. Sometimes it gets a little too hot but usually after the first pass, I unplug it and let it cool off. At that point, the lather is more than hot enough to retain its heat and I have no issues finishing off my shave. I also have a shave scuttle which can be seen below.

^ This specific shave scuttle I got from Straight Razor Designs which are out of business so as a result, this scuttle is no longer available. This specific one was built for face lathering and it works like a double boiler. You fill it up with water in both the brush cavity and the outer boiler and microwave it for 2.5 minutes and soak your brush while you shower before shaving. After that you empty it and refill the outer boiler with water again and microwave it for another 2.5 minutes. You should have hot lather before face lathering and the lather will continue to get hot until you get to about the 3rd pass (if you require one). Unlike the candle warmer which has its own heating element, this scuttle does not retain heat as long and the lather does not get as hot either. I've gotten many fantastic shaves with this scuttle and it's been zapped in the microwave repeatedly so if you are wondering or concerned about putting one of these or similar scuttles in the microwave, please don't be concerned or worry about it. It will not hurt it. I also have Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's Crown King Travel Scuttle which can be seen below.

^ This specific scuttle is made for bowl lathering which I am not very good at to be honest about it. You simply fill it up with water like you would with the other scuttle I mentioned earlier and remove the rubber stopper and microwave it for only 1 minutes this time around because the scuttle will get too hot to handle and build a lather in mainly due to the fact that it's a heavy duty plastic based scuttle which is a good thing. This travel scuttle has also been zapped repeatedly in the microwave on a frequent basis so no worries about it getting damaged. In fact this Crown King travel scuttle is almost indestructible. Their newer version is even stronger and tougher than this one is. Leonard over at Shaving in the Desert shot his with a shotgun which was hilarious and the scuttle still held up and was usable. So you can throw it and do who knows what else to it and it will still be usable.

Out of all of these ways to get hot lather, my personal favorite is the candle warmer because it continues to heat up until I shut it off. My Straight Razor Designs scuttle holds heat better than the Crown King scuttle does due to the material it's made out of but I don't start with hot lather either. I have to load up my brush and face lather like normal before I can enjoy hot lather shave. My Crown King scuttle is much faster and I do start with hot lather on the first pass but I have to bowl lather and I'm not very good at that. Plus the Crown King scuttle cools off quicker due to the material it's made out of. Please don't get me wrong because I will NOT turn any of these methods away especially now that it's extremely cold outside these days. It got down in the upper 20's last night. And now that I've lost some weight, it does not take much for me to get cold at all. So ANY method you use to get hot lather is indeed a welcomed sight and then some. I don't regret any of my purchases when it comes to getting a hot lather shave at all.

Gillette Platinum Plus Part 1:

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. This will be part 1 of 3 in a series of blog posts about these Gillette Platinum Plus DE blades. I was really glad that they arrived a day early because I shave on Wednesdays and I do shave videos on Sundays and if I didn't get them yesterday, I would have not gotten to try them until this Sunday which would have been on camera. So lets get started. Part 1 is specifically about the Rockwell 6C White Chrome and these specific blades. Now onto the shave.

^ The set up was the same. I used coconut oil as a preshave, I went with my usual #4 base plate which is what I use with the Israeli Personna Reds. It was a good but not great shave. I ended up doing 1 full pass with the grain and got extremely close on my cheeks but I needed a lot more for my neck area so I went with half passes to clean that area up. I ended up doing 1 half pass with the grain after performing a full pass, followed by another half pass against the grain and that still wasn't quite enough. I finally got to where I wanted by performing another half pass with the grain in the same area. The blade itself felt comfortable but it was no where close to the comfort level of the Edwin Jagger DE89 has with these Gillette Platinum Plus blades and they are no where close to the comfort level that the Israeli Personna Reds are in this specific set up either. So I will be sticking with the Israeli Personna Red Platinum blades seen below in the Rockwell 6C with the #4 base plate.

Now onto the post shave. I had a few weepers on the very bottom of my chin from where I had gotten a little too close and a slight nick on the left side of my chin which was my fault due to me being slightly careless and I had a couple down and on the right side of my Adam's apple which is my usual trouble spot that always gives me grief no matter what I use which includes cartridges. The alum block had almost zero feel to it and I left it on for several minutes while I cleaned my shave cave up and rinsed out my brush and it closed up everything instantly so they were NOT very deep at all. The biggest surprise was the fact that the aftershave splash did NOT burn at all and it's loaded with alcohol. I used Soap Commander's Reflection and Skin Bracer that day to end Soap Commander October which is all I used for the month of October for both on and off camera. The next combination can be seen below.

^ This combo will be very interesting this coming Sunday. I really need to get a sampler pack for this razor because I've only found 1 blade that I like in this razor and that would be the standard Gillette Platinum blades. Whether they work well in this razor or not will be determined in another blog post at a later date. I did go to Walgreen's today and check to see if they still have these Gillette Platinum Plus blades and I was correct, they don't. Walgreen's also use to carry Head Blade's products but they didn't even have that. All I saw was some way overpriced Walgreen's branded crystal blades which cost almost nothing online versus $5 U.S. Dollars for 10 blades. I'm hoping that the Marvel razor top cap which has the correct angle machined into it and the highly polished oversized safety bars will make for a comfortable shave with these Gillette Platinum Plus blades.

Part 3 will be focused on the Leaf razor which will also be very interesting as well. I'm hoping that it won't be like a Gillette Mach 3 and slice me all to pieces but we will see. I'll make sure to use that razor with these blades off camera. Now the big question that a lot of people will be asking me is will I be purchasing another Edwin Jagger DE89 now that I have found these blades on EBay? My answer is no. I got 4 good years out of it before it started falling apart and before I finally ended up recycling it after it got to where I could not use a blade in it at all even with a different handle. That and it would have been more expensive to repair the DE89 that I had than it would have to simply buy another one which was completely sold out at the time mine failed. Another reason I'm not getting another one is the simple fact that these Gillette Platinum Plus blades are expensive and once they are gone, that's it. The EBay seller does have their own website and they don't even list these blades on it. So I see no reason of buying a razor that you personally know is going to fail at some point and not be able to get these blades for it later on down the road. Those are the reasons I'm not getting another Edwin Jagger DE89 in addition to having more comfortable razors.

Vintage Razor Blades Ordered:

It's been a really long time since I've used these DE blades but I went ahead and ordered 36 blades off EBay. I use to be able to get these at a local Kmart store a few years ago. Unfortunately, that local Kmart store in now closed and as far as I know, we don't have anymore here in the state of Virginia. But that's not the reason why these blades became Vintage blades. Gillette decided to close up their Brazilian shop which is where these blades were made and move them to Russia with their other shops that they have over there. They also changed the grind and the name of them to Gillette Rubie and they now suck as a result too. Basically Gillette ruined one of their best blades which is about normal for them.

I first tried these blades in an Edwin Jagger DE89 and my Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's Double open comb razors and let me tell you, phenomenal does not do it justice. In the DE89, it felt like there was no blade in the razor at all. Now I did get a little blade feel in the doc but it was still extremely comfortable. I have really missed these blades and just never got around to trying Vintage razor blades before which is about to change. I'm set on which DE safety razors I will be using and there's no plans or intentions in terms of buying another razor. Not unless a disaster happens like it did with my Edwin Jagger DE89 or the first double open comb that I had. Both got recycled at a local metal recycling plant not far from here. The DE89's handle took a crap which was fine because I simply swapped it out for the handle on my Muhle R41 but then the bottom base plate took a crap which rendered the razor useless and it would have cost more to fix it than it would to buy a new one which was sold out at every supplier I was using at the time. The same thing happened to the bottom base plate on my double open comb. Thankfully, someone sent me theirs that they had and they wanted it to go to where it would get used and it has served me well.

These were tolerable in terms of costs. I calculated them to cost $.73 U.S. cents per blade. They were not the most expensive vintage blades but they were not budget friendly either. Which is fine because these are no longer being made so I do expect them to be much more expensive. I will be trying these in the Leaf, Marvel and Rockwell 6C razors that I have in my collection. I did not like the Israeli Personna Reds in the Marvel or the Doc. But I do like them in the Leaf and the Rockwell 6C with the #4 base plate. The only problem that I've been having with the Israeli Personna Red Platinum blades is the longevity. I've already gone through 2 packs and I'm currently on my 3rd one and I've only had them for about a couple of weeks.

There's also a lot more Vintage razor blades that I want to try. The main thing that I was after when I first started wet shaving was longevity and comfortable shaves. I also wanted to save money specifically on blades. That went out the window when I discovered artisan made shave soaps. I do save some money on blades in terms of cartridges but that's where the savings ended. I've also wanted to try other vintage blades because I've heard their longevity is off the page. I've heard of some people getting up to 30 shaves per Vintage blade which is epic. I'm doing good to get 5 with the standard Gillette Platinum blades in the Marvel DE and the 5th one isn't very comfortable either. That would be awesome to get 30+ shaves with the Leaf and not being able to tell if there's a blade in there along with my Rockwell 6C and Marvel DE.

I'm also going to do a Google search, check out Esty and EBay for more Vintage DE razor blades. So far, I have compiled a list. Gillette Super Blue blades, Schick Krona DE blades and Wizamet Polsilver and Wizamet Super Iridium blades. The Gillette Super Blue blades are going to be expensive. I've seen them go for around $25 U.S. Dollars for 10 blades. But if I can get an insane amount of shaves out of just one of these blades, then costs pretty much disappears because I will go as long as I can before switching out a blade if it's comfortable which is really all that I'm after. So lets see what I can find. Schick has a ton of Vintage DE blades but they're more famous for the Injector blades which I'm not a fan of. Gillette also has a few more that I want to try. It will depend on my budget and what all I find online.

Gillette's New Heritage DE Razor:

For the first time in well over 30 years, Gillette North America has decided to release a brand new DE safety razor. The razor will be called the Gillette Heritage DE safety razor. This is huge in my humble opinion. The last DE razor Gillette ever produced was the Black Beauty back in the late 70's. When they stopped producing that razor is unknown to me. I'm sure Matt over at Razor Emporium would have a lot more detailed information. The only thing that I know about the Black Beauty was the fact that in 1977 (which is my birth year razor) was the very last year that you can get the Black Beauty with a metal bottom plate before going to 100% hard plastic or Bakelite. That is really all I know and after that, we've not seen a single DE razor made or released by Gillette North America since that time. Gillette stayed away and decided to make shaving more convenient rather than taking comfort into consideration. This is not a joke ladies and gentlemen. In fact, here's the link where you can pre order it on Amazon right now as we speak: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XPRRV9Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_viiQDb3RFZQF5 :

This is going to be a 3 piece razor which is a very good thing because the twist to open style razors tend to require oiling to keep the internal mechanisms from rusting shut like my very first DE I purchased nearly 6 years ago come the first week of February 2020. I already know about the Gillette Platinum DE blades which are currently made in Russia and they are fantastic blades especially in my Fine Accoutrement's Marvel DE safety razor. The blade gap looks to be similar if not equal to an Edwin Jagger DE89 which is efficient but super comfortable once you find the correct blade for it. I only wish that they would bring back the Brazilian made Gillette Platinum Plus DE blades. I use to be able to get those at a local Kmart store which is now permanently closed. Those were perfect in the DE89 and it almost felt like there was no blade in that specific razor. Right now, the only place I can get the Gillette Platinum Plus is EBay. However, if this razor takes off the way I think it's going to, it will be really cool to just be able to walk into a big box store and get some Gillette branded DE blades right off the shelf:

The case looks fantastic, but knowing Gillette North America like I do, I can just about guarantee you that only this specific razor will fit into the case. That and I don't think they are going to be a permanent thing either. I'm certain that they will continue to produce these razors but they will more than likely be packaged differently. I first heard about this from my friend, Ken Surfs over on YouTube. He uploaded a video about it and it shocked me. I also personally think that Gillette may have waited too late to do this. If they had done this about 4 or 5 years ago, there's no telling what would have happened. The reason I say this is because 5 years ago, there was not a lot of DE safety razor manufacturers back then like there is today. You had Merkur which is now made by Dovo and you also had Edwin Jagger and their line of razors and that was just about it without having to go and find a Vintage over on EBay. Those were the ONLY mainstream mass produced DE safety razors that were available nearly 6 years ago when I first started:

^ The specs that they have listed on Amazon makes me think that it will be on the light side which I don't like because I personally need a heavier razor to be able to plow through my thick beard but for someone who has a light beard growth, the weight might be ideal. The size also makes me think that there will a good chance that the razor head will have some blade overhang on the sides so do be careful when shaving next to your ear lobes and other sensitive areas. The blade gap looks very similar to the Edwin Jagger DE89 which means that there's a really good chance that it will be a comfortable razor especially for someone whom has been using one for a while and has their technique down pat. Here's a photo of the upcoming release date:

^ The release date is only a couple of weeks away and I know someone is going to ask me the following question. "Will I be pre ordering this razor or buying one later on in the future?" My answer to that specific question is NO and it's not for the reasons you might think either. I've got a ton of DE safety razors sitting in a dop bag and hardly none of them get any use. The reason is because, I like what I've been using for a while now and I have only 4 DE razors that I will be using on a frequent basis. The Leaf which is my top razor of choice out of my entire collection. The Rockwell 6C White Chrome with the #4 base plate and I prefer to use the Israeli Personna Red Platinum blades in both of those razors. The Fine Accoutrement's Marvel DE safety razor which I prefer to use the Gillette Platinum blades that are included with this specific razor that I'm writing about. And last but certainly not least, the original Phoenix Artisan Accoutrement's double open comb razor. My RazoRock Eco can also be easily included in that list as well but I use that one to trim my moustache with more than anything else.

The price seems fair if you get all of this in one package. If they decide to keep producing the razor and discontinue the case, I think they can get away with a $30 U.S. Dollars price tag. They could still turn a profit easily with these razors. Now what happens after they release this razor is any ones guess. As I stated earlier, they may be a tiny bit too late but you will never know for sure until afterward. I'm also sure that these razors have been outsourced from overseas. Gillette would have to retool their factory which they did not too long ago with their new sensitive skin razor known as the Gillette SkinGuard which uses the dual lubrication strips and only 2 blades with a plastic spacer between them. I'm thinking that they are tired of seeing their razors sit on the shelves of many big box stores and seeing DE blades out selling them at every turn. If they had done this nearly 6 years ago, chances are this blog would have not been changed from an automotive/ home distilling blog to a wet shaving blog. I probably would have never discovered Artisan shave soaps or shave creams like Proraso and Taylor of Old Bond Street. I'd probably be using this razor and Barbasol shave foam. I'm glad that they did not because these artisan soaps have really helped in terms of getting a really close and comfortable shave. This could also be a one time limited edition release. Only time will tell and we the general public will find out as things happen.

Public Service Announcement:

This is not shave related but this is a public service announcement. For some reason, people seem bent on trying to steal other people's money and financial information more than normal. This same group tried to go after me for a debt that NEVER EXISTED. This same group is now trying to go after my mom and it's already failed and blew up in their faces. They are claiming to be collecting for Lehman Brothers. There's several problems with this and then some. Lehman Brothers was a bank that switched from your standard banking to mortgages. They filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2008 and was gone by November 20, 2008 right after Obama got elected. And thankfully he's long gone and has been gone for nearly 4 years now. With that being said, how can you collect for a company that's been gone for 11 years? Problem number 2. Mom never had a mortgage with Lehman Brothers and could not and would not get one because she was with in an eyelash of paying the one she had paid off. In fact, she paid hers off in early 2005. Once you pay something like a mortgage you have NO DESIRE to have another mortgage in your life period. See below for more information and how this was impossible: 

The impossible part is due to Lehman Brother's locations. They NEVER had any location in Virginia ladies and gentlemen. In fact the nearest one if you can call it that was in Montgomery, Alabama and that is an extremely long way from us period. It's a 7 hour drive one way from us. Now why would my mom who is about pay off her mortgage drive 14+ hours round trip to take out a second mortgage? It did not happen. This same group also tried to pull the online banking reference and said this happened in 2004. We did NOT have Internet services until 2006 and we only had it briefly because I was working a full time job and did not need it and I never had enough time to use it. Plus online banking didn't really take off until much later and only a handful of banks had that capability in 2004. So that shot that idea down in a big way. Kindly hard to apply for an online mortgage when you didn't even have Internet services in 2004 and didn't get them until many years later isn't it? There's also more things that threw up even more red flags.

They tried to mention having our I.D. on record. That also failed. The state of Virginia now has their both their driver's licenses and state photo I.D. special ordered due to extra security features such as holographic photos and anti theft features. Plus there's talk that even more will be added here pretty soon, possibly later on this month. So unless we walk in somewhere and present our driver's licenses, there's NO WAY they could have our photo I.D. on their records. Once again, another futile attempt to steal information.

Another problem that they did not take into account is the fact that we monitor our credit and the credit card companies do call us when there's an issue in a heart beat. I got issued a brand new card because of Tiki Bar Soaps. Their website was not secure and my credit card company sent me a new credit card and locked the other one. They called and told me this after mailing it to me. So I know what's on my credit report along with mom's. They are simply stupid crooks. With all of the anti theft features and precautions that we take and that our state also takes in addition to the banks calling and alerting us, this all but proves a fraud case. If they continue to call and harass us, I will be calling the police and pressing fraud charges big time.

They also kept changing their location on the caller I.D. shown above. You would figure crooks would be much smarter than that but they are not. So please take a moment to keep an eye on things ladies and gentlemen. This ends my public service announcement.

Sensitive Skin Strikes Again:

Earlier today, I got a great shave in with zero blood and it was close. Unfortunately after the second pass, I had a really bad case of razor burn to and my sensitive skin also flared up to the soap that I was using which is Soap Commander's Bounty which is extremely strange because I've NEVER had a reaction to ANY of Soap Commander's products since day 1 and that includes their sandalwood scent and I'm highly allergic to with the exception to Soap Commander's which is called Commitment. Me having a reaction to some coating on the blades is not unusual at all but having one to a Soap Commander product is extremely strange. So I must cease and desist from using Bounty and the Gillette 7 O'clock green blades. When I get paid this coming Thursday, I will be placing an order for some of the Israeli Personna Red blades for my leaf. My skin can't take using any other blades after this: 

But before I do, I will be trying these Gillette 7 O'clock Yellow labeled blades in the Leaf razor next. I've used them before and these remind me of the old Gillette Track 2 cartridges that you can still buy in a lot of the big box stores today. In fact, if you do an Amazon search for the Gillette Track 2, you will see the old Gillette 7 O'clock orange logo in the results. I can use a Gillette Track 2 with no issues and I do have one in my collection. It's a 1971 replica made by Col. Conk which I've not used in a while. There's also a good chance that I might have a 7 day beard growth in my next video. This sensitive skin situation is getting old really quick. The tough beard does not help matters out at all. In fact, it makes things worse:

So I must say good bye to the 7 O'clock green labeled blades. My sensitive skin simply can't handle these blades anymore. That's all there is to it. I've tried a ton of blades and these were the most promising. The part that is terrible is the fact that I have a bulk pack of these 7 O'clock green blades and I can't use them. Thank goodness that these DE blades are stupid cheap. I could not simply throw out cartridges of any kind due to their costs but these I can. I'll mail them off to a friend of mine. I know he does not have a lot of DE blades so why not send them to him instead:

I also have bulk pack of the Chinese version of the Gillette Wilkinson Sword blades. They are a touch sharper than the Saloon Pack which WAS made in India before Gillette decided to close the plant to make strictly cartridges and focus their greed onto those markets which is totally uncool in my humble opinion. Gillette stop being greedy. You will NOT beat the cost of DE blades and you are slowly killing your business. Plus that heated razor is a joke. I'm not going to pay $200 U.S. Dollars for a heated handle and your overpriced blades that may or may not work. Personna blades specifically the Israeli reds/Platinum Blues (In the United Kingdom's packaging) has won hands down. I'm also certain that once these Gillette Track 2 Plus blades are gone, I will be replacing them with Personna's version.

I do have a bulk pack of Derby Premium half blades if these 7 O'clock yellow labeled blades do not work and thankfully, I do have a couple of the Israeli Personna reds left just in case those don't work for me either. I'll have to look at my blade log book to see what all I've tried and there's a good chance that I will toss that one out after I get another one started copying over some entries and adding new information that I've discovered since starting it. I've also got my Fine Accoutrement's Marvel DE safety razor near by as well. I should have stuck with the Personna Platinum blades that I tried in my 37C slant years ago. Had I known back then what I know today, then I would have stuck with the Israeli Personna Reds/Platinum blue blades a long time ago. It's a lot cheaper to buy a bulk pack of those blades and burn through them due to a tough beard than it is to suffer sensitive skin issues on a constant basis just for an extremely close shave that ends up being uncomfortable. So now I will see what happens next.