Gillette 7 O'Clock Yellow (Russian)

JugV2

JugV2

Simply boring.
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Feb 8, 2011
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Tasmania
I opened a pack of these today and tried one.

After the second stroke I took the blade out of my razor and binned it. It felt like I was shaving with a piece of cardboard. It took little to no stubble off. Thinking I might have a dud blade out of the pack, I tried another from the pack. Same result. It's like they had no edge at all.

I love the Blacks and have heard the Green Permasharps are good too but this is the first time I have had such a shocking experience with a Yellow.

Has anyone else had this experience with these blades?

Do blades sometimes have these manufacturing defects? I'm assuming that's what it was, just a bad pack.
 
That's a shame, I was going to grab a few of those based on the black plats, which are really good. Sort of a tad less sharp and smooth than Astra, but more forgiving, for me.

Tried the Greens and they're uncoated shyte, just like the last time I tried them. Gave my 2 packs my workmate who loves them.
 
I'm kinda hoping it was a dud pack...but if the greens were that bad then maybe the yellow and greens are just no good.
 
Unusual. I'd put yellows on par with the famous Super Iridiums. I quite like greens in my Progress, but I can't get a 3rd shave out of them not matter how hard I try.
 
Really? You reckon they are like Super Iridiums?

I was hoping they would be good too..Oh well.

Luckily I didn't buy a stack of them.
 
I spoke to soon on the black plats. 3 consecutive days and they leave my face irritated. Day one was great. 2&3 shithouse.
 
I find that the 3rd shave with the blacks is less than optimal but still okay. Again, very similar to the Voskhods which lose the PTFE coating and are decidedly worse after the first shave.

I find the worst thing with the current Gillette blades is that constant use seems to irritate me. Must be the grind angle they use, only current production Gillettes do it. Astras also, but to a lesser extent. What do I care, I have enough NOS Bleues to see me out anyway :D

Really surprised to hear the Yellows seem less than sharp. What's the source of those blades you have Jugs? Not mine I hope - every one I have had thus far have been good.
 
I don't really recall, I think it's the pack I got from my startup kit from shaving.ie.

I remember getting a sampler and the yellows might have been in there.

Are there Indian and Russian flavours of these?

The pack I have is made in Russia.
 
AFAIK there's only Russian Yellows.

I'm also surprised at how bad they were for you - i've tried Yellows, both Greens (Russian and Indian), Blacks and Bleues and would rate the Yellows second, just behind the Blacks.

The Greens were both terrible for me; no coating = lots of catching/tugging.
The Bleues were nice (been a while, but about the same as the Yellows for me), but are not really cost effective for me to buy considering other blades that I find just as good or better and cost less.

I've recently been trying some Dorco ST-301 and find I really enjoy these too, much like the Blacks.
 
JugV2 said:
I don't really recall, I think it's the pack I got from my startup kit from shaving.ie.
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That's a relief. Mine have all been good so far, and I got my first 100 from West Coast, then the rest from RazorbladesAndMore.

JugV2 said:
Are there Indian and Russian flavours of these?
The pack I have is made in Russia.
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Nope, only Russian manufacture in Yellows. The only one that is made in both is the Greens. Super Stainless green is Russian, Permasharp Stainless are Indian manufacture. The Indian greens are considered sharper.

~Spyne~ said:
I've recently been trying some Dorco ST-301 and find I really enjoy these too, much like the Blacks.
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Yes, I like them too, but are only good for two shaves for me. In fact, the second shave gets very substandard by the end of it. Deliciously smooth blades though.
 
Having totally forgotten about this thread I picked up a pack in my order from Mensbiz.

The Voskhod had it after 3 shaves (more on that elsewhere) and I dropped a Yellow in.

Now, I've tried a few blades on monstas and other review suggestions and they've all been rather mediocre. First shave with this was one out of the box. These are very sharp and very smooth. More so than anything I've tried in a long time. Now I'm kicking myself I picked up 100 Astras in my order. Ah well, they're still great too (and on sale), just not as comfy as Yellows going on this first impression, and that is the sort of blade I've been looking for.

I think you must have got a dud, Jug. I could never describe these as cardboard.
 
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That's fair enough; I may have indeed gotten a dud.

I now have a Progress with which to try some Yellows in and as I just happen to have a MensBiz order open in another tab currently, I might chuck some in the order to try them out and see if my lot are duds.
 
JugV2 said:
That's fair enough; I may have indeed gotten a dud.

I now have a Progress with which to try some Yellows in and as I just happen to have a MensBiz order open in another tab currently, I might chuck some in the order to try them out and see if my lot are duds.
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Do it. If they're still dudding out for you, I'll unburden you of them.
 
K. I'm loving these Yellows. They're awesome and I'm not one for hyperbole with blades.
That blade I've been looking for? The one I thought didn't exist - sharper and closer than Astra but even smoother, and more forgiving - these seem to be it. I've used two so far and the only blade I've ever been impressed with since Astras. I'll keep gonig with them and hopefully they don't develop tender skin issues with regular use, like the Plats did.

I've tried a few blades over the last 18 months and found so much meh, and nothing that gave me reason to drop the Reds as my forgiving, but not sharpest blade, and Astras as my regular back up, as I can get the odd weeper with them; they can be less forgiving of my swashbuckling razor technique in an effort to get really close.

I'm getting a swag of these if all goes well with the rest of the pack. I'll give those Russian PermaSharps a run too, but they're going to have to be something special to knock these off at the mo.
 
The yellows were my favourite blade starting out. I needed a sharp blade and the yellows were better than feathers for smoothness and longevity.

I stopped using them only because of the price and I found new previously unheard of brands (when I was a newbie), almost as good but a lot cheaper.

I never got along with the greens or derby, and ended up with astra, and israelis (SP and reds), but the yellows were a great blade.
 
Drubbing said:
K. I'm loving these Yellows. They're awesome and I'm not one for hyperbole with blades.

That blade I've been looking for? The one I thought didn't exist - sharper and closer than Astra but even smoother, and more forgiving - these seem to be it. I've used two so far and the only blade I've ever been impressed with since Astras. I'll keep gonig with them and hopefully they don't develop tender skin issues with regular use, like the Plats did.
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I think the PSS are even better than the yellows. I get the 'tender' feeling with the Yellows, not so much with Astras.

I think you would be extremely surprised. I think I originally got the Permasharp blade off Rocco (rm71)... he might have one on hand for you to try, and he is close by.
 
After a couple of weeks with these Yellows, I'm sold. I sent back the Astras and swapped them.

100 of them. Monsta would be so proud. I've never bought more than 5 packs of anything before.

I get awesome results with these - especially because I shave ATG, which I haven't bothered with for a long time. Reds aren't really sharp enough to do it with ease, and Astra can irritate or leave weepers.

Yellows do it easily and comfortably. They don't sound sharp, they're quite noisy on my beard, but they are. Hard to tell if they're sharper than AStra, or whether being more forgiving makes it feel like they are. Perma Sharps have a job ahead of them.

I notice others are more take them or leave them with Yellows, and that's blades for you. All I can say is no other blade has impressed me since Astras, and these impress me more. for someone else, it'll be a different one.
 
It really sounds like it's hard to agree on blades as everyone's razor and technique is slightly different. Gillette Greens (Russian) are my blade at the moment. However, a 3rd shave in a Progress will cut me up whereas in my slant it's magical. I still maintain the Yellows are a great blade!
 
The PermaSharps are yet to arrive Drubs, but yours will be in the post same day that they do land in my PO Box!

Glad you finally found a blade that has knocked your socks off and is working well for you. It's a great feeling when it all comes together for you and everything works so well that it feels like you lathered up with butter...... now there is an idea...

I have been nibbling around the edges of some of the blades that I was PIF'd or swapped and haven't had the chance to try out yet. The PermaSharp was a revelation to me. After a few shaves with the Iridium, I would have to say I think I like the Permasharps more. I think they are sharper and smoother. Jury is out on blade life so far, but another couple of shaves should give me an answer.
 
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