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- 16,002
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- Halifax, Republic of Yorkshire
I disagree.
The Yellow and Green Gillette blades are rough as **** for me.
Likewise, I found both of these very uncomfortable ... and having been recommended both when I first came to traditional shaving (having taken my very first step with the Merkur blade included in my 23C) I did start to wonder if traditional shaving really was for me. Thankfully, I found SuperMax and that was night and day different. Since then, I've tried the whole lot from Gillette and not found one amongst the Russians that I actually liked*.
... but something might have changed of late.
I have the Rubie and the yellow pack in the new etched blade format and actually liked both. I tried the older blades back to back and maintained my low opinion of both from that older stock. Maybe things have changed. Two which I thought were horrendous were the Astra pair (the stainless mildy better ... no, less bad than the platinum) but I also have the new(er) laser etched still to try. Maybe they're dramatically better like the Rubie and the yellow. Kinda moot as the Astra brand is now made in India (exclusively? dunno) which is a big plus for me.
I'd come to a sort of conclusion a few years back that you were either a Russian or an Indian face when it came to shaving. I observed quite clearly that folks that raved about the Russian Gillettes spoke lowly and even negatively about Indian blades (and that sorta included Egyptian and Turkish), even Gillette. That said, Russian Gillette fanciers also spoke negatively about Rapira. But, yes, folks that liked Indian Gillettes also seemed to rate Lord, Shark, et al.
*Naturally, there are MANY exceptions, but that did seem to be a broad conclusion. My personal exception is the Russian Gillette PermaSharp Super, which is one of my absolute favourites and practically a must-have. Given its market was/is Middle East, maybe that's why? Neatly lining up @Bogeyman to tell us "they're all the same blade" ... and I agree. But I also disagree. Complex, innit?