Gillette Bleue Extra Blades, a Review

[Squire]

A Proctor & Gamble product with addresses listed in the UK, Switzerland and Russia.

Appearance: The blades I received for testing presented with a bright cardboard backing proudly announcing the product.



Printed on the back are the company addresses and the St. Petersburg factory is listed as place of manufacture.



Repeated on the side of the box.



And the back.



Description: The blades present in a cardboard box of ten with no means of disposing the used blades.



The blades are double wrapped and solidly glued, I recommend they be loaded glue side up or they can stick in the razor. And I do mean stick.





The edge offers no surprises as the blades shaved like one of the 7 o'clock series and the blades share the same sharpening pattern as that range.



A long single grind from the table and fairly long hone to the edge. This is a proven way to sharpen a blade as the other Russian blades sharpened this way work very well.



Use: These blades were tested for ten shaves using five different razors, Gillettes Knack and Super Adjustable, Schick Krona, Jagger Chatsworth and Futur. The blades held up well in all razors but worked best in the adjustables. I try to keep an open minded approach but beginning with the first shave I immediately thought Green 7 o'clock and kept that thought all through the testing period.

Conclusion: These blades are solidly in the Russian 7 o'clock camp and I may as well call them 7 o'clock Greens in other packaging. I can't say all the assembly line does is change boxes, have no evidence that happens, but if it does I don't mind because it's the shave that counts and these blades deliver.

Rating: 6.75

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Regards,
Squire

[Rufust445]

Looks like they're intended for the European and French market in particular, with a contact address in Geneva. (Northwest boundary for Geneva airport is the French border). 7 o'clock yellows from the same plant have a contact address in Dubai...

I have some vintage Bleue Extras, in the slideout dispenser. Haven't used them in a while, but they were sharp, and required extra care in technique, at least for me at the time.

Looks like P&G's "Brand Management" strategy is to tweak the grind and hone settings of their machinery to replicate as close as possible the feel and shaving qualities of various blades as they were made in their country/factory of origin.

It would be interesting to see if the vintage Bleue Extras have a single stage grind, or a double stage grind like Wilkinson et. al. And, of course, since they come in a slide-out dispenser, the vintage Bleue Extras from France do NOT have the trademark wax spots of PPI blades.

[close shave]

Thank you for a nice review.

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JERRY

[m3m0ryleak]

I too would like to see some close up (macro) photos of the vintage Bleue Extra
blade and would volunteer some used blades if they would make good candidates for a photo op.

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Tony

"They say that dreams are growing wild just this side of Burma Shave" - Tom Waits

[Squire]

Just a couple will do Tony, I'll pm my address.

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Regards,
Squire

[alcx77]

Thanks for the ongoing reviews Squire.

[ateace]

Thanks for the review, Squire.

I don't have the current production Bleues, but the other St. Pete blades are taking my shaves to a new level.

[Milkbone]

Very nice review sir.

Have reviewed the Bolzanos yet? I find them pretty good and would be interested to see how they stack up. I would be glad to send a few in for you, if you like.

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Jim

[druphus]

Thanks for the review Squire!

These blades are good enough that I could use them "all the time" (if I didn't have enough Super Iridiums to last my lifetime).

At under 2 Euro for a 10 pack in any grocery store in France, its good to know that decent blades are available at a decent price (at least until the French don't buy enough to justify production)!

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Regards,
Andy