The next three weeks finish up the journey across the Gillette 7 O’Clock blade line. I started out back in October trying out the Super Stainless (green) blades, just finished three weeks using the Super Platinum (black) blades, and now we’re on to the Sharp Edge (yellow) blades.
You’ll recall that the Gillette 7 O’Clock brand started out not as a Gillette brand, but as a wholly different American entity, producing razors and blades starting sometime around 1914. By the late ’40s, though, Gillette, that shaving behemoth, purchased the brand and started globalizing it, eventually making the blades in Russia and India, and producing a very inexpensive and mostly plastic razor line in India.
I find the Gillette blade lines interesting–there are so many, and some of them don’t really make sense. Sure, there are those that have kept on from the purchase of the original company that made them, but there are others that seem to exist in several spaces for no real reason, especially the relatively recent introduction of the King C Gillette line, which, of course, needed it’s own branded blades, which apparently are not rebrands of one of its other blades.
And there are key differences between the 7 O’Clock blades, which is why I’m trying them out in my three favorite razors. According to a chart made from data from refinedshave.com, which appears to be defunct, the yellow is the least sharp of the three blades, with the green on top, the black next, then the yellow, relatively far behind. Now there is, as you can imagine, no end to the arguments about sharpness of a blade versus aggressiveness/mildness (efficiency), etc. And the fun point I like to make is that shaving is different for every individual’s skin, and it’s also subjective. What works well for me, and feels comfortable to me, and gives me what I perceive to be a good shave, likely isn’t going to be the same for the next person.
From the first time trying the yellows, I found them to be very pleasant, pretty mild, and comfortable. And for some reason, they’ve been a go-to blade for several bonus shaves. But I’ve only tried them in one shave with the Rockwell 6C, so this week aims to resolve that. We’ll see how it goes, but my experience, having used it in the Henson mild and with a mild plate on the Rockwell, says that it should be very comfortable in a mild setup, but will be kind of a wild card on the more aggressive plates.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #212. The Proraso blue Sunday 7 O’Clock yellow shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 4
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Protective pre-shave cream (blue)
- Brush: Proraso boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Protective shave cream (blue)
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Protective after shave balm (blue)
In retrospect, this isn’t a fair SOTD review. I had a bonus shave yesterday, and it was very close–almost approaching an almost perfect shave. And I forgot the general axiom to use mild setups if shaving every day or more than every other day. But I dropped the 7 O’Clock yellow blade in the Rockwell with plate 4 and went to work, really just cleaning up a day’s worth of stubble.
There was more irritation than I’m usually comfortable with, but it isn’t lasting much. There was also one nicked spot that bled for a bit, but that was my fault for not taking the right angle to that troublesome corner of my neck–there the throat transitions into the sides.
I have no complaint about closeness, but again, I don’t think I can really judge that fairly, since this shave really wasn’t dealing with much in the way of stubble. I should have saved plate for for Tuesday or Thursday and used plate 2 today, but alas, what’s done is done.
But based on this shave alone, I can tell the difference in sharpness between the blades, and definitely agree that the green is more aggressive, then the black in the middle, and the yellow is not as sharp…or aggressive. That is apparent after these weeks of testing.
But we’ll come back on Tuesday and try it with plate 3 and see how things go. That overall should be a much better shave.
Comfort: 20 of 25
Quality/Closeness: 22 of 25
Overall: 22 of 25
Tuesday’s Shave, #213. The Nivea Sensitive shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 3
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: None
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Nivea Sensitive shave gel
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing post shave balm
I’m starting to recall what I like and don’t like about the 7 O’Clock yellow blade.
I like that it’s pretty mild, doesn’t really give a lot of blade feel unless it’s in a really aggressive razor setup, and rarely produces much irritation. I don’t like that the trade off is that it generally is not a close shaving blade.
We’ll address this more next week, but I’ve said for a while that if I want a nice mild shave and don’t really care about the closeness, I’ll go with the Henson mild and the 7 O’Clock yellow. And today’s shave bore that out. With plate 3 on the Rockwell, it was a comfortable shave with just a little sting with the alum, but it needed multiple strokes and an extra pass to get to a “mostly close” condition with the stubble. There’s still more than I’d like right after the shave, and I know this will lay down a bit as the morning goes along, but I expect better and know I can get it with other blades.
I’m not going to say that I don’t like these blades, because I really do. They have a place in the collection. But it just isn’t as clean as I want.
For the rest of the shave, it’s been a full month since I last used the Nivea lather and balm, and I’m consistently reminded at just how well it works for what it is. The gel lathers slightly, but is thick and rich and provides great slickness, and the balm is just a joy to use–it does a great job moisturizing and recovering after the shave, and I really like the light scent to it.
All-in-all, a very good shave that only falls down because I know I’ve had better shaves with other blades. But I will come back to this because really, it wasn’t bad at all.
Comfort: 22 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 21 out of 25
Overall: 21 out of 25
Thursday’s Shave, #214. The Autism Strong shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 2
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Sharp Edge (yellow)
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave stick
- Brush: Omega 10019 boar brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Hoffman’s Grooming Autism Strong soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Dollar Shave Club Post Shave Cream
It hit me about halfway through the shave that this was a really nice shave with everything that I was wanting: comfort, closeness (with some extra strokes), and just a generally pleasant experience and fragrance.
So it should be no surprise that it came in as an almost perfect shave, and a top-ranked almost perfect shave at that.
There was some limited blade feel, but it wasn’t bad–it just let me know that this setup was actually working effectively. With the alum, there was some sting, but it only lasted for 10-15 seconds.
This was also the first use of the Hoffman’s Grooming Autism Strong soap. It lathered very well, provided excellent lubrication, and the fragrance was pleasant and masculine, but not overwhelming. A full review of the new Hoffman’s products will be coming in a couple of weeks, but I liked this one.
So an excellent way to close out the shave week. Plate 2 on the Rockwell seems to be a sweet spot, so the shaves next week with the Henson mild should be very nice.
See you then!
Comfort: 24 out of 25
Quality/Closeness: 24 out of 25
Overall: 24 out of 25