The last time I used the Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Stainless Green blades was in February. This came after using the 7 O’Clock Yellows (Sharp Edge), and being very impressed with them. The KCG was my main razor at the time, having kicked the VDH to the curb a couple of months earlier, and I was happy with the result of the Greens, but not enough to call them one of the best shaves.
But a few weeks ago, I came into 50 of the blades, and I decided I needed to revisit them with the rest of the stable. So that’s what this week (and the next couple of weeks) is about: trying the Gillette 7 O’Clock Greens with the Rockwell, and both Hensons to see how it performs.
I love the yellows, though it’s a very mild blade, but with a cleanness and precision that you don’t necessarily expect from a mild blade. The greens, though, as I recall, felt a bit more aggressive, but delivered similar closeness.
Let’s see how the week goes. I’ve got to work through these blades, because I’ve got a year’s worth available to me.
The Ratings
Sunday’s Shave, #183. The Proraso Green and Green Blade Shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 5
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Stainless Green
- Pre-Shave: Proraso Refreshing Green pre-shave cream
- Brush: Proraso boar brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Proraso Refreshing Green shave cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Proraso Refreshing Green aftershave balm
Lots of green in today’s shave, by design. As mentioned, it was time to come back to the 7 O’Clock green blades. And after having used the Proraso green pre-shave and shave cream samples, I knew what to expect there, but I couldn’t get a sample of the aftershave balm, so I was looking forward to using the whole line together for the first time.
As a reminder, the Proraso refreshing (green) product line is a menthol and eucalyptus formulation. And the pre-shave has an aggressive menthol scent and feel, chilling my face pretty quickly after applying it. The shave cream is not as strong with the menthol smell, but just helps strengthen the chill. The balm really doesn’t have a lot of menthol scent or feel, but generally performs similarly to the white and blue aftershaves.
This was an aggressive-feeling shave, probably largely because I decided to dial the Rockwell up to plate 5, but I thought that would be a good place to start since the green blade is fairly mild. It was aggressive, but not uncomfortable. There was some burn with the alum, but not so much where it stung for a long time. But the balm did what the white and blue do: moisturized and soothed the skin and helped settle things down.
Overall, the shave had a pretty aggressive feel, but was very close with an extra pass. It was better than I ranked and recall of the KCG shave back in February. On Tuesday, I’ll use plate 4 with the Rockwell, so I’m expecting that to be the sweet spot for feel and closeness after this experience.
Comfort: 4.750 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 5.000 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
Tuesday’s Shave, #184. The 42 shave.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 4
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Stainless Green
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented Pre-Shave
- Brush: Razor Emporium Badger shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Barrister & Mann 42 Shave Soap
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Nivea Sensitive Soothing Post Shave Balm
First, the good news: as expected, today’s shave with plate 4 was better than with plate 5. It was not quite as close, but more comfortable with less irritation, though there was still some burn with the alum. It wasn’t quite perfect, though, but it could be–there was more irritation than there would have been if I had cut back on the extra pass to get a smoother shave. I think after the balm, it would have settled down and been almost as close and more comfortable.
Now the bad news: I think I may need to ditch the Razor Emporium badger shaving brush, at least for a bit. For the last several shaves, it’s been losing bunches of bristles in each shave, to the point where I need to clear them out of the sink drain. And I’ve treated it the same as both the Proraso and Omega boar brushes, and they lose maybe one bristle per shave. I’ll be researching to see what I need to do to fix or replace or prevent further loss.
Back to the shave. The Gillette green blade is a good one, so it’s good I have a lot to go through. That was the one in the freebies I got that I was concerned that I wouldn’t use, so I’m glad I’ll have a place for it.
The Barrister & Mann 42 shave soap has an interesting scent–almost barbershop, but with a citrus note. It isn’t strong and doesn’t overpower the Nivea balm, so it’s fine. Speaking of the Nivea balm, it delivers excellent results, as always. It’s comfortable, has a nice herbal and barbershop fragrance, and moisturizes very well.
Thursday’s shave will be with plate 3, so I’m thinking that will again be not quite as close, but hopefully much more comfortable.
Comfort: 4.750 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 5.000 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
Thursday’s Shave, #185. The TOBS SOTD.
The setup:
- Razor: Rockwell 6C plate 3
- Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Stainless
- Pre-Shave: Razor Emporium Unscented pre-shave
- Brush: Omega 10019 boar shaving brush
- Soap/Cream/Gel: Taylor of Old Bond Street Organic Shaving Cream
- Alum Block: Stirling Soap Co. Alum
- After Shave: Dollar Shave Club Post Shave Cream
This was a great way to end the shave week. Using the 7 O’Clock green blade with the Rockwell’s plate 3 seems to be the comfort and closeness sweet spot, delivering an almost perfect shave.
The Taylor of Old Bond Street (TOBS) Organic Shaving Cream is a joy to use. It lathers extremely quickly and well, delivering a huge amount of lather with a fairly small amount of cream. And it’s a nice rich and thick lather, which when slightly watery, as I prefer, becomes a nice slick, cushioning lather on the face. This is one lather I would definitely buy in the future, and was one of the best lathers of the sample bunch, along with the Proraso products and the Cella cream.
Everything was great with this shave, even the extra pass to clean up a few stubble patches–almost no burn with the alum, a great closeness, great comfort, and an excellent finish with the Dollar Shave Club Post Shave Cream.
With the great performance of the 7 O’Clock green today, I’m excited to try it with the Henson medium next week to see if it performs similarly to plate 3 or more like plate 4.
Comfort: 5.000 out of 5
Quality/Closeness: 4.750 out of 5
Overall: 4.875 out of 5
