German DE Blades

K

kamisori

Guest
I seem to be doing well with German DE blades in general, so I decided to test all the blades that I could get my hands on.

All blades are generally available in EU/UK from various webshops. I bought most of my blades from The Razor Blades Club, except Souplex (Hans Baier) and Personna, that I got from Amazon.

1D65DA3A-0BBA-4925-B642-ED32111A4A6B.jpeg

All shaves where performed with 2 days of growth, a new blade, cold water preparation, cold water face lathering, 3 passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) using Martin de Candre soap and a Carbon Shaving Cx .68mm razor. I aim for a BBS no post shave irritation shave every time.

I decided to divide the blades in to 3 ranges. Top, medium and low performance. Within the ranges the blades not ranked, but have notes attached instead.

In the top range, I could easily shave with any blade, and in reality it would properbly not make much, if any, difference.

In the medium range, there will be blades that I could use, if none from the top range would be available.

The low performance range represents the blades that I would avoid.

Below are my notes. I hope that some of you will find this interesting and usefull. And as always it's very subjective - YMMW.

Top:
  • Timor - Really smooth and efficient. Close, trouble free result (BBS)
  • Personna Platinum Chrome - Same as Timor, but very slightly lower quality shave (BBS)
  • Bolzano Superinox Inossidabile - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Merkur Super Platinum - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Wilkinson Sword - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Wilkinson Sword Inoxidable Economie - Same as Personna (BBS)
Medium:
  • Souplex (Hans Baier) - Slight dragging on first pass around problem area. Otherwise smooth and efficient. Close and trouble free result (BBS)
  • Razolution - As Souplex (BBS)
Low:
  • Elios Inoxidable - Not as smooth as medium range blades, no draggin. Some post shave irritation (DFS)
  • Croma Diamant - Some harshness. Some dragging. Some post shave irritation (close to DFS)
  • MÜHLE - Really harsh, major dragging. Post shave irritation (Not even close to DFS)
Postscript and thoughts

Although I get different results, I suspect Timor (Giesen + Forsthoff), Souplex (Medyna) and Razolution (Simbatec) to be manufactured at the same plant, as they are all "Solingen Eisgehärtet" with teflon coating and perform very much in the same way, with Timor being the best.

Bolzano, Elios and Croma are all manufactured at the same plant (Feintechnik). But I do not at all find them to perform alike. Bolzano is way better than the other two.

Wilkinson Sword and Wilkinson Sword Economie seems to be the excact same blade. The only difference being the cardboard design. The waxpaper with print and the print on the blades are the same. The blades also performs alike.
 
kamisori said:
I seem to be doing well with German DE blades in general, so I decided to test all the blades that I could get my hands on.

All blades are generally available in EU/UK from various webshops. I bought most of my blades from The Razor Blades Club, except Souplex (Hans Baier) and Personna, that I got from Amazon.

View attachment 57710

All shaves where performed with 2 days of growth, a new blade, cold water preparation, cold water face lathering, 3 passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) using Martin de Candre soap and a Carbon Shaving Cx .68mm razor. I aim for a BBS no post shave irritation shave every time.

I decided to divide the blades in to 3 ranges. Top, medium and low performance. Within the ranges the blades not ranked, but have notes attached instead.

In the top range, I could easily shave with any blade, and in reality it would properbly not make much, if any, difference.

In the medium range, there will be blades that I could use, if none from the top range would be available.

The low performance range represents the blades that I would avoid.

Below are my notes. I hope that some of you will find this interesting and usefull. And as always it's very subjective - YMMW.

Top:
  • Timor - Really smooth and efficient. Close, trouble free result (BBS)
  • Personna Platinum Chrome - Same as Timor, but very slightly lower quality shave (BBS)
  • Bolzano Superinox Inossidabile - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Merkur Super Platinum - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Wilkinson Sword - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Wilkinson Sword Inoxidable Economie - Same as Personna (BBS)
Medium:
  • Souplex (Hans Baier) - Slight dragging on first pass around problem area. Otherwise smooth and efficient. Close and trouble free result (BBS)
  • Razolution - As Souplex (BBS)
Low:
  • Elios Inoxidable - Not as smooth as medium range blades, no draggin. Some post shave irritation (DFS)
  • Croma Diamant - Some harshness. Some dragging. Some post shave irritation (close to DFS)
  • MÜHLE - Really harsh, major dragging. Post shave irritation (Not even close to DFS)
Postscript and thoughts

Although I get different results, I suspect Timor (Giesen + Forsthoff), Souplex (Medyna) and Razolution (Simbatec) to be manufactured at the same plant, as they are all "Solingen Eisgehärtet" with teflon coating and perform very much in the same way, with Timor being the best.

Bolzano, Elios and Croma are all manufactured at the same plant (Feintechnik). But I do not at all find them to perform alike. Bolzano is way better than the other two.

Wilkinson Sword and Wilkinson Sword Economie seems to be the excact same blade. The only difference being the cardboard design. The waxpaper with print and the print on the blades are the same. The blades also performs alike.
Click to expand...
Very interesting, with my last order of Souplex blades I was given a box of ten Dovo Platinum Blades to try, I will let you know how I get on with them.
Thank's for posting your views on these blades. P.

Edit: I found the same with the Muhle blades! :) P.
 
Blademonkey said:
Very interesting, with my last order of Souplex blades I was given a box of ten Dovo Platinum Blades to try, I will let you know how I get on with them.
Thank's for posting your views on these blades. P.

Edit: I found the same with the Muhle blades! :) P.
Click to expand...

Thanks Paul.

I think Dovo blades are the same as Merkur. They share the same physical address in Germany.

M.
 
For me, Souplex and Timor are the best. I was always under the impression Croma/Bolzano/Elios were all the same blade with different branding, all are made in the same ex-DDR blade factory (now owned by Harry's.) IME they were all equally awful.

Muehle blades are rebranded Israeli Personna Platinum Chrome, now the Nazareth factory has closed I don't know where they'll source them, probably just be rebranded Solingen Personna's.
 
Rohleder said:
For me, Souplex and Timor are the best. I was always under the impression Croma/Bolzano/Elios were all the same blade with different branding, all are made in the same ex-DDR blade factory (now owned by Harry's.) IME they were all equally awful.

Muehle blades are rebranded Israeli Personna Platinum Chrome, now the Nazareth factory has closed I don't know where they'll source them, probably just be rebranded Solingen Personna's.
Click to expand...
I'm with you here, the Souplex being the best with Timor a very close second but it's a very subjective area so we are bound to feel differently about blades, I think it was the use of a Muhle blade that put me off German blades for a while, I'm pleased that someone recommend the Souplex blade to me otherwise I may never have used a German blade again which would have been a real shame because I now love the Souplex blade and other German blades. P.
 
kamisori said:
I seem to be doing well with German DE blades in general, so I decided to test all the blades that I could get my hands on.

All blades are generally available in EU/UK from various webshops. I bought most of my blades from The Razor Blades Club, except Souplex (Hans Baier) and Personna, that I got from Amazon.

View attachment 57710

All shaves where performed with 2 days of growth, a new blade, cold water preparation, cold water face lathering, 3 passes (WTG, XTG, ATG) using Martin de Candre soap and a Carbon Shaving Cx .68mm razor. I aim for a BBS no post shave irritation shave every time.

I decided to divide the blades in to 3 ranges. Top, medium and low performance. Within the ranges the blades not ranked, but have notes attached instead.

In the top range, I could easily shave with any blade, and in reality it would properbly not make much, if any, difference.

In the medium range, there will be blades that I could use, if none from the top range would be available.

The low performance range represents the blades that I would avoid.

Below are my notes. I hope that some of you will find this interesting and usefull. And as always it's very subjective - YMMW.

Top:
  • Timor - Really smooth and efficient. Close, trouble free result (BBS)
  • Personna Platinum Chrome - Same as Timor, but very slightly lower quality shave (BBS)
  • Bolzano Superinox Inossidabile - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Merkur Super Platinum - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Wilkinson Sword - Same as Personna (BBS)
  • Wilkinson Sword Inoxidable Economie - Same as Personna (BBS)
Medium:
  • Souplex (Hans Baier) - Slight dragging on first pass around problem area. Otherwise smooth and efficient. Close and trouble free result (BBS)
  • Razolution - As Souplex (BBS)
Low:
  • Elios Inoxidable - Not as smooth as medium range blades, no draggin. Some post shave irritation (DFS)
  • Croma Diamant - Some harshness. Some dragging. Some post shave irritation (close to DFS)
  • MÜHLE - Really harsh, major dragging. Post shave irritation (Not even close to DFS)
Postscript and thoughts

Although I get different results, I suspect Timor (Giesen + Forsthoff), Souplex (Medyna) and Razolution (Simbatec) to be manufactured at the same plant, as they are all "Solingen Eisgehärtet" with teflon coating and perform very much in the same way, with Timor being the best.

Bolzano, Elios and Croma are all manufactured at the same plant (Feintechnik). But I do not at all find them to perform alike. Bolzano is way better than the other two.

Wilkinson Sword and Wilkinson Sword Economie seems to be the excact same blade. The only difference being the cardboard design. The waxpaper with print and the print on the blades are the same. The blades also performs alike.
Click to expand...
Did you try the Razoloution blades made in the Czech Republic or the older ones Made in Solingen Germany and if you have used both is there any difference that you can detect? P.
 
Blademonkey said:
Did you try the Razoloution blades made in the Czech Republic or the older ones Made in Solingen Germany and if you have used both is there any difference that you can detect? P.
Click to expand...

I have only tried the Razolution version pictured. I did not find a worthnoty difference between them and a genuine Souplex.
 
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