I started shaving with a double-edge (DE) razor about 1 month ago. When I started out, I initially purchased 100 Shark blades from Amazon based on a recommendation from a user on Reddit. 

The blades had excellent reviews, and at only 18 cents per blade, how could I go wrong, right?

Wrong. 

I’ve since come to learn that even an excellent blade can produce sub-par results for different people.  The DE shaving world’s mantra seems to be, “works great for me, but your mileage may vary.”  The Shark blades were fine, but not what I’d call excellent.  The shave wasn’t as close as I would have liked, I managed to cut my neck a lot, and the it was hard for me to get some of the trickier contours of my face.  A lot of this is probably due to the fact that I’m a new wet-shaver.  I’m not blaming the blades at all, I figure a lot of this was my fault.  If I was more skilled, perhaps things would have gone better.

My 100 blade purchase notwithstanding, I wanted to branch out and try some other blades. To that end, I ordered this 22 blade sampler pack from Amazon. $10 for 22 different blades, not bad.

I tried the Bluebird blade first, and thought it was pretty similar to my Sharks.  Maybe a little better, but roughly the same.

Today I tried the Gillette Platinum blade from my sampler pack and I loved it.  For the first time since I started wet-shaving, I didn’t draw blood, and I got a much closer shave than I ever got with my Sharks or the Bluebird.

I did a little research and learned the Gillette Platinum is pretty highly regarded. There’s even a thread on Badger and Blade in which people compare the Gillette Platinum to Feather blades, the seeming gold standard of double edged razor blades. 

There’s a small caveat, though – from what I can gather, the “Gillette Platinum” that these folks are discussing has been discontinued.  Those particular blades were manufactured in Sweden, leading shaving connoisseurs to affectionately refer them as “Swedes.”  The Gillette Platinums that I got were not “swedes,” but were instead manufactured in St Petersburg, Russia.  I found a few threads reviewing the Russian-made Gillette Platinums, and most found them to be as good as the original Swedes.

I sure liked them.  I’ll keep working through my sampler pack, but so far, Gillette Platinums are my favorite blade.