Vintage Travelling Blade reviews: Gillette Super Stainless 'Spoiler'

[Monsta_AU]

This thread is for the review and discussion of the Gillette Super Stainless 'Spoiler' blades in our Vintage Travelling Blades PIF.

Please note that there will be a Zero-Tolerance for off topic posts in this thread. Your opening post in this thread should be your initial shave review - you are then free to discuss the blades and further shaves.

General discussion of the PIF should go in the PIF thread as linked above.

 

[Monsta_AU]

Threw a new Spoiler into the Fatboy this morning - had 3 days growth and feeling pretty itchy to shave.

After the time I have spent on the vintage blades, I wanted to go back to a Spoiler which was the first of these much older blades which I tried. I believe my skills have further improved and knowledge of how they shave is helping me get better results.

Lathered up with TOBS Jermyn cream and the Smoggie 730HD as usual. Immediately went to work and found a noticeably sharper shave than the other two - the growth was simply and easily sliced off - there was no skipping, pulling or tugging. These blades are a cut above the rest, please excuse the pun.

The biggest difference between the Schicks, Personnas and the Spoilers is that the spoilers glide on your face like wet soap on oiled glass. Makes it much easier to get an amazingly close shave without adding pressure and dragging the blade across your face.

End result with my normal two passes - the best DE shave I have ever had. Smooth, no nicks, no cuts, no irritation. Feeling great and about to get on with my Saturday. For those that have one of these ready to shave with - go ahead and load it. You are in for a treat!

 

[bodge]

Very difficult to go into this one unbiased. RM, you are to blame.

Yesterday was the first outing in the ss flare. During the first pass I had a feeling it wasn't going to be as good as the schick or even the personna. I didn't feel it was super sharp or the butter smooth that RM had. It got better, I don't know if I did anything or the edge smoothed out but whatever, it got smoother. By comparison the first shave on the schick was really smooth from the get go. Nickless and irritation free at the end with a good shave.

Today I tried the #70 for 1st pass and it was pretty smooth and nice, so I went for the 2nd pass XTG and bits ATG with the #70, with a good feeling. Finished in the ss for touch ups. As I had read the monsta was riding a cloud of best de shave ever, I thought I'll go for the closest shave. I can't say it's the closest shave. It is close, and was still a comfortable, irritation free shave. No one else can tell whether it's the closest shave I've had, It's damn close. I did spend extra time trying to achieve this closeness but with the benefit of feeling that I was safe from irritation. Very nice control for me. The most sensitive parts of my face determine the overall shave for me, and this blade is great. I am still pining for the bleue, I might take a break from the spoiler tomorrow and use a bleue as this might be my only chance to have a reasonable AB comparison while the spoiler is still good.

 

[bodge]

3rd shave on this. Not feeling as sharp as before, but it could be my very short stubble. I shaved mid afternoon today as yesterdays shave was excellent and there wasn't much to shave this morning. I may have to skip a day of shaving tomorrow to give me a chance at shaving a decent beard off with this blade.

Shaving so late in the day, I actually tried to get a not-too-close shave but it's not really possible without just looking patchy rather than a consistent shadow.

 

[Monsta_AU]

I went back to a GBE in an unfamiliar razor today. Missed the Spoiler let me tell you!

I'd say give your face a chance to grow some stubble then. My technique and favoured razors/blades works best with 2 days growth.

 

[Lynchy]

Had my first shave with the spoiler this morning.

Loaded up the HD and went to work.

I had 3 days growth to mow down.

Face lathered with C&E West Indian Limes. Was the first time using this soap and my lather was deffinatley sub par.

First pass WTG and the blade just glided over my skin, no tugging or pulling what so ever. Knocked off a considerable amount of hair.

Re lathered for pass two, a XTG pass. Again no drag, or discomfort.

Final pass ATG I was nervous as I was ready for tugging and pulling like most of my ATG passes. Again no tugging, the thing just glided over the skin. Even on my lower neck which is my biggest problem area.

Then did some touch up on the usual areas, by now my lather was really thin, but still it felt fine.

I really pushed this shave because it felt so good.

All in all ended up with an amazing shave. Deffinatley one of the best to date.

Now as I have to shave daily for work I will reserve final judgement until tomorrow when I have only 1 days growth to get through. If it goes anything like today I think I will be sold!!!

Cheers

 

[Lynchy]

Second shave with the spoiler this morning.

Still in the HD & Proraso Facelathered. Much much better lather today.

Did have some ingrown hairs on the lower neck this morning, which is really no big surprise and no fault of the blade.

Anyway.... Shave was really smooth. I was debating if I really needed to shave as I was still pretty damn smooth from yesterday.

2 pass shave both WTG and ATG. No pulling or tugging at all. Again glided on the lower neck. Felt really nice.

All in all I am very impressed with the blade. Will put a few more shaves on it this week before another update.

Thanks

 

[Mark1966]

After using the Schick first up for two shaves I've swapped to the Personna and did two with that. Today was the first day with the much vaunted Spoilers.

Still using my birth year L 1 Slim on 6. Today it was with Cella.

I had a few things on my mind this morning and wasn't really paying attention. Before you know it usual 2 1/2 pass shave done! No nicks or cuts, BBS result. This is a good blade but hard to tell if it is better than the others at this stage.

 

[Mark1966]

Remember when starting out with DE shaving how your stubble the next morning seemed coarser and sharper? A commonly reported phenomena.

Well I'm certainty that this morning after using a Spoiler yesterday that my stubble was coarser and sharper this morning that after using other blades!

The shave itself (usual setup) was great. 2 1/2 passes to BBS and even as I type tonight there is stubble but less than usual. A great blade.

I'll be throwing a Personna lab in the Slim tomorrow then back cycling through them all on 7 after that!

Thanks again RM!

 

[Monsta_AU]

Thanks again RM!

You are most welcome Mark. The whole idea of the Travelling Blades was to expose members to blades they probably have never shaved with, and are unlikely to. It has been relatively successful so far in as far as a few members eyes have been opened in regards to how good a shave really can be, even if we believe our modern DE blades are already pretty good.

The older blades need a different technique and reward perfect angle while giving great control and longevity. Still, even if you don't enjoy the shave itself, the results speak for themselves.

The ~6 shave-down Spoiler that I attacked my stubble with this morning is still sharper than some modern blades out of the box. I am not sure it gets blunter, just starts feeling a little rough.

 

[Mark1966]

You are most welcome Mark. The whole idea of the Travelling Blades was to expose members to blades they probably have never shaved with, and are unlikely to. It has been relatively successful so far in as far as a few members eyes have been opened in regards to how good a shave really can be, even if we believe our modern DE blades are already pretty good.

The older blades need a different technique and reward perfect angle while giving great control and longevity. Still, even if you don't enjoy the shave itself, the results speak for themselves.

The ~6 shave-down Spoiler that I attacked my stubble with this morning is still sharper than some modern blades out of the box. I am not sure it gets blunter, just starts feeling a little rough.

Yes I confess that I'm hard pressed to discern any noticeable difference between any of these and my standard (good) modern blades at this stage. The first two shaves with a blade though are normally pretty good anyway. I suspect greater variation on shaves 3 and 4 and beyond that it may become a crap shoot!

I'd rate them all as good blades I would but if available now on the shaves to date.

 

[bodge]

Last couple of shaves, I have been using the r41 as 1st pass and the spoiler in the ss for the rest. I think it must be on the 7th or 8th shave today (with 1st pass assistance for the last 3) . It is still a very smooth blade, less sharp, but very trustworthy.

 

[Drubbing]

These are terrible for me. Way too rough. Bailed after 1 pass and finished with a Red. Reds is noticeable less sharp, but very comfy as never irritate, despite that my neck has flared up, so I'm putting it down to the Spolier.

 

[Lynchy]

Thought I would throw my 2c in.

So I got 5 shaves out of this blade. All in all very very nice.

Shave five was a little rough, well it felt rough, but it still cut very well.

If I saw some for sale I would definately pull the trigger!

However before getting too excited I think I should revisit some of my 'lesser' blades in the HD, see if its technique or blade!

 

[bodge]

Today would be my last shave with this blade. I see some mixed reviews. My end to this blade is a bit different to lynchy's. It is just not able to do close cutting but it is still giving me irritation free and nick free shaving. I had no bites from this blade for its whole long life. It probably taught me better technique as well. Due to a linear degradation of it's sharpness (or whatever), I was able to adjust successive shaves to be less close and still be good and comfy. There was no sudden drop off in it's ability to shave.
Hey Drubbing, I had a similar rough feel on the first (and a bit) pass of the first shave with this blade as I mentioned in my post on the 17/9 in this thread.

Thanks RM, this travelling blade review was great for me. I can't see myself chasing such rare and wanted blades though. It's been a nice reference to what is available now.

 

[Mark1966]

OK, shave 3 with the Spoiler this morning.

Usual routine, usual result. We will see how shave 4 tomorrow goes!

 

[Mark1966]

Shave 5 with the Spoiler this morning. About to cycle back through the others again from tomorrow.

Ho hum, another shave really. Surprisingly good for shave 5, in fact no real problems to speak off. Most blades I ditch after 4.

These older blades remind me a little of SEs with the aural feedback you get.

So using the Schick tomorrow for shave 5 with it

 

[Monsta_AU]

I stretched my first blade to 9 or 10 shaves, although it was pretty much gone by that stage. Still wasn't scratchy and had a smoothness about it, just wasn't cutting real well anymore.

I'm currently on a GBE in the Pureman and the result that gives me, I am itching to throw a spoiler in it.

 

[Mark1966]

I stretched my first blade to 9 or 10 shaves, although it was pretty much gone by that stage. Still wasn't scratchy and had a smoothness about it, just wasn't cutting real well anymore.

I'm currently on a GBE in the Pureman and the result that gives me, I am itching to throw a spoiler in it.

My dream blade would last seven days (so I could change once a week and not forget) with NO diminution of performance and work in every razor I own.

How hard can that be?

Somebody has been editing my post ...

I like it though!

 

[gthomas04]

Bugger bugger Bum

Back Back Story: I received the blades and removed my three - next where to put them as three blades could not be left out in the open to remove someones finger tips! Solution - put them in an envelope and put it on the computer desk (along with about 5 kilos of mail and other bits of paper). Must have been a good idea because I transitioned from the Personna to the Schick with no probems.

Back Story: About the time the blades arrived SWWISBF decided that we needed to replace the blinds in the Lounge and Bedroom. I really could not see any justification for this as they had lasted 10 to 12 years and although some of the wooden slats were broken and they couldn't be opened or closed I felt sure they had another 10 to 12 years in them. However our deal is anything inside the front door (apart from the kitchen) is hers to command) so I bowed to superior force. The great day came for the installation and we were requested to move all the furniture so the installer could get to all the windows. This of course meant cleaning off the computer desk (those who have incredible imagination can pick the ending to this tale of woe). I was given a large rubbish bag and it was gently suggetsted
that this may be a good time to clean all the crap off the desk. Of course despite my advancing years SBF still remains a priority in my life I obeyed.

Story Story: The bastard installer never turned up - His van broke down and my precious enevlope containing an unsullied, pristine, shiny Spoiler was somewhere in a bloody tip. I am of course thinking of finding out where Blacktown Council dumps the rubbish and looking for a bunch of hairless rats to pinpoint the location of my envelope. I will instead simply thank RM for his generous gesture and try to beat him out next time on EBAY.