Sainsbury's Dorco ST301 Double Edged Blades

After my unexpected success with the Tesco Israeli Personna blades I've been keen to find out what other rebranded things are available on the British high street. Our local Asda don't seem to sell anything other than carts and canned goo, while the Morrisons stock even less than that. I noticed that Boots sell the exact same Personnas as Tesco, albeit in their own brand packaging and at a 25% markup over the supermarket. Still, they sell their own very well regarded shave creams and sticks (resplendent in their very 80s packaging) so I'll let them off.

And that leaves us with the other big supermarket: Sainsburys. The 'orange shop' as my 3 year old calls it, had a nice surprise in store when I noticed a very similarly priced pack of 10 blades with a slightly different cover card and which is marked "Produced and packed in Vietnam"

Sainsbury's Packaging and Vietnam origin claim.

Mapping my own growth direction

Good afternoon gents, a bit of a different direction with today's post as I'm not yet ready to write up the next blade review.

There has been something bothering me since I started wet shaving again and I see it come up regularly on forums such as badgerandblade and Reddit's own r/wicked_edge. The direction of hair growth in my beard is something which I've always assumed was very straight forward. In fact, I remember my dad telling me " you shave with the grain, so downwards on your face and upwards on your neck" when I started shaving in the mid 90s. Maybe that's how his growth comes in, but as I've recently found out... that trait was not passed down to me.

Tesco (Israeli Personna) DE Blades.

Hello again and welcome to a surprising blade review. Well, I was surprised anyway - these blades were much better than their humble origins would suggest.

Tesco's re-branded Personna DE blades.

These are Tesco own branded DE blades and are a very reasonable £2.00 for 10 blades. Not the best when you consider the Derby blades in my last review can be had for 6p each when bought in bulk... but more than acceptable for small packs in a supermarket.

I was walking around Tesco with my wife and spotted them down the bottom of all the blingy cartridge refills, unloved along with a rather dusty looking Wilkinson Sword shaving brush. Needless to say, a pack of the blades soon found its way into our shopping trolley.

The Israeli Giveaway! 

I found it interesting to note that the pack had "Produced and packed in Israel" written on the back which seemed odd, even for a multinational chain like Tesco. Some internet sleuthing later and it was apparent that these blades are simply rebranded Personna blades and this fact seems well known in the wet shaving world. I can't for the life of me figure out which particular Personna blade these are, but some have suggested they're Personna Tomy. I'll be sure to test as many Personnas as I possibly can in the future.

Delighted with my new discovery I set about have a shave after around 4 days of growth since my final Derby Debacle The pack of 10 blades comes in a simple blister pack and is your usual white plastic dispenser type with the handy slot on the back for used blades. Each completely unmarked blade is wrapped in plain white paper feels of reassuring quality.

The first of many Tesco blades to be fitted to my R89

The first blade I used didn't quite centre in my Muhle R89 perfectly so some slight adjustment was required to even it out. I must state, however, that each subsequent blade I've used has been perfectly centred right away.

So onto the shave itself - as usual with a face lather from the Palmolive stick and trusty boar brush.
First impressions with the first strokes of the first pass were amazing. These things were NOTHING like the horrible Derbys before. Smooth, clean, mild... they just glided through my stubble with zero effort. I found this to be the case through the whole of my first pass even with the extra few days growth. Even better than my favoured Muhle Raserkulturs.
Pass two and three went by much the same and I was left with a closeness I've yet to better - I would say this is the closest to BBS I could manage with my R89 and I am delighted. My alum block wipe only proved to me what I already knew - this was the best shave I've had since, well... since ever!

I'd love to have a caveat at the bottom here to end on but performance wise there really is nothing to complain about for me. Sure, at 20p each they could be expensive to buy in bulk (I need to dig more into which Personna these are... maybe the originals could be ordered online in packs off 100?) but even that issue is negated by my next point. I got 6 full shaves out of this first blade and it did not seem to be dulling at all. Phenomenal. The only reason I changed out was to compare this blade with its buddy out the packet to determine consistency. That and the fact that I have a growing collection of other blades to try out & I'm keen to get onto them!

So in conclusion I've found my go to blade. It's mild enough for daily use, whilst effective enough to give the closest shaves I've ever experienced. Top dog so far.

• Blade: Tesco Double Edged Blade (Israeli Personna Tomy)
• Cost per blade: 20p
• Cost per shave: 3.3p
• Place of manufacture: Israel
• Material: Platinum Coated Chrome
• Average Shaves/Blade: 6
• Aggressiveness: Perfect for me, smooth and mild.

• Safety Razor Used: Muhle R89 Closed Comb
• Soap Used: Palmolive Classic Shave Stick. 

Chris