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Today we're talking blades. Specifically, double-edge blades. The old-fashioned, 100 year-old blade type that some anachronistic idjuts still use to shave their pusses.

If you go visit your grandma, go into her bathroom and open up the medicine cabinet -- dollars to donuts there's a slot in the back of the cabinet that's for disposing used DE blades when your grandpa put a new one in his razor every Monday morning.

Even though American manufacturers like Gillette haven't sold safety razors for decades, millions of DE razors are still in use all over the world, and you can still buy DE blades in most drugstores and even on such modern mom'n'pops as Amazon.com .

But even though all DE blades will fit in any safety razor built in the last 100 years, there's definitely a foodchain when it comes to DE blade quality. And the order of the names from best to god-awful may surprise you.

Gillette invented the safety razor over a hundred years ago, and for sixty years its own double-edge blades were the best a man could get. But then the British company Wilkinson got in the act and introduced a new DE blade, fully compatible with the Gillette razors, but of noticeably better quality, so cutting edge wetshavers switched over to the Wilkinson blades for their Gillette DE razors for the best of both worlds, setting the wheels in motion for Gillette to abandon the standardized razor format in favor of proprietary, patented "shaving systems" like the Atra, Sensor, and Mach3, which other companies were forbidden to make compatible blades for.

Fifty years ago, there were hundreds of different brands of DE blades to choose from. Today, the millions of men around the world who still shave with a DE have but a handful of blades to load their razors with, but the good news is that today's best DE blades are eons better than anything that came before them.

I've shaved with all of the available blades you can purchase today, and they're all noticeably different. By that I mean, once you know what these blades "feel" like, you could tell them apart blindfolded if you shaved with them.

The worst DE blade you can buy today? Surprisingly, it's Gillette. Or maybe not so surprisingly -- some shavegeeks have theorized that Gillette makes their DE blades ragged on purpose, to make their modern shaving systems like the Mach3 seem better by comparison. Either way, stay away from them -- not only are they the most expensive DE blades on the market, but they're the worst I've tried. Nicks and cuts are guaranteed, even if you're an expert wetshaver. Just Say No.

A much better and cheaper choice is the 5-pack of Wilkinson DE blades for 79 cents. You don't see these everywhere, but you can order them online here. The Wilkinsons are super sharp, reliably consistent blades which some shavegeeks prefer over all others, especially in old Gillette adjustable DE razors. I find the Wilkinsons shave a little raggedy the first day, then the next five or six days are really smooth, but you should definitely change them every week like clockwork if you don't want to nick yourself. If you find Schick DE blades, these are the same blades as Wilkinsons -- both brands are owned by Energizer.

By far the most widely available DE blades are made by American Safety Razor's Personna division, and I find these blades to be of excellent quality. Most store brands like CVS and Rite Aid are really Personna Platinums, and you can bank on these blades as a reliably good shave. I bought 200 unlabeled "no-name" Israeli-made blades on eBay for thirty bucks which are clearly Personnas, and they're truly excellent blades.
Smoother and more refined than the Wilkinsons, the Personnas shave close without irritation, and I always get great results with them in any of my DEs, whether they're old Gillettes or new Merkurs.

The two high-end DE blades favored by the shavegeek elite are made by Germany's Merkur and Japan's Feather. Merkur's DE blades, which typically sell for around five bucks for a 10-pack, are the smoothest, most consistently forgiving blades I've tried. These are the blades I always recommend to DE newbies, because they're the least likely to nick and cut someone who doesn't know what they're doing. But make no mistake -- Merkur blades are precisely honed, and they deliver state-of-the-art shaves in any razor you load them in. Of all the blades I use, the Merkurs are my favorite.

But as good as the Merkurs are, there are some shavegeeks who want something mo' better. The Japanese company Feather makes all kinds of surgical blades and barber supplies, and they also make a DE blade that's by far the sharpest you can buy. Feather's Platinum DE blades go for around six bucks a 10-pack, and let me tell you, they shave like no other blade I've every tried. If you know what you're doing, you'll get the closest shave you ever got in your life. If you don't, you'll wish you were never born, because your face will look like you went ten rounds with Tommy Hearns.

Shaving with a Feather blade in your DE means adjusting your entire technique to compensate for a much higher level of cutting sharpness, and I'll be honest with you -- I nearly always nick myself at least once when I shave with a Feather blade, even though the shaves I get with these blades are ungodly close. The Feathers are far and away the sharpest and closest-cutting DE blades you can buy today, but they're not for everyone. My hats off to those guys who can use them routinely without drawing blood. I'm not one of them. But if you think you've got what it takes, the only place in the US you can get them is Classic Shaving.

This morning I popped the week-old no-name Israeli Personna blade out of my Merkur HD and loaded a minty new Merkur Platinum. The two blades shave so similarly I can't really tell the difference -- they're both smooth, close, and consistent. Miles ahead of the Gillettes, more refined and longer-lasting than the Wilkinsons/Schicks, but not quite so ungodly sharp as the Feathers that I have to worry about what I'm doing. Like Mama Bear's porridge, they're juuust right.