As the calendar has turned to April, I can’t be the only one out there feeling spring approaching rapidly. For me, when spring comes around it’s time to step up my grooming routine. It’s not that I don’t maintain myself over winter but just more so during spring and summer.
Part of this has been going out and purchasing new razor blades and I came across these Gillette Venus Comfortglide Sugarberry. They seemed as good as any of the other countless options so why the heck not? They are razor blades fitting all the Venus shavers that Gillette makes. Each shaving head (that you attach to the shaver) has 5 blades, which provides a close and smooth shave. Around the blades there is a large bar on either side containing body butter. The bars move along with the blades and the flexible head, as you use the razor.
Now you might be thinking there isn’t much of a difference between razor blades from Gillette, right? I used to think that too! And initially when I tried these I was pleasantly surprised. ‘Sugarberry’ made me think that the scent would be sweet but it’s surprisingly fresh and apple-like for my nostrils. It’s a pleasant scent that I enjoy a lot more than I would a sweeter scent. When I change razor blades it’s always life changing. A newer blade runs a lot more smoothly over the skin and I always remind myself to make the effort, splurge and do the change more often. Of course that never happens. Better for the environment anyway.
It gave a close shave and there was honestly nothing to complain about in that department. If it’s better than the shaving heads with 4 blades, I don’t know. I can’t say I have previously noticed a big difference but maybe if you put them to the test side by side, you will. I highly doubt it because of the increasingly popular safety razor with only one blade. I haven’t tried one myself (yet!) but my boyfriend who’s really into grooming has been using one for his beard for years and it provides a much closer shave than the Gillette male line of razors despite having only one blade against Gillette’s 4+ blades.
As you might have caught on to, I am not entirely happy with the shaving head. The issue for me is the body butter bars. I have no doubt that they help provide the smooth shave and let the blades glide over the skin easier but that’s also about it. When getting wet, I found that the bars became a little sticky, and because it’s on both sides of the blades you’re essentially coating your legs in body butter before shaving, and I found that it clogged up the blades a lot faster than using shaving gel or conditioner (which dissolve easier in water and therefore wash away as you shave). Other than that I also found that the bars are just a little too big to be able to shave smoothly in some areas (around the knee, the angle and the bikini line). Not to mention that the bars came off and washed down the drain, before they had even been used up half way! I should say that I have previously used Gillette razors with the similar kinds of bars on the sides and I have never had this issue before. Maybe I got unlucky, or maybe it’s this specific range (Comfortglide) of Gillette Venus razor blades. Either way I definitely won’t be repurchasing them and they really encouraged me to get on the safety razor wagon (yay for the environment!).