Four Blades are Better than Five

For the past two months I have been using a Gillette Fusion. I have not been impressed with the quality of the shave I received from the Fusion and while shopping yesterday I picked up a Schick Quattro Midnight. In my opinion the Quattro looks better than the Gillette Fusion. Rather than being a ghastly combination of blue, orange and silver the Quattro opted for a more elegant all black design.

While I approved of the looks, what I was more concerned with was the quality of the shave it would render. As I discovered with the Gillette Fusion, more blades do not necessarily make for a more comfortable shave and in the case of the Quattro I was hopeful that less blades would be more.

After a good lather had been applied I started to shave. The first thing I noticed was that unlike the Gillette Fusion and the Mach 3 the Quattro did not pull at my beard as it shaved. I also noticed that one pass of the Quattro gave me a closer, more comfortable shave than either the Gillette Fusion of Mach 3. On the down side, it did have a tendency to clog with shaving cream and hair as I shaved in a similar manner to the Gillette Fusion. Upon finishing Becks said that my face was smoother than it had been using my prior razor.

Concerning the costs for replacement blades the Gillette Fusion’s run at $13.69 for 4 ($3.42/cartridge), while the Schick Quattro blades costs $9.99 for 4 ($2.49/cartridge) and the Gillette Mach 3 costs $11.99 for 5 ($2.39/cartridge). Until I find a better option I will stick with the Quattro since the cost per cartridge is only $0.10 higher than the Mach 3’s but the shave I received from the Schick is much better.