Voskhod Razor Blade Review

Voskhod has almost a cult following from people that have not had the best experiences with other DE razor blades. As I was starting out I found every blade I tried made my face feel tight and sometimes raw. After seeing many positive Voshod Razor Blade reviews online I took a chance and bought a pack of 100.

The first time I used a Voskhod blade was literally a turning point for me. It was the best shave of my life (at that time). I had no irritation and my face and head were BBS (baby butt smooth). This was the first time using a double edge razor blade that I did not have the tight or raw feeling afterwards.

Voskhod, 100 Double Edge Safety Razor Blades, 100 Count

• PTFE - for increased Durablility and smoothness
• Known for exceptional comfort while shaving
• Extremely Sharp and Long lasting - fits all Standard Double Edge Safety Razors such as Parker, Merkur and Classic Gillettes
• Made in Russia

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I have since learned to ease off the pressure and use the right angle which was causing the issue with the other blades. Now I enjoy many different blades, but the Voskhod was so smooth and forgiving that even with terrible technique it still gives a great shave.

There are some other smooth blades out there, like Derby Extra, but a Derby does not feel anywhere near as sharp as a Voskhod to me. I found that it tended to pull a bit in a very mild razor like an Edwin Jagger DE86 while Voskhod has no issue taking down my relatively thick beard.

Fresh out of the pack the sharpness measured 42. For information on what this means check out Razor Blade Sharpness Testing. This is relatively sharp. You can click this link to see a Razor Blade Sharpness Comparison Chart with the other blades tested so far.

It had been a little while since I had used a Voskhod and I was excited to revisit it for my two shaves to perform the testing and write this review. Sometimes things just aren’t as good as you remember, and sometimes they are better! The blade was extremely smooth and very sharp. I had an excellent 3 pass shave and no irritation. Round one receives top marks.

After the first shave, the sharpness actually increased to 41! What is extremely interesting here is that I have read some people on forums claim that they don’t like the first shave as much but love the second and find it better. Looking at the data, the range tightened up from 33 to 48 to 39 to 46, so maybe they are actually onto something.

The second shave was just as smooth as the first one and a great shave. I was fully expecting my sharpness readings to take a swing here and leave me confused but they did the same thing – it got even sharper. It measured in at 38. To confirm I had to test this one again. I took 8 more readings and my truncated mean was 40.5. That is still sharper than the new blade and after one shave.

There is going to be a certain level of error taking these readings, and we are talking about extremely small amounts of force. For all intents and purposes, at +/- 2 grams these readings are basically the same. Did it actually get sharper? Maybe not*, but that’s what I see from the data and the overall readings. One theory is that since the blade is coated in teflon, it may actually be less sharp to start because of the coating and as the coating wears off the sharp edge is more exposed.

For my second shave sharpness readings the only impartial way to report the results is to average both rounds which work out to 39.

*UPDATE: Voskhod was one of the first blades that I tested. After testing a few more coated blades and a couple of uncoated blades, it turns out that the coated blades tend to actually increase sharpness as the coating wears off, where uncoated blades will lose sharpness as they are used.

Note that I shave my head as well as my face and have a pretty thick growth – except for the top of my head. This means that one of my shaves might equal two of someone that just shaves their face, or even more if they have a thinner beard.

Initial Sharpness = 42
Average Sharpness = 41
Edge Retention = 0.93
Smoothness = 5/5

Overall Subjective Rating = 5/5

Teflon Coated. Made in Russia.

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The Voskhod lives up to its hype for being an extremely smooth blade. What is even better is the edge retention being under 1.0 which suggests that it basically does not dull at all after 2 full face and head shaves with two days growth each. The readings from new to the second shave are also very consistent, which means a consistent shave which is great.

With the price being a third to half of a Feather (which I still like) and in my opinion smoother, I do think this might be the best blade around. I highly recommend giving Voskhod a try. Note that I cannot comment on the extended durability, but at $0.10-0.15 a blade I’m not sure why you would use it more than twice.

Check out more Razor Blade Reviews or look into how the Razor Blade Sharpness Testing works.

Have you tried Voskhod Razor Blades? Be sure to leave your overall rating, the community appreciates your vote!

Voskhod, 100 Double Edge Safety Razor Blades, 100 Count

• PTFE - for increased Durablility and smoothness
• Known for exceptional comfort while shaving
• Extremely Sharp and Long lasting - fits all Standard Double Edge Safety Razors such as Parker, Merkur and Classic Gillettes
• Made in Russia

Buy on Amazon