Fakeidiums - From China, with hate.

[Drubbing]

ADMIN EDIT: Fakeidiums are the nickname given to the Chinese-manufactured Super Iridium blades which are indeed fake, phoney and an awful ripoff to anyone who has bought them. We hope to have some magnified edge photos available soon. We have an article on how to spot them here.

I thought I'd give one of these a quick go before bed, just a tidy, as I've a busy day tomorrow and will have to rush my shave.

If you have any of these gifted to you, I hope Razormonsta won't take offence when I suggest - don't put them in your razor. Take them to your nearest bin and drop them in. That's where mine are.

I gave up on my idea of a tidy about 4 strokes in on my cheek. If there was an edge on this blade, I couldn't find it. It's what I'd imagine a rusty 15 day old Merkur would shave like.

I dragged this thing along my cheek and felt it bumpily scrape along like a dog on a lead with no legs. The 3 or 4 stokes I gave has left my cheek a little tender. I would advise no one to try and shave their whole face with these.

I may be exaggerating a bit, but only a bit. But is this easily the worst piece of steel I've put on my face? Yes, it is.

 

[JugV2]

wow.

I've got some but I know I will still try one...

Good review though, at least we know to steer clear.

 

[Drubbing]

Update: The small part of my cheek I shaved last night burned when I put cream on it this morning. I can still feel something tender there.

I'd advise no one to shave with these things. I don't want to revisit the experience to confirm it, but it's entirely possible these are blanks, which haven't been sharpened yet.

Jug, if you're going to use one, make sure you use your favourite lather and take care. Taking one for the team to confirm the horror - that's good of you.

I'm off to Qld for week so I won't be shaving tomorrow, which is just as well, as I don't want to flare up my cheek again.

 

[Monsta_AU]

I think you may well be right - these might have been ground but not honed. If only I had access to a microscope & DSLR rig.

I haven't shaved with them yet, but will once I get back to test them myself. If they really are that bad, then i won't send out any more and take a couple for the 'collection' and bin the rest.

 

[JugV2]

Well it's with some apprehension I will be using one of these, but I will give it a try.

 

[Monsta_AU]

Very glad I said the following:

I'm even throwing in two 10packs of Fakeidiums for another 20 blades (quality of those ones is definitely not guaranteed.....)

 

[Monsta_AU]

Okay, swallowed my pride this morning and loaded up a Fakeidium in the Slim. Dialled it down to 1.... I have no kahunas. Lathered up perfectly with Proraso.

First stroke - nothing. Literally nothing. Just the Slim removing shaving cream. Checked the blade was sitting correctly. Dial up to 3 and go again.

AAAAAAAIIIIEEEEEE! Getting some action this time, but it was more akin to waxing your face, but using a blade to achieve defoliation by ripping the hair out by the root.

Getting pissed off with this, I go all the way to 9. Jumping, skipping blade the whole way. Blade was only cutting, certainly not slicing like any other blade I have ever used. Hell, a crusty old Merkur blade which has shaved your wife's legs after a couple of rounds on your face would be better than this. Actually scrub that, I have a box-cutter here that I use to open mail. That snap-off blade would have given a better result than this abomination of stainless steel.

I got about half a cheek done, there was no way in the world I was putting that crappy blade anywhere near my neck. Dumped the blade and loaded a fresh NOS Bleue Extra, dialled into 6 and started mowing it down. Almost creamed me jeans once that familiar Gillette hone hit my face.

Don't use them. Keep a pack as a souvenir and throw any more than that away.

Unfortunately I also had a similar experience from the Gillette Rubie Platinum Plus from the same seller - the shave seemed to be much lower quality than I would expect from a Gillette-branded product.

Not only that, but I can see similar packaging issues as the Fakeidiums had - bad quality printing on box and wrapper, box falling apart from bad creasing and low quality cardboard, blades not wrapped square etc. One of the biggest concerns is the lack of cellophane box wrapping on the ones I sourced from the Fakeidium supplier, whereas other trusted vendors such as David over at RazorbladesAndMore.com have their stock cellowrapped. I am treating them as highly suspect at this stage and will be interested to compare them when I get a different supply which are in transit now.

I am trying to organise a decent microscope photography rig so that I can take photos of the Genuine Iridiums and the Fakeidiums and show the differences in the grind and hone of each. If the Rubies appear to be fake also, then I will do the same for those.

 

[JugV2]

I still have't tried one of these yet.

I was going to, but after Drubbing and Monsta's tales of woe, to hell with that.