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I use a razor that takes with a double-edge blade to shave, as I find cartridge razors to be expensive, irritating and easy to clog, and I am too lazy to take care of a straight razor properly! I recently went to China, and discovered that I didn't pack a box of spare blades:

Box of razor blades

Thinking that these would be easy to find, I went out to the supermarket and tried to find some. However, all I could find in any supermarket or pharmacy (e.g. Watson's) were racks of the Gillette multi-blade razors. Asking for the flat blades was just met with a blank look and a wave towards the cartridge razors. I eventually bought one of them since I needed to shave and had the subsequent unsatisfying shave and rash.

Where can you get double-edge flat razor blades in China? Have Gillette moved in and made it an online-only thing now? Decent ones would be a plus, rather than some off-brand ones of dubious sharpness!

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  • That's a very good blade you have pictured there, so sharp I switched to a competitor.
    – Andrew Lazarus
    Apr 15, 2016 at 21:59

2 Answers 2

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You can get these razor at almost any HARDWARE shop in China ( yes you read correctly ) - at least in the southern part which I know better. It will be very challenging for you to ask for it , but It is enough if you will show them an example . They are called 双面刀片 or just 刀片 ( dāopiàn ) .

The only problem is that some hardware shops will have different sizes and shapes that might not be suitable for you .

Another place they sell these are small local stationary shops ( office supply ) I also saw them in a lot of supermarkets and small groceries stores

That said - The foreign brands are not cheap in china , And I am not sure one should trust one's face with the cheap Chinese ones.

You can find them easily online ( example , example )

If you would say WHERE in China you need them, maybe I can help more ( China as a location is pretty big )

By the way, when I first arrived to China, NO FORM of razors nor shaving cream was available, and the only place to get it was online, or Abroad ... This is still a problem in rural areas in China, because the Chinese are known for lack of facial hair - but strangely enough - those double sided razors were available . Watsons and similar big brand shops will probably not have these because they hold only large-volume products. But if you will go to some small street with small old fashioned grocery shops- you WILL find them.

In Hong Kong and Macau those razors are available almost everywhere .

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  • Thanks for the thorough answer. I'm in north China (Tianjin), but I'll check out the hardware shops when I next run out of supplies!
    – Inductiveload
    Apr 20, 2016 at 16:44
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According to this forum post this is indeed very challenging but at least in Hong Kong

Fanda pharmacy in Central (G/F Worldwide House - Central MTR)

seems to sell them. Checking other similar forums it seems your best bet is online.

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