Safety Razors

Cabaal

I used this back when I used a Gillete Mach3 and/or Fusion, its ok and I found it equal to the king of shaves oil but I don't believe its suitable for a DE.

They are an Irish company alright I believe from Co Claire the stuff has been stocked in the likes of Tesco's for years and its priced "decent" enough.

As you only use two or three drops the stuff lasts ages

Fajitas!

Amalgam wrote: »

I'm staying in a house with very soft water, the shaving experience seems easier and a tad more pleasant.

Is there science behind that, or is it me just thinking it is easier?

I've gone back to Gillette Black, from the BlueBird blades..

I think there is a science behind it. I've soft water in Waterford and Dublin, and I never realised what a difference it made until I moved to London! Even down to making up the lather.

seosamh

Speaking of being scientific, I came across this thread on shaving oil which is all you could possibly ever wish to know on the subject and then some.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=121528

I'd say that despite it being chilly these days Proraso is the pre-shave solution of choice even with its 'wake me up' menthol kick.

DonJose

Anybody out there using a Gillette Red Tip. I won the following at Ebay and I am very impressed with this razor. I had the perfect shave with this razor using a Feather. IMO this has to be one of the best safety razors ever made, can't understand why this model was discontinued. I wanted one of these badly and bid on 2 auctions and won both

GD

DonJose - thats a beauty. Best of Luck with it.

I'm in for a Red Tip and the milder Blue Tip at the moment.

To go with my '65 and '66 Adjustable Slims which are lovely razors also.

Anyone used the Gillette Lady? Looks like a nice razor - if you can get past the "Lady" bit - as far as I know blokes do use it?

Waiting until my technique gets a bit better before I invest in a FatBoy. They are serious money.

DonJose

GD wrote: »

DonJose - thats a beauty. Best of Luck with it.

Cheers. It came with the vintage pack of blades in the picture. Has anybody shaved with a vintage pack of blades. Don't know the age of the blades but they must be a couple of decades old.

Shaving.ie

Gran Hermano wrote: »

The soap is a triple milled English style soap in the most beautiful shaving
bowl, I've several other wooden bowls from the likes of TOBS and Muhle
but the DR Harris beats them all in the looks department.

Did you get the Mahogany bowl? I have some Marlborough and Arlington goodies on the way... Looking forward to trying some out.

Gran Hermano

Shaving.ie wrote: »

Did you get the Mahogany bowl? I have some Marlborough and Arlington goodies on the way... Looking forward to trying some out.

I got the Marlborough soap in the mahogany bowl, the bowl is a beauty. I'm liking the soap and cream so much I haven't used anything else since it arrived! They are quality products and I've ordered some more in different scents as the very mild scent of the Marlborough is it's only downside.

I've some of their balm and the Airlington in a beech bowl on it's way as well.

Cabaal

Got my Gillete Superspeed in the post today...very quick delivery as only won the bit Wednesday or Thursday and it came from the states

Anyway seems to be in pretty good nick, just needs a slight clean but overall its mechanically sound thankfully.

I notice there's no model number underneath the part that holds the blade so can't tell when it was made, I believe I read before this suggests it was made between 1948 - 1952 can anyone confirm this?

Anywhere here it is in all its iphone photo quality glory

Gran Hermano

Nice razor, am pretty sure it's one of the early models you have there from the 1940s. The letter/number date codes didn't start until 1951.
Have a read here. The very early Super Speeds did not have the notch
to make blade changing easier.

The 1940s SS seem more popular than the later models.
I have one myself but not with the case.

PS: See I'm not alone with my utili-key

Cabaal

Gran Hermano wrote: »

Nice razor, am pretty sure it's one of the early models you have there from the 1940s. The letter/number date codes didn't start until 1951.
Have a read here. The very early Super Speeds did not have the notch
to make blade changing easier.

The 1940s SS seem more popular than the later models.
I have one myself but not with the case.

Judging from the Badger & Blade wiki it looks to be 1949...this is my guess anyway

Kind of strange to think I'll be shaving with something from the 1940's... anyway I'm not sure what the notch refers to, where is this notch exactly?

PS: See I'm not alone with my utili-key

Yep handiest thing to have on your keyring,

Gran Hermano

The notch was introduced in 1948 to make the blade change easier,
it's a notch cut into the centre bar which allows you to slot in a blade.

B&B review on them here

MediaTank

DonJose wrote: »

Cheers. It came with the vintage pack of blades in the picture. Has anybody shaved with a vintage pack of blades. Don't know the age of the blades but they must be a couple of decades old.

Don't do it! They will be very blunt by now.

Cabaal

Gran Hermano wrote: »

The notch was introduced in 1948 to make the blade change easier,
it's a notch cut into the centre bar which allows you to slot in a blade.

B&B review on them here

Ok so between the red case and nodge and lack of model number that puts the razor I have between 1948 and 1951, however its not 1950 either as it has no date code so that puts it at 1949 I guess

Not bad and I paid a pretty low price for it too so I'm happy

Just looking at the metal blade dispenser that came with it, there's a few gillete platnium plus blades in it, is this dispenser re-usable.....it almost looks like you can open it but I can't see how.

[EDIT] Just figured out how to pry open the used blades section...had about 10 blades in it, now to figure out how to load the blade storage part

GD

Great to see the Vintage DE's on here ... real sense of history shaving with one of the old Gillettes

DonJose

GD wrote: »

Great to see the Vintage DE's on here ... real sense of history shaving with one of the old Gillettes

The vintage Gillettes are excellent razors. I bought my Red Tip based on their rave reviews at B&B, rated 96% by 15 members. The Red Tip is my favourite razor by far and I've only used it twice, once with a feather and the second time with a BlueBird, I got perfect nick free BBS shaves both times.

My only regret is that I didn't buy a Red Tip earlier, I feel like I've wasted money buying the likes of Progress, Futur...

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?ltr=G&t=58679

Amalgam

mailburner wrote: »

day two using the personna platinum blade
i dont rate this blade at all compared to
others ive tried
was leaning on the progress and set it to 5
to get a decent shave and no blood drawn at all

mailburner, do yourself a favour and try the 'Gillette Black'. After trying them you'll look back on the Personna/ASR etc. and go.. what was all that about?

CrowdedHouse

I got a slightly different vintage DE today

a Schick Krona

There's a lot of plastic in it but reasonable weight,a bit lighter than a Super Speed.

It has a long handle,similar length to a Merkur 38 C

Might give it a drive in the morning.
(Cost me all of $9.50 + postage)

DonJose

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

I got a slightly different vintage DE today

a Schick Krona

That razor gets good reviews on B&B, rated 89% by 19 members.

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?ltr=S&t=41130

Amalgam

CrowdedHouse wrote: »

I got a slightly different vintage DE today

a Schick Krona

I love the handle on the Schick Krona. Is it the black tapered one? Very nice design. It's a sleeper pricewise as well, they never sell for much, which is odd, considering.

CrowdedHouse

Amalgam wrote: »

I love the handle on the Schick Krona. Is it the black tapered one? Very nice design. It's a sleeper pricewise as well, they never sell for much, which is odd, considering.

Yep - that's the one.

Mine is the all black handle,I've seen pics of ones with a silver TTO knob but mine is black.Nice kind of brushed finish to the doors.

Mark Surname

I keep nicking myself shaving. My face is full of little toilet paper squares.

Cabaal

So shaved with the Gillette Superspeed this morning with a Derby blade, its alot lighter then the Progress so its abit strange to shave with.

I'm not too sure about the shave, certainly not as good as the progress but thats likely down to technique. None the less its better then the Parker I bought a while back (I'll likely put the parker up for sale shortly)

I'll see how things pan out the rest of the week

Gran Hermano

Cabaal wrote: »

So shaved with the Gillette Superspeed this morning with a Derby blade, its alot lighter then the Progress so its abit strange to shave with.

I'm not too sure about the shave, certainly not as good as the progress but thats likely down to technique. None the less its better then the Parker I bought a while back (I'll likely put the parker up for sale shortly)

I'll see how things pan out the rest of the week

I find the angle with them is different than the modern Merkurs but the standard Superspeed is still a tad too mild for me. Try it with a Gillette Black or something sharper than a Derby!

DonJose

Cabaal wrote: »

So shaved with the Gillette Superspeed this morning with a Derby blade, its alot lighter then the Progress so its abit strange to shave with.

I cannot recommend the Gillette Red Tip enough. I've had my 3rd shave with one today and it is the best razor I've ever had. I have a huge collection of safety razors, including the Gillette Super Steed, Gillette Fatboy, almost all of the Merkurs and nothing compares to the Gillette Red Tip. I already own two Red Tips and I just purcased another on Ebay, I'm giving them out as xmas presents. I've paid between $40 to $50 for the Red Tips on Ebay, it still works out cheaper than a Progress which does not compare to a Red Tip. [/rant]

seosamh

Shaved with a brand new feather yesterday using my one and only razor, long handled Progress set at level 2. Whipped up an uber-lather of MWF soap and TOBS Rose cream with a Kent BK4. But key to the shave was the shaving oil I applied at the end of my shower to lock in the moisture.
This was indeed the best a man can get! The shave was BBS with only two minor neck nick that stopped almost immediately. No need for balm but applied some L'Occitane Cade anyway. It was so close I didn't need to shave today.
The thing I am wondering though is - is this level of closeness good for the skin or this there an inevitable overstepping the mark that comes with trying to achieve BBS?

MediaTank

seosamh wrote: »

The thing I am wondering though is - is this level of closeness good for the skin or this there an inevitable overstepping the mark that comes with trying to achieve BBS?

It's fine, as a DE does not shave below the skin. Consider youself one of the lucky few to reach BBS.

MT

seosamh

MediaTank wrote: »

It's fine, as a DE does not shave below the skin. Consider youself one of the lucky few to reach BBS.

MT

Thanks, I think it is a moment alright. It's funny, I went to buy a bus ticket in a newsagent and the girl asked me if I wanted a student ticket- I am well passed my student days so I couldn't help wondering if this was the BBS that was taking the years off!
However, I am beginning to think with the new year around the corner it might be high time I took a sabbatical from buying any more DE shaving products as I believe I have reached the point of diminishing returns.
With that in mind, I am squeezing in a few last purchases to see me through the self-imposed 12 month den-ial. I ordered Dr Harris Marlborough soap in the exquisite mahongany bowl and Proraso shaving cream(saving the best til last). I wonder if L'Occitane are having a sale just after christmas as I wouldn't mind getting the Cade soap with the art-deco style metal bowl. I have a Tabac on the way as well so I've got the essentials pretty much covered as well as a KMF unscented for some superlathering goodness.

Amalgam

My Christmas blade bumper pack arrived this morning, courtesy of Connaught Shaving. Something that cheered me up, I had ordered 30 'Gillette Black' (India), 7 O'Clock Super Platinum. Connaught sent out 5+2 Free packs, 42 blades in total.



I love the 'Gillette Black', just a very predictable blade, one lasts me the week, without any mean streaks towards the end the shaving run.

I've not tried the Gillette 7 O'Clock Sharp Edge blades before. Made in St. Petersburg, Russia, under license.

DonJose

Went shopping up the north today and picked up 3 tubes of Taylor shaving cream for £3.99 per tube in TK Maxx Craigavon. Got the Almond, Shaving Shop and Eton College Collection. I've never used shaving cream before, just shaving soap. Any tips of using shaving cream, how much should I use per shave. Cheers.