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Gillette Heritage Initial Review

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
I finally got a chance to use my Heritage razor. So many great razors have come out lately, and I've found some vintages that I'd been hunting for a long time, it's been tough getting through my queue of razors these days. However the Heritage was worth the wait. I guess I'm a bit biased as I have always loved the DE89 and R89 razors. But regardless, this razor is a nice shaver that provided me with very good results with zero blood or irritation. And the presentation with the case and trimmings is top notch. It's a keeper for sure!

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Me thinks most folks are over thinking this razor. It is the gift giving season and many companies release "limited edition" items to pull in the shoppers. Gillette has a long history of special editions, like the TV Special and Cavalcade of Sports, razors, many of which are only identified differently by the case, and I don't feel this is any different. Will they continue with other DE razors? Depends on the sales of this one. Next year it might be a "collectors edition" pack of aftershaves, or it may be many years before another special something comes from them. At least they are staying mostly true to their roots, unlike American Safety Razor, who bought Burma-Shave and then released a soap and brush set, which the original Burma-Shave company ridiculed as old school.
 
If they patent a new blade, they would only want it to fit Gillette razors only ...which would mean a new Gillette razor that would not fit the old DE razors.

A new DE blade with a different pattern that would fit and razor but only Gillette. A locked system like all products.



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+1!
 
I finally got a chance to use my Heritage razor. So many great razors have come out lately, and I've found some vintages that I'd been hunting for a long time, it's been tough getting through my queue of razors these days. However the Heritage was worth the wait. I guess I'm a bit biased as I have always loved the DE89 and R89 razors. But regardless, this razor is a nice shaver that provided me with very good results with zero blood or irritation. And the presentation with the case and trimmings is top notch. It's a keeper for sure!

View attachment 1039984

Did you use the blades? I’m curious if anyone else is just leaving them alone in the box like me. If they are marked the same as the others you order online, I might just use them. Haven’t made a final decision yet.
 
Me thinks most folks are over thinking this razor. It is the gift giving season and many companies release "limited edition" items to pull in the shoppers. Gillette has a long history of special editions, like the TV Special and Cavalcade of Sports, razors, many of which are only identified differently by the case, and I don't feel this is any different. Will they continue with other DE razors? Depends on the sales of this one. Next year it might be a "collectors edition" pack of aftershaves, or it may be many years before another special something comes from them. At least they are staying mostly true to their roots, unlike American Safety Razor, who bought Burma-Shave and then released a soap and brush set, which the original Burma-Shave company ridiculed as old school.

I don't know, I see it more of Gillette dipping their toe back into the DE game and seeing how the water feels. Customers that move on to DE shaving are customers that they would have lost anyway from their cartridge line. Might as well get the modest upfront profit from the razor itself and the lower back end profit from the DE blades than no profit at all. The 89 head is forgiving and easy shaving, it's a good way to see how it goes without otherwise harming their brand and the holidays are a good time for marketing.
 

BradWorld

Dances with Wolfs
Did you use the blades? I’m curious if anyone else is just leaving them alone in the box like me. If they are marked the same as the others you order online, I might just use them. Haven’t made a final decision yet.
Nope. Leaving them in the razor case. Like you. :)
 
I see it more of Gillette dipping their toe back into the DE game and seeing how the water feels. Might as well get the modest upfront profit from the razor itself and the lower back end profit from the DE blades than no profit at all.
That's definitely the corporate strategy behind expanding Art of Shaving products (including an identical razor to this one) into places like Target. The execs know that some people want something different from the Fusion line, and they know how to make money off of it with strategic branding and pricing. The surprising shift is that Target will actually stock the $80 gift sets at their bigger locations; I'm assuming they must be selling well. Too bad they don't have better brushes and razors in them.

I'm not convinced this one-off release of an off-the-shelf razor in a limited-edition box is a sign that anyone in Gillette's product management hierarchy cares about associating the company with wet shaving in an ongoing way. If they made an effort to source a razor that resembled an actual Gillette design that would have been interesting; it certainly wouldn't have been any more difficult than getting these heads from whomever makes them in Germany. (Muhle and Merkur are both stocked by Art of Shaving, so it makes sense, but there are good Gillette clones everywhere.)

Are the DE blades even made by a Gillette-owned factory anymore?
 
What a joke is this razor! Especially the head!
Just received mine and tried to screw the head on the handle... (Not to shave - it will never get wet!)
Fits really tight! I guess I was able to wear out most of the chrome plating and expose the stupid pot metal junk to elements. This whole heritage "thing" is so lame. The head looks and feels cheap, not to mention is totally unrelated to the brand. Meh!
The case, handle and the booklet are OK though.
Shame on, P&G!
 
What a joke is this razor! Especially the head!
Just received mine and tried to screw the head on the handle... (Not to shave - it will never get wet!)
Fits really tight! I guess I was able to wear out most of the chrome plating and expose the stupid pot metal junk to elements. This whole heritage "thing" is so lame. The head looks and feels cheap, not to mention is totally unrelated to the brand. Meh!
The case, handle and the booklet are OK though.
Shame on, P&G!

Your not alone. I too had an usually thick top cap screw and I understand that if this was someone’s first 89 head or first safety razor in general, it would be frustrating. Thankfully one of my first razors which I had kept was an R89 head I purchased from Maggards and a blemished Weber bulldog handle. Figured the thicker top cap from the Gillette may last longer with a stainless steel handle so I switched the caps.
 
Your not alone. I too had an usually thick top cap screw and I understand that if this was someone’s first 89 head or first safety razor in general, it would be frustrating. Thankfully one of my first razors which I had kept was an R89 head I purchased from Maggards and a blemished Weber bulldog handle. Figured the thicker top cap from the Gillette may last longer with a stainless steel handle so I switched the caps.

Strange, my Heritage is perfect and definitely does not have zamack threads. I was told by Mühle they dumped the zamack threads years ago.
 
Are you guys getting your Heritage razors off of Amazon or somewhere else? Would be easy for an unscrupulous person to swap out caps for private sale.

A while back, I was looking for a new cap for my EJ because my threads were gone. Wanted to get the Mühle cap because I had heard they went to brass threads. I verified this from Mühle and they also told me their replacement caps also had brass threads now. Again, this was a while back. There shouldn’t be any zamack threads on caps left after all of this time.
 
Are you guys getting your Heritage razors off of Amazon or somewhere else? Would be easy for an unscrupulous person to swap out caps for private sale.

A while back, I was looking for a new cap for my EJ because my threads were gone. Wanted to get the Mühle cap because I had heard they went to brass threads. I verified this from Mühle and they also told me their replacement caps also had brass threads now. Again, this was a while back. There shouldn’t be any zamack threads on caps left after all of this time.
I bought my Heritage razor directly from Amazon. I assumed that they were Mühle R89 heads so the top cap screw should be brass. I never mentioned anything about the screw being zamak, only that it takes an unusual amount of effort to put the razor together compared to my other R89. Switching the caps with the other R89 head I have worked in resolving the issue.
 
I bought my Heritage razor directly from Amazon. I assumed that they were Mühle R89 heads so the top cap screw should be brass. I never mentioned anything about the screw being zamak, only that it takes an unusual amount of effort to put the razor together compared to my other R89. Switching the caps with the other R89 head I have worked in resolving the issue.

Maybe you have some burrs in the handle threads possibly.
 
First impression I had with the pic was "sure looks like my EJ Kelvin!" Since they designed their head in collaboration with Meuhle, it's essentially a Kelvin. Good to see Gillette at least showing SOME love to the DE market. As others have said...it would be GREAT if they felt the response was enough to get back into making some actual Gillette razors again.
 
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