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Gillette Combination Set Restoration and Questions

I picked up this set with a mismatched flair tip for a pretty low price with intentions to use one of the blade banks to complete my pocket edition set.

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When I received it and opened the canisters I found it had a brush in great condition and about 1/3 of the soap stick. I’ve been keeping an eye out for one of these Gillette brushes for a while so it was a nice surprise!
The black on the canisters appeared to be plate loss but I figured I would try the baking soda trick just in case it was tarnished silver. As you can see, it was tarnish and they shined up real nice!

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I cleaned up the case and matched the set up with my 1912 Single Ring. As for the soap stick, I cut off all the exterior, dried out, green and white crust to expose what appears to be usable soap and re-wrapped it. Aside from the missing lid, this turned out to be a beautiful set.

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I do have a few questions:

Can I safely assume that this set is early 1910s? I’m basing that on the blade banks and the brush.

Is the Single Ring the right razor for this set?

Have any of you used a soap that’s over 100 years old and should I have any concerns or reservations with trying it out?

Oh and the Flair Tip is in great condition and cleaned up nicely too!
 
Very nice! Not sure about the correct razor but you can certainly use the soap. Let us know how it performs 👍

Thanks! I used the soap today. Face lathered with the little brush. The smell wasn’t the greatest pre-lather. It smelled like dusty generic hand soap. Once it lathered up the scent completely disappeared. It produced a thick lather and it was pretty slick. But on the downside, it didn’t feel like it had any cushion. I could feel the blade and every tooth of the razor scraping against my face. The Clubman aftershave stung more than usual and I had a weeper (which rarely happens to me). I don’t see myself using it again unless I’m feeling nostalgic.

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R

romsitsa

Hello, the lather looks to be “thin”. These early soaps should feel like a thick foam of fat on your face, if it makes any sense.
The razor matches the rest of the set. Nice rescue.
 
Thanks! I used the soap today. Face lathered with the little brush. The smell wasn’t the greatest pre-lather. It smelled like dusty generic hand soap.

You used the brush and soap! Your brave, how many hail marys ? I have a similar set and brush would disintegrate if I tried to clean it.
 
That set has come up very nicely and looks good with the single ring.
If you felt the comb digging you were probably at too steep a blade angle.
 
Hello, the lather looks to be “thin”. These early soaps should feel like a thick foam of fat on your face, if it makes any sense.
The razor matches the rest of the set. Nice rescue.

Thanks for the info! It actually was pretty thick. I face lathered and tried to use as little as possible so I guess the picture doesn’t do it justice.
 
You used the brush and soap! Your brave, how many hail marys ? I have a similar set and brush would disintegrate if I tried to clean it.

I was worried! I gave it multiple cycles of shampoo, conditioner, and let it sit for a while. It seemed it would hold up but it ended up shedding pretty badly during face lathering. I didn’t do any noticeable damage but i will be retiring it to a display item in my den.
 
That set has come up very nicely and looks good with the single ring.
If you felt the comb digging you were probably at too steep a blade angle.

Thank you! I guess what I was trying to describe was a lack of the feeling of “cushion”. The razor and blade just felt rough. I’ve used the Single Ring and King C Gillette blade combo many times with modern soaps and never have had the scraping feeling.
 
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