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Arrival: My #66

Well, after nearly two weeks of biting fingernails, it arrived:

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The Short Story: I opened the shipping box, unwrapped the bubble wrap, inspected (okay, ogled) the razor, gave it a quick cleaning, showered, lathered, loaded up a Dorco ST-300, and...

Simply wonderful.

A bit more aggressive than my gold, American 'crat, but just about as smooth, and oh so pretty. The neck of the handle has lost its silvery coating, but elsewhere it's intact, especially the head and TTO doors, which show nary a scratch. To reiterate: the Aristocrat, in any form, is All That. The Brit #66 just that little bit moreso.

The first shave with the #66 was a bit more rushed than I'd have liked, and I took a single nick as a result, but the shave was BBS, the Dorco blade proving to be a very good match, at least for my face. Build quality is astounding...I thought I understood all the hype about vintage Gillettes when I got my gold Aristocrat and Super Adjustable (which are great in their own regard). The #66 kicks everything up just a notch: heft, balance in the hand, and smoothness of shaving. Looks sweet, shaves sweet, IS sweet.

It probably helps that my "Brit-ocrat" comes in a notch or two below "mint." I'd probably be tempted to never use the thing if it was Absolute Pristine, which would be a shame. If it's not the pinnacle of DE shaving, it's damned close, as far as I'm concerned.


- Barrett
 
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Brit-stocrats shave very well, I had one and I found it slightly more agressive than my American Executive.

Very nice looking razor by the way!
 
Very nice. The problem is that it probably will drive all other razors off rotation..

I know mine did.
Ah, this is precisely why I've kept the "herd" small (just this 'crat, the gold American 'crat, and the Super Adjustable, the Super likely becoming my go-to travel razor). The Merkur Vision is officially retired, merely awaiting refurbishing before hitting the B/S/T pages, while I'm still figuring out what I'll do with the Futur.

I seem to be comfortable with a maximum of three with most stuff (bikes, fountain pens, razors), in order to keep things in rotation without a written schedule. :smile:

Once my razor/brush stand arrives from ssilcox, I'll truly be set.


- Barrett
 
Things get better: I'm learning that a lighter touch on each pass really does get it done. It also helps that, as I discovered with the gold Aristocrat, the Dorco blade-buffs so smoothly that touch-ups are a breeze...it doesn't pay to try and mow everything down in just two passes. Virtually no burn, one tiny nick, and a BBS shave that's mostly holding its own even now (12:45 AM). And I get to use a beautiful example of mid-20th Century engineering to boot. (Comparing this razor to a Fusion puts me in mind of Vincent Scully's comparison of the original Pennsylvania Station with the present "station" that scandalously replaced it: "One entered the city like a god. One scuttles in now like a rat.")

I'll be putting the Dorco blades through some serious paces with all three razors over the next two weeks; if all goes well, I'll be putting in another order for 200 of 'em before long. My main concern now is how well they do in the late-model Super Adjustable. They simply rock in the Aristocrats.


- Barrett
 
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