I found a vintage Gillette Trac II razor in my uncles house and I'm itching to give it a whirl but for the price of a refill I can buy a new soap, brush, or even a vintage safety razor so it doesn't justify it for me if it turns out I don't like it. Does anyone know if I can just buy one or two refills somewhere? Also, do any of you gents have experience with this razor? If so, how does it shave?
Can I buy individual Gillette Trac II refills?
- Thread starter RobsForge
- Start date
You can get Personna or Dorco Trac II compatible cartridges five or ten packs for a buck or two at grocery stores all over or stores like Dollar General and Family Dollar. The Trac II is a pretty good razor.
I used the Trac II for 37 years before I went to DE. I got underwhelmed by the results of an Atra "upgrade" around 1980, and skipped all Gillette's new products ever thereafter. Here are some random impressions and recollections:
1. It was never better than an OK shave. There was always some stubble left, no matter how new the cart, and even if trying 2 or 3 passes. Through all those decades I just figured residual stubble was part of shaving, since various disposables did no better. Some classic Trac II fans say that the genuine Gillette blades gave the better shaves, but I never bothered to notice a difference between store-brand (usually rebadged Personna) and the far costlier Gillettes.
2. With a can of Barbasol, it was quick and idiot-proof. No bleedouts unless a pimple got lopped off. The quick safe shave explains why the overwhelming majority of men, who consider shaving a chore, were happy migrating to carts when Trac II was new in 1971.
3. Whiskers and skin debris were always getting gummed-up between the blades, creating a mild biohazard. I wore down the plastic ribbing of the handle by whacking it against the sink trying to get the gunk out.
4. The cost and performance of the carts being ok but nothing to get excited about, I was always putting off buying refills at the store, and subsequently shaving with gunky semi-dulled carts, which was ok since I was not (yet) excited about shaving excellence.
5. The Trac II and other multiblade carts are lousy against longer growth, so the sideburns were always creeping downward between haircuts.
6. As you have observed, the cost.... I noticed that 10-packs of Gillettes are $16 to $19 or nearly $2.00 a cart. I finally found online sources averaging $0.40 per generic cart or less, and began stocking up, but soon thereafter I was finding DE so I never used much of the cartridge stockpile.
7. Comparably speaking, you can get a lot of DE mileage for the price of one refill, so DE appears to save money until you get excited about it and buy a lot more stuff - which does at least bring some satisfaction to justify the expense.
8. Since Trac II required only a handle, a cartridge, and a can of goo, my entire shave collection took up only inches of shelf space. Those were, at least, simpler days.
9. Trac II is largely phased out, but you can still get interesting handles for it. The Bump Fighter is a fine example.
10. I've revisited my old collection a few times since going to DE, just to see if there is any improvement with since-learned methods, and no there is not.
11. If for whatever reason I had to return to quick shaving with goo and carts, then even for all its disadvantages I would probably select Trac II as the least of all evils.
12. No, it appears you cannot get carts as "loosies" or in "onesy-twosey" fashion, not even from Tryablade, but PM me with your mailing address and I'll send you a tray of 10 store-brand or generic from my unused stock, just so you can see if they're really so bad.
1. It was never better than an OK shave. There was always some stubble left, no matter how new the cart, and even if trying 2 or 3 passes. Through all those decades I just figured residual stubble was part of shaving, since various disposables did no better. Some classic Trac II fans say that the genuine Gillette blades gave the better shaves, but I never bothered to notice a difference between store-brand (usually rebadged Personna) and the far costlier Gillettes.
2. With a can of Barbasol, it was quick and idiot-proof. No bleedouts unless a pimple got lopped off. The quick safe shave explains why the overwhelming majority of men, who consider shaving a chore, were happy migrating to carts when Trac II was new in 1971.
3. Whiskers and skin debris were always getting gummed-up between the blades, creating a mild biohazard. I wore down the plastic ribbing of the handle by whacking it against the sink trying to get the gunk out.
4. The cost and performance of the carts being ok but nothing to get excited about, I was always putting off buying refills at the store, and subsequently shaving with gunky semi-dulled carts, which was ok since I was not (yet) excited about shaving excellence.
5. The Trac II and other multiblade carts are lousy against longer growth, so the sideburns were always creeping downward between haircuts.
6. As you have observed, the cost.... I noticed that 10-packs of Gillettes are $16 to $19 or nearly $2.00 a cart. I finally found online sources averaging $0.40 per generic cart or less, and began stocking up, but soon thereafter I was finding DE so I never used much of the cartridge stockpile.
7. Comparably speaking, you can get a lot of DE mileage for the price of one refill, so DE appears to save money until you get excited about it and buy a lot more stuff - which does at least bring some satisfaction to justify the expense.
8. Since Trac II required only a handle, a cartridge, and a can of goo, my entire shave collection took up only inches of shelf space. Those were, at least, simpler days.
9. Trac II is largely phased out, but you can still get interesting handles for it. The Bump Fighter is a fine example.
10. I've revisited my old collection a few times since going to DE, just to see if there is any improvement with since-learned methods, and no there is not.
11. If for whatever reason I had to return to quick shaving with goo and carts, then even for all its disadvantages I would probably select Trac II as the least of all evils.
12. No, it appears you cannot get carts as "loosies" or in "onesy-twosey" fashion, not even from Tryablade, but PM me with your mailing address and I'll send you a tray of 10 store-brand or generic from my unused stock, just so you can see if they're really so bad.
Almost every store that has the Personna, also has the Gillette branded ones, but bring some serious money for those 
- Thread starter
- #5
I recieved the carts and had my first shave with them tonight! I completely understand what you mean with just an "ok shave" and it's quick and idiot proof. I knocked down 1 day of stubble pretty easily but it wasn't the smoothest in the world, but it was comfortable if that makes sense. I would be a little scared to try 3 or more days of growth but I love to experiment so we will do just that! I was going to honor you by using Arko (for what would be my first time using the shave stick or Arko in general) but completely forgot! Next time, next time. Once again I thank you and can't express how much I appreciate it. Is almost the weekend and I hope you enjoy.
-Rob G
- Thread starter
- #6
Cool, thanks for the tip buddy.
Your last chance to see if there is anything beyond "quick" and "ok" with that Trac II would be to acquire a set of genuine Gillette carts. However, I just took another walk through Target and a tray of 10 still costs 3 hours of a young person's take-home wages. It seems odd that time stood still, riding up with inflation through 45 years of those Gillette Trac II prices. Everything else from attire to electronics got better in most cases and, relatively speaking, much cheaper. I do not imagine the costly carts would deliver a significantly better result but you can make the sacrifice and see for yourself.
Meanwhile, you have taken your very own venture to the intermediate depths of contemporary history so see for yourself why even the old B&B men go back 50 years and not a mere 10, 20, or even 40.
Arko takes you back 61 years to 1955 when it became the first nationally marketed commercial shave soap of Turkey. Tried it yet?
There are plenty of good value carts on eBay, and they deliver excellent shaves. I am not a fan of Dorco or Personna carts, but Wilkinson Sword, Schick, and Gillette carts are available.
Any twin blade razor blades will do, I don't know what stores you have in Long Island
