I posted in the acquisition thread the new OLD type I acquired. I'm excited about my journey, so I wanted to share it here.
I've been very slow and methodical about how I approach DE shaving. I use one razor at a time, for an extended period, testing several blades with that razor and not skipping between one and another. When I feel I've gotten a good sense of the razor's finer points, and--just as important--adjusted my technique to best fit the razor, I move on to the next.
As it happens, I've mostly been working myself backward through time with vintage Gillettes. I'd been both excited and scared about the OLD, figuring it had the potential to give me either (or both) my best shaves or to tear up my face.
I've gotten comfortable with my NEW short comb, getting good shaves and even getting more uses per blade than I had in my Slim. I figured I was ready to try the OLD, staring with a couple passes and checking my face.
I loaded up a forgiving blade for me, a Voskhod, prepped and lathered as usual, and gave it a go. To my surprise, the shave was pretty mild. The WTG pass took off less hair than I'm used to. I think the XTG put me about where I'd expected. But no nicks at all yet. I really expected a bite or two, for the razor to punish my unfamiliarity with OLD technique. So I did an ATG pass (actually did some diagonal sorta-ATG mustache passes first). And it was fine! Didn't feel like I needed to hold back or go shallow anywhere (I use a steep angle). I had very few nicks, and those had disappeared by the time the shave ended.
Still a lot of learning to do, but to sum: the OLD was not at all scary. The teeth felt a little different than the SC, but nice. Overall, though, I mostly noticed the similarities to the NEW (and other razors) and not the differences. Maybe I was a little silly to approach the OLD with so much caution, but that's my personality.
I've been very slow and methodical about how I approach DE shaving. I use one razor at a time, for an extended period, testing several blades with that razor and not skipping between one and another. When I feel I've gotten a good sense of the razor's finer points, and--just as important--adjusted my technique to best fit the razor, I move on to the next.
As it happens, I've mostly been working myself backward through time with vintage Gillettes. I'd been both excited and scared about the OLD, figuring it had the potential to give me either (or both) my best shaves or to tear up my face.
I've gotten comfortable with my NEW short comb, getting good shaves and even getting more uses per blade than I had in my Slim. I figured I was ready to try the OLD, staring with a couple passes and checking my face.
I loaded up a forgiving blade for me, a Voskhod, prepped and lathered as usual, and gave it a go. To my surprise, the shave was pretty mild. The WTG pass took off less hair than I'm used to. I think the XTG put me about where I'd expected. But no nicks at all yet. I really expected a bite or two, for the razor to punish my unfamiliarity with OLD technique. So I did an ATG pass (actually did some diagonal sorta-ATG mustache passes first). And it was fine! Didn't feel like I needed to hold back or go shallow anywhere (I use a steep angle). I had very few nicks, and those had disappeared by the time the shave ended.
Still a lot of learning to do, but to sum: the OLD was not at all scary. The teeth felt a little different than the SC, but nice. Overall, though, I mostly noticed the similarities to the NEW (and other razors) and not the differences. Maybe I was a little silly to approach the OLD with so much caution, but that's my personality.