First Schick Injector shave, not bad at all

[Galhatz]

My intrest in injectors was piqued when I read a line here about the Cobra that went something like "I found that a Shick Injector gives me 90% of the shave of a Cobra". I apologize in messing up the quote.

I picked up an L last week on BST and the pack of Shick blades arrived yesterday.
My prep was the usual shower and Mike's Natural soap. Mike's works really well for me, the glide and protection are much better for me than anything else I've tried before and my face feels great throughout the day. I am going through a pack of his samples (got them all) and today was Rose/Cedarwood. Fantastic. "A good lather is half the shave".

I think I have a decent technique. After a week with a Tradere SB I learned the meaning of "light touch" and all of a sudden other razors I previously regarded as too agressive started to work well for me.
I even managed to get a reasonably good shave with an Open Comb Micromatic with 2 very minor weapers to report (totally due to bad SE angle under the nose).

I found the Shick to be pretty mild shaver and quite forgiving even for at ATG passes. I didn't push it (I never do) and I rarely go for BBS unless I really know the razor.
It did require 4 passes to feel that I was done. Probably 3 would have been enough but it is the weekend and I am no hurry and I like the soap so I went for a fourth.T
The Shick blade is not bad and on the forgiving (!=super sharp) side. I tried it at different angles. I didn't get the same "mowing" I get say with an Astra on an OC DE.
So at the end I got a rather nice shave. Not the closest but good enough. No irritation or damage to speak of.

When my wife saw this razor she though it was an overgrown disposable. "It looks so cheap". She likes the looks of the shiny ones in our bathroom cabinet. It really looks like disposables tried to immitate this design. For the life of me, I don't get why people switched to disposables in the 80's when this was an option, I guess they were cheaper. I also suspect that disposables were better made back then. A good friend of mine still sticks with Gillette Sensors (a pack lasts him a year), but he gets his familiy to send him cartidges from India because he says the ones he find here are not nearly as sharp.

A very nice razor indeed. Would it get into my rotation? maybee, I wonder if different blades would make a bid difference here.

 

[rxonmymind]

I love my $1 Schick adjustable paired with a P74 blade. Gives me a month of shaves if I let it but then I wouldn't be able to enjoy the other DE's. Lol.

 

[simon1]

So at the end I got a rather nice shave. Not the closest but good enough. No irritation or damage to speak of.

Once you get the L down good you might try an earlier model; the bit more aggressive ones may give you a closer shave. My daily shaver for over a year has been one of my G1s, followed closely by an E3 that pulls relief duty (with some Gem and Ever-Ready models thrown in at times). A quick two pass XTG and ATG and I'm ready to go.

Not as close as a MMOC but I don't have to be as careful and still get a great shave. My Stick Schick that I bought in the '70s doesn't seem to shave as close as the G and E models, but that may be because it was hiding from me for a few decades until I found it while looking for something else and haven't used it much since I found it.

I haven't noticed much difference between the Chinese Schick blades and the Personna ones.

 

[Galhatz]

I started looking for an earlier one. Not that much offering that is at a presentable state and a reasonable price...
There design has a lot of nukes and crevices that trap water and many of them still have quite a bit of green corrosion.
Funny though, my local antique store, that loves to charge through the roof (it is an antique mall after all), has one cased, full of green stuff but for "only" $20. I think BST is the best place to get something decent for these because of the honor system here.

These do shave great. I had a faint 5'oclock shadow about 14 hours after I shaved.
Schick seems to have had really good designs with not so great marketing department.
I also have a Schick Krona DE and even though it is on the light side, the head shape is absolutely brilliant and to be honest, I think it is better than the entire SuperSpeed line.

I had a longer talk with my wife about the Schick Injector. She actually has better idea of American shaving history than I do and she still remebers the advertisments and what her father used to get at the drugstores (I didn't grow up in the US and I never saw Injectors before). Her take on it that injectors were always lower priced products, quite at the different end of the spectrum where say a Gillette Aristocart would be.