First shave with a SE!

[Pumpkin]

Tonight I had my first shave with my Ever Ready 1912 and I have to say I'm VERY impressed!

Loaded up with one of the blades I'd got from the bay. Was a pretty easy operation to locate the blade against the lugs and the lid snapped closed with a satisfying click.

Lathered up with RSC Moisturing2 Shave Cream. Had 2 days growth since my last shave (Sunday) so made sure I had a nice, thick cushion (played safe as I didn't know what to expect from the blade).
I'd read the threads regarding angle and technique. The position of the head was very intuitive. First stroke gave brilliant feedback....have these razors got built-in amplifiers?
Did 1xWTG on my cheeks first...felt like a CCS already. Moved onto my neck, with some intrepidation. However, this was totally unfounded. The head simplified the angle issue
Wiped off the odd remnant of lather with a hot face cloth, re-lathered and went XTG. Noticed as I was rinsing the razor between strokes that stubble I was removing was VERY short...definitely a sign I'd taken a lot off on the first pass!
Re-lathered again, this time by hand rather than brush, very little noticeable stubble at this stage...even on the problem areas of my neck. Did a final WTG. Cheated at this stage and finished off my top lip under my nose using my Tech....need some more practice with the 1912 in this area. Might have been easier here if I'd only had a single day's growth.
Wiped off again with the hot cloth...one very small weeper at the edge of my chin crease. This closed up after a cold cloth.
Applied a small amount of Witch Hazel gel...absolutely NO sting/tingle at all!
Cleaned up the sink and washed off my brush and th razor, took the blade out as I'm not sure if they're stainless or carbon steel (no discolouration, so I'm hoping it's the former).
Now for the final test...a splash of Old Spice Classic AS...again no sting!!!

Overall, I'm very impressed with the shave. Definitely qualifies as a DFS (by my rating). This is DEFINITELY going into my rotation after this.

 

[Darjeeling Express]

wonderful post. You've experienced one of the greatest shavers ever made. Enjoy!

 

[brianw]

wonderful post. You've experienced one of the greatest shavers ever made. Enjoy!

+1 what more can be added

 

[BBrad]

Congrats on your shave! As I was reading your post, I remembered having the exact same experience from my first SE shave.

I've been a couple of weeks on DE . . . the blade in my Aristocrat is dull . . . think I'll move my Gem Jr to the top of the rotation for tomorrow's shave!!

Gems are wonderful razors - they were certainly out-marketed by Gillette over the years. IMHO they shave better than any other safety razor ever made!

 

[nwman]

Tonight I had my first shave with my Ever Ready 1912 and I have to say I'm VERY impressed!

please keep us posted on shaves two and three. it is fun when you stumble on something measurably better.

 

[BroJohn]

Well Done!

-- John Gehman

 

[tom myers]

The 1912 is a great razor. If I had never tried it's predecessor, the 1900/1901 patent, Gem Jr. Bar Razor, I would still be shaving with the 1912 every morning.

Personally, I do like the Bar Razor, with it's lather catcher design, a little better than the 1912, but it's a close call between the two. In my opinion, razor design reached its height with the ASR razors at the turn of the last century. It seems a little odd that, in the twenty-first century, to get the best possible shave, you have to use a 100+ year old design.

Regards,
Tom

 

[BBrad]

. . . In my opinion, razor design reached its height with the ASR razors at the turn of the last century. It seems a little odd that, in the twenty-first century, to get the best possible shave, you have to use a 100+ year old design.

Regards,
Tom

Isn't "progress" wonderful?

If I had to spend the rest of my life with just one razor, I would take my Gem.

 

[norton]

Always good to have another GEM/Ever-Ready shaver in the pack.

The 1912 is a very good shaver - I fell in love with it and now own at least 4 or 5.

Those blades look similar to some that are in the midst of some discussion here now... please let us know how they do... initial impressions sound very favorable.

Enjoy the shaves!

 

[Pumpkin]

Those blades look similar to some that are in the midst of some discussion here now... please let us know how they do... initial impressions sound very favorable.

Enjoy the shaves!

I'd put some input into the Amazon blades thread already. Shave was very comfortable and even though I've been working outside all day today, there's zero irritation. Took the blade out, rinsed and dried it after the shave. Left it sitting on top of a tupperware dish in the bathroom. Just checked it and it's showing no sign of discolouration...so fingers crossed it's stainless! Haven't tried the Ted Pella's (or any other SE's) so can't compare it to anything else.

 

[newboy]

I've tried micromatics, I didn't like them (open comb and clog pruf)

I've tried a regular circa 1920s 1912, I didn't like it. I really persisted with it for a couple of months (it's a made in england ever-ready) with Ted Pellas. Slightly better than the micromatic, but still heaps of irritation. None of the 1912s ever gave me cuts, just like a crystal in a gillette NEW will always give a great shave and no cuts. It's the feather in the DE and the micromatic that give the highest probablility of serious cuts while shaving. The NEW with a crystal or the 1912 with a pella is always a safe, effective shave. But I was still looking for something better

Then I got a pat 1901 lather catcher (the light hollow (edit: two piece) all metal handle GEM), it shaved a lot better, less irritation. Bare in mind though that for some reason I get a better shave out of most light razors for some reason.
I've also got a proper old damaskeene 1912, it shaves pretty close to the pat 1901 latcher catcher.
But I've never been happy with my late production GEM/E-R 1912s for some reason

 

[Pumpkin]

please keep us posted on shaves two and three. it is fun when you stumble on something measurably better.

Had my second shave with the 1912 this evening

Only had a single day's growth....had shaved yesterday with my Flare Tip SS.

Put the "old" blade back in...still no discolouration. Put it in the other way up this time (not sure why, as I'm not particularly OCD ).
Was lathered up with RSC cream again...didn't want to change anything.
Started the first WTG, again had the wonderful sound effects However, this time the blade felt a bit "rough". Quickly changed it for another one (they're cheap enough that I can bear them being single use).
Re-started, felt much better with this blade. Again, the angle is SO intuitive the head seemed to fall into the correct position automatically.

Just did the 1xWTG as I didn't actually NEED to shave (but I'm still enjoying the experience of DE/SE so much ).

Found my top lip a bit easier this time...maybe because the stubble wasn't quite as coarse/long. However, it will still need practice....mainly because the hair grows slightly outwards from my filtrum rather than N-S.

Again, I had a lovely close shave with no irritation!

My 1912 is definitely a "keeper"!!

 

[newboy]

However, it will still need practice....mainly because the hair grows slightly outwards from my filtrum rather than N-S.

That's why it's easy to shave you upper lip with a GEM, as the beard growing diagonally down on the lip is common.
Shave sideways from the filtrum to the corner of your mouth for a 'WTG' type pass, and sideways from the outside to the filtrum for a 'XTG' type pass.

I go S-N too for an ATG pass to get the hair right under my nose, but others don't like a XTG pass on their lip