I was surprised at the conditon of the 60 yr old razor as it was in a lot better conditon than the photos looked like so getting off to a good start! Same way when I took it apart. So next up was to modify a modern DE blade as the Gibbs only takes proprietary blades which the seller included in a nice conditon blade case. with about 5 brand new blades in it. So the other night I was talking to Scott at North Shore and in our discussions about razors we like an at some point I mentioned I had just bought a Gibbs adjustable and it was on it's way over from Italy and he said I'm a huge fan of Gibbs razors and have 3 of them myself. He also was excited to inform me that he made a video that shows you step by step one way to modify a regular DE blade to fit the Gibbs razor. Scott said believe me it's so easy and I'm all in on easy. So long story short I thought todays a good day to modify a blade and take this new tool on it's maiden voyage. I decided as I had forgot to ask Scott if the Gibbs was a very efficient razor or considered mild and what settings 1- 6 would comparable to like a Slim, Fatboy or a Variant for example. So being that I tend to like efficient razors I was like I'll be conservative with the razor blade so I had a Astra with only 1 shave on it and decided to start with that and see how that goes. As far as what setting I'm going to start out I thought let's start with setting on 5 and go from there.
So as you can see in the photos the Astra needed a little cut off to fit and just like Scott had mentioned it was easy. I want to try another technique using a hand held hole punch which I have at my warehouse that I've used to modify Gem blades and I'll try that this week.
On to the shave:
Razor - Gibbs made in France adjustable safety razor # 17
Blade - Astra SP
Soap - AOS Lavender
Brush - RR monster
Bowl - Toddle
Splash - Thayer Lavender
AS - AOS Lavender AS balm.
Well first I'd like to say that I haven't used one of my toddles in a long time and the experience of having hot lather throwout the entire shave was almost spa like and the Lavender scent which is common in spas just added to a really great shaving experience I had today. In fact one of the best in a while and I highly recommend pulling your toddles out guys when you have a few extra minutes to take a shave.
Pass# 1 - So not knowing which angle to use or anything about how this razor shaves other than what some guys have mentioned in posts I've seen when comparing to the new REX Ambassador adjustable which is supposed to be inspired by the Gillette Fatboy and the Gibbs adjustable which after looking at the photos of the REX and having the Gibbs in hand it's easy to see the strong resemblance to the heads on the REX and the Gibbs.
Lathered up some of that nice hot lather on my face and went at it. Found the angle like in 2 strokes and I noticed because of the lightweight bakelite handle which is also a shorty it felt a little bit top heavy so I held the razor towards the bottom of the handle and that seemed to make the difference! All I can say is WOW is this a smooth very efficient shaver and it just mowed down my 2 1/2 days grow so much that I decided to switch gears and only do a 2 pass shave instead of a 3 pass shave because at the end of the 1st pass I was absolutely at a DFS on my face and very close to one on my neck. This was on an Astra blade with one use! I was like what if I had used a Feather or a Kai or Polsilver?
Pass# 2 - Ok so after that last pass where I used normal medium to long strokes with no skin stretching I thought I'm going for a BBS today with this Gibbs and went to a short stroke skin stretch technique which is my go to technique when using more efficient razors. I also decided to go ATG and it was as smooth as the first pass and I listened to the soft audible feedback I was getting on this pass and I knew right then that I was getting a really close shave. Oh and I forgot to mention I turned the setting down from a 5 to a 4 for this pass and it was perfect! Got done with the pass, rinsed and felt my face and neck and there was nothing left on my face and I had to add some lather on my cowlick on my neck and just clean that up with a couple of quick strokes. So I ended up with a absolute BBS shave in 2 passes + TU on cowlick.
So my conclusion on this shave is it shaved smoother, more efficiently and it was more enjoyable than the last 2 previous shaves I've had using the new Ikon MR SE and then the last shave where I used the new Mamba which BTW took 4 passes and I was still at a DFS and that was on a new Feather blade to boot.
This shave was also one of the most enjoyable I've had in a long time and I'd give it an A + as far as total shave experience. No rush. Using the Toddle provided me with nice hot lather the entire shave. The smell of Lavender filled the bathroom and my bedroom which was relaxing and most of all I had a very nice solid BBS shave with absolutely no irritation whatsoever which I checked with the Alum stick. Splashed on some Lavender Thayers and followed with the AOS aftershave balm and as I'm sitting here righting this review I'm really digging the way my face feels and the aroma that's surrounding me. So yes Vintage razors can be just as smooth and as efficient as any modern razor.
Happy shaving out there!
