First Shave with my New Injector

[Foyle]

Well, from the looks of it, I scored a G8 Injector from the antique store yesterday. Now, let me preface this by saying that I was a DE shaver for the past three years or so, but I have recently ditched my DE's for the TracII. It just works better for me. This morning I had my first shave with the Injector today loaded with a Chinese Schick blade. So far it's OK. I have to say that over all I get better results from my Trac II. However, the razor was super intuitive to use. I had absolutely no trouble at all. No nicks or weepers, and the blade seemed to just glide through my beard. No tugging, no pulling, and finding the blade angle is idiot proof.

After the first pass I noticed that my shave was not nearly as close as with my Trac II. No surprise there. The TracII excels on the first pass. The second pass seemed seemed to do a good job of clearing things up. For now my shave feels nice a close. I'll have to wait until the this evening to see how long it lasts compared to my Trac II. The only thing was that the after shave gave me a good sting whereas when I shave with my TracII I don't get any sting at all.

The bummer about Injectors is that there isn't much in the way of blade choice. I wonder if I should try some Pellas. They're pretty cheap: $4.20 for 20 blades. It might be worth a shot. I found the Chinese Schick blades to be nice and sharp but a little rough feeling.

I'm encouraged enough to give this razor a few more tries. Does anyone have any other advice?

 

[coolbus18]

Hi Foyle,

I just ordered the Pellas, have been using the Chinese Schick.7th dfs on blade. My slant looks longingly at me, my Joris and Fatip sleep along with my Gillettes. For me this is a keeper!

 

[Haggises]

There's always the fabled Personna 74s.....
Even though usually over a dollar a blade, can easily get into double digits with them.

 

[coolbus18]

There's always the fabled Personna 74s.....
Even though usually over a dollar a blade, can easily get into double digits with them.

thanks Haggises! I've got my eyes wide open for some of those.

 

[coolbus18]

So I did find Personna "74's" and twas double digit but so?!?!?! Got to experience them.

 

[Foyle]

Well, it's a little after 9:00 pm, and my shave is not as close as it would have been shaving with my TracII. Maybe more practice is needed. Still, it was a decent shave.

 

[mftoms59]

I agree the Chinese Schick's are rough, I took one for 14 shaves, #3,7 & 11 were not only rough but caused a few nicks. I found the current production Personna blades to be as sharp and much smoother overall, another 14 shave test was accomplished and they were all comfortable (no nicks, tugging, pulling or skipping), shave #15 caused a bit of irritation when the Alum was applied, no nicks.

I prefer using Vintage injector blades they're generally extremely sharp and smooth; Schick or Gillette only, the Personna 74 wasn't comfortable IME and I PIFed them with a few Razors. My favorite is the Schick Plus Platinum blade, no 14 shave test was done but I decided to use it until it became uncomfortable... 36 two-pass shaves with a J3 and all were comfortable, #37 was one too many. Just about all the variations of Schick; Plus platinum, Krona Edge, Platinum, Ultra Platinum virtually perform equally and are smooth & sharp. The Vintage Gillette was a Super Stainless Steel, Sharp but not as smooth as the Schick variations, still an outstanding performer.

The exception right now was the Black Cartridge of Schick blades made during the magazine Repeating Razor CO. years ~1927- 1941. Though they were very sharp, I received two comfortable shaves using a Schick B1, with the third being a bit rough, no cuts, I did notice a hint of rust on top of the blade, just behind the edge, maybe Carbon Steel? I had used a second one in my trusty J3 with slightly better results, I took this to 5 shaves, very sharp edge on this blade without the smoothness of the other Vintage Schick's, and no appearance of rust was found.

I strictly Injector Shave since march 2012, spent one week with a Gem Clog-Pruf (was my favorite SE) and a week with a Schick Krona DE, and found both left me wanting my Injectors full-time. The Gem SE's, Gillette and Schick DE's are going to my 5 y/o with a few Injectors and he can decide his own preference.