Golden Age of Gillettes

[FloppyJoe]

The more I think about it, I think the Golden Age of Gillette was the 30's and the 40's. I can't think of a bad shaver or a badly made razor of that era. When you get to the 50's and the 60's, I find the English razors or adjustable razors are really the only thing really better than the 30's and the 40's. The rest is hit and miss, some the same, some are good shavers but are not quite made as well as their predecessors.

What are your thoughts on the Golden Age of Gillettes?

 

[nemo]

The 1950s not only had the beginning of adjustables but some great looking TTO models, the Aristocrats tapering off into Diplomats and Presidents and the improvement of the blade when Gillette adopted stainless steel. The prices were very low on Techs and Super Speeds unlike the high prices of the 30's compared to a working man's wage.

The 1920s also had some great razors, I really love my New Deluxe and New Improved models! It's all golden.

 

[santamariasteve]

Brother Floppy,

I agree. Before I read your post, the answer of 1930's and 1940's came to my mind.

 

[Old School TSD]

ABC sets, single ring, old type, Executive, aristocrats, toggle to super adjustables, techs... how could one choose an era?
I know the question wasn't "which razor", but I'll answer it ...
IMO the 1934 aristocrat is THE razor to have from a collector standpoint:
-The first TTO ever
-Lower profile head than the later aristocrats
-Most beautiful razor ever made (everyone still knocks off the barber pole handle.
I've got some pricier Gillette's, but this 34 crat is my prized possession in pristine condition. Nowhere near the value of some, but if you offered me a bottom dial for it I'd say no.

 

[macintoshBR]

My favorites are the Tech (post war), 1940s super speed and adjustables. So I would say that Gillette really got the hang of it in the late 1940s and 1950s

 

[luvmysuper]

The 50's was a grand time for Gillette, the Tech, the Aristocrat, the President, the Milord, the Black Tip Super Speed, the 40's and 50's style Super Speed, the TV Special Super Speed, the Fare Tip Regular, Blue Tip and Red Tip Super Speeds, the Toggle, the Fatboy, the Bottom Dial 195.
Quite the selection available in a single decade!

 

[BigJ]

Great thread!

With respect, I suggest the 1960s and 70s, especially the Slim and SS blades: great shavers for the common man!! And still some of the best values in ‘traditional‘ wet shaving!

 

[slimshavy]

The more I think about it, I think the Golden Age of Gillette was the 30's and the 40's. I can't think of a bad shaver or a badly made razor of that era. When you get to the 50's and the 60's, I find the English razors or adjustable razors are really the only thing really better than the 30's and the 40's. The rest is hit and miss, some the same, some are good shavers but are not quite made as well as their predecessors.

What are your thoughts on the Golden Age of Gillettes?

I was just discussing this on another thread: the Old and NEW lines kinda-sorta overlapped (or maybe did not overlap at all) in 1929-1930. Those lines were biggies. Some consider the New Improved line a biggie; I'm ambivalent about that; they're not as culturally important as Techs or one-pieces (a catchall describing a few lines) but they had a long, significant run.
It's more of a golden pinpoint than a golden age, but that brief period (oddly, when the company itself was falling apart) may have been its peak.

 

[dreadpirate]

I think the Golden Age for Gillette was from the first DE razor until the Trac II came out and Gillette began to phase out the DE razors. After that it was down hill all the way IMHO.

 

[slimshavy]

I think the Golden Age for Gillette was from the first DE razor until the Trac II came out and Gillette began to phase out the DE razors. After that it was down hill all the way IMHO.

They probably think of the time the Trac II came out as their golden age, as they were making two different Super Adjustables, the Super Speed, the Knack and the Lady Gillette and they still had the Tech going, all while pivoting (NPI) to cartridges.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

IMO the 1934 aristocrat is THE razor to have from a collector standpoint:
-The first TTO ever
Actually the GEM Micromatic was the first TTO

The GEM Micromatic was the first TTO, it was released to the public in 1930.

 

[luvmysuper]

The GEM Micromatic was the first TTO, it was released to the public in 1930.

Maybe Gillette made the first DE TTO?

Kind of like
Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space and the first man to orbit the earth.
John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth.

Left in the dust between those two is Alan Shepard, first American in space.

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Maybe Gillette made the first DE TTO?

Correct. Gillette can claim credit for the first DE TTO, but not the first ever TTO as the OP stated, ASR accomplished that several years earlier.

 

[Whiterook]

To me, the golden age for Gillette razors would be 1904 -1971. That is a wide range, but there were great razors produced in each decade up to the Black Beauty. It ended in 1971 with the introduction of the Trac II cartridge razor.

 

[sakaltras]

For me the golden age ended with the change in the design of the bottom edge of the positioning bar/door actuator. Significantly less build quality after then. All TTO razors are more error prone after this change in comparison to earlier TTOs.

Picture from gilletteadjustables.com

 

[ChrisPL68]

Correct. Gillette can claim credit for the first DE TTO, but not the first ever TTO as the OP stated, ASR accomplished that several years earlier.

Could the 1931 Segal DE be considered as the first DE TTO?

 

[HoosierTrooper]

Could the 1931 Segal DE be considered as the first DE TTO?

Oh man, you’re right, I completely forgot about the Segal! If I remember correctly it used a proprietary blade, but I would think it definitely should qualify as the first DE TTO.

 

[ouchyfoot]

I think the Super Speed design was probably the biggest all time marketing breakthrough in the razor industry.

 

[Old School TSD]

Cool, learn something new every day.
Not a butterfly design, but 1931 Segal is an odd type of TTO.

 

[Medivh]

I'd say it depends what you mean by the ''Golden Age of Gillette''. In general, like the rise of Gillette and becoming very popular and having huge dominance in the razor and blade industry compared to the other shaving companies or perhaps the shaving and build quality of their razors and the improved and better blades they made?

If we talk about what Gillette achieved in general ever since they started making razors and blades, I would say from the 20s when they gain more popularity until (like others have already pointed out) the introduction of their first cartridge razor - the Track 2.

But if we talk about when they made their ''best'' razors for me at least, I would say from the 30s until the 50s. Not saying that before and after that they didn't made good razors, but most of their best models and versions were made during those years or at leats from what i've tried so far. During those years they made the NEW series, their first TTO razors, the Techs, Super Speeds, Toggles and the early Fatboys (bottom dial and red dot).

I haven't tried any vintage Gillette blades from any period of time, but I guess their stainless steel blades were much better than any of the carbon steel blades, but that's just my guess and maybe someone who has tried lots of vintage Gillette blades both carbon and stainless steel can answer much better.