Hello to All!
I have never before found a group of people gathering for a common interest that has not been riddled with petty politics. I find it fortuitous to encounter this group in my search for information regarding de shaving. My thanks to those who created this website and to all the participants without whose camaraderie this would be akin to any of the multitude of groups so frequently populated with bullies, control freaks, whiners and the like. One cannot avoid politics in government or the workplace but I certainly do not need to deal with it in my leisure activities. Again, thanks to all!
Had a beard in the late 60’s and early 70’s but as I got older I lost the tolerance for facial hair. Like some, I tried de shaving a couple of decades ago without much success. Got an acceptable shave, with the occasional nicks and such, but it was no where near as fast or convenient a process as I wanted at that time in my life. I was in my late 30’s to early 40’s and still living hard and fast. I resigned myself to using various disposables finally ending up using a Sensor Excel since their introduction. It gives me an ok shave and you can shave in your sleep with little more than 1 to 2 nicks a year. Very user friendly, but again simply an ok shave. I’ve never been able to get a really close shave on the sides of my neck. I bounced between the Excel and a Panasonic electric over the past few years.
The Panasonic electric gives as good a shave as the Excel with the advantage of being able to shave on the ride into work, as it’s rechargeable. Again, not willing to invest the time to get a decent shave. So here I am on the precipice of 60 years of age and discovering the pleasure in the simple things in life. I’ve always held that happiness is a choice so a great shave must be a choice as well! Being tired of not getting the type of shave I wanted, I set out on the internet to see what the current state of de safety razor offerings was and to simply find out how to get the shave I want. There’s the journey that has led me here. I have made the choice to finally get a great shave!
I have a few de safety razors I picked up over the years when I would find a nifty looking razor in a shop for a buck or 2. I should have 5 total but in the past week, since I started look though boxes in search of them, I have only been able to find 3 of them. I know I had 4 Gillette’s and a travel razor I’m unsure of the make. I have been unable to find the travel razor or the black handled Gillette adjustable (not an old one). I found the other 3 Gillette’s but had no idea what models they are for that matter how old they are. More on this in a bit.
I found there are really good de razors being produce today and decided a good modern de razor would probably be a good place to start. Research led me to choose the Edwin Jagger DE89L so I placed an order for the DE89L, a new brush, some soap, a stand and the leisure guy’s book. These are going to be my 60th birthday present from my wife! What a sweet woman! They will arrive in the next week or so.
Back to my sweet wife. I asked for her help in my search for the razors I already have as I never bought any that were not in great condition so I figured I might have a winner or 2 already. Friday evening after dinner Kati and I went down into the basement to look through boxes and on about the fourth box I hit pay dirt finding the 3 older Gillette’s I had picked up over the past 20 years. These are the 3 that really captured my attention when I found each of them. I had no idea what models they are or for that matter how old they are. Two of them were even in cases. When I got these razors, the internet had not yet become the research tool as it exists today. I knew I stood a good chance of finding out just what I had bought. That’s what brought me here. I had popped into this site a couple of times already this past week and had a feeling this would be a valuable resource and I was correct. So I registered and started my search to find out just what I had.
The first one I determined to be a Super Speed Black Tip with a steel handle and a date code of X2. I believe that puts it at 1952. Missed being a birth year razor by one year as I was born in ’51. That’s ok as it’s in great condition and I learned it’s considered to be an excellent de for a beginner, hey that’s me! My goodness, I’ve already got a start to my arsenal.
The second one turned out to be an Old Type Gold Plated Ball End with a couple of stress fractures at both ends of the handle I will be fixing in the near future. Again another nice razor but I’m not sure if I can use modern blades in this one or not. I would be very appreciative if someone can provide me with clarification on this point. Some say you need shims to use modern blades in this razor and some say you do not need shims. I also don’t know how aggressive this one will be. Again, help please…
The third one proved to be a bit more of a challenge to identify. It’s a very ornate gold plated thing of beauty. Not an Aristocrat as the pattern did not match. But as I scrolled down a particular thread I found it. The exact pattern on all 3 pieces. Turns out this one is a 1930 New President. This one is in excellent condition and is probably a viable razor to use as well as the Super Speed. I have no idea as to the aggressive nature of this one as I found no comments to indicate how this razor performs. But it sure is a gorgeous piece. Most definitely the heaviest of the three.
Any information as to the performance and value of these older pieces that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Come to find out, neither of the 2 cases go with any of the 3 razors. One is a case for a Regent Tech Razor. The other is a case for a Bostonian.
I’m usually not this longwinded on the keyboard. I’ll probably post single comments or simple questions when I do post but I do have the ability to prattle on and on and one of the welcome messages did request I come here and introduce myself.
Again, Thanks to all that make this website such a pleasure.
I have never before found a group of people gathering for a common interest that has not been riddled with petty politics. I find it fortuitous to encounter this group in my search for information regarding de shaving. My thanks to those who created this website and to all the participants without whose camaraderie this would be akin to any of the multitude of groups so frequently populated with bullies, control freaks, whiners and the like. One cannot avoid politics in government or the workplace but I certainly do not need to deal with it in my leisure activities. Again, thanks to all!
Had a beard in the late 60’s and early 70’s but as I got older I lost the tolerance for facial hair. Like some, I tried de shaving a couple of decades ago without much success. Got an acceptable shave, with the occasional nicks and such, but it was no where near as fast or convenient a process as I wanted at that time in my life. I was in my late 30’s to early 40’s and still living hard and fast. I resigned myself to using various disposables finally ending up using a Sensor Excel since their introduction. It gives me an ok shave and you can shave in your sleep with little more than 1 to 2 nicks a year. Very user friendly, but again simply an ok shave. I’ve never been able to get a really close shave on the sides of my neck. I bounced between the Excel and a Panasonic electric over the past few years.
The Panasonic electric gives as good a shave as the Excel with the advantage of being able to shave on the ride into work, as it’s rechargeable. Again, not willing to invest the time to get a decent shave. So here I am on the precipice of 60 years of age and discovering the pleasure in the simple things in life. I’ve always held that happiness is a choice so a great shave must be a choice as well! Being tired of not getting the type of shave I wanted, I set out on the internet to see what the current state of de safety razor offerings was and to simply find out how to get the shave I want. There’s the journey that has led me here. I have made the choice to finally get a great shave!
I have a few de safety razors I picked up over the years when I would find a nifty looking razor in a shop for a buck or 2. I should have 5 total but in the past week, since I started look though boxes in search of them, I have only been able to find 3 of them. I know I had 4 Gillette’s and a travel razor I’m unsure of the make. I have been unable to find the travel razor or the black handled Gillette adjustable (not an old one). I found the other 3 Gillette’s but had no idea what models they are for that matter how old they are. More on this in a bit.
I found there are really good de razors being produce today and decided a good modern de razor would probably be a good place to start. Research led me to choose the Edwin Jagger DE89L so I placed an order for the DE89L, a new brush, some soap, a stand and the leisure guy’s book. These are going to be my 60th birthday present from my wife! What a sweet woman! They will arrive in the next week or so.
Back to my sweet wife. I asked for her help in my search for the razors I already have as I never bought any that were not in great condition so I figured I might have a winner or 2 already. Friday evening after dinner Kati and I went down into the basement to look through boxes and on about the fourth box I hit pay dirt finding the 3 older Gillette’s I had picked up over the past 20 years. These are the 3 that really captured my attention when I found each of them. I had no idea what models they are or for that matter how old they are. Two of them were even in cases. When I got these razors, the internet had not yet become the research tool as it exists today. I knew I stood a good chance of finding out just what I had bought. That’s what brought me here. I had popped into this site a couple of times already this past week and had a feeling this would be a valuable resource and I was correct. So I registered and started my search to find out just what I had.
The first one I determined to be a Super Speed Black Tip with a steel handle and a date code of X2. I believe that puts it at 1952. Missed being a birth year razor by one year as I was born in ’51. That’s ok as it’s in great condition and I learned it’s considered to be an excellent de for a beginner, hey that’s me! My goodness, I’ve already got a start to my arsenal.
The second one turned out to be an Old Type Gold Plated Ball End with a couple of stress fractures at both ends of the handle I will be fixing in the near future. Again another nice razor but I’m not sure if I can use modern blades in this one or not. I would be very appreciative if someone can provide me with clarification on this point. Some say you need shims to use modern blades in this razor and some say you do not need shims. I also don’t know how aggressive this one will be. Again, help please…
The third one proved to be a bit more of a challenge to identify. It’s a very ornate gold plated thing of beauty. Not an Aristocrat as the pattern did not match. But as I scrolled down a particular thread I found it. The exact pattern on all 3 pieces. Turns out this one is a 1930 New President. This one is in excellent condition and is probably a viable razor to use as well as the Super Speed. I have no idea as to the aggressive nature of this one as I found no comments to indicate how this razor performs. But it sure is a gorgeous piece. Most definitely the heaviest of the three.
Any information as to the performance and value of these older pieces that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Come to find out, neither of the 2 cases go with any of the 3 razors. One is a case for a Regent Tech Razor. The other is a case for a Bostonian.
I’m usually not this longwinded on the keyboard. I’ll probably post single comments or simple questions when I do post but I do have the ability to prattle on and on and one of the welcome messages did request I come here and introduce myself.
Again, Thanks to all that make this website such a pleasure.
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