Happy Tuesday, although it feels like monday thanks to Canadian Thanksgiving 
Some of you may recognize me from the BORG and one and done club threads.
A little backstory as I'm still a bit new to the forum: February of this year I took the plunge and bought a Henson al-13 as my first safety razor, only ever used cartridge and disposables before. I immediately found I was getting better shaves and got used to the Henson pretty quick, but I guess my collector mentality crept in and I wanted to try some different options, which led me to the Razorock Game changer.
the GC has been the main razor in my stable, especially now that I got a lighter handle for it, but old collector brain decided to get feisty again and started pointing me into TTO land. I was strongly considering a yaqi Monarch (PTO) and a few other cheaper modern options but then I started thinking about vintage Gillette. As a musician, I'm used to the term vintage meaning " sell a kidney and your first born to afford a down payment..." But I was pleasantly surprised after spending a few minutes on eBay that this not usually the case with razors.
I lost a few auctions, but ended up finding a decent price on a flare tip super speed from 1960 as a "buy it now". It was 50 bucks Canadian shipped to me (around 35 USD) razor only has a little spot of plating loss on the center bar and some scratches on the bottom of the handle, but the rest is super duper NOS level clean.
received the package on Saturday morning, just in time to try a first shave with it! I've now had 3 shaves with it and it's quickly becoming a favourite.
This thing is very mild but still quite efficient, I've been been able to shave 2 days in a row with it without irritation which almost never happens for me. In my collection it's kind of in the middle between my Henson and GC in terms of aggression, a little more efficient than henson, but not quite as much as the GC, it's also heavier than the Henson but about half an ounce lighter than my GC set up.
my only cons so far are pretty basic: 1. Blade tabs are exposed, I didn't realize this on my first shave, but luckily didn't get any scratches. The tabs do help to make sure the alignment is correct when closing the door though. 2. Not the best lather channels, while I didn't find any full on clogging, I did notice I had to rinse a bit more often than I'm used to, also did a bit of a moustache trim with it, and it didn't have a super easy time going through longer hair. Still got it done though.
All in all, I'm happy I went with this piece of history instead of another more modern razor. Im sure there are plenty of great TTO razors I could have purchased brand new, some for less than this, but going back to the roots had much more appeal to me, and still didn't break the bank!
Now I'm waiting for a 64 slim adjustable that I found in very good shape with original plastic case. I have a feeling my modern razors may need a new home soon
.
I thought I would share this experience for any other new wet-shavers considering the vintage market. Gillette mass produced millions of these back in the day, so there's no shortage, they all keep getting passed around,and as long as you find one in good shape it's still going to be a great shave. it's a testament to build quality that I can pick up something more than twice my own age and it still works 100% as intended.
Some of you may recognize me from the BORG and one and done club threads.
A little backstory as I'm still a bit new to the forum: February of this year I took the plunge and bought a Henson al-13 as my first safety razor, only ever used cartridge and disposables before. I immediately found I was getting better shaves and got used to the Henson pretty quick, but I guess my collector mentality crept in and I wanted to try some different options, which led me to the Razorock Game changer.
the GC has been the main razor in my stable, especially now that I got a lighter handle for it, but old collector brain decided to get feisty again and started pointing me into TTO land. I was strongly considering a yaqi Monarch (PTO) and a few other cheaper modern options but then I started thinking about vintage Gillette. As a musician, I'm used to the term vintage meaning " sell a kidney and your first born to afford a down payment..." But I was pleasantly surprised after spending a few minutes on eBay that this not usually the case with razors
.I lost a few auctions, but ended up finding a decent price on a flare tip super speed from 1960 as a "buy it now". It was 50 bucks Canadian shipped to me (around 35 USD) razor only has a little spot of plating loss on the center bar and some scratches on the bottom of the handle, but the rest is super duper NOS level clean.
received the package on Saturday morning, just in time to try a first shave with it! I've now had 3 shaves with it and it's quickly becoming a favourite.
This thing is very mild but still quite efficient, I've been been able to shave 2 days in a row with it without irritation which almost never happens for me. In my collection it's kind of in the middle between my Henson and GC in terms of aggression, a little more efficient than henson, but not quite as much as the GC, it's also heavier than the Henson but about half an ounce lighter than my GC set up.
my only cons so far are pretty basic: 1. Blade tabs are exposed, I didn't realize this on my first shave, but luckily didn't get any scratches. The tabs do help to make sure the alignment is correct when closing the door though. 2. Not the best lather channels, while I didn't find any full on clogging, I did notice I had to rinse a bit more often than I'm used to, also did a bit of a moustache trim with it, and it didn't have a super easy time going through longer hair. Still got it done though.
All in all, I'm happy I went with this piece of history instead of another more modern razor. Im sure there are plenty of great TTO razors I could have purchased brand new, some for less than this, but going back to the roots had much more appeal to me, and still didn't break the bank!
Now I'm waiting for a 64 slim adjustable that I found in very good shape with original plastic case. I have a feeling my modern razors may need a new home soon
.I thought I would share this experience for any other new wet-shavers considering the vintage market. Gillette mass produced millions of these back in the day, so there's no shortage, they all keep getting passed around,and as long as you find one in good shape it's still going to be a great shave. it's a testament to build quality that I can pick up something more than twice my own age and it still works 100% as intended.
). After that pass i could have stopped, but still had some light touch ups to do, so i cranked it down to setting 2 and went for a third pass. setting 2 may be the most mild shave i've ever had, I had to check my angle a lot because i could barely feel anything happening, but once i dialed it in, it made for a great buffing pass and a great finish to the shave. 
:
