Rediscovered Gillette Red Tip - WOW!

[JCinPA]

Holly smokes!

In my two years of DE wet shaving, I've had a Slim, Fatboy, Flare Tip, Aristocrat, Edwin Jagger DE89 now with Ikon Bulldog handle, and a Bob's Razorworks Bull Mastiff with a replated NEW long comb mounted on it. I got rid of all the others and only have the DE89/Ikon and the NEW/BRW combo now ... except for a 1956 birth year Red Tip. Which I never use, really.

Well, For whatever reason, I tossed it in my travel bag for a vacation. Maybe it is that I am now a wet shaving expert, I needed the two years under my belt, but while I was impressed with it last year (but not blown away). I have not used it in about a year. Now? I think it is my best razor! I may end up selling the others and getting another red tip or two as spares.

Both the other razors are stunning to look at, and for the "tool factor" and "cool factor" they are outstanding. And they both shave well. But after about three days with the red tip, I'm finding it is my closest shaver, without any of the discomfort I sometimes got with a FaTip. For me, at least, the Red Tip may have been the pinnacle of razor evolution. Although I do remember being very impressed the one time I used my Aristocrat before PIFing it away.

Any other thoughts on the Red Tip? I can't search for "Red Tip" I get all kinds of reasons why search does not return anything. Maybe it's volume of posts but the search function here is not very good.

 

[ackvil]

I have the Red Tip in my travel bag as my travel razor. Have another one in my rotation at home. Neither one of my razors are in "looks great" shape - but they give a superior shave.

 

[taco8slo]

I always liked the red tip and how it shaves, I find the shaves were too similar to my late 1940's aristocrat so I sold the red tip and kept the aristocrat.

 

[demaro]

Red tips are my favorite superspeeds ..

 

[dcobranchi]

The search function will not allow three letter words. The easiest way to search is to use Google along with the site:badgerandblade.com qualifier. Here's the "red tip" version.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS535US535&ion=1&ie=UTF-8#rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS535US535&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22red%20tip%22%20site%3Abadgerandblade.com&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=6ca84d98d48f74bf&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48705608,d.dmQ&biw=1680&bih=935

 

[RobW]

Glad you got the chance to reacquaint yourself with the Red Tip SS.

Yessir, the Red Tip is definitely my favorite razor of the very few that I own. I received a nickel plated version from the BST a couple months ago and am very happy that I bought it. Had one or two "not ideal" shaves while my newbie self was trying to figure out blade angle and adjust to a smaller handle razor, but I quickly adjusted and the razor was sublime after that.

I had a "red" theme going today and got a very fine shave with it paired with a Personna Red blade. I could easily see this becoming my "go to" razor/blade combo and be very happy with this setup for a long time.

 

[BubblesTGB]

I love my red tip. I use it at least 1-2x per week and consistently get good shaves.

 

[Henrik]

The search function will not allow three letter words. The easiest way to search is to use Google along with the site:badgerandblade.com qualifier. Here's the "red tip" version.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS535US535&ion=1&ie=UTF-8#rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS535US535&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22red%20tip%22%20site%3Abadgerandblade.com&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=6ca84d98d48f74bf&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48705608,d.dmQ&biw=1680&bih=935

Great tip! Many thanks

 

[Henrik]

The red tips are in my mind the essence of cool combined with excellent shaves. I treasure mine dearly (Rocket and a SS). I would love to own a U.S version. The seem to go for pretty low these days.

 

[JCinPA]

The search function will not allow three letter words. The easiest way to search is to use Google along with the site:badgerandblade.com qualifier. Here's the "red tip" version.

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS535US535&ion=1&ie=UTF-8#rlz=1C1CHMO_enUS535US535&sclient=psy-ab&q=%22red%20tip%22%20site%3Abadgerandblade.com&oq=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=6ca84d98d48f74bf&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48705608,d.dmQ&biw=1680&bih=935

Thanks for that tip! I have never figured out how to get search to work here very well. When I search titles for red tip I get this ...

The following words are either very common, too long, or too short and were not included in your search:
red, tip

When I put them in quotes I get no returns to the search. Your method works great!

 

[RobW]

The red tips are in my mind the essence of cool combined with excellent shaves. I treasure mine dearly (Rocket and a SS). I would love to own a U.S version. The seem to go for pretty low these days.

Forgive a noob here, but what's the easiest way to distinguish a SS from a Rocket? Look for a gap near the TTO mechanism?

Also, did the "heavy/HD" version of the Red Tip always have the two plus marks, or are there some with only one plus mark?

 

[the beav]

Forgive a noob here, but what's the easiest way to distinguish a SS from a Rocket? Look for a gap near the TTO mechanism?

Also, did the "heavy/HD" version of the Red Tip always have the two plus marks, or are there some with only one plus mark?

A Rocket has a gap and pointed end caps. Here's more info:

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Gillette_Rocket

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Gillette_Red_Tip_Super_Speed

 

[ItsAllGravy]

Red Tip's are the best Super Speed's IMO

 

[Graybeard57]

I have a birth year Red Tip that I enjoy a great deal. So happy with it I had it Rhodium plated by Reliable Electroplating.

 

[nemo]

The first razor I bought on the BST! I'm a big fan, now I have 6 or 7 and one's always in the bathroom cabinet.

 

[JCinPA]

I'm not going to do anything rash, I'm going to keep using it for a few more weeks, then try my others again. But I think this may have just knocked off my favorite two razors. Close AND comfortable! Loving this razor!

 

[novitiate]

Well I guess I'll just have to try the one I found a few weeks ago.

 

[Havok305]

When I got the Red Tip it eliminated the RAD. The razor is fantastic. Between that and my Fat Boy, I am set.

 

[kingfisher]

Meh.
I had a near perfect red tip at one time. Beautiful razor. Decent shave, but not great.
To me the red tip and the Fatboy were quite similar, but even dialed up to larger gaps I found the Fatboy smoother. If I set the Fatboy gap to be identical to that of the red tip, the shave of the red tip was always harsher than the Fatboy, and never closer despite the harshness.
ultimately I decided that, for me at least, the Fatboy was the superior razor. So I sold it.
Glad you're enjoying yours, though.

 

[rxonmymind]

I've been fortunate to have had several and keep selling them. Funny you bring this up as I just bought a mint red tip off the bay for $10. I'll try again to see if I get the same results as you.