Shaved a few minutes ago. Wow!

[IAmTheJody]

A few minutes ago I shaved with two new items. A brand new van der Hagen badger hair brush and a new-to-me 1970 Gillette black handle adjustable, aka Black Beauty, in very good shape - no brassing, no dings or dents, very minor scratches on silo doors, all paint accounted for on the handle and in the numbers, adjuster clicks perfectly, TTO is smooth, locks down tight.

Setting things up: For the last two months, I've been using a 1975 Lady Gillette because when I got into DE wet shaving 2 months ago, I bought a 1949 Super Speed. Hated it. Too short for me! I went on the hunt for something with a long handle. Hello Lady Gillette!

So I've been getting good shaves with my Lady, Astra Superior Platinum blades, a Tweezerman badger hair brush and Proraso Aloe + Green Tea (white tub). I'd shave every other day. This has been working wonderfully for me. Smooth shaves. Or so I thought. When I shaved with the Lady, I didn't see any whiskers left nor did I see any darkening which I guess is known as 5 O'clock shadow. When I ran my hand down my face, with the grain, it felt smooth. But when I ran my hand up my face, against the grain, I could feel the kind of sandpaper feel. But again, you couldn't see anything with the naked eye. So I was happy. But to get this happiness, I had to lather, shave, lather again and then shave again. So, I was shaving twice. Sometimes I had to do it three times. Again, this is every other day shaving.

Tonight. I haven't shaved in three days. Good bit of whiskers going on. I set my "new" Black Beauty on #5, popped in a new Astra blade, lathered up the Proraso with my new brush, shaved, and it was all gone. No cuts, no nicks, no weepers, no whiskers. Ran my hand across my face with the grain. Smooth. Ran my hand across my face against the grain. SMOOTH. Blew me away. Told my partner about it, had him feel my face and his reaction? "Wow!" .

Yes, it has been an eye opening shave day, a good day.

 

[stubble trouble]

it must be something about letting your beard grow out, because the only time I've ever had the multi-directional smoothness you're describing is when I had to skip a couple of days. Then, I tried the same set up on my usual scedule, and had the fine dark remnants of wiskers that had been cut (shadowing). I've heard this from other members too. Don't know why the cut is apparently closer when you've got some extra growth. It does give you a benchmark upon which to measure future shaves, though. good luck!

 

[IAmTheJody]

it must be something about letting your beard grow out, because the only time I've ever had the multi-directional smoothness you're describing is when I had to skip a couple of days. Then, I tried the same set up on my usual scedule, and had the fine dark remnants of wiskers that had been cut (shadowing). I've heard this from other members too. Don't know why the cut is apparently closer when you've got some extra growth. It does give you a benchmark upon which to measure future shaves, though. good luck!

I'm not sure. I did have a shave with the Lady Gillette once when I hadn't shaved for three days and it took 3 lathers, 3 shaves to get it gone but still had the sandpaper feel when I ran my hand against the grain. I just think this adjustable was at perfect blade exposure on the #5 setting. My next shave I'm going to bump it up to #6 and see if it gets better or worse.

 

[Triple Beam]

I'm the same way.....I shave daily Monday thru Saturday and take Sunday off. I always get my best, cleanest shaves on Monday when I have a little more stubble.
I need to look at those Lady Gillettes.......I like the longer handles (I have been on a Krona kick lately).

 

[IAmTheJody]

I'm the same way.....I shave daily Monday thru Saturday and take Sunday off. I always get my best, cleanest shaves on Monday when I have a little more stubble.
I need to look at those Lady Gillettes.......I like the longer handles (I have been on a Krona kick lately).

The longer handle was the reason I initially purchased a Lady Gillette. Now that I've used the long handle black adjustable, I wish I had just gotten it first. So do yourself a favor, skip the Lady - unless you just want one for your collection - and go for the long handle black adjustable, aka black beauty. The Lady does give good, close shaves but nothing like the adjustable.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Are you shaving only WTG? How many passes?

 

[DunEdinRanger]

Jody,

Now that you have two razors, and RAD has set in , since you like long handled razors, I have a few suggestions.

By way of background - I used to get 5 O'Clock Shadow at 9 AM, until I discovered shaving the old fashioned way.

It always takes me 3 passes to get a BBS shave. After two passes, I'm nearly there, but the third is the touch up pass.

My favorite non-adjustable razors are

1. Merkur Barber Pole Slant Bar
2. Merkur HD Sland Bar
3. GEM 1912 Damaskeene (though it is a short handle, it shaves great!)
4. GEM Open Comb Micromatic
5. Merkur Barber Pole Open Comb

Now I do have a Gillette Slim and a Fat Boy. I need to use the Slim at 9 to get a comparable shave to the Slants, Gems, and Open Combs.

I also use a Futur, wide open at 6.5 and that is also an incredible shaver.

Why not just try your adjustable at the highest setting and work down? You may find you like running with it wide open.

 

[IAmTheJody]

Are you shaving only WTG? How many passes?

WTG? I'm new here so haven't picked up on all the shorthand. WTG = With the Gillette? If so, yes, that's all I'm using. With the Grain? With the Lady Gillette, I'd lather my face, shave with the grain, lather my face again and then against the grain. This gave me very smooth feeling when I rubbed my hand with the grain but I could feel the sandpaper feel when I rubbed my hand against the grain. But you couldn't see any shadow or hairs.

 

[IAmTheJody]

Jody,

Now that you have two razors, and RAD has set in , since you like long handled razors, I have a few suggestions.

By way of background - I used to get 5 O'Clock Shadow at 9 AM, until I discovered shaving the old fashioned way.

It always takes me 3 passes to get a BBS shave. After two passes, I'm nearly there, but the third is the touch up pass.

My favorite non-adjustable razors are

1. Merkur Barber Pole Slant Bar
2. Merkur HD Sland Bar
3. GEM 1912 Damaskeene (though it is a short handle, it shaves great!)
4. GEM Open Comb Micromatic
5. Merkur Barber Pole Open Comb

Now I do have a Gillette Slim and a Fat Boy. I need to use the Slim at 9 to get a comparable shave to the Slants, Gems, and Open Combs.

I also use a Futur, wide open at 6.5 and that is also an incredible shaver.

Why not just try your adjustable at the highest setting and work down? You may find you like running with it wide open.

I'm going to do my best to avoid RAD, at least when it comes to the razors. I may buy several soaps and blades just to try things out but razors cost too much for me to get into collecting them.

To be honest, the Black Beauty adjustable is really the only one I want. The only reason I bought the Lady Gillette in the first place was for the long handle. I didn't know the Black Beauty long handle existed or I would have went to it first and never even gotten a Lady.

Having said that, I do however have a push button GEM on the way just to try out single blade shaving, something I never knew existed outside of straight razors. I always thought those single edge blades were made only for what most people use them for: scraping old stickers/tape off of things and just for cutting things. I never knew there were razors designed to hold single edge blades for shaving. But I didn't go all out on a mint GEM, just found a cheap one in working order on eBay for 12 bucks + shipping. I've pretty much decided I'm going to PIF the push button GEM because all I want to do is try it just to say I did.

My DE blades cost me 10 cents a piece and I've got a fine DE razor for them to go in. As the saying goes, if it ain't broke... I just don't see the need to own many razors. The only other razor I'm specifically looking to buy is another Black Beauty with a date code of T-4, my birth year 1973 and quarter. Just want it for sentimental reasons I guess but certainly don't need it as my 1970 one surely did an awesome job for me. I can't do it until I've been here 45 days but I do plan on putting the Lady Gillette on the BST thread because like I said, I don't need it now thanks to the Black Beauty.

I am taking your advice though for my next shave. I'm going to bump the adjustable up from #5 to #6 and see what that does. I want to do each number to see what the outcome is, ending at #9 of course.

 

[Defcon5]

WTG is with the grain.

 

[IAmTheJody]

WTG is with the grain.

Ahh. Thank you.

 

[DunEdinRanger]

I'm going to do my best to avoid RAD, at least when it comes to the razors. I may buy several soaps and blades just to try things out but razors cost too much for me to get into collecting them.

Thanks for the chuckle. That's what I said too at one time.

...
Having said that, I do however have a push button GEM on the way just to try out single blade shaving, something I never knew existed outside of straight razors. I always thought those single edge blades were made only for what most people use them for: scraping old stickers/tape off of things and just for cutting things. I never knew there were razors designed to hold single edge blades for shaving. But I didn't go all out on a mint GEM, just found a cheap one in working order on eBay for 12 bucks + shipping. I've pretty much decided I'm going to PIF the push button GEM because all I want to do is try it just to say I did.

Just to show you I'm a nice guy, PM your address and I'll send you some Single Edge Blades. You're going to love the audible feedback from the razor. I'm guessing you have a gold pushbutton with the black handle? I haven't shaved with that particular model yet. I'm having too much fun with the Open Comb Micromatic.

Oh, and Resistance is Futile. You will find GEMS for much less than $12, even here on the BST. The Gemocracy is waiting to welcome you.

I am taking your advice though for my next shave. I'm going to bump the adjustable up from #5 to #6 and see what that does. I want to do each number to see what the outcome is, ending at #9 of course.

Hopefully it will result in a closer, smoother shave.

 

[IAmTheJody]

Thanks for the chuckle. That's what I said too at one time.




Just to show you I'm a nice guy, PM your address and I'll send you some Single Edge Blades. You're going to love the audible feedback from the razor. I'm guessing you have a gold pushbutton with the black handle? I haven't shaved with that particular model yet. I'm having too much fun with the Open Comb Micromatic.

Oh, and Resistance is Futile. You will find GEMS for much less than $12, even here on the BST. The Gemocracy is waiting to welcome you.



Hopefully it will result in a closer, smoother shave.

Yes, it's the gold and black push button GEM that should be here any day.

Don't know if you saw this thread thread but I'm looking at a NOS GEM too for $18. I guess maybe I do have just a slight touch of RAD.

And thanks for the blade offer. PM coming shortly. I have already bought a pack of Treet blades so that I'd have some when the push button arrives. Odd, I could have swore I've read a few places where Treet was made in India. The pack I bought says Made in USA by American Safety Razor Company, aka GEM.