I just got my first ever Gillette "vintage" razor (people shouldn't call things "vintage" if these things are younger than me...), a 1971 Super 109 adjustable.
Everything seems to work just fine, the razor is a lot cleaner than I expected, 1/4 turn works fine.
Loaded it with a fresh Astra, set it on 5 out of 9.
My point of reference is Parker Variant set on 3.5 out of 5.
So, here's two major issues I noticed compared to Parker (and most of my other razors):
- Very little blade feel. Not that it doesn't shave (it does). I just don't feel the blade feedback very well.
- Very little audible feedback. I rely on it to figure out if my angle is right, and whether there's more stubble to go over.
Basically, this razor provides very little feedback and feels kind of "muffled". So it was fairly hard to figure the correct angle while shaving.
Also, it seems to be more finicky with regard to the shaving angle than what I am used to.
In the end, with my usual three pass shave and some cleanup (not more than usual) I got BBS on most of my face but missed some stubble under the chin. Most likely because I didn't keep the angle just right and didn't "hear" the blade.
So, is this the famous Gillette "smoothness" i.e. mildness ?
I think part of the reason it felt so "muted" was that I miscalculated the setting. 3.5 out of 5 on Parker is 70% of the adjustment range from the lowest setting, 5 out of 9 is 55%. I should try it on 6.5 (if it accepts half-stops) or 7.
What about shaving angle sensitivity ? Most of my modern razors are fairly insensitive to it, i.e. they allow a fairly wide range of angles to get a good shave. Is Gillette more finicky ?
Everything seems to work just fine, the razor is a lot cleaner than I expected, 1/4 turn works fine.
Loaded it with a fresh Astra, set it on 5 out of 9.
My point of reference is Parker Variant set on 3.5 out of 5.
So, here's two major issues I noticed compared to Parker (and most of my other razors):
- Very little blade feel. Not that it doesn't shave (it does). I just don't feel the blade feedback very well.
- Very little audible feedback. I rely on it to figure out if my angle is right, and whether there's more stubble to go over.
Basically, this razor provides very little feedback and feels kind of "muffled". So it was fairly hard to figure the correct angle while shaving.
Also, it seems to be more finicky with regard to the shaving angle than what I am used to.
In the end, with my usual three pass shave and some cleanup (not more than usual) I got BBS on most of my face but missed some stubble under the chin. Most likely because I didn't keep the angle just right and didn't "hear" the blade.
So, is this the famous Gillette "smoothness" i.e. mildness ?
I think part of the reason it felt so "muted" was that I miscalculated the setting. 3.5 out of 5 on Parker is 70% of the adjustment range from the lowest setting, 5 out of 9 is 55%. I should try it on 6.5 (if it accepts half-stops) or 7.
What about shaving angle sensitivity ? Most of my modern razors are fairly insensitive to it, i.e. they allow a fairly wide range of angles to get a good shave. Is Gillette more finicky ?