The King C. Gillette DE

[MTom]

So...the KCG. Saw one, and only one, in my local walgreens and said let's give it a whirl. I don't care about commercials, and controversy. I know there's already some heated debate about this razor and Gillette as a whole on these forums. Ima keep and use my vintages, so I might as well give this new razor a fair shake.

Here it is...

First off. Box says handle made in China. Blades made in Russia. No mention of the head, but as most have surmised, the text on the paper insert for the head is in German. Thats promising.

Speaking of the head and baseplate...it's almost an exact copy of an 89. Although I do believe the gap is just a couple mm smaller. The blades are actually quite nice. They're thinner than most of my go to blades by just a little. They have a pretty sizable bevel to the edge. They're damn smooth guys. No tugging, no first shave roughness. They didn't cheap out here. But, the blades are way over priced. Because, yeah it's Gillette. I'll be loading up my favorites in this anyway, so no matter.

The handle is heavy, and the grip is not as deep as I'd like. It's still slippery. But overall, the fit and finish of this thing is on par. It's actually a very nice razor for the money.

So how did it shave?

Excellent.

It's just a little bit more mild than an 89. Put a Feather in this and you have one hell of razor at an affordable value. I'm gonna keep this thing around, it gave a DFS. And looks good too. Though I prefer shorter handles for DE's.

I won't hesitate to recommend this razor, along with the 89, and 38, especially to newbies. If they can find one. Argue if you must, but I'll be using mine.

 

[lurchbrian]

did anyone see the error I saw with these razors ?
well let me let you in on the secret when you first remove the head .that little piece of paper says" please read manual and remove paper first "
now where is the manual or is it only downloadable from Gillette for a fee ?

 

[BigJ]

Great review!!

 

[bdehne]

Is it the same head that comes on the Heritage?

 

[bdehne]

I went back and looked at pics of the Heritage and it does not look like the same head. Answered my own question.

 

[THall]

I went back and looked at pics of the Heritage and it does not look like the same head. Answered my own question.

Baseplate is slightly modified but cap is identical with the brass threads, just like the Mühle R89.

 

[kingfisher]

They had to go with a longer handle because most men have never shaved with a razor that didn't have a long handle. They don't want to freak people out too much. It is a big change already to go from a cartridge razor to a DE. If the handle were short it would be yet another hurdle over which to jump.

 

[MTom]

They had to go with a longer handle because most men have never shaved with a razor that didn't have a long handle. They don't want to freak people out too much. It is a big change already to go from a cartridge razor to a DE. If the handle were short it would be yet another hurdle over which to jump.

I agree.

 

[MyOldKentuckyHome]

The wife and I have both lost all track of time and wasn’t until this morning I realized that next Monday (June 1st) is our anniversary (she laughed because she totally forgot too).

She asked what I wanted and I said “Walgreens website says they have some of the King C Gillette razors in stock”.

So here’s hoping she can find it Tuesday when she goes out grocery shopping

 

[Zipslack]

That long handle sort of kills it for me. I'm waiting for the Heritage to re-stock.

 

[Badgerstate36]

Amen. I recently picked up one of these razors too and its a wonderful shaver. I do believe that its a Muhle head. Im like you in that I wish they would have given the handle full length knurling but it is what it is.

 

[kingfisher]

I just checked the Gillette website on this razor, just out of curiosity. Interestingly, they are not actually marketing this to people who shave their faces. They are specifically marketing it to men with beards.

It is on a page with a bunch of other beard products such as trimmers, beard oil, etc., etc. They say that this razor makes it easier to get a clean edge on your beard. I guess they have realized that trying to line up a 5-blade monstrosity to make a straight line is easier said than done.

Anyway, just thought you guys might want to know what Gillette is thinking. They are realizing that more and more men are opting for beards, and they want a piece of that pie.

 

[Avi]

I just checked the Gillette website on this razor, just out of curiosity. Interestingly, they are not actually marketing this to people who shave their faces. They are specifically marketing it to men with beards.

It is on a page with a bunch of other beard products such as trimmers, beard oil, etc., etc. They say that this razor makes it easier to get a clean edge on your beard. I guess they have realized that trying to line up a 5-blade monstrosity to make a straight line is easier said than done.

Anyway, just thought you guys might want to know what Gillette is thinking. They are realizing that more and more men are opting for beards, and they want a piece of that pie.

This keeps getting brought up but I must admit I do not understand the logic of this. The main place I actually do (and have always) liked electrics are for beards / sideburns / weird facial hair. The simple reason is the guards give you perfect lengths, while regular shaving is an all or nothing affair. As such everyone I've ever known who is into facial hair gets good at creating edges with electrics etc. (In practice this means keeping those hair trimmers w/ guards around rather than an actual electric shaver).

Regards
Avi

 

[dan86]

Darn it, MTom! Another positive review (after watching Kensurfs and Geofatboy’s videos), you’ve convinced me to invest.

When I had a look on Gillette UK’s site the other day I’m sure they said they were awaiting stock but today they’re ‘in stock’ and had free next day delivery. I bought the new Wilkinson Sword Classic 18-20 months or so ago for the same price, so why not. I‘m looking forward to reviewing whether it is any good for edging my sideburns!

 

[THall]

This keeps getting brought up but I must admit I do not understand the logic of this. The main place I actually do (and have always) liked electrics are for beards / sideburns / weird facial hair. The simple reason is the guards give you perfect lengths, while regular shaving is an all or nothing affair. As such everyone I've ever known who is into facial hair gets good at creating edges with electrics etc. (In practice this means keeping those hair trimmers w/ guards around rather than an actual electric shaver).

Regards
Avi

I had a beard once way before the fad back when I was 25, always used my Norelco and never thought in the least about using my carts with it. I will say that if I had been using DE back then, may have at least tried it with my beard, no way a cart.

I think a boss at Gillette insisted on throwing carts in with DE as edgers with this campaign. Most guys with beards probably shaved with carts previously and would never think to touch their beards with a cart.

It’s all marketing, pretty displays and boxes etc. Not a bad effort and it may increase sales. We’ll definitely get some more members here on B&B having Gillette branded DE in brick and mortar stores again.

 

[AZ1976]

I'm ambivalent about this. One one hand, it's a reasonably priced long-handled Merkur that most people seem to be reasonably satisfied with. $30 isn't too bad. On the other, it absolutely follows Gillette's historical pattern of selling the razor cheap and the consumables absurdly high, but fortunately they're not trying to use a proprietary style of DE blade. I don't purchase Gillette products on general principle but I suppose it's a good way to get more people to see the benefit of DE wet shaving, even if it's only for batting clean-up for those with beards.

 

[MTom]

did anyone see the error I saw with these razors ?
well let me let you in on the secret when you first remove the head .that little piece of paper says" please read manual and remove paper first "
now where is the manual or is it only downloadable from Gillette for a fee ?

I noticed yeah, had me double checking the box lol. Most likely alludes to the manual that comes in the Muhle box lol.

 

[MTom]

That long handle sort of kills it for me. I'm waiting for the Heritage to re-stock.

Yeah I'm not crazy about the length of the handle, but I use a variety of razors with different attributes, so whats one more? You could put any handle you want on it too.

 

[Zipslack]

Yeah I'm not crazy about the length of the handle, but I use a variety of razors with different attributes, so whats one more? You could put any handle you want on it too.

Yeah, but I love that bar handle and could always re-purpose the spiffy case for my New SC.

 

[zenex]

Personally I think Gillette arrived too late to the game. The large majority of men think that shaving is a chore and they will stick to carts and canned foam. A DE razor is not cool enough for them, because is old-tech, grandpa stuff. And a single cutting edge can't be better than 5 tiny blades, right?

The others are men like us, here. We're here because we love shaving and there's no need to be convinced to buy DE razors. We all have more razors than we really need, so it's less likely to rush to buy this. Some of us, here and there, will buy it, just for the sake of it. It's not a mass-market product and the last thing Gillette wants is their customers switching from carts to DE shaving. Luckily for Gillette this razor won't be a game-changer in the business. It didn't happened before with the Wilkinson Classic (in black plastic) and latter with the Wilkinson TTO. These razors have been bought by people who already have many other DE razors.