I rather often see these vintage Blue Gillette blades on ebay, I suppose they are from early 60s, are they any good?
Vintage Blue Gillette Blades, good or bad?
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I don't have a funny description.
I have some of those, haven't tried them though.
Look at the blades to assure no rust, etc. If they look OK then definitely worth trying IMO!!
You can try them but odds are you will regret it. Still up to you though.
You would rather spend a night in a Third World jail being interrogated with rubber hoses & jumper cables than to use an old bare carbon blade.
I have some but I have not tried them yet. You could still buy Gillette Blue Blades in the early 1980’s. I bought some in the early 80’s when I first tried DE shaving. I did not use them then and then I sold them on eBay years ago. They were snapped up very quickly. The ones that I have now have come with razors that I have bought.
My experience with them has been less than stellar. No matter how good they were to start with, carbon steel blades don't seem to age well unless they've been stored in a very dry, humidity-controlled environment. Any you find in the wild probably haven't been. Pretty much any modern stainless steel will give you a better shave. Save them for display.
I remember reading somewhere these are from before WW2 started.
I have tried old Gillette Blue blades a few times, just out of interest rather than because I thought they might yield a good shave. I made sure they were clean and corrosion free, but even so I was not impressed; they felt a bit rough and seemed to give a tugging sensation on my face. If anybody wants to try vintage blades, the stainless steel ones from the 70s are much better — in fact some are fantastic.
I would rather ask has anyone ever had a good shave from a 70s or earlier vintage blade?
Me? No. The vintage stuff all seems to explain why cartridge razors stole the market in the 70s.
Me? No. The vintage stuff all seems to explain why cartridge razors stole the market in the 70s.
I use vintage Schick and Gillette Blades and get great shaves , Spoilers are one great blade !! Stainless , no carbon blades.
The development of coated stainless steel blades was a huge improvement in shaving. There are still a few brands of carbon steel blades available like Treet Black Beauty, but they are not something I would consider using. Someone with a very light beard might be able to use them.
I tried today a yellow French-made blade from 1980. Tucking without end. It felt really blunt. I did not expect this from a blade only 39 years old. I think blades should have a best before date.
I have a few that came with some vintage Gillette razors. Most don’t exactly look like they should be shaved with anymore. I think the closest I’ll ever get to the vintage Blues is the Gillette Silver Blues...
My yellow one looked like new. Clean and undamaged double wrap. Clean blade. I thought if ever a vintage blade still works, that blade must be it.
The Trac II cartridge used the same technology as the contemporary Gillette Platinum Plus double edge blade that came out just a couple years earlier; it was their top of the line at the time. Of course, not all of Gillette's DE customers were buying PP blades. They were still selling the Spoiler, Super Blue, and Thin at the time.
Apparently the Trac II was just easier for the impatient and unskilled to use, and that was enough.
But that aside, I wouldn't assume that any uncoated US-made DE blade would be too pleasant to use. I have used 1961 Super Blue blades that were well stored and found them usable but not very durable. I have also used ones that were not well stored and those were all binned immediately thereafter. Teflon-coated blades from the '70s and '80s, especially stainless ones, are perfectly fine, though a carbon blade well preserved (i.e. wrapped in plastic to protect from humidity) will work too. Would not touch uncoated blades of any sort.
3 vintage blades came with a razor I purchased...I consider them like I do the authentic cardboard box it came in...as garnish surrounding the razor which is the center of interest on a 70 year old piece of kit.
I would never shave with them.
I would never shave with them.
I'm sorry for your experience with them. Most likely you used some that have degraded. I only use vintage blades, mostly stainless but a few pristine, well cared for carbons as well. Blades were made to a significantly higher quality back then because the market they targeted were first world, western men of middle to upper class who had the money to spend and could afford the best. Today the market for double edge wet shaving is probably 85% or higher third world. They couldn't afford blades made with the same quality. Hell, most of us would balk at the prices they'd have to ask now. Look, I'm holding a 15 pack of Gillette Platinum Plus from 1970 marked at $2.49. If you only account for inflation the price for these today would be $16.52! And that's if relative costs of labor and materials stayed the same, which they haven't. Another "Tell" is the big difference in longevity, add the fact that if you scour all the different forums on shaving and collect opinions, something a little higher than 9 out of 10 people who've tried vintage blades in anything close to original shape pronounce them the best they've ever used by far.
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I am not sure if the quality was better. Yes, they need now produce cheaper blades, but the machinery and technology got much better. I have one Gillette blade from 1920something. It is not flat. It shows typical production defects of wrong roll milling. But hardened carbon steel is harder than stainless. So the material might be a reason for longer durability.
I have a reprint of a German catalog from 1912 from a store similar to Sears & Roebucks. It has lots of no-name copies of Gillette razor sets and even one closed comb razor. The price of a no-name blade is 0.20 Mark. In Germany we have official statistics of the average annual income since 1891. I think it is the best way to compare prices here in Germany. ( Durchschnittsentgelt – Wikipedia - https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durchschnittsentgelt ) 0.2*(39000/1164) = 6.70 Euro = USD 7.40 per blade. So one blade in 1912 cost as much as 100 blades now.
I have a reprint of a German catalog from 1912 from a store similar to Sears & Roebucks. It has lots of no-name copies of Gillette razor sets and even one closed comb razor. The price of a no-name blade is 0.20 Mark. In Germany we have official statistics of the average annual income since 1891. I think it is the best way to compare prices here in Germany. ( Durchschnittsentgelt – Wikipedia - https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durchschnittsentgelt ) 0.2*(39000/1164) = 6.70 Euro = USD 7.40 per blade. So one blade in 1912 cost as much as 100 blades now.
It seems like "the good old days" may well be today, at least
from a shaving standpoint.
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